The Reversal

him.
    “Cheers, Harry. Smooth move today. I think Jessup’s house of cards is falling down.”
    Bosch raised a water glass and clinked it off mine.
    “Royce was right, you know,” he said. “It was a gangster move. Saw it in one of the Godfather movies way back.”
    He then held his water glass up to the two women.
    “Anyway, cheers,” he said. “You two are the real stars. Great work yesterday and today.”
    We all clinked glasses but Sarah hesitated.
    “What’s wrong, Sarah?” I asked. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of clinking glass.”
    I smiled, proud of my own humor.
    “It’s nothing,” she said. “I think it’s supposed to be bad luck to toast with water.”
    “Well,” I said, quickly recovering, “it’s going to take more than bad luck to change things now.”
    Bosch switched subjects.
    “What happens next?” he asked.
    “I was just telling Sarah that I don’t think this will go to a jury. Clive has to be thinking disposition. They really don’t have any other choice.”
    Bosch turned serious.
    “I know there’s money on the line and your boss probably thinks that’s the priority,” he said, “but this guy has got to go back to prison.”
    “Absolutely,” Maggie said.
    “Of course,” I added. “And after what happened this morning, we have all the leverage. Jessup has to take what we offer or we—”
    My phone started to buzz. The ID screen said UNKNOWN .
    “Speak of the devil,” Maggie said.
    I looked at Sarah.
    “You might be on that plane home tonight after all.”
    I opened the phone and said my name.
    “Mickey, District Attorney Williams here. How are you?”
    I shook my head at the others. It wasn’t Royce.
    “I’m doing fine, Gabe. How are you?”
    My informality didn’t seem to faze him.
    “I’m hearing good things out of court this morning.”
    His statement confirmed what I had thought all along. While Williams had never once showed his face in the courtroom, he had a plant in the gallery watching.
    “Well, I hope so. I think we’ll know more about which way this will go after lunch.”
    “Are you considering a disposition?”
    “Well, not yet. I haven’t heard from opposing counsel, but I assume that we may soon enter into discussions. He’s probably talking to his client about it right now. I would be if I were him.”
    “Well, keep me in the loop on that before you sign off on anything.”
    I paused as I weighed this last statement. I saw Bosch put his hand inside his jacket and pull out his own phone to take a call.
    “Tell you what, Gabe. As independent counsel I prefer to stay independent. I’ll inform you of a disposition if and when I have an agreement.”
    “I want to be part of that conversation,” Williams insisted.
    I saw some sort of darkness move into Bosch’s eyes. Instinctively, I knew it was time to get off my call.
    “I’ll get back to you on that, Mr. District Attorney. I’ve got another call coming in here. It could be Clive Royce.”
    I closed the phone just as Bosch closed his and started to stand up.
    “What is it?” Maggie asked.
    Bosch’s face looked ashen.
    “There’s been a shooting over at Royce’s office. There’s four on the floor over there.”
    “Is Jessup one of them?” I asked.
    “No… Jessup’s gone.”

Forty
    Thursday, April 8, 1:05 P.M .
    B osch drove and McPherson insisted on riding with him. Haller had split off with Gleason to head back to court. Bosch pulled a card out of his wallet and got Lieutenant Stephen Wright’s number off it. He handed the card and his phone to McPherson and told her to punch in the number.
    “It’s ringing,” she said.
    He took the phone and got it to his ear just as Wright answered.
    “It’s Bosch. Tell me your people are on Jessup.”
    “I wish.”
    “Damn it! What the hell happened? Why wasn’t SIS on him?”
    “Hold your horses, Bosch. We were on him. That’s one of my people on the floor in Royce’s office.”
    That hit like a punch. Bosch hadn’t realized a cop was one of the victims.
    “Where are you?” he asked Wright.
    “On my way there. I’m three minutes out.”
    “What do you know so far?”
    “Not a hell of a lot. We had a light tail on him during court hours. You knew that. One team during court and full coverage before and after. Today they followed him from the courthouse to Royce’s office at lunchtime. Jessup and Royce’s team walked over. After they were in there a few minutes my guys heard gunshots. They called it in