The Drop

turned. It was Rider.
    “Walk with me.”
    He wished she hadn’t said that line. But he followed when she turned and walked out the double doors to the hallway. Once they were alone she turned on him.
    “What’s going on? I have people in my office.”
    “We need to talk. Now.”
    “So talk.”
    “No, not here like this. Things are breaking. It’s going the way I warned you. The chief should know. Who’s in your office? Is it Irving?”
    “No, stop being paranoid.”
    “Then why are we talking out here?”
    “Because the office is busy and because it was you who demanded complete confidentiality on this. Give me ten minutes and meet me by Charlie Chaplin.”
    Bosch walked over and pushed the elevator button. There was only a down button.
    “I’ll be there.”
    It was a block’s walk to the Bradbury Building. Bosch went in the side door on Third and into the dimly lit stairwell vestibule. There was a bench there and next to it was a sculpture of Charlie Chaplin as his signature character, the Tramp. Bosch took a seat in the shadows next to Charlie and waited. The Bradbury was the oldest and most beautiful building in downtown. It housed private offices as well as LAPD offices, including the board of rights hearing rooms used by Internal Affairs. It was an odd choice for a surreptitious meeting, but it was the spot Bosch and Rider had used in the past. No discussion or direction was needed once Kiz had said meet me at Charlie Chaplin.
    Rider was almost ten minutes past the first ten minutes but that was okay with Bosch. He had used the time to construct the story he would tell her. It was complicated and still emerging, even improvisational.
    He had just finished walking himself through it when he felt the buzz of an incoming text on his phone. He pulled it from his pocket, half expecting the message to be a cancellation of the meeting from Rider. But it was from his daughter.

Having dinner and study hall at Ash’s. Her mom makes goooood pizza. K?

    He felt a slight pang of guilt because he welcomed the message. With his daughter taken care of for the evening, he had more time to work his cases. It also meant he could see Hannah Stone again if he could come up with a viable investigative reason. He sent back his approval but told his daughter she had to be home by ten. He told her to call if she needed a ride.
    Bosch was pocketing his phone when Rider came in, hesitated a moment while her eyes adjusted to the shadows and then sat down next to him.
    “Hi,” she said.
    “Hi,” he said.
    He waited a moment for her to settle but she wasn’t interested in wasting time.
    “Well?”
    “You ready?”
    “Of course. I’m here. Tell me the story.”
    “Well, it goes like this. George Irving has a consulting firm that is really an influence firm. He sells his influence, his connection to his father and the faction his father is part of on the city council. He—”
    “Do you have documentary evidence of this?”
    “Right now it’s just a story, Kiz, and it’s just you and me here. Let me tell it and then you can ask your questions when I’m done.”
    “Go ahead, then.”
    The door on Third opened and a uniformed officer walked in, took off his sunglasses and looked around, blindly at first and then focusing on Bosch and Rider and correctly sizing them up as cops.
    “Is this where the BORs are heard?” he asked.
    “Third floor,” Rider said.
    “Thank you.”
    “Good luck.”
    “Yeah.”
    Bosch waited until the cop left the vestibule and rounded the corner into the main lobby where the elevators were located.
    “Okay. So George sells influence with the council and by extension with all the different boards the council appoints. In some cases he can do even more than that. He can tilt the game.”
    “I don’t get it. How so?”
    “Do you know how taxi franchises are awarded in this city?”
    “Not a clue.”
    “By geographic zones and on two-year contracts. You come up for review every two years.”
    “All right.”
    “So I don’t know if George goes to them or they come to George, but there’s a franchise holder in South L.A. called Regent Taxi and they hire George to help them get a more lucrative franchise up in Hollywood, where there are highline hotels and tourists on the streets and lots more money to be made. The current franchise holder is Black and White Taxi.”
    “I think I know where this is going. But wouldn’t Councilman Irving have to be transparent on this? He’d