Trunk Music

she asked.
    “Powers. Powers is it.”
    “Oh my God.”
    “Yeah. I want you and Jerry to take him in. I’ll follow with his car.”
    He walked back over to Edgar and Powers.
    “Okay, let’s go.”
    “You people have all lost your jobs,” Powers said. “You fucked yourselves up.”
    “You can tell us about it at the station.”
    Bosch jerked him by the arm, feeling its thickness and strength. He and Edgar then hustled him into the back of Rider’s car. Edgar went around and got in the other side next to him.
    Looking in through the open rear door, Bosch went over what would be the procedure.
    “Take all his shit away and lock him in one of the interview rooms,” he said. “Make sure you get his cuff key. I’ll be right behind you.”
    Bosch slammed the door and knocked twice on the roof. He then went to the patrol car, put the suit bag in the back seat and got in. Rider pulled out and Bosch followed. They sped west toward Laurel Canyon.
    It took Billets less than an hour to come in. When she got there, the three of them were sitting at the homicide table. Bosch was going through the murder book with Rider while she took notes on a legal pad. Edgar was at the typewriter. Billets walked in with a force and look on her face that clearly showed the situation. Bosch hadn’t talked to her yet. It had been Rider who had called her in from home.
    “What are you doing to me?” Billets asked, her piercing eyes clearly fixed on Bosch.
    What she was really saying to him was that he was the team leader and the responsibility for this potential fuckup rested squarely on him. That was okay with Bosch, because not only was that right and fair, but in the half hour he’d had to go through the murder book and the other evidence, his confidence had grown.
    “What am I doing to you? I’m bringing in your killer.”
    “I told you to conduct a quiet and careful investigation,” Billets responded. “I didn’t tell you to conduct some kind of half-assed sting operation and then drag a cop in here! I can’t believe this.”
    Billets was now pacing behind Rider’s back without looking at them. The squad room was deserted except for the three of them and the angry lieutenant.
    “It’s Powers, Lieutenant,” Bosch said. “If you’d calm down, we-”
    “Oh, it’s him, is it? You have the evidence of that? Great! I’ll call a DA in here right now and we’ll write up the charges then. Because you really had me worried there for a minute that you three jerked this guy off the street with just enough probable cause to charge him with jaywalking.”
    Now she was looking at Bosch with the angry eyes again. She had even stopped her pacing to level them at him. He responded as calmly as he could.
    “First of all, it was my decision to take him off the street. And you’re right, we don’t have enough to call out a DA yet. But we’ll get it. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s the man. It’s him and the widow.”
    “Well, I’m glad there’s no doubt in your mind but you’re not the DA or the goddamned jury.”
    He didn’t respond. It was no use. He had to wait for her anger to ebb and then they could talk sensibly.
    “Where is he?” Billets asked.
    “Room three,” Bosch said.
    “What did you tell the watch commander?”
    “Nothing. It happened at the end of shift. Powers was going to grab the suit bag and then go punch out. We were able to bring him in while most everybody else was still up in roll call. I parked his car and dropped the key at the watch office. I told the watch lieutenant we were using Powers for a little while on a warrant, that we wanted a uniform with us when we knocked on a door. He said fine and then I expect he went off shift. As far as I know, nobody knows we have him back there.”
    Billets thought for a moment. When she spoke, she was calmer and more like the person who normally sat behind the desk in the glass office.
    “Okay, I’m going to go back there and get some coffee, see if I get asked about him. When I come back, we’ll go over all of this in detail and see what we have.”
    She walked slowly to the hallway at the rear of the squad room that led to the watch office. Bosch watched her go and then picked up the phone and dialed the number of the security office of the Mirage hotel and casino. He told the officer who answered who he was and that he needed to speak with Hank Meyer immediately. When the officer mentioned that it was after midnight, Bosch told him it was