The Dark Hours (Harry Bosch #23)(54)

“Were you able to help him?” Ballard asked.

“Contract law is not my specialty,” Calvente said. “I told him that I saw no place in the contract that I thought he could attack. And I told him he should seek a second opinion from a contract attorney. I asked if he wanted a referral and he said no. And for this he gave me a discount on the repairs of our car. That was it.”

“Do you remember, was the partner named Dennis Hoyle?”

“I think that was the name but I can’t be sure. It’s been a few months.”

“Did he tell you anything about why he wanted to break the contract?”

“He just said it was not a good situation, because he had long ago paid off a debt to this man but he had to keep paying him out of the profits. I remember the contract had no termination. It was a full partnership for the life of the business.”

“What was Hoyle’s stake in the business?”

“I think twenty-five percent.”

“If this review was all you did for him, why did you go to the memorial today?”

“Well, I, uh, wanted to express my condolences to the family and say I was available for anything they might need. In a legal capacity, of course.”

“How did you know, by the way, that he had been the victim of a homicide?”

“I saw the memorial scheduled at the church when I attended this morning. I did not know it was a homicide until I was there today. It was a terrible thing for the family.”

Ballard turned to Bosch to see if he had any questions that she had missed. He shook his head and she looked back at Calvente.

“Thank you, Mr. Calvente,” she said. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“You’re welcome,” Calvente said.

Bosch took the steps down to the street slowly. Ballard had to wait for him. When he reached the sidewalk, he whispered under his breath.

“Ambulance chaser. He barely knows the guy and he goes to his memorial?”

“Yeah. You ever see that Sidney Lumet movie The Verdict?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t go to a lot of movies anymore.”

“It’s an old one with Paul Newman. I went through a Paul Newman phase. Anyway, he’s a lawyer — a drunk, actually — and he tries to drum up business by going to funerals and passing out business cards.”

Bosch looked back up at the house.

“This guy must go to a lot of funerals,” he said.

“Well, what he gave us was good,” Ballard said. “Javier wanted out of the contract. There’s a motive in that.”

“There is. But Hoyle’s going to be protected by the contract. Calvente said it was legit. We still need to find the factor man and hope he leads us to the man with the Walther P-twenty-two.”

“Tonight I’ll go back to Gang Intel. They had a snitch who told them years ago that Javier bought his way out of Las Palmas. I think it was a woman. They wouldn’t give me her name before but I’ll make them give it to me now. She might know who set him up with Hoyle.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

Fifteen minutes later Ballard had just dropped Bosch at his car and was on her way to the ER at Hollywood Presbyterian when she got a call from EMT Single.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Actually, I’m on my way to the ER,” she said.

“Oh, no, what’s happening?”

“Nothing, I’m fine. My boss won’t let me go back to work tonight unless I get a clean bill from the ER. I told him a very good EMT had cleared me today but they’re making me go anyway.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I was about to invite you to a firehouse dinner.”

“Wow, I’ve never had an invitation like that before. What are you guys having?”

“All kinds of stuff. Grilled cheese, chili. I think somebody dropped off a couple of apple pies. We’ve got some salad, some corn on the cob.”

“Well, I’d take a salad and grilled cheese.”

“Ooh, it sounds like we’ve got a veggie on our hands.”

“Just no red meat anymore.”

“Not a problem, but I thought you’re going to the ER.”

“I’d rather come for dinner and go to the ER on company time.”

“Well, come on over. Dinner’s in thirty-five minutes. Unless we catch a call and go out on a run.”

“On my way. But are you allowed to invite a guest?”

“One of us can. One guest allowed a night. I traded with a guy to get tonight ’cause I hoped you’d like firehouse chili. But grilled cheese is just as good.”

“All right, cool. See you in a bit. One last question …”

“Sure.”

“What’s your first name?”

“Oh, it’s Garrett.”

“Garrett. Cool. I’ll see you soon, Garrett.”

After disconnecting, Ballard created an entry with Single’s full name in her contact list. She hoped it would stay in there for a while. She parked her car behind the police station. Before going over to the firehouse, she ducked into the locker room in the station and put on some light makeup. She was only going to a firehouse for a grilled cheese dinner, but she wanted to make an impression.