The Drop

9

Bosch had just gotten back to the PAB from the Hall of Records with a stack of files under his arm. It was after five, so the squad room was almost deserted. Chu had gone home, which was fine with Bosch. He planned to leave himself and to start reviewing files and the disc from the Chateau Marmont at home. He was loading the files into a briefcase when he saw Kiz Rider enter the squad room and make a beeline in his direction. He quickly snapped the briefcase closed. He didn’t want Rider asking about the files and learning that they were not from the Irving case.

“Harry, I thought we were going to keep in touch,” she said by way of greeting.

“We are going to, when I have something to keep in touch about. Hello to you, too, Kiz.”

“Look, Harry, I don’t really have time for niceties. I’m under pressure from the chief, who is under pressure from Irving and the rest of the city council members he has managed to get behind this.”

“Get behind what?”

“Wanting to know what happened to his son.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re there to shoulder that burden and keep it off the investigators so we can do our work.”

She let out a deep breath in frustration. Bosch could see the jagged edge of a scar on her neck just under the collar of her blouse. It reminded him of the day she got shot. Her last day as his partner.

He stood up and lifted the briefcase off the desk.

“You’re leaving already?” she exclaimed.

Bosch pointed to the clock on the far wall.

“Almost five thirty and I punched in at seven thirty. I ate lunch for ten minutes on the hood of my car. No matter how you cut it, I got in about two hours of overtime that the city doesn’t pay anymore. So, yeah, I’m going home to where I have a sick kid waiting for me to bring her some soup. That is, unless you want to call up the city council and see if they’ll authorize.”

“Harry, it’s me, Kiz. Why are you acting like this?”

“Like what? Like I’m fed up with the political intrusion on my case? Tell you what, I’ve got another one working — a nineteen-year-old girl raped and left dead on the rocks at the Marina. The crabs got to her body. It’s funny but nobody on the city council has called me up about that one.”

Kiz nodded to his point.

“I know, Harry, it’s not fair. With you everybody counts or nobody counts. That doesn’t work with politics.”

Bosch stared at her for a long moment. She quickly grew uncomfortable.

“What?”

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“It was me what?”

“‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’ You turned it into a slogan and you told it to Irving. Then he tried to act like he’d known it all along.”

Rider shook her head in frustration.

“Jesus Christ, Harry, what’s the big deal? His front man called up and said, Who is the best investigator in RHD? I said you but then he came back and said Irving didn’t want you because of your shared history. I said you would put the history aside because with you everybody counts or nobody counts. That’s all. If that’s too political for you, then I offer my resignation as your friend.”

Bosch looked at her for a few moments. She was half smiling, not taking his upset seriously.

“I’ll think about it and let you know.”

He stepped out of his pod and headed down the aisle.

“Wait a minute, would you?”

He turned back to her.

“What?”

“If you are not willing to talk to me as a friend, then talk to me as a detective. I am a lieutenant and you are a detective. What is the update on the Irving case?”

Now the humor in her face and words was gone. Now she was annoyed.

“The update is that we’re waiting on the autopsy. There was nothing about the physical scene that leads us to any final conclusion. We have pretty much eliminated accidental death. It’s going to go suicide or murder, and my money at the moment is on suicide.”

She put her hands on her hips.

“How has accidental already been eliminated?”

Bosch’s briefcase was heavy with files. He switched it to his other hand because his shoulder was beginning to ache. Almost twenty years before, he had been hit by a bullet during a shootout in a tunnel and it had taken three surgeries to repair the rotator cuff. He had gone almost fifteen years without its bothering him. But not anymore.

“His son checked in without luggage. He took off his clothes and hung them neatly in the closet. A bathrobe was draped over a chair on the balcony. He went down face-first but didn’t scream because no one in the hotel heard a thing. He did not put his arms out to break his fall. For these and other reasons it doesn’t look like an accident to me. If you are telling me that you need it to be an accident, then come out and say it, Kiz, and then get yourself another boy.”

Her face showed the pain of his betrayal.

“Harry, how can you say that to me? I was your partner. You saved my life once and you think I would repay you by putting you into something that would compromise you?”

“I don’t know, Kiz. I’m just trying to do my job here and it seems like there’s a lot of high jingo on it.”

“There is, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching out for you. The chief told you he wasn’t looking to cook the book on this. I’m not either. All I wanted was an update and now all of this. . bile comes out.”

Bosch realized his anger and frustrations were misdirected.

“Kiz, if that’s the way it is, then I believe you. And I’m sorry to take it out on you. I should’ve known anything with Irving attached was going to go this way. Just keep him off me until we get an autopsy. After that, we’ll be able to draw some conclusions and you and the chief will be the first to know.”

“Okay, Harry. I’m sorry, too.”

“Talk to you tomorrow.”

Bosch was about to step away when he changed direction and came back to her. He gave her a one-armed hug.

“Are we okey?” she asked.

“Sure,” he said.

“How’s your shoulder? I saw you switch hands with your case.”

“It’s fine.”

“What’s wrong with Maddie?”

“She’s got a bug, that’s all.”

“Tell her I said hi.”

“I will. See you, Kiz.”

He left her then and headed home. As he moved in slow traffic on the 101, he wasn’t feeling good about either of the cases he was working. And he was upset that those feelings had made him act poorly with Rider. Most cops would cherish having an inside source in the OCP. At times he certainly had. But he had just treated her badly and had no legitimate excuse. He would have to make it up to her.

He was also bothered by Dr. Stone and the way he had arrogantly dismissed her cause. In many ways, she was doing more than he was. Trying to stop crimes before they happened. Trying to save people from becoming victims. He had treated her like a sympathizer of the predators and he knew that was not the case. It was a city where not enough people cared about making it a better and safer place to live. She did and he had dismissed her. Shame on me, he thought.

He pulled his phone and called his daughter’s cell.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah. I’m feeling better.”

“Did Ashlyn’s mom check on you?”

“Yes, they both came by after school and brought me a cupcake.”

That morning Bosch had e-mailed her best friend’s mother to ask for the favor.

“Did they bring you your homework?”

“Yes, but I’m not feeling that much better. Did you get a case? You never called today, so I’m thinking you did.”

“Sorry about that. Actually, I got two cases.”

He noted her skill in changing the subject from homework.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, so I’m going to be a little late. I’ve got one more stop and then I’ll be home. You want soup from Jerry’s Deli? I’m going to be up in the Valley.”

“Chicken noodle.”

“You got it. Make a sandwich if you get hungry before I get back. And make sure the door’s locked.”

“I know, Dad.”

“And you know where the Glock is.”

“Yes, I know where it is and I know how to use it.”

“Okay, that’s my girl.”

He closed the phone.