Dark Sacred Night (Harry Bosch Universe #31)(87)

“Are you going into the station from here?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Ballard said. “I’m heading downtown and taking the spotter from the airship yesterday to dinner. I called in a favor on that flyover.”

“Hold on, then. Let me go in and get some money. I want to buy dinner.”

“Don’t worry about it, Harry. We just go to the Denny’s by Piper Tech. It’s not a big deal.”

“Really? What about something nicer? Let me send you over to the Nickel Diner. I know Monica there. I’ll call and she’ll take good care of you.”

“Denny’s is good, Harry. Convenient. It’s right across from Piper.”

Bosch nodded toward his house.

“I’ve got to deal with my daughter and then I have something else to do,” he said. “But I want to meet this guy sometime—the spotter. To say thanks.”

“It’s not necessary and it’s not a guy. She was just doing her job.”

Bosch nodded.

“Well, tell her thanks for me,” he said. “The sound of that chopper—it changed everything.”

“I’ll tell her,” Ballard said. “You coming by the station later to help me look for Gayley?”

“Yeah, I’ll get by later on. Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime, Harry.”

She watched him cross in front of the van and go to the front door. He had to knock because his keys were one of the things left behind when he had been abducted. Soon the door was opened and Ballard caught a glimpse of a young woman as she grabbed Bosch into an embrace and closed the door.

Ballard stared at the door for a few seconds and then drove off.





Bosch





41



Bosch hugged his daughter as tightly as she hugged him. It made his cracked ribs sing with pain but he didn’t care.

He heard the door close behind him and looked over her head pressed against his shoulder at the slider to the deck. It was still open a couple of feet, the way the intruders had left it. There was black fingerprint dust on the glass. He was reminded that the house had been processed as a crime scene.

He brought his hands up to his daughter’s shoulders and pulled back from her so he could look into her eyes.

“Maddie, you were told not to come up here,” he said. “It’s not safe yet.”

“I had to come up,” she said. “I couldn’t just stay down there when I didn’t know if you were all right.”

“I told you. I’m fine.”

“Are you crying?”

“No. I mean—I have two cracked ribs and when you hug…you really hug.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know. But look at your face. You’re going to have a scar.”

She reached toward his face but he caught her hand and held it.

“I’m too old to worry about scars,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is you can’t stay here. I’m not even supposed to stay here. I was just coming for the Jeep and to get some of my own clothes.”

“I thought those looked weird,” she said, nodding toward the ill-fitting suit he was wearing.

“I borrowed clothes from another cop,” Bosch said.

“Where will you go?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’m waiting to see if they pick up the guy who was behind all of this.”

“Well, when is that?”

“There’s no telling. They’re looking for him.”

“Why did this happen, Dad?”

“Maddie, look, I can’t tell you about case stuff. You know that.”

He saw a determined look enter her eyes. She was not going to let him stonewall her with case protocol.

“Okay,” he said, “all I can tell you is that I was working on a cold-case murder that was a gang-on-gang killing and I tracked down a guy who was a witness to part of the planning. That led to the suspect and somehow that suspect found out I was onto him. So he had his guys grab me and they pushed me around a little, but nothing really happened because I got rescued. And that’s it. End of story. Now you need to go back down to school.”

“I don’t want to,” she said.

“You have to. No choice. Please.”

“Okay. But you have to answer the phone. I came up because you don’t answer and I always think the worst.”

“The landline? I wasn’t even staying here. And I told you when we talked yesterday that my cell phone was smashed.”

“Well, I forgot.”

“I’ll get a new one first thing tomorrow and then I’ll take every call from you.”

“You’d better.”

“Promise. How’s your gas?”

“It’s fine. I filled up on my way.”

“Good. I want you to get going because it’s going to get dark soon. You should be south of downtown before it gets dark.”

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving. You know, most dads like their daughters to be around.”

“Now you’re just being a smart guy.”

She grabbed him and pulled him into another painful hug. She heard his breath catch and quickly detached.