Trunk Music

Bosch?”
    “I guess not.”
    “Well, that information would be part of the investigation and I can’t talk about it. Officially.”
    “What about unofficially?”
    “Unofficially you didn’t hear it from me and I never talked to you. But to answer your question, Joey Marks thought everybody was skimming off him. He trusted no one. Every time I wore a wire with the guy, I was sweating bullets. Because you never knew when he was going to put his hand down your chest. I was with him more than a year and he was still doin’ that every now and then. I had to wear the bug in my armpit, man. You try pulling tape out of your armpit sometime, man. It hurts.”
    “What about Tony?”
    “That’s what I’m getting at. Sure, Joey thought Tony was skimming. He thought I was, too. And you gotta understand, a certain amount of that was permissible. Joey knew everybody had to make a buck to be happy. But he mighta felt Tony was taking more than his share. He never told me that’s what he thought, but I know he had the boy followed a couple times over here in L.A. And he got to somebody in Tony’s bank in Beverly Hills. Joey was being copied on the monthly statements.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah. He would’ve known if there were any deposits that were outta line.”
    Bosch thought a moment but couldn’t think what else to ask.
    “Why’d you ask that, Bosch?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, something I’m workin’ out. Powers said the wife told him Tony had a couple million he skimmed. It’s hidden somewhere.”
    Lindell whistled over the line.
    “Seems like a lot to me. Seems like Joey would’ve caught that and put the hammer down on Tony pronto. That’s not what you call permissible.”
    “Well, I think it accrued over the years, you know. He could have piecemealed it. Also, he was washing money for some of Joey’s friends in Chicago and Arizona, remember? He could’ve skimmed them, too.”
    “Anything’s possible. Listen, Bosch, let me know how it all shakes out. I have to catch a plane.”
    “One more thing.”
    “Bosch, I gotta get to Burbank.”
    “You ever heard of anybody in Vegas named John Galvin?”
    Galvin was the name of the man who had last visited Veronica Aliso on the night she disappeared. There was a beat of silence before Lindell finally said the name was not familiar. But that silence was what Bosch really heard.
    “You sure?”
    “Look, I never heard of the guy, okay? I gotta go.”
    After hanging up, Bosch opened his briefcase on the dining room table and took out a notebook so he could write down a few notes about what Lindell had said. Eleanor came out of the kitchen with utensils and napkins in her hands.
    “Who was that?”
    “Lindell.”
    “Who?”
    “The agent who was Luke Goshen.”
    “What did he want?”
    “I guess to apologize.”
    “That’s unusual. The bureau usually doesn’t apologize for anything.”
    “It wasn’t an official call.”
    “Oh. Just one of those macho male bonding calls.”
    Bosch smiled because she was so right.
    “What’s this?” she asked as she put the silverware down and took the tape of Casualty of Desire out of his briefcase. “Oh, was this one of Tony Aliso’s movies?”
    “Yeah. Part of his Hollywood legacy. It’s one of the ones Veronica was in. I was supposed to give it back to Kiz.”
    “You already saw it?”
    Bosch nodded.
    “I would’ve liked to see it. Did you like it?”
    “It was pretty bad, but we can put it on tonight if you want.”
    “You sure you wouldn’t mind?”
    “I’m sure.”
    During dinner Bosch updated her in detail about the case. Eleanor asked few questions and eventually they lapsed into a comfortable quiet. The Bolognese sauce and linguini Eleanor had made was fantastic and Bosch broke the silence to tell her so. She had opened a bottle of red wine and that tasted good, too. He told her about that as well.
    Afterward, they left the dishes in the sink and went out to the living room to watch the movie. Bosch sat with his arm on the back of the couch, his hand lightly touching Eleanor’s neck. He found it boring to watch the film again and his mind quickly drifted away as he thought over the day’s events. The money was what held his attention the longest. He wondered if Veronica already had it in her possession or if it was in a place where she had to go to get it. Not a local bank, he decided. They had already checked the local bank accounts.
    That left Las Vegas, he concluded. Tony Aliso’s travel