The Night Fire (Renée Ballard, #3)(64)

“Bosch. I should hang up. You want my partner, not me.”

“I talked to your partner. I want to talk to you now.”

“I got nothin’ to say to you, man.”

“You and Gustafson, you still think you had the right guy?”

“We know we did.”

“So you’re not working it any longer.”

“Case is closed. We didn’t get the result we wanted—thanks to you. But the case is CBA.”

“So then where’s the harm in talking to me?”

“Bosch, I got here after you left but I heard about you. I know you fought the good fight and did some good work. But that’s in the past now. You’re history and I gotta go.”

“Answer one question.”

“What?”

“What did you hold back?”

“What are you talking about?”

“In discovery. I got the murder book you two turned over but you held something back. It always happens. What was it?”

“Goodbye, Bosch.”

“You know Clayton Manley’s alibi was cooked, right?”

There was a pause and Bosch was no longer worried about Reyes hanging up.

“What are you talking about?”

“He knew Montgomery was going to get hit, so he goes to Hawaii and keeps receipts for every penny he spent. Lots of selfies, including one predawn on the charter boat—within an hour of the judge getting hit. That didn’t strike you guys as bullshit?”

“Bosch, I’m not talking about the case with you. You want to go after Clayton Manley, have fun. But don’t expect us to back you on it. You’re on your own.”

“What about Maura Frederick? Pretty little wife number two selling Maura’s invention and making millions? If that isn’t motive, I don’t know what is.”

Bosch heard Reyes laughing over the phone. Bosch had been trying to get a rise out of him with his provocative statements, but he wasn’t expecting laughter.

“You think it’s funny?” Bosch said. “You’re letting her get away with murder.”

“I guess this is what happens when you don’t have a badge no more,” Reyes said. “Check your computer, Bosch. Google it. Tampa PD cleared that murder a month ago and Maura Frederick had nothing to do with it. You owe me, man. I just saved you some big-time embarrassment.”

Bosch seethed with humiliation. He should have checked the Florida case for an update before throwing it in Reyes’s face. He managed to gather himself and throw back something else.

“No, Reyes, you still owe me,” Bosch said. “I saved you from convicting an innocent man.”

“Bullshit, Bosch,” Reyes said. “A killer walks free because of what you and that asshole lawyer Haller have done. But it doesn’t matter because we’re done here.”

Reyes disconnected and Bosch was left holding a dead phone to his ear.





32


Bosch got up from the table and went into the kitchen to make more coffee. He was still stinging from the rebuke Reyes had hit him with. He had no doubt about his actions regarding Jeffrey Herstadt, but it stung when a representative of the police department he had invested three decades of his life in dismissed him so harshly.

A killer walks free because of you.

Those words hurt enough for Bosch to want to take another look at his actions to see if he had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

He checked his watch. He had an hour before he needed to get on the road to meet with Ballard. She had sent a message setting a rendezvous point at a gas station before she would go into Dulan’s to spy on the meeting between Elvin Kidd and Marcel Dupree.

Bosch refilled his cup and went back to the dining room table. He decided he would do exactly what Reyes suggested: he would Google the Tampa case and get the latest update.

Before he got the chance, his cell phone buzzed. It was Mickey Haller.

“About that thing we talked about at lunch during the trial,” he said, “when do you want to do the video?”

Bosch’s mind was so deep into his review of the Montgomery investigation that he had no idea what Haller was talking about.

“What video?” he asked.

“Remember, CML?” Haller said. “Chronic myeloid leukemia? I want to take a video deposition with you and get rolling on that, send out a demand letter with the video.”

Now Bosch remembered.

“Uh, it’s gotta wait a bit,” he said.

“Why is that?” Haller said. “I mean, you came to me with it. You know, make sure Maddie is covered. Now it’s gotta wait?”

“Just a bit. I have two different cases I’m working. I don’t have time to sit for a video. Give me about a week.”

Bosch thought of something as he mentioned the cases.

“It’s your life,” Haller said. “I’m here when you’re ready.”

“Hey, listen,” Bosch said. “I don’t know if this will happen but I might end up going to see another lawyer. Not because I want to hire him but I want him to think I do. I might mention this case—the CML thing—and he might ask why I chose him. All right if I tell him you recommended him? Then if he checks with you, you cover for me and let me know.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”