Echo Park

exactly.”
    “When was the last time you pulled the case and actively worked it?”
    “About five months ago. The last video I showed you the other night—that was the last time I worked it. I was just about to make another run at it.”
    “What did you do besides pull Garland in again?”
    “Everything. I talked to everybody. I knocked on all the same doors again. I only brought Garland in at the end.”
    “You think it was Garland who got to Olivas?”
    “For Olivas and maybe O’Shea to make a deal, it would have had to be somebody with juice. Lots of money and power. The Garlands have both.”
    The waiter came with their coffee and the check. Bosch put a credit card on it but the waiter had already left.
    “You want to at least split it?” Rachel asked. “You didn’t even eat.”
    “It’s okay. Hearing what you have to say makes it worth it.”
    “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
    “Only the ones who are federal agents.”
    She shook her head. He saw the doubt creep back into her eyes.
    “What?”
    “I don’t know, it’s just . . .”
    “Just what?”
    “What if you look at it from Waits’s view of things?”
    “And?”
    “It’s such a long shot, Harry. It’s like one of those mumbo-jumbo conspiracies. You take all the facts after it’s over and move them around to fit some far-fetched theory. Marilyn Monroe didn’t overdose, the Kennedys used the mob to kill her. Like that.”
    “So what about Waits’s point of view?”
    “I’m just saying, why would he do it? Why would he confess to a murder he didn’t commit?”
    Bosch made a dismissive gesture with his hands, as if he were pushing something away.
    “That’s an easy one, Rachel. He would do it because he had nothing to lose. He was already going down as the Echo Park Bagman. If he went to trial, he was no doubt going to get the Jesus juice, just like Olivas reminded him out there yesterday. So his only shot at living was to confess to his crimes, and if, say, the investigator and the prosecutor wanted him to add another killing in for good measure, what was Waits going to say about that? No deal? Don’t kid yourself, they had the leverage and if they told Waits to jump, he would’ve nodded his head and said, ‘On who?’”
    She nodded.
    “And there was something else,” Bosch added. “He knew there would be a field trip and I’ll bet that gave him hope. He knew he might get a shot at an escape. Once they told him that he’d be leading us through the woods, that shot got a little bigger and no doubt his cooperation got a little better. His whole motivation was probably getting to the field trip.”
    She nodded again. He couldn’t tell whether he had convinced her of anything. They were silent for a long moment. The waiter came and took his credit card. Lunch was over.
    “So what are you going to do?” she asked.
    “Like I told you, next stop Beachwood Canyon. After that, I’m going to find the man who can explain everything to me.”
    “O’Shea? He’ll never talk to you.”
    “I know. That’s why I’m not going to talk to him. Not yet, at least.”
    “You’re going to find Waits?”
    He could hear the doubt in her voice.
    “That’s right.”
    “He’s long gone, Harry. You think he would stay around here? He killed two cops. His life expectancy in L.A. is zero. You think he’d stick around with every person with a gun and badge in this county looking for him with a license to kill?”
    He nodded slowly.
    “He’s still here,” he said with conviction. “Everything you said is right, except you forgot one thing. He’s got the leverage now. When he escaped, the leverage shifted to Waits. And if he is smart, and it appears he is, he’ll use it. He’ll stick around and he’ll use O’Shea to maximum potential.”
    “You mean blackmail?”
    “Whatever. Waits carries the truth. He knows what went down. If he can make it believable that he’s a danger to O’Shea and his whole election machine, and if he can contact O’Shea, he can now make the candidate do the jumping.”
    She nodded.
    “You raise a good point about leverage,” she said. “What if this grand conspiracy of yours had gone down as planned? You know, Waits takes the fall for Gesto and all the others and heads off to Pelican Bay or San Quentin to do his life without. Then the conspirators have this guy sitting in a cell and he has all the answers—and the leverage. He’s still a danger to O’Shea and his whole political