A Darkness More Than Night

put the documents in their correct order. Instead, he would read them in the random order they were now in. Doing it this way he would avoid thinking about the flow of the investigation and how one step followed the other. He would simply have each report to consider as a single piece of the puzzle. It was a simple mind trick but he had done it before on cases with the bureau. Sometimes it shook something new out, something he had previously missed.
    He checked his watch again and began with the first document on the pile. It was the autopsy protocol.

Chapter 32
    McCaleb walked briskly to the front steps of the El Encanto. He saw his golf cart parked at the curb. Mostly, the carts on the island looked the same, but he could identify his because of the baby seat with the pink-and-white cushioning. His family was still here.
    He went up the steps and the hostess, recognizing him as a local, pointed to the table where his family was seated. He hurried over and pulled out a chair next to Graciela. They were close to being finished. He noticed that the waitress had already left the check on the table.
    “Sorry I’m late.”
    He took a chip out of the basket at the center of the table and dragged it through the salsa and guacamole bowls before shoving it into his mouth. Graciela looked at her watch and then pierced him with her deep brown eyes. He weathered it and got ready for the next one which he knew was surely coming.
    “I can’t stay.”
    She loudly put her fork down on her plate. She was finished.
    “Terry…”
    “I know, I know. But something’s come up. I have to go across tonight.”
    “What could’ve possibly come up? You’re off the case. It’s Sunday. People are watching football, not running around trying to solve murders that they’re not even asked to.”
    She pointed to a television mounted in the upper corner of the room. Three talking heads with thick necks sat at a counter with a football field behind them. McCaleb knew that the day’s game would determine the Super Bowl contenders. He couldn’t care less, though he did suddenly remember he had promised Raymond that they would watch at least one of the games together.
    “I have been asked, Graciela.”
    “What are you talking about? You said they asked you off the case.”
    He told her about discovering Bosch on the boat that morning and what he had asked McCaleb to do.
    “And this is the guy you told Jaye probably did it?”
    McCaleb nodded.
    “How’d he know where you lived?”
    “He didn’t. He knew about the boat, not where we live. You don’t have to worry about that.”
    “I think I do. Terry, you are going too far with this and you are going completely blind to the dangers to yourself and your family. I think -”
    “Really? I think -”
    He stopped and reached into his pocket and pulled out two quarters. He turned to Raymond.
    “Raymond, are you finished eating?”
    “Yeah.”
    “You mean yes?”
    “Yes.”
    “Okay, take these. Go play the video machine over there by the bar.”
    The boy took the quarters.
    “You’re excused.”
    Raymond hesitantly hopped down and then trotted into the next room where there were tabletop video games that they had played before. He chose a game McCaleb knew was Pac-Man and sat down. He was not out of McCaleb’s sight.
    McCaleb looked back at Graciela, who had her purse up on her lap and was taking money out and putting it down on the check.
    “Graciela, forget about that. Look at me.”
    She finished with the money and pushed her wallet back into the purse. She looked at him.
    “We have to go. CiCi has to take her nap.”
    The baby was in her bouncing chair on the table, one hand grasping the blue-and-white ball on the wire.
    “She’s fine. She can sleep right there. Just listen to me for a minute.”
    He waited and she put a conceding look on her face.
    “All right. Say what you have to say and then I have to leave.”
    McCaleb turned and leaned close to Graciela so that his words would be heard only by her. He noticed the edge of one of her ears poking through her hair.
    “We are heading toward a big problem here, aren’t we?”
    Graciela nodded and immediately the tears came down her cheeks. It was as if his saying the words out loud had knocked down the thin defensive mechanism she had constructed inside to protect herself and her marriage. McCaleb pulled the unused napkin out from beneath his silverware setting and handed it to her. He then put his hand on the back of