Trunk Music

name. She the looker, brown hair, brown eyes, still in nice shape despite, as they say, the encroachment of time?”
    King smiled at his clever use of words. Bosch didn’t.
    “That sounds like her. She a regular?”
    “Yeah, I see her in here maybe once a week, maybe less. She’s a local, as far as I know. The local players run a circuit. Not all the casinos have live poker, see. It doesn’t earn a lot for the house. We have it as a courtesy to our customers, but we hope they play a little poker and a lot of black jack. Anyway, the locals run a circuit so they don’t play against the same faces all the time. So they maybe play here one night, over to Harrah’s the next, then it’s the Flamingo, then maybe they work the downtown casinos a few nights. You know, like that.”
    “You mean she’s a pro?”
    “No, I mean she’s a local and she plays a lot. Whether she’s got a day job or lives off poker I don’t know. I don’t think I ever cashed her out for more than two bills. That’s not a lot. The other thing is I heard she tips the dealers too well. The pros don’t do that.”
    Bosch asked King to list all the casinos in the city that he knew offered live poker, then thanked him.
    “You know, I doubt you’re going to find anything other than Tony knowin’ her to say hello to, that’s all.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Too old. She’s a nice lookin’ gal, but she was too old for Tony. He liked ’em young.”
    Bosch nodded and let him go. He then wandered through the casino in a quandary. He didn’t know what to do about Eleanor Wish. He was intrigued by what she was doing and King’s explanation about her being a once-a-week regular seemed to make her recognition of Aliso innocent enough. But while she most likely had nothing to do with the case, Bosch felt the desire to talk to her. To tell her he was sorry for the way things had turned out, for the way he had made them turn out.
    He saw a bank of pay phones near the front desk and used one to call information. He asked for a listing for Eleanor Wish and got a recording saying the phone number was unlisted at the customer’s request. Bosch thought a moment and then dug through the pocket of his jacket. He found the card that Felton, the Metro detectives captain, had given him and paged him. He waited with his hand on the phone so no one else could use it for four minutes before it rang.
    “Felton?”
    “Yeah, who’s this?”
    “Bosch. From earlier today?”
    “Right. L.A. I still haven’t gotten the prints back. I’m expecting to hear something first thing.”
    “No, I’m not calling about that. I was wondering if you or any of your people have enough juice with the phone company to get me a listing, number and address.”
    “It’s unlisted?”
    Bosch felt like telling him that he wouldn’t be calling if the account was listed but let it go.
    “Yeah, unlisted.”
    “Who is it?”
    “A local. Somebody who was playing poker with Tony Aliso on Friday night.”
    “So?”
    “So, Captain, they knew each other and I want to talk to her. If you can’t help me, fine. I’ll find her some other way. I was calling because you told me to call if I needed something. This is what I need. Can you do it or not?”
    There was silence for a few moments before Felton came back.
    “Okay, give it to me. I’ll see what I can get. Where you going to be?”
    “I’m mobile. Can I ring you back?”
    Felton gave him his home number and told him to call back in a half hour.
    Bosch used the time to walk across the Strip to Harrah’s to check out the poker room. Eleanor Wish wasn’t there. He then went back out onto the Strip and headed down to the Flamingo. He took his jacket off because it was still very warm out. It would be dark soon and he hoped it would cool off then.
    In the Flamingo casino he found her. She was playing at a one-to-four table with five men. The seat on her left was open but Bosch didn’t take it. Instead, he hung back with the crowd around a roulette table and watched her.
    Eleanor Wish’s face showed total concentration on the cards as she played. Bosch watched as the men she was playing against stole looks at her, and it gave Bosch a weird thrill to know they secretly coveted her. In the ten minutes he watched, she won one hand-he was too far away to see what she won with-and bailed out early on five others. It looked as though she was well ahead. She had a full rack in front of her and six stacks of chips on the blue