The Black Box

come in almost an hour earlier.
    Detective Bosch: I have inquired further. Jannik Frej was the editor who worked with Anneke Jespersen because he was in charge of freelance projects. Mr. Frej did not speak directly to Los Angeles investigators and reporters in 1992 because his English skills were considered poor. Arne Haagan spoke at the time because his English skills were very high and he was editor of the newspaper.
    I have made contact with Mr. Frej and his English is not good. I offer my services as go-between if you have questions for him. If this is of help to you I am happy to do this. Please just let me know your answer.
    Bosch considered the offer. He knew there was an unspoken quid pro quo in Bonn’s seemingly innocent offer to help. He was a newspaperman and he was always looking for the story. Plus Bosch’s use of him as a go-between would give Bonn information that might be vital to the investigation. It was not a good place to be but Bosch felt the need to keep momentum going. He started typing a reply.
    Mr. Bonn, I would like to take you up on your offer if you can promise me that the information Mr. Frej provides will be kept confidential until I tell you it is okay to use in a newspaper story. If you can agree to that, here is what I would like to ask:
    Do you know if Anneke Jespersen flew to the United States to pursue a story?
    If yes, what was the story about? What was she doing here?
    What can you tell me about her destinations in the United States? She went to Atlanta and San Francisco before coming to L.A. Why? Do you know if she went to any other cities in the USA?
    Before her U.S. trip she went to Stuttgart, Germany, and stayed in a hotel near the U.S. military base. Do you know why?
    I think this is a good start and I would appreciate any information you can get in regard to Anneke’s trip here. Thank you for your help and once again please keep this information confidential.
    Bosch reread the email before sending it. He tapped the send button and immediately felt a sense of regret about involving Bonn, a journalist he had never met and had had only one conversation with.
    He turned away from the computer screen and checked the wall clock. It was almost four, which made it almost seven in Tampa. Bosch opened the murder book and got the number he had written on the inside cover for Gary Harrod, the now-retired detective who had run the Jespersen case for the Riot Crimes Task Force back in 1992. He had talked to Harrod when he had reopened the case. There had not been much to ask then but now there was.
    Bosch wasn’t sure if the number he had for Harrod was a home, cell, or work phone. He had retired as a young man at twenty years in, moved to Florida, where his wife was from, and now ran a successful real-estate firm.
    “This is Gary.”
    “Uh, hey, Gary, this is Harry Bosch in L.A. Remember we talked about the Jespersen case last month?”
    “Sure, Bosch, yes, of course.”
    “Do you have a couple minutes to talk or are you eating dinner?”
    “Dinner’s not for a half hour. Until then I’m all yours. Don’t tell me you solved the Snow White case already.”
    Bosch had told him in their first call that Anneke had been nicknamed Snow White by his partner on the night of the murder.
    “Not quite. I’m still fishing around on things. But a couple things have come up that I wanted to ask you about.”
    “Go ahead, shoot.”
    “Okay, the first thing is, the paper Jespersen worked for. Were you the one who made contact with the people in Denmark?”
    There was a long pause as Harrod probed his memory of the case. Bosch had never worked directly with Harrod but he knew of him back when he was with the department. He had a reputation as a solid investigator. It was the reason Bosch had chosen to contact him out of all of the investigators who’d had a piece of the case in those early years. He knew Harrod would help if he could and that he wouldn’t hold back information.
    Bosch always made the effort to touch base with the original investigators on cold cases. It was surprising how many were still infected with professional pride, reluctant to help another investigator solve a case they were unable to close themselves.
    Not so with Harrod. In their very first conversation, he revealed his guilt over not closing out the Jespersen case and many of the other riot murders he was assigned to. He said the task force was overwhelmed by too many cases with too little evidence to pursue.