Echo Park

downtown. Bosch entered the DWP garage and parked in one of the visitor slots. He popped the trunk and went to the surveillance kit he always kept in the car. He got out a pair of high-powered binoculars, a surveillance camera and a rolled-up sleeping bag.
    “What are you going to take pictures of?” Walling asked.
    “Nothing. But it’s got a long lens and you might want to look through it while I use the binocs.”
    “And the sleeping bag?”
    “We might be lying on the roof. I don’t want your fancy federal suit to get dirty.”
    “Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.”
    “I’m worried about that girl Waits grabbed. Let’s go.”
    They headed across the garage floor toward the elevators.
    “Did you notice that you still call him Waits, even though we are now sure his name is Foxworth?” she asked when they were going up.
    “Yeah, I have noticed. I think it’s because when we were face-to-face he was Waits. When he started shooting, he was Waits. And it just sort of stuck.”
    She nodded and didn’t say anything else about it, though he guessed that she probably had a psychological angle on it.
    When they reached the lobby Bosch went to an information desk, showed his badge and credentials and asked to see a security supervisor. He told the desk man that it was urgent.
    In less than two minutes a tall black man in gray pants and a navy blazer over his white shirt and tie came through a door and directly toward them. This time Bosch and Walling both showed their creds and the man appeared properly impressed by the federal-local tandem.
    “Hieronymus,” he said, reading Bosch’s police ID. “Do you go by Harry?”
    “That’s right.”
    The man put out his hand and smiled.
    “Jason Edgar. I believe you and my cousin were partners once.”
    Bosch smiled, not just because of the coincidence but because he knew it meant that he would have this man’s cooperation. He put the sleeping bag under his other arm and shook his hand.
    “That’s right. He told me he had a cousin with DWP . You used to get him billing info when we needed it. Nice to meet you.”
    “Likewise, man. What do we have here? If the FBI’s involved, are we talking about a terrorism situation?”
    Rachel raised a hand in a calming gesture.
    “Not quite,” she said.
    “Jason, we’re just looking for a place where we can look down on a neighborhood across the freeway in Echo Park. There’s a house we’re interested in and we can’t get close to it without being obvious about it, know what I mean? We were thinking that maybe from one of the offices here or from the roof we could get an angle and just see what’s happening over there.”
    “I’ve got just the spot,” Edgar said without hesitation. “Follow me.”
    He led them back to the elevators and had to use a key to get the fifteenth-floor button to light. On the way up he explained that the building was going through a floor-by-floor renovation. At the moment the work had moved to the fifteenth floor. The floor had been gutted and was empty, waiting for the contractor to come in to rebuild according to the renovation plan.
    “You can have the whole floor to yourselves,” he said. “Pick any angle you want for an OP.”
    Bosch nodded. OP, as in observation point. That told him something about Jason Edgar.
    “Where’d you serve?” he asked.
    “Marines, Desert Storm, the whole shebang. That’s why I didn’t join the PD. Had my fill of war zones. This gig is pretty much nine to five, low stress and just interesting enough, if you know what I mean.”
    Bosch didn’t but nodded anyway. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out onto a floor that was wide open from glass exterior to glass exterior. Edgar led them toward the glass wall that would look down on Echo Park.
    “What’s the case about, anyway?” Edgar asked as they approached.
    Bosch knew it would come to this. He was ready with an answer.
    “There’s a place down there we think is being used as a safe house for fugitives. We just want to see if there is anything there to be seen. You know what I mean?”
    “Sure do.”
    “There’s something else you can do to help us,” Walling said.
    Bosch turned to her along with Edgar. He was just as curious.
    “What do you need?” Edgar said.
    “Could you run the address through your computers and tell us who is paying for utilities?”
    “Not a problem. Let me just get you situated here first.”
    Bosch nodded to Rachel. It was a good