The Crossing

35

The Vice Unit’s weekly all-hands meeting was the usual waste of time. It finally ended and Ellis crossed the hall to the break room so he could refill his cup with black coffee. He was unused to coming in so early and he needed to double down on the caffeine.

But he had to wait his turn behind Janet, the captain’s secretary, who looked like she was putting together an order of coffees for the whole command staff downstairs. Janet was a wide body and Ellis could not get to the coffee urn until she was finished adding cream and various sweeteners to the five cups in front of her. This annoyed Ellis because he just wanted to top off his cup with the straight black stuff and then get back over to the unit.

“Sorry,” Janet said, sensing someone behind her.

“No problem,” Ellis said. “Take your time.”

Recognition of his voice made Janet glance back and confirm it was Ellis.

“Oh, Don, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Fire away.”

“Were you in the office this morning or last night?”

“What office?”

“I’m sorry. I mean downstairs. The command offices.”

Ellis shook his head, confused.

“No, what do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just funny. I came in today and I had to make copies of the overnight log for both captains. It’s the first thing I do every day.”

She turned back to finishing her work on the array of coffee cups on the counter in front of her.

“Okay.”

“And when I went to the copier, I found your and Kevin’s photos already in the machine. Like they had been left there by accident.”

Ellis wanted to grab her and turn her around.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Our photos? What were we doing in the photos?”

Janet laughed at his confusion.

“No, no, you weren’t doing anything. It was your photo from the station personnel chart. The one on the wall down there. Somebody unpinned your photos, took them over to the copy machine, and then I guess made copies. Then forgot to put them back on the wall. They were under the flap on the glass this morning when I went to make copies of the overnight log.”

She was weaving her fingers through the handles of five coffee mugs now. Ellis threw his cup into a trash can and moved in next to her at the counter.

“Let me help you,” he said. “You’ll burn yourself.”

She laughed that possibility off.

“I do this every morning and every afternoon,” she said. “I’ve never burned myself once.”

“I’ll help you anyway,” Ellis said. “Did you ask in the office if anybody was making the copies? The captain, maybe?”

“Yes, and that’s the mystery. Nobody did it. I asked everybody, including both captains. Somebody must have come in after hours to do it and then forgot to put the photos back up. I thought you might want to know. In case somebody’s pulling a prank.”

“Thanks, I do. And I think you’re right about somebody working up a prank.”

Janet laughed.

“Some people have too much time on their hands, that’s for sure.”

There was a long tradition of pranking in every station in the LAPD. Photos were often used in the commission of such efforts. Ellis was thinking that something else might be in play but was happy to allow Janet to think otherwise.

He followed her down the steps, across the back hallway, and into the command-office suite. He put the two cups of coffee he was carrying down on her desk for her to deliver, then scanned the room and looked at the personnel pyramid on the opposite wall. His photo was in place next to Long’s on the line containing the undercover units. All was how it should be.

“Thank you, Don,” Janet said.

“Glad to,” he said. “Thanks for the heads-up on the prank.”

“I wonder what they’re up to.”

“Like you said, some people have too much time on their hands.”

Ellis and Long shared a cubicle in the corner of the Vice Unit. It afforded them the most privacy available in the room and they got it because of Ellis’s seniority. Ellis now came back to the cubicle and signaled his partner to roll his chair over so they could huddle and speak privately.

“What’s up?” Long asked.

“Not sure,” Ellis said. “You checked on our guy today?”

“He was still at home. I get a text if he goes anywhere.”

“What about last night?”

“He stayed in.”

“According to your phone?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Well, maybe just his car stayed in. I want you to go up there, confirm that he’s there.”

“What, now?”

“Yes, now. I’ll cover for you here. Go.”

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that your phone says his car didn’t move, but last night somebody was in the station making copies of our photos off the wall in the captain’s office.”

“What the fuck?”

Ellis checked the rest of the squad room to make sure Long’s outburst had not drawn unwanted attention. He then looked back at Long.

“Exactly,” he said. “I think Bosch is up to something and I want to know what. It starts with you going up there and trying to figure out if he’s even there. Not just his fucking car.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going. But maybe we have to rethink things and figure out a way to remove the threat, you know?”

“Yeah, and look where doing that has gotten us. It’s like fucking dominoes. One thing we do leads to the next thing. Where does it stop?”

“I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, I’m just saying go up the hill and find out if Bosch is there or if he’s fucking with us.”