A Darkness More Than Night

back and forth a couple times and Tafero smiled broadly. Bosch finally stopped and didn’t move until Tafero pushed by him.
    In the hall he looked around but didn’t see anyone he recognized. Then Terry McCaleb walked out of the men’s room and they nodded to each other. Bosch walked over to the railing in front of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out on the plaza below. McCaleb walked up.
    “I’ve got about two minutes, then I’ve got to get back in there.”
    “I just want to know if we can talk after court today. Things are happening and I need some time with you.”
    “I know things are happening. Two agents showed up here today.”
    “What did you tell them?”
    “To fuck off. It made them mad.”
    “Federal agents don’t take that sort of language that well, you should know that, Bosch.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m a slow learner.”
    “What about after?”
    “I’ll be around. Unless Fowkkes creams this wit. Then I don’t know, my team might have to retreat somewhere to lick our wounds.”
    “All right, then I’ll hang out, watch it on TV.”
    “Later.”
    Bosch went back into the courtroom, wondering what McCaleb had come up with so quickly. The jury was back and the judge was giving Fowkkes the go-ahead. The defense attorney waited politely as Bosch moved by him to get to the prosecution table. Then he began.
    “Now Ms. Crowe, is acting your full-time occupation?”
    “Yes.”
    “Have you been acting here today?”
    Langwiser immediately objected, angrily accusing Fowkkes of harassing the witness. Bosch thought her reaction was a bit extreme but knew she was sending a message to Fowkkes that she was going to defend her witness tooth and nail. The judge overruled the objection, saying Fowkkes was within bounds in cross-examining a witness hostile to his client.
    “No, I am not acting,” Crowe answered forcefully.
    Fowkkes nodded.
    “You testified that you have been in Hollywood three years.”
    “Yes.”
    “I counted five paying jobs you spoke of. Anything else?”
    “Not yet.”
    Fowkkes nodded.
    “Good to be hopeful. It’s very difficult to break in, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, very difficult, very discouraging.”
    “But you are on TV right now, aren’t you?”
    She hesitated a moment, the realization that she had walked into a trap showing on her face.
    “And so are you,” she said.
    Bosch almost smiled. It was the best answer she could have given.
    “Let’s talk about this… event that allegedly took place between you and Mr. Storey,” Fowkkes said. “This event is, in fact, something you concocted from newspaper stories following David Storey’s arrest, correct?”
    “No, not correct. He tried to kill me.”
    “So you say.”
    Langwiser stood up to object but before she did the judge admonished Fowkkes to keep such editorial comments to himself. The defense lawyer moved on.
    “Now, after Mr. Storey supposedly choked you to the point of unconsciousness, did you develop bruises on your neck?”
    “Yes, I had a bruise for almost a week. I had to stay inside. I couldn’t go to auditions or anything.”
    “And you took photographs of the bruise to document its existence, correct?”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “But you showed the bruise to your agent and friends, did you not?”
    “No.”
    “And why is that?”
    “Because I didn’t think it would ever come to this, where I would have to try to prove what he did. I just wanted it to go away and I didn’t want anyone to know.”
    “So we only have your word for the bruise, is that correct?”
    “Yes.”
    “Just as we only have your word for the entire alleged incident, correct?”
    “He tried to kill me.”
    “And you testified that when you got home that evening David Storey happened at that very moment to be leaving a message on your phone machine, correct?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “And you picked that call up – a call from the man you say tried to kill you. Do I have that right?”
    Fowkkes gestured as if grabbing a telephone. He held his hand up until she answered.
    “Yes.”
    “And you saved that message on that tape to document his words and what had happened to you, correct?”
    “No, I taped over it. By mistake.”
    “By mistake. You mean you left it in the machine and eventually taped over it?”
    “Yes. I didn’t want to but I forgot and it got taped over.”
    “You mean you forgot that someone tried to kill you and taped over it?”
    “No, I didn’t forget that he tried to kill