City Of Bones

Bill Golliher.
    “Nineteen eighty? That’s not going to work with Trent. I checked the reverses and property records. He wasn’t on that street until ’eighty-four. Like he said last night.”
    “Something tells me he isn’t our guy.”
    Bosch thought about the skateboard again. It wasn’t enough to alter his gut feeling.
    “Tell that to Channel Four.”
    Bosch’s phone rang. It was Rider.
    “He just went to the can.”
    “You tell him about the press conference?”
    “I told him everything. He kept asking questions, the dipshit.”
    “Well, if he tells her that everybody will have it at four, she’ll go out with the exclusive on the noon news. I’m going to go watch.”
    “Let me know.”
    He hung up and checked his watch. He still had a few minutes. He looked at Edgar.
    “By the way, IAD is in one of the rooms back there. We’re under investigation.”
    Edgar’s jaw dropped. Like most cops, he resented Internal Affairs because even when you did a good and honest job, the IAD could still be on you for any number of things. It was like the Internal Revenue Service, the way just seeing a letter with the IRS return address in the corner was enough to pull your guts into a knot.
    “Relax. It’s about the Channel Four thing. We should be clear of it in a few minutes. Come with me.”
    They went into Lt. Billets’s office, where there was a small television on a stand. She was doing paperwork at her desk.
    “You mind if we check out Channel Four’s noon report?” Bosch asked.
    “Be my guest. I’m sure Captain LeValley and Chief Irving are going to be watching as well.”
    The news program opened with a report on a sixteen-car pileup in the morning fog on the Santa Monica Freeway. It wasn’t that significant a story-no one was killed-but they had good video, so it led the program. But the “dog bone” case had moved up to second billing. The anchor said they were going to Judy Surtain with another exclusive report.
    The program cut to Surtain sitting at a desk in the Channel 4 newsroom.
    “Channel Four has learned that the bones found in Laurel Canyon have been identified as those of a ten-year-old runaway from New Orleans.”
    Bosch looked at Edgar and then at Billets, who was rising from her seat with an expression of surprise on her face. Bosch put out his hand as if to signal her to wait a moment.
    “The parents of the boy, who reported him missing more than twenty-five years ago, are en route to Los Angeles to meet with police. The remains were identified through dental records. Later today, the chief of police is expected to hold a press conference where he will identify the boy and discuss the investigation. As reported by Channel Four last night, police are focusing on-”
    Bosch turned the TV off.
    “Harry, Jerry, what’s going on?” Billets asked immediately.
    “All of that was bogus. I was smoking out the leak.”
    “Who?”
    “Kiz’s new partner. A guy named Rick Thornton.”
    Bosch explained what Rider had explained to him earlier. He then outlined the scam he had just pulled.
    “Where’s the IAD detective?” Billets asked.
    “One of the interview rooms. She’s listening to a tape I had of me and the reporter last night.”
    “A tape? Why didn’t you tell me about it last night?”
    “I forgot about it last night.”
    “All right, I’ll take it from here. You feel Kiz is clean on this?”
    Bosch nodded.
    “She has to trust her partner enough to tell him anything. He took that trust and gave it to Channel Four. I don’t know what he’s getting in return but it doesn’t matter. He’s fucking with my case.”
    “All right, Harry, I said I would handle it. You go back to the case. Anything new I should know about?”
    “We’ve got a possible ID-this one legit-that we’ll be running down today.”
    “What about Trent?”
    “We’re letting that sit until we find out if this is the kid. If it is, the timing is wrong. The kid disappeared in nineteen eighty. Trent didn’t move into the neighborhood until four years later.”
    “Great. Meantime, we’ve taken his buried secret and put it on TV. Last I heard from patrol, the media was camped in his driveway.”
    Bosch nodded.
    “Talk to Thornton about it,” he said.
    “Oh, we will.”
    She sat down behind her desk and picked up the phone. It was their cue to leave. On the way back to the table Bosch asked Edgar if he had pulled the file on Trent’s conviction.
    “Yeah, I got it. It was a weak case.