The Drop(27)
The suspicion on her face was quickly replaced with bewilderment.
“I know,” he said. “Doesn’t make sense. But it is what it is. His blood was found on a girl murdered twenty-two years ago.”
“That would’ve made him eight years old. That’s impossible.”
“I know. We’re looking at a possible screwup in the pipeline—the lab work. I’m checking that out tomorrow but I also had to get a look at Pell because until I learned from you he was a homosexual predator, he made the perfect suspect—if he had access to a time machine or something.”
The waiter came with their food and the soup in a container in a bag. Bosch said he’d take the check right away so he could pay and they’d be able to go as soon as they were finished eating.
“What do you want from me?” Stone asked when they were alone again.
“Nothing. What do you mean?”
“Are you hoping I’ll reveal privileged information in exchange for half a turkey sandwich?”
Bosch couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not.
“No. I just thought . . . there was just something I liked about you. I was out of line today. That’s all.”
She was quiet for a long moment while she ate. He didn’t push things. Bringing up his case seemed to put a freeze on everything.
“There’s something there,” she said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
“Look, don’t compromise yourself. I pulled his files from Probation and Parole today. All his psychologicals will be in there.”
She smirked with her mouth full.
“You’re talking about PSIs and parole evaluations. They only go skin-deep.”
Bosch put his hand up to stop her.
“Look, Doc, this isn’t about getting you to break a confidence. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Don’t call me Doc.”
“Sorry. Doctor.”
“No, I mean just call me Hannah.”
“Okay. Hannah. Hannah, let’s talk about something else.”
“Okay, what?”
Bosch was silent as he tried to think of something to go with. Soon they both started laughing.
But they didn’t mention Clayton Pell again.
11
It was nine o’clock when Bosch came through the front door. He hurried down the hall and looked in the open door of his daughter’s bedroom. She was in bed under the covers with her laptop open next to her.
“I’m so sorry, Maddie. I’ll heat this up and bring it in.”
Standing in the doorway, he held up the bag from Jerry’s.
“It’s all right, Dad. I already ate.”
“What did you eat?”
“PB and J.”
Bosch felt the crushing guilt of selfishness. He came into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. Before he could apologize further, she once again let him off the hook.
“It’s okay. You got two new cases and it was a busy day.”
He shook his head.
“No, for the last hour I was just with somebody. I met her today on the case but then she met me at Jerry’s for a sandwich and I stayed too long. Mads, I’m so—”
“God, that’s even better! You actually met someone. Who is she?”
“Just somebody—she’s a shrink who deals with criminals.”
“Cool. Is she pretty?”
He noticed that she had her Facebook page up on her computer screen.
“We’re just friends. Did you do any homework?”
“No, I didn’t feel good.”
“I thought you said you were better.”
“Relapse city.”
“Look, you gotta go to school tomorrow. You don’t want to fall behind.”
“I know!”
He didn’t want to get into an argument.
“Hey, if you’re not doing your homework, can I use your laptop for a little bit? I have to look at a disc.”
“Sure.”
She reached over and closed out the screen. He went around the bed to where there was more room. He pulled the disc from the Chateau Marmont’s front-desk security camera out of his pocket and handed it to her. He wasn’t sure how to get it to play.
Maddie put the disc into a side slot and went through the commands to make it play. There was a time stamp in the lower corner of the screen and Bosch told her to fast-forward until she got to the time George Irving checked in. The image was clear but was angled from an overhead camera, so Irving’s face was not fully visible. Bosch had only watched the check-in part once and wanted to see it again.
“So, what is this?” Maddie asked.
Bosch pointed at the screen.
“The Chateau Marmont. This guy checking in, he goes up to his room on the seventh floor last night and this morning he’s found on the sidewalk below. I have to figure out if he jumped or if he got dropped.”