9 Dragons

baby.”
    “Are you all right?”
    “Sure, why?”
    She stepped out onto the deck and stood next to him at the rail.
    “It sounded like you were mad when you were on the phone.”
    “It’s about the case. It’s not going well.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Not your fault. But listen, in the morning, I have to take a quick run downtown. I’ll make some calls and see if I can get somebody to watch you while I’m gone. And then when I get back we’ll go to the store, like I was saying before. Okay?”
    “You mean like a babysitter”
    “No…I mean, yeah, I guess so.”
    “Dad, I haven’t had a babysitter or a nanny since I was, like, twelve.”
    “Yeah, well, that was only a year ago.”
    “I think I will be all right by myself. I mean, Mom lets me go to the mall after school by myself.”
    Bosch noted her use of the present tense. He was tempted to tell her that the plan to allow her to go to the mall by herself didn’t work out so well, but he was smart enough to save that for another time. The bottom line was that he had to consider her safety ahead of everything else. Could the forces that grabbed her in Hong Kong find her all the way over here in his home?
    It seemed unlikely but even if there was a small percentage chance, he couldn’t risk leaving her alone. The problem with that was he didn’t really know who he could call in. He wasn’t plugged into the neighborhood. He was the resident cop who got called when there was a problem. But otherwise he had never socialized with people on his street, or with anyone for that matter other than cops. He didn’t know who would be safe or any different from a complete stranger chosen from the child-sitter ads in the phone book. Bosch was at a loss and it was beginning to dawn on him that he had no business raising his own daughter.
    “Maddie, listen, this is one of those times when I said you were going to have to be patient with me. I don’t want you left alone. Not yet. You can stay in your room if you want-you’ll probably still be asleep because of jet lag. But I want an adult in the house with you. Somebody I can trust.”
    “Whatever.”
    Thinking about being the resident cop in the neighborhood suddenly pushed another idea into his brain.
    “Okay, I’ll tell you what. If you don’t want a sitter, then I have another idea. There’s a school down at the bottom of the hill. It’s a public middle school. I think classes started last week because I saw all the cars on my way to work. I don’t know if it’s where you’ll end up going or if we’ll try to get you into a private school, but I could take you down there and you could look around and check it out. Maybe sit in on a class or two and see what you think while I go downtown. How would that be? I know the assistant principal and I trust her. She’ll take care of you.”
    His daughter hooked a strand of hair behind her ear and stared out at the view for a few moments before answering.
    “I guess that would be okay.”
    “Okay, good, then we’ll do that. I’ll call in the morning and set it up.”
    Problem solved, Bosch thought.
    “Dad?”
    “What, baby?”
    “I heard what you said on the phone.”
    He froze.
    “I’m sorry. I will try not to use that kind of language anymore. And never around you.”
    “No, I don’t mean that. I mean when you were out here. About what you said about them selling me for my organs. Is that true?”
    “I don’t know, darling. I don’t know what their exact plan was.”
    “Quick took my blood. He said he was going to send it to you. You know, so you could run DNA and know that I was really kidnapped.”
    Bosch nodded.
    “Yeah, well, he was lying to you. The video he sent was enough to convince me. The blood wasn’t necessary. He was lying to you, Mad. He betrayed you and he got what he deserved.”
    She immediately turned toward him and Bosch realized he had slipped again.
    “What do you mean? What happened to him?”
    Bosch didn’t want to go down the slippery slope of lying to his daughter. He also knew that his daughter obviously cared about Quick’s sister, if not for Quick himself. She probably still didn’t understand the depth of his betrayal.
    “He’s dead.”
    Her breath caught in her throat and she brought her hands to her mouth.
    “Did you?…”
    “No, Maddie, I didn’t do it. I found him dead at the same time I found your phone. I guess you somehow liked him, so I’m sorry. But he betrayed you, baby, and I have to