Echo Park

take care of me. They let me take food to go and it’s not that kind of place.”
    “They’re the cooks?”
    “Chefs. Suzanne’s also the owner. I love sitting there at the bar and watching the people come in, watching their eyes scanning the place to see who’s who. A lot of celebrities go there. You also get the foodies and you get the regular people. They’re the most interesting.”
    “Somebody once said that if you circle around a murder long enough you get to know a city. Maybe it’s the same with sitting at the counter in a restaurant.”
    “And easier to do. Harry, are you changing the subject or are you going to tell me about Raynard Waits’s confession?”
    “I’m getting to it. I thought we’d finish eating first.”
    “That bad, huh?”
    “It’s not that. I think I just need a break from it. I don’t know.”
    She nodded like she understood. She poured more wine into their glasses.
    “I like the music. Who is this?”
    Bosch nodded, his mouth full once again.
    “I call this ‘miracle in a box.’ It’s John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk at Carnegie Hall. The concert was recorded in nineteen fifty-seven and the tape sat in an unmarked box in archives for almost fifty years. Just sat there, forgotten. Then some Library of Congress guy was going through all the boxes and performance tapes and recognized what they had there. They finally put this out last year.”
    “It’s nice.”
    “It’s more than nice. It’s a miracle to think it was there all that time. It took the right person to find it. To recognize it.”
    He looked at her eyes for a moment. He then looked down at his plate and saw he was down to his last bite.
    “What would you have done for dinner if I hadn’t called?” Rachel asked.
    Bosch looked back at her and shrugged. He finished eating and started telling her about Raynard Waits’s confession.
    “He’s lying,” she said when he was finished.
    “About the name? We’ve got that covered.”
    “No, about the plan. Rather, the lack of a plan. He tells you he just saw her in the Mayfair, followed her and grabbed her. Uh-uh, no way. I don’t buy that. The whole thing doesn’t feel like a spur-of-the-moment thing. There was a plan to this, whether he’s telling you or not.”
    Bosch nodded. He had the same misgivings about the confession.
    “We’ll know more tomorrow, I guess,” he said.
    “I wish I could be there.”
    Bosch shook his head.
    “I can’t make a federal case out of this. Besides, it’s not what you do anymore. Your own people wouldn’t let you go, even if you were invited.”
    “I know. I can still wish.”
    Bosch got up and started clearing the plates. They worked side by side at the sink and after everything was cleaned and put away they took the bottle out on the deck. There was enough left for them each to have a half glass.
    The evening chill drew them close to one another as they stood at the railing and looked down at the lights in the Cahuenga Pass.
    “Are you staying tonight?” Bosch asked.
    “Yes.”
    “You don’t have to call, you know. I’ll give you a key. Just come up.”
    She turned and looked at him. He put his arm around her waist.
    “That fast? Are you saying all is forgiven?”
    “There’s nothing to forgive. The past is past and life’s too short. You know, all of those clichés.”
    She smiled and they sealed it with a kiss. They finished their wine and went inside to the bedroom. They made love slowly and quietly. At one point Bosch opened his eyes and looked at her and lost his rhythm. She noticed.
    “What?” she whispered.
    “Nothing. It’s just that you keep your eyes open.”
    “I’m looking at you.”
    “No, you’re not.”
    She smiled and turned her face away from him.
    “This is sort of an awkward time for a discussion,” she said.
    He smiled and used his hand to turn her face to his. He kissed her and they both kept their eyes open now. Halfway through the kiss they started laughing.
    Bosch craved the intimacy and reveled in the escape it brought. He knew she knew this, too. Her gift to him was in taking him away from the world. And that was why the past no longer mattered. He closed his eyes but didn’t stop smiling.

Part Two

THE FIELD TRIP

14

    IT SEEMED TO BOSCH to take forever to amass the motorcade, but by 10:30 Wednesday morning the entourage was finally pulling out of the basement garage of the Criminal Courts Building.
    The first car in line was unmarked. It was driven by