Echo Park

talking about?”
    “Out there with the ladder. If you had been up top instead of me none of this would’ve happened. Because you wouldn’t have hesitated, Harry. You would’ve blown his shit away.”
    Bosch shook his head.
    “Nobody knows how they’re going to react in a situation until they’re in that situation.”
    “I froze.”
    “Look, go to sleep, Kiz. Get better and then make your decision. If you don’t come back I will understand. But I’m always going to be your backup, Kiz. No matter what happens and where you go.”
    She used her left hand to wipe her face.
    “Thanks, Harry.”
    She closed her eyes and he watched as she finally gave it up. She mumbled something he couldn’t understand and then was asleep. Bosch watched her for a while and thought about not having her as a partner anymore. They had worked well together, like family. He would miss it.
    He didn’t want to think about the future right now. He opened the murder book and decided to start reading about the past. He started from page one, the initial crime report.
    A few minutes later he had it covered and was about to turn to the witness reports when his phone began vibrating in his pocket. He walked out of the room to answer the call in the hallway. It was Lieutenant Randolph from the Officer Involved Shooting Unit.
    “Sorry we’re holding you off active while we take our time with this thing,” he said.
    “It’s all right. I know why.”
    “Yeah, a lot of pressure.”
    “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”
    “I was hoping maybe you’d take a ride down here to Parker Center and look at this videotape we’ve got.”
    “You have the tape from O’Shea’s cameraman?”
    There was a pause before Randolph answered.
    “We have
a
tape from him, yes. I’m not sure it’s a complete tape and that’s what I want you to look at. You know, tell us what might be missing. Can you come down?”
    “I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”
    “Good. I’ll be waiting. How’s your partner?”
    Bosch wondered if Randolph knew where he was.
    “She’s still hanging in. I’m at the hospital now but she’s still out of it.”
    He hoped to delay Rider’s OIS interview as long as possible. In a few days, once she was off the painkillers and clear of mind, maybe she’d think better of volunteering that she had frozen when Waits made his move.
    “We’re waiting to hear when we can interview her,” Randolph said.
    “Probably be a few days, I would think.”
    “Probably. Anyway, see you soon. Thanks for coming down.”
    Bosch closed the phone and went back into the room. He picked the murder book up off the chair where he had left it and checked on his partner. She was asleep. He quietly left the room.
    He made good time on the drive in and called Rachel to tell her that lunch looked good, since he was already going to be downtown. They agreed to go fancy and she said she would make a reservation at the Water Grill for noon. He said he would see her there.
    The OIS squad was on the third floor at Parker Center. It was at the opposite end of the building from the Robbery-Homicide Division. Randolph had a private office with video equipment set up on a stand. He was sitting behind the desk, while Osani was working with the equipment and getting ready to play the tape. Randolph motioned Bosch to the only other seat.
    “When did you get the tape?” Bosch asked.
    “It was delivered this morning. Corvin said it took him twenty-four hours to remember he had put it in one of those cargo pockets you mentioned. This, of course, came after I had reminded him I had a witness who saw the tape go in the pocket.”
    “And you think it’s been doctored?”
    “We’ll know for sure after I give it to SID but, yeah, it’s been edited. We found his camera at the crime scene, and Osani here was bright enough to write down the number on the counter. When you roll this tape the counter on the tape doesn’t match. About two minutes of tape are missing. Why don’t you roll it, Reggie.”
    Osani started the tape and Bosch watched as it began with the huddle of investigators and techs in the Sunset Ranch parking lot. Corvin had stayed close to O’Shea at all times and there was an uninterrupted flow of raw video footage which seemed to always keep the candidate for district attorney at center. This continued as the group followed Waits into the woods and until they all stopped at the top of the steep drop-off. Then it was clear there was a cut