9 Dragons

the name again, this time putting a heavy Chinese accent on it. It sounded like
He-yuh
.
    “He is a her. He is her name. It means ‘river.’”
    “Then why don’t you call her River?”
    “Because she’s Chinese and so I call her by her Chinese name.”
    “Must get like Abbott and Costello. Calling a she He.”
    “Like who?”
    Bosch laughed.
    “Never mind. Forget the lungs, Maddie. If you tell me you don’t smoke, I believe you. But that’s not why I’m calling. The tattoos on the ankles, could you read them?”
    “Yes, it’s gross. I have a dead guy’s feet on my phone.”
    “Well, you can delete it as soon as you tell me what the tattoos mean. I know you study that stuff in school.”
    “I’m not going to delete it. I’m showing my friends. They’ll think it’s cool.”
    “No, don’t do that. It’s part of a case I’m working and nobody else should see it. I sent it to you because I thought you could give me a quick translation.”
    “You mean in all of the LAPD you don’t have one person who can tell you? You have to call your daughter in Hong Kong for such a simple thing?”
    “At the moment, that’s about right. You do what you have to do. Do you know what the symbols mean or not?”
    “Yes, Dad. They were easy.”
    “Well, what do they mean?”
    “It’s like a fortune. On the left ankle the symbols are
Fu
and
Cai,
which mean ‘luck’ and ‘money.’ Then on the right side you have
Ai
and
Xi,
which is ‘love’ and ‘family?.’”
    Bosch thought about this. It seemed to him the symbols were the things that were important to John Li. He had hoped that these things would always walk with him.
    Then he thought about the fact that the symbols were located on either side of Li’s Achilles tendons. Perhaps Li had placed the tattoos there intentionally, realizing that the things he hoped for also made him vulnerable. They were also his Achilles heel.
    “Hello, Dad?”
    “Yeah, I’m here. I’m just thinking.”
    “Well, does it help? Did I crack the case?”
    Bosch smiled but immediately realized she couldn’t see this.
    “Not quite but it helps.”
    “Good. You owe me.”
    Bosch nodded.
    “You’re a pretty smart kid, aren’t you? How old are you now, thirteen going on twenty?”
    “Please, Dad.”
    “Well, your mother must be doing something right.”
    “Not much.”
    “Hey, that’s no way to talk about her.”
    “Dad, you don’t have to live with her. I do. And it’s not so much fun. I told you when I was in L.A.”
    “She’s still seeing somebody?”
    “Yeah, and I’m yesterday’s news.”
    “It’s not like that, Maddie. It’s just that it’s been a long time for her.”
    A long time for me, too, Bosch thought.
    “Dad, don’t take her side. To her I’m just in the way all the time. But when I say, fine, I’ll live with Dad, she says no way.”
    “You should be with your mother. She’s raised you. Look, in a month I’ll be coming over for a week. We can talk about all of this then. With your mother.”
    “Whatever. I gotta go. I’m here at school.”
    “All right. Say hello to He the she for me.”
    “Funny, Dad. Just don’t send me any more pictures of lungs, okay?”
    “Next time it will be a liver. Or maybe a spleen. Spleens photograph real nice.”
    “Daaaadd!”
    He closed the phone and let her go. He thought about what had been said during the conversation. It seemed to him that the weeks and months between seeing Maddie were getting more difficult. As she became her own person and grew more bright and communicative, he loved her more and missed her all the time. She had just been out to L.A. in July, taking the long flight for the first time on her own. Barely a teenager and already a world traveler, she was wise beyond her years. He’d taken off work and they’d enjoyed two weeks of doing things together, exploring the city. It had been a wonderful time for him and at the end it was the first time she had ever mentioned wanting to live in Los Angeles. With him.
    Bosch was smart enough to realize that these sentiments were expressed after two weeks of full-time attention from a father who began each day by asking what she wanted to do. It was far different from the full-time commitment of her mother, who raised her day after day while making a living for them. Still, the toughest day Bosch had ever had as a part-time father was the day he took his daughter back to the airport and put her on the plane to fly home alone. He half