9 Dragons

“Isn’t that a bit extreme? You kill the guy and as they say in high finance, you’ve lost your funding stream.”
    Ferras shrugged.
    “There’s always the wife and the son,” he said. “They’d get the message.”
    “They’re coming in at ten to sign statements,” Bosch added.
    Gandle nodded.
    “So how are you going to handle this?” he asked.
    “We’ll put Mrs. Li with Chu, the guy from AGU, and Ignacio and I will talk to the son. We find out what it’s about.”
    Gandle’s usually dour expression brightened. He was pleased with the progress of the case and the lead that had surfaced.
    “Okay, gentlemen, I want to know,” he said.
    “When we know,” Bosch said.
    Gandle left the meeting room, and Bosch and Ferras were left standing in front of the screen.
    “Nice going, Harry. You made him happy.”
    “He’ll be happier if we clear this thing.”
    “What do you think?”
    “I think we have some work to do before the Li family gets here. You check with the lab and see what they’ve got done. See if they’re finished with the cash register. Bring it over here if you can.”
    “What about you?”
    Bosch turned the screen off and ejected the disc.
    “I’m going to go have a talk with Detective Chu.”
    “You think he held something back on us?”
    “That’s what I’m going to find out.”

6
    T he AGU was part of the Gang and Operations Support Division, from which many undercover investigations and officers were directed. As such the GOSD was located in an unmarked building several blocks away from the PAB. Bosch decided to walk because he knew it would take longer to get his car out of the garage, fight the traffic and then have to find another place to park. He got to the front door of the AGU office at eight-thirty, pressed the buzzer but nobody answered. He pulled his phone, ready to try to call Detective Chu, when a familiar voice came from behind him.
    “Good morning, Detective Bosch. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
    Bosch turned. It was Chu, arriving with his briefcase.
    “Nice hours you guys get to keep over here,” Bosch replied.
    “Yeah, we like to keep it light.”
    Bosch stepped back so Chu could open the door with a card key.
    “Come on in.”
    Chu led the way to a small squad room with about a dozen desks and a lieutenant’s office on the right. Chu went behind one of the desks and put his briefcase down on the floor.
    “What can I do for you?” he asked. “I was already planning to come by RHD at ten when Mrs. Li comes in.”
    Chu started to sit down but Bosch stayed standing.
    “I got something I want to show you. Do you guys have an AV room here?”
    “Yeah, this way.”
    The AGU had four interview rooms at the back of the squad room. One had been converted to an AV room with the standard rolling tower of television stacked on top of DVD. But Bosch saw that the stack also had an image printer and that was something they didn’t have yet in the new RHD squad room.
    Bosch handed Chu the DVD from Fortune Liquors and he set it up. Bosch took the remote and fast-forwarded the playback to 3 P.M. on the time stamp.
    “I wanted you to take a look at this guy who comes in,” he said.
    Chu watched silently as the Asian man entered the store, bought a beer and a carton of cigarettes and got the big return on his investment.
    “Is that it” he asked after the customer left the store.
    “That’s it.”
    “Can we play it again”
    “Sure.”
    Bosch replayed the two-minute episode, then froze the playback as the customer turned from the counter to leave. He then played with it, making slight advances on the playback, until he froze it on the best possible view of the man’s face as he turned from the counter.
    “Know him?” Bosch asked.
    “No, of course not.”
    “What did you see there?”
    “Obviously, a payoff of some kind. He got much more back than he gave.”
    “Yeah, two hundred sixteen on top of his own twenty. We counted it.”
    Bosch saw Chu’s eyebrows rise.
    “What’s it mean?” Bosch asked.
    “Well, it probably means he’s triad,” Chu said matter-of-factly.
    Bosch nodded. He had never investigated a triad murder before but he was aware that the so-called secret societies of China had long ago jumped the Pacific and now operated in most major American cities. Los Angeles, with its large Chinese population, was one of the strongholds, along with San Francisco, New York and Houston.
    “What makes you say he’s a triad