A Darkness More Than Night

took a position directly behind the lawyer to cover his back. He was striking and McCaleb thought he recognized him but he couldn’t think from where. He looked like one of the actors Storey normally put in his films.
    The prosecutors came out and soon had their own knot of reporters to deal with. Their answers were shorter than the defense lawyer’s. They often declined to comment when asked questions about the evidence they would present.
    McCaleb watched for Bosch and finally saw him slip out last. Bosch skirted the crowd by staying close to the wall and headed toward the elevators. One reporter moved in on him but he held up his hand and waved her away. She stopped and moved back like a loose molecule to the pack standing around J. Reason Fowkkes.
    McCaleb followed Bosch down the hall and caught him when he stopped to wait for an elevator.
    “Hey, Harry Bosch.”
    Bosch turned, already putting on his no-comment face, when he saw it was McCaleb.
    “Hey… McCaleb.”
    He smiled. The men shook hands.
    “Looks like the world’s worst eight-by-ten case,” McCaleb said.
    “You’re telling me. What are you doing here? Don’t tell me you’re writing a book on this thing.”
    “What?”
    “All these ex-bureau guys writing books nowadays.”
    “Nah, that’s not me. Actually, though, I was hoping I could maybe buy you lunch. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
    Bosch looked at his watch and was deciding something.
    “Edward Gunn.”
    Bosch looked up at him.
    “Jaye Winston?”
    McCaleb nodded.
    “She asked me to take a look.”
    The elevator came and they stepped onto it with a crowd of people who had been in the courtroom. They all seemed to be looking at Bosch while trying not to show it. McCaleb decided not to continue until they were off.
    On the first floor they headed toward the exit.
    “I told her I’d profile it. A quick one. To do it I need to get a handle on Gunn. I thought maybe you could tell me about that old case and about what kind of guy he was.”
    “He was a scumbag. Look, I have about forty-five minutes max. I need to get on the road. I’m running down wits today, making sure everybody’s ready to go after openers.”
    “I’ll take the forty-five if you can spare it. Any place to eat around here?”
    “Forget the cafeteria here – it’s awful. There’s a Cupid’s up on Victory.”
    “You cops always eat at the best.”
    “It’s why we do what we do.”

Chapter 10
    They ate their hot dogs at an outdoor table without an umbrella. Though it was a mildly warm winter day, McCaleb found himself sweating. On any given day the Valley could be counted on to be fifteen to twenty degrees warmer than Catalina and he wasn’t used to the change. His internal heating and cooling systems had never been normal since the transplant and he was prone to quick chills and sweats.
    He began with some small talk about Bosch’s current case.
    “You ready to become Hollywood Harry with this case?”
    “Yeah, no thanks,” Bosch said between bites of what was billed as a Chicago dog. “I think I’d rather be on midnight shift in the Seventy-seventh.”
    “Well, you think you got it together? You got him?”
    “Never know. The DA’s office hasn’t won a big one since disco. I don’t know how it will go. The lawyers all say it depends on the jury. I always thought it was the quality of the evidence but I’m just a dumb detective. John Reason brought in O. J.’s jury consultant and they’re acting pretty happy with the twelve in the box. Shit, John Reason. See, I’m even calling the guy by the name the reporters use. It shows how good he is at controlling things, sculpting things.”
    He shook his head and took another bite of his lunch.
    “Who is the big guy I saw him with?” McCaleb asked. “The guy standing behind him like Lurch.”
    “Rudy Valentino, his investigator.”
    “That’s his name?”
    “No, it’s Rudy Tafero. He’s former LAPD. He worked Hollywood detectives until a few years back. People in the bureau called him Valentino ’cause of his looks. He got off on it. Anyway, he went private. Has a bail bonds license. Don’t ask me how but he started getting security contracts with a lot of Hollywood people. He showed up on this one right after we popped Storey. In fact, Rudy brought Storey to Fowkkes. Probably got a nice finder’s fee for that.”
    “And how about the judge? How’s he going to be?”
    Bosch nodded as if he had found something