Echo Park

saw her moving through the living room, weapon up in a two-handed grip. He stepped into the kitchen and saw that it was clean and neat, without a dish in the sink. The radio was on the counter. The speaker was telling his listeners that those who did not believe would be left behind.
    There was another archway leading from the kitchen to the dining room. Rachel came through it, pointed her gun up when she saw Bosch and shook her head.
    Nothing.
    That left the hallway leading to the bedrooms and the rest of the house. Bosch turned and went back through the archway to the entry area. When he turned toward the hallway he was startled to see an old woman sitting in a wheelchair in the threshold to the hallway. On her lap she was holding a long-barrel revolver. It looked like it was too heavy for her frail arm to hold up.
    “Who’s there?” she said forcefully.
    Her head was turned at an angle. Though her eyes were open they were focused on the floor instead of Bosch. It was her ear that was trained toward him and he knew she was blind.
    He raised his gun and pointed it at her.
    “Mrs. Saxon? Take it easy. My name is Harry Bosch. I’m just looking for Robert.”
    A look of puzzlement played on her features.
    “Who?”
    “Robert Foxworth. Is he here?”
    “You’ve got the wrong place, and how dare you come in here without knocking.”
    “I—”
    “Bobby uses the garage. I don’t let him use the house. All those chemicals, it smells awful.”
    Bosch started edging toward her, his eyes on the gun the whole time.
    “I’m sorry, Mrs. Saxon. I thought he was up here. Has he been here lately?”
    “He comes and goes. He comes up here to give me the rent, that’s all.”
    “For the garage?”
    He was getting closer.
    “That’s what I said. What do you want him for? Are you his friend?”
    “I just want to talk to him.”
    Bosch reached down and took the gun out of her hand.
    “Hey! That’s my protection.”
    “It’s all right, Mrs. Saxon. I’ll give it back. I just think it needs to be cleaned up a little. And oiled. This way it will be sure to work in case you ever really need to use it.”
    “I need it.”
    “I’m going to take it down to the garage and get Bobby to clean it. Then I’ll bring it back.”
    “You better.”
    Bosch checked the gun. It was loaded and appeared operational. He put it into the waistband at the back of his pants and looked at Rachel. She was standing three feet behind him in the entryway. She made a movement with her hand, pantomiming turning a key. Bosch understood.
    “Do you have a key to the garage door, Mrs. Saxon?” he asked.
    “No. Bobby came and got the extra key.”
    “Okay, Mrs. Saxon. I’ll check with him.”
    He moved toward the front door. Rachel joined him and they went out. Halfway down the steps to the garage, Rachel grabbed his arm and whispered.
    “We have to call backup. Now!”
    “Go ahead and call but I’m going into the garage. If he’s in there with the girl, we can’t wait.”
    He shook off her grip and continued down. When he got to the garage he looked once again through the windows on the top panels and saw no movement inside. His eyes focused on the door on the rear wall. It was still closed.
    He moved over to the pedestrian door and opened the blade of a small folding knife that was attached to his key ring.
    Bosch went to work on the door’s lock and got the blade across the tongue. He nodded to Rachel to be ready and pulled the door open. But it didn’t come. He tried it again and pulled hard. Again the door would not come open.
    “There’s an inside lock,” he whispered. “It means he’s in there.”
    “No, it doesn’t. He could’ve come out through one of the garage doors.”
    He shook his head.
    “They’re locked from the inside,” he whispered. “All the doors are locked from the inside.”
    Rachel understood and nodded.
    “What do we do?” she whispered back.
    Bosch thought about things for a moment and then handed her his keys.
    “Go back and get the car. When you get up here, park it with the rear end right here. Then pop the trunk.”
    “What are you—”
    “Just do it. Go!”
    She ran down the sidewalk in front of the garages and then crossed the street and dropped from sight down the hill. Bosch moved toward the pull-up door that looked like it had closed awkwardly. It was out of alignment and he knew it would be the better of the two doors to try to breach.
    Bosch heard the Mustang’s big engine