9 Dragons

didn’t react.
    “It’s sort of funny. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve sat across a table like this with a lot of men who have killed. I can’t say they were all bad or evil men. Some had reasons and some were manipulated. They got led down the path.”
    Lam shook his head in a show of bravado.
    “I told you people, I want a lawyer. I know my rights. You can’t ask me any questions once I ask for a lawyer.”
    Bosch nodded in agreement.
    “Yeah, you’re right about that, Eugene. Absolutely right. Once you’ve invoked your rights we can’t question you. Not allowed. But, see, that’s why I’m not asking you anything here. I’m just telling you how it is going to be. I’m telling you that you have a choice to make here. Silence is certainly a choice. But if you choose silence, you’ll never see the outside world again.”
    Lam shook his head and looked down at the table.
    “Please leave me alone.”
    “Maybe it would help you if I summarized things and gave you a clearer picture of where you’re at here. You see, I am perfectly willing to share with you, man. I’ll show you my whole hand because, you know what? It’s a royal flush. You play poker, right? You know that’s the hand that can’t be beat. And that’s what I’ve got here. A royal fucking flush.”
    Bosch paused. He could see curiosity in Lam’s eyes. He couldn’t help but wonder what they had on him.
    “We know you did the dirty work on this thing, Eugene. You went into that store and you shot Mr. Li dead in cold blood. But we’re pretty sure it wasn’t your idea. It was Robert who sent you in there to kill his father. And he’s the one we want. I’ve got a deputy district attorney sitting in the other room and he’s ready to make you a deal-fifteen to life if you give us Robert. You’ll do the fifteen for sure, but after that, you get a shot at freedom. You convince a parole board you were just a victim, that you got manipulated by a master, and you walk free…
    “It could happen. But if you go the other way, you roll the dice. If you lose, you’re done. You’re talking about dying in prison in fifty years-if the jury doesn’t decide to stick the needle in your arm first.”
    Lam quietly said, “I want a lawyer.”
    Bosch nodded and responded with resignation in his voice.
    “Okay, man, that’s your choice. We’ll get you a lawyer.”
    He looked up at the ceiling where the camera was located and raised an imaginary phone to his ear.
    He then looked back at Lam and knew he wasn’t going to be convinced by words alone. It was show-and-tell time.
    “All right, they’re making the call. If you don’t mind, while we’re waiting here I’m going to tell you a few things. You can share them with your lawyer when he gets here.”
    “Whatever,” Lam said. “I don’t care what you say as long as I get the attorney.”
    “Okay, then, let’s start with the crime scene. You know, there were a few things about it that bothered me from the beginning. One was that Mr. Li had the gun right there under the counter and never got the chance to pull it. Another was that there were no head wounds. Mr. Li was shot three times in the chest and that was it. No shot to the face.”
    “Very interesting,” Lam said sarcastically.
    Bosch ignored it.
    “And you know what all of that told me? That said that Li probably knew his killer and hadn’t felt threatened. And that this was a piece of business. This wasn’t revenge, this wasn’t personal. This was purely a piece of business.”
    Bosch reached down to the box and removed the lid. He reached in for the plastic evidence bag that held the bullet casing taken from the victim’s throat. He tossed it on the table in front of Lam.
    “There it is, Eugene. You remember looking for that? Coming around the counter, moving the body, wondering what the fuck happened to that casing? Well, there it is. There’s the one mistake that brought it all down on you.”
    He paused while Lam stared at the casing, fear permanently lodging in his eyes.
    “You never leave a soldier behind. Isn’t that the shooter’s rule? But you did, man. You left that soldier behind and it brought us right to your door.”
    Bosch picked up the bag and held it up between them.
    “There was a fingerprint on the casing, Eugene. We raised it with something called electrostatic enhancement. EE, for short. It’s a new science for us. And the print we got belonged to your old roommate Henry Lau.