The Black Echo

about business. We’ll just have to go down there.”
    He stood up. Outside the office, while they waited for the elevator, Bosch told her about Binh, his rank, and the fact that he left Vietnam on the same day as Meadows. The elevator opened and they got on and she pushed seven. They were alone.
    “You knew all along, that I was being tailed,” Bosch said. “Internal Affairs.”
    “I saw them.”
    “But you knew before you saw them, didn’t you?”
    “Does it make a difference?”
    “I think it does. Why didn’t you tell me?”
    She took a while. The elevator stopped.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t at first, and then when I wanted to tell you I couldn’t. I thought it would spoil everything. I guess it did, anyway.”
    “Why didn’t you at first, Eleanor? Because there was still a question about me?”
    She looked into the stainless steel corner of the elevator. “In the beginning, yes, we weren’t sure about you. I won’t lie about that.”
    “What about after the beginning?”
    The door opened on the seventh floor. Eleanor moved through it, saying, “You’re still here, aren’t you?”
    Bosch stepped out after her. He took hold of her arm and stopped her. They stood there as two men in almost matching gray suits charged through the open elevator door.
    “Yes, I’m still here, but you didn’t tell me about them.”
    “Harry, can we talk about this later?”
    “The thing is, they saw us with Sharkey.”
    “Yes, I thought so.”
    “Well, why didn’t you say anything when I was talking about the inside man, when I was asking about who you told about the kid?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Bosch looked down at his feet. He felt like the only man on the planet who didn’t understand what was going on.
    “I talked to them,” he said. “They claim they just watched us with the kid. They never followed up to see what it was about. Said they didn’t have his ID. Sharkey’s name wasn’t in their reports.”
    “And do you believe them?”
    “Never have before. But I don’t see them involved in this. It just doesn’t fit. They’re just after me and they’ll do anything to get me. But not take out a witness. That’s crazy.”
    “Maybe they’re feeding information to someone who is involved and they just don’t realize it.”
    Bosch thought about Irving and Pounds again.
    “A possibility. The point is, there is an inside man. Somewhere. We know this. And it might be from my side. It might be yours. So we have to be very careful, about who we talk to and what we’re doing.”
    After a moment he looked straight into her eyes and said, “Do you believe me?”
    It took her a long time, but she finally nodded her head. She said, “I can’t think of any other way to explain what’s happening.”

    ***

    Eleanor went up to a receptionist while Bosch hung back a bit. After a few minutes a young woman came out from a closed door and showed them down a couple of hallways and into a small office. No one was sitting behind the desk. They sat in two chairs facing the desk and waited.
    “Who is this we’re seeing?” Bosch whispered.
    “I’ll introduce you, and he can tell you what he wants you to know about him,” she said.
    Bosch was about to ask her what that meant when the door opened and a man strode in. He looked to be about fifty, with silvery hair that was carefully groomed and a strong build beneath the blue blazer. The man’s gray eyes were as dull as day-old barbecue coals. He sat down and did not look at Bosch. He kept his eyes exclusively on Eleanor Wish.
    “Ellie, good to see you again,” he said. “How are you doing?”
    She said she was doing fine, exchanged a few pleasantries and then got around to introducing Bosch. The man got up and reached across the desk to shake hands.
    “Bob Ernst, assistant deputy, trade and development, nice to meet you. So this is an official visit then, not just dropping by to see an old friend?”
    “Yes, I’m sorry, Bob, but we are working on something and need some help.”
    “Whatever I can do, Ellie,” Ernst said. He was annoying Bosch, and Bosch had only known him a minute.
    “Bob, we need to background somebody whose name has come up on a case we are working,” Wish said. “I think you are in a position that you could get that information for us without a great deal of inconvenience or time.”
    “That’s our problem,” Bosch added. “It’s a homicide case. We don’t have a lot of time to go