The Drop

since then to trying to understand where the impulse in him had come from. Was it genetic, was it nature, was it nurture? It was a form of prison in itself for Hannah, and Bosch had felt sympathy as she told him the ugly story.
    But now he wasn’t sure what she wanted from him besides his sympathy. Was he supposed to say her son’s crime was not her fault? Or that her son wasn’t evil? Or was she hoping for some sort of concrete help in terms of her son’s incarceration? Bosch didn’t know because she hadn’t said.
    “Nothing,” she said. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want it to ruin anything, that’s all.”
    That eased things for him a small bit.
    “Then don’t let it, Hannah. Just let things happen. We’ve only known each other a few days. We like to be with each other but maybe we moved too quickly. Let’s just let things happen and don’t bring this other stuff into it. Not yet.”
    “But I have to. He’s my son. Do you have any idea what it’s like to live with what he did and to think about him up there?”
    The grip inside tightened again and he understood that he had made a mistake with this woman. His loneliness and his own need for connection had led him down the wrong path. He had waited so long and now had chosen so wrong.
    “Hannah,” he said. “I’m in the middle of stuff here. Can we talk about all of this later?”
    “Whatever.”
    It was said as an invective. She might as well have said Fuck you, Bosch . The message was the same. But he acted like he had not received it.
    “Okay. I’ll call you as soon as I’m clear. Good-bye, Hannah.”
    “Good-bye, Harry.”
    Bosch disconnected and fought the urge to throw the phone out the car window. His thinking that Hannah Stone could be the one he brought into the life he shared with his daughter had been a fool’s dream. He had moved too quickly. He had dreamed too quickly.
    He shoved the phone into his coat pocket and buried his thoughts about Hannah Stone and failed romance as deep as George Irving had just been put in the ground.

26

    B osch entered the empty cubicle and immediately saw the stack of large envelopes on Chu’s desk. He put his briefcase down on his own desk but then went over to Chu’s and spread the envelopes across his blotter. Chu had received the statements and other records from George Irving’s credit cards. Going back and checking all credit-card purchases was an important component of a thorough death investigation. Their findings would become part of the victim’s financial profile.
    The bottom envelope was the thinnest and was from the crime lab. Bosch opened this one, wondering which case it was in regard to.
    The envelope contained the report on the analysis of George Irving’s shirt. Forensic testing determined that the navy blue dress shirt contained blood and cellular material—skin—on the inside right shoulder panel. This was consistent with the crescent moon–shaped bruises and lacerations found on Irving’s shoulder during the autopsy.
    Bosch sat down at Chu’s desk and studied the report and considered what it meant. He realized it could indicate at least two scenarios. One was that Irving was wearing the shirt when he was choked out and the injury to the skin on his shoulder occurred when the choker’s watch pushed the shirt against his skin. The second was that the shirt was put on after the wounds occurred and the blood and skin were transferred.
    Two things led Bosch to discount the second scenario. The button found on the floor indicated there might have been a struggle while Irving was still wearing the shirt. And because Irving had plunged naked to his death, it seemed highly unlikely that the shirt was put on over the wound and then removed again.
    Bosch zeroed in on the first scenario. It suggested that Irving was surprised from behind and locked into a choke hold. There was a struggle. The button was torn from the right sleeve and the choker moved into the shoulder creep maneuver to control the victim. The bruises and surface abrasions occurred despite the shirt.
    Bosch thought about this for a few minutes and no matter which angle he took on it, it still led back to McQuillen. As he had said to Chu, it was time to bring McQuillen in.
    Bosch moved over to his desk and started planning the takedown. He decided it would not be a felony arrest. He would seek McQuillen’s voluntary agreement to come downtown to the PAB and answer questions. If this effort was unsuccessful,