Dark Sacred Night (Harry Bosch Universe #31)(52)

Chief Valdez was not happy with what Bosch and Lourdes told him but agreed that an investigation had to be carried out. The chief was particularly pained because seventeen years before, when Luzon came into the department, Valdez had been his training officer. They had been close at one time.

“He knew several SanFers,” Valdez said. “He grew up with them. And it worked in our favor. We would stop and talk to these guys and we always picked up good intel we shot back to the gang team.”

“Look, Chief, we’re not accusing him of being a double agent,” Bosch said. “He could have been used or tricked and he might not even be the source. That’s what we have to talk about with him. But the bottom line is, he never put Mejia in the book—and Mejia took out our witness.”

“I get it, I get it,” Valdez said. “It has to be done. What’s your plan?”

It was simple. The chief would have his secretary call Luzon to his office to pick up some paperwork relating to a training day scheduled for the next month. It was likely that Luzon would not clip on his firearm just for a short jaunt down the hall from the detective bureau. While he was picking up the paperwork from the secretary, the chief would step out of his office to say hello. He would then ask Luzon to take a printed memo over to Bosch in the old jail. The direct route to the jail would not be through the detective bureau. The plan pivoted on the idea that Luzon would proceed directly to Bosch—without going out of his way back to his desk to pick up his weapon.

They also allowed for a quick abort if the chief saw that Luzon was armed or if Luzon cut back to the detective bureau to retrieve his gun before leaving the station and crossing the street.

“Now, does he carry a backup?” Valdez asked.

“If he does, it’s not registered,” Bosch said.

“We checked the registry,” Lourdes said.

Department regulations allowed an officer to carry a boot gun or some other backup weapon as long as it was on an approved list of firearms and the officer notified command staff and entered the details in the weapons registry.

“Did you ever know him to carry a throw-down?” Bosch asked.

“No, never,” Valdez said.

“So do we do this?” Bella asked.

“We do it,” Valdez said. “But Bella, I want you over there with Harry. As backup.”

“Got it,” she said.

An hour later they went forward with the plan. Lourdes confirmed that Luzon was at his desk and was not wearing his weapon before she sent Valdez the go-ahead text. The chief then told his secretary to summon Luzon, and when the detective left the bureau, Lourdes confirmed that he had left his weapon behind. She then headed out the side door and crossed the street to the old jail.

Bosch was sitting at his makeshift desk in the old drunk tank when Luzon walked in carrying a memo from the chief with the schedule for the upcoming training days. He put it down on the old door that Bosch used as a desktop.

“That’s from the chief,” he said. “Asked me to drop it by.”

“Thanks,” Bosch said.

Luzon turned to go back.

“Did you hear about Sylmar last night?” Bosch asked.

Luzon reversed himself and was facing Bosch again.

“Sylmar?” he asked. “What about it?”

“They got the guy who hit our witness,” Bosch said.

Luzon just looked at him, revealing nothing.

“He took a shot in the gut himself,” Bosch said. “So he’s not doing too good. They’re hoping to stabilize him and have him ready to talk in a day or two.”

“Good,” Luzon said. “I’m going back to the bureau.”

He once more moved toward the cell’s exit.

“That doesn’t worry you, Oscar?” Bosch asked.

Luzon once again turned back and looked at Bosch.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luzon asked.

“It was your buddy the witch doctor, Carlos Mejia,” Bosch said. “And I lied. He’s already talking and he gave you up. Said you told him about Martin Perez.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Lourdes stepped out of the next cell down and into the hallway that ran in front of the old cells. She took a position behind Luzon. He felt her presence and turned to see her.

“What the fuck is this?” he said.

Bosch stood up.

“You know what it is?” he said. “This is your chance to get out in front of this. Tell us what happened, what you did, and maybe there’s a way out for you.”

“I didn’t do anything. I told you, this is bullshit.”

“You’re playing it wrong, man. You’re giving him the leverage. They’ll lock in his story and come for you.”

Luzon seemed to freeze. His eyes went blank as he tried to figure out his next move. Bosch said nothing. Lourdes said nothing. They waited.

“All right, look,” he finally said. “I made a mistake. You two weren’t saying shit about what the search warrant at the garage was about. I thought maybe I could come up with something that would help. All I did was ask him what that place had to do with the SanFers. That’s it. He figured everything out from there.”

“That story is what’s bullshit,” Bosch said. “How’d he find Perez in Alhambra?”