Angels Flight

at the station.”
    Stocks and Bonds was a storefront bail bond agency across from the Hollywood station on Wilcox. Bosch had heard they were looking for a skip tracer, preferably female because a good portion of the bail jumpers out of Hollywood station were prostitutes and a female tracer stood a better chance of running them down. He had gone over and talked to the owner, Charlie Scott, about it and he had agreed to consider Eleanor for the job. Bosch was honest about her background, both good and bad. Former FBI agent on the plus side, convicted felon being the minus. Scott said he didn’t believe the criminal record would be a problem – the position did not require a state private investigator’s license, which Eleanor could not qualify for with a record. The problem was that he liked his tracers to be armed – especially a woman – when they went looking for bail jumpers. Bosch didn’t share the concern. He knew that most skip tracers were unlicensed to carry weapons but did so anyway. The true art of the craft, though, was never to get close enough to your quarry to make having or not having a weapon a question. The best tracers located their quarry from a safe distance and then called the cops in to make the pickup.
    “Don’t talk to him, Harry. I think he was just trying to do you a favor but reality hit him between when he told you to send me in and when I arrived. Just let it go.”
    “But you’d be good at that.”
    “That’s beside the point.”
    Bosch stood up.
    “I’ve got to get ready.”
    He went into the bedroom and stripped off his clothes, took another shower and then dressed in a fresh suit. Eleanor was in the same position on the couch when he came back out to the living room.
    “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” he said, not looking at her. “We’ve got a lot to do. Plus the bureau’s coming in tomorrow.”
    “The bureau?”
    “Civil rights. The chief made the call.”
    “He thinks it will keep things calm down south.”
    “He hopes.”
    “Do you have a name of who is coming over?”
    “Not really. There was an assistant SAC at the press conference today.”
    “What was his name?”
    “Gilbert Spencer. But I doubt he’ll be involved anymore.”
    Eleanor shook her head.
    “He’s after my time. He probably just came for the show.”
    “Yeah. He’s supposed to send a team over tomorrow morning.”
    “Good luck.”
    He looked at her and nodded.
    “I don’t have the number yet. If you need me just use the pager.”
    “Okay, Harry.”
    He stood there for a few moments before finally asking her what he wanted to ask all along.
    “Are you going to go back?”
    She looked back out through the doors.
    “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    “Eleanor…”
    “Harry, you have your addiction. I have mine.”
    “What’s that mean?”
    “You know that feeling you get when you pull up on a new case? That little thrill you get when you’re back in the hunt? You know what I’m talking about. Well, I don’t have that anymore. And the closest thing I’ve found to it is when I pick those five cards up off the felt and see what I’ve got. It is hard to explain and even harder to understand, but I feel like I’m alive again then, Harry. We’re all junkies. It’s just different drugs. I wish I had yours, but I don’t.”
    Bosch just stared at her a moment. He wasn’t sure he could say anything without his voice betraying him. He moved to the door, looking back at her once he had it open. He moved through it but then stepped back.
    “You break my heart, Eleanor. I always hoped that I could make you feel alive again.”
    Eleanor closed her eyes. She looked as though she might cry.
    “I’m so sorry, Harry,” she whispered. “I should never have said that.”
    Bosch stepped silently through the door and closed it behind him.

Chapter 17
    BOSCH was still feeling emotionally bruised when he got to Howard Elias’s office a half hour later. The door was locked and he knocked. He was about to use the keys to open it when he saw movement behind the glazed glass. Carla Entrenkin opened the door and allowed him in. He could tell by the way she appraised him that she noticed he was wearing a different suit.
    “I got to take a little break,” he said. “I think we’ll be working a good part of the night. Where’s Miss Langwiser?”
    “We finished and I sent her home. I said I would wait for you. It’s only been a few minutes.”
    She led him back to Elias’s office and