City Of Bones

night.”
    “I don’t really care, Harry. I’ll see you tonight.”
    “Hey, look, you should care. Cops can be brutal.”
    She made a face.
    “Oh, police brutality, yeah, I’ve heard of it.”
    “I’m serious. It’s also against regs. On my part. I’m a D-three. Supervisor level.”
    She looked at him a moment.
    “Well, that’s your call, then. I’ll see you tonight. I hope.”
    She got out and closed the door. Bosch drove on to his assigned parking slot and went into the detective bureau, trying not to think of the complications he might have just invited into his life.
    It was deserted in the squad room, which was what he was hoping for. He wanted time alone with the case. There was still a lot of office work to do but he also wanted to step back and think about all the evidence and information that had been accumulated since the discovery of the bones.
    The first thing to do was put together a list of what needed to be done. The murder book-the blue binder containing all written reports pertaining to the case-had to be completed. He had to draw up search warrants seeking medical records of brain surgeries at local hospitals. He had to run routine computer checks on all the residents living in the vicinity of the crime scene on Wonderland. He also had to read through all the call-in tips spawned by the media coverage of the bones on the hill and start gathering missing person and runaway reports that might match the victim.
    He knew it was more than a day’s work if he labored by himself but decided to keep with his decision to allow Edgar the day off. His partner, the father of a thirteen-year-old boy, had been greatly upset by Golliher’s report the day before and Bosch wanted him to take a break. The days ahead would likely be long and just as emotionally upsetting.
    Once Bosch had his list together he took his cup out of a drawer and went back to the watch office to get coffee. The smallest he had on him was a five-dollar bill but he put it in the coffee fund basket without taking any change. He figured he’d be drinking more than his share through the day.
    “You know what they say?” someone said behind him as he was filling the cup.
    Bosch turned. It was Mankiewicz, the watch sergeant.
    “About what?”
    “Fishing off the company dock.”
    “I don’t know. What do they say?”
    “I don’t know either. That’s why I was asking you.”
    Mankiewicz smiled and moved toward the machine to warm up his cup.
    So already it was starting to get around, Bosch thought. Gossip and innuendo-especially anything with a sexual tone-moved through a police station like a fire racing up a hill in August.
    “Well, let me know when you find out,” Bosch said as he started for the door of the watch office. “Could be useful to know.”
    “Will do. Oh, and one other thing, Harry.”
    Bosch turned, ready for another shot from Mankiewicz.
    “What?”
    “Just stop fooling around and wrap up your case. I’m tired of my guys having to take all the calls.”
    There was a facetious tone in his voice. In his humor and sarcasm was a legitimate complaint about his officers on the desk being tied up by the tip calls.
    “Yeah, I know. Any good ones today?”
    “Not that I could tell, but you’ll get to slog through the reports and use your investigative wiles to decide that.”
    “Wiles?”
    “Yes, wiles. Like Wile E. Coyote. Oh, and CNN must’ve had a slow morning and picked up the story-good video, all you brave guys on the hill with your makeshift stairs and little boxes of bones. So now we’re getting the long-distance calls. Topeka and Providence so far this morning. It’s not going to end until you clear it, Harry. We’re all counting on you back here.”
    Again there was a smile-and a message-behind what he was saying.
    “All right, I’ll use all my wiles. I promise, Mank.”
    “That’s what we’re counting on.”
    Back at the table Bosch sipped his coffee and let the details of the case move through his mind. There were anomalies, contradictions. There were the conflicts between location choice and method of burial noticed by Kathy Kohl. But the conclusions made by Golliher added even more to the list of questions. Golliher saw it as a child abuse case. But the backpack full of clothes was an indication that the victim, the boy, was possibly a runaway.
    Bosch had spoken to Edgar about it the day before when they returned to the station from the SID lab. His partner was not as sure of the