Angle of Investigation_ Three Harry Bosch Stories - Michael Connelly [5]
Servan declined both and Bosch left him there. When he got to the homicide table he started looking for Quentin McKinzie, running searches on the DMV, voter registration and crime index computers. He came up with a record of drug arrests in Los Angeles in the 1970s and 1980s but no address and nothing that gave a clue to his current whereabouts.
Braxton came over and dropped three thin files on his desk. Bosch told him to take the photo of Monty Kelman they had pulled off the computer and show it to Servan to see if he recognized Kelman as ever coming into the shop as a customer.
After Braxton was gone Bosch started looking through the burglary reports, beginning with the first break-in at Three Kings. He quickly flipped through the pages until he got to the stolen-property inventory. There was no saxophone on the list. He scanned the items listed and determined they were all small pieces taken from the lighted display cabinet.
He flipped back to the summary, which had been written by Braxton. It reported that the unknown suspect or suspects had broken through the rear door to enter the establishment, then had emptied the display case containing the highest-value items in the shop. Braxton noted that the display case had a key lock that had either been left unlocked or was expertly picked by the thief.
He went on to the next report and found a saxophone listed on the stolen-property inventory. It was described as an alto saxophone but there were no other identifiers and no listing of who the person was who had pawned the saxophone. He read the summary and found it mirrored the summary in the first burglary report; the burglar or burglars broke through the rear door, opened the display case and took all of the high-price valuables. The saxophone appeared to have been taken as an afterthought and Bosch knew now that that was because Monty Kelman had always wanted to learn to play the instrument.
The third report was the same, with the exception of the method of entry. This time, with the back door fortified, the burglar or burglars cut through the composite roof and dropped down. The lock on the display case was picked and the shelves emptied for the third time.
The losses from the three burglaries averaged out to $40,000 a hit. Servan had insurance—though Bosch assumed the premiums were ever increasing. Most of the items stolen were sale items, meaning their original owners had let the pawn period lapse and ownership now belonged to Servan.
Braxton walked out of the back hallway and came to the homicide table.
“Yeah, he recognizes him,” he said. “Said he came into the store a couple days ago. Looked at some of the coins in the case.”
“He ever see him before that?”
osseze=ze="3">He thinks so but can’t be sure.”
“Anybody else work in that shop besides him?”
“No, he’s a one-man show. Six days a week, nine to six. Your average hardworking immigrant story.”
Bosch leaned back in his chair and combed one side of his mustache with his thumb. He didn’t say anything. After a few moments Braxton got tired of waiting.
“Harry, what else you need from me?”
Bosch didn’t look up at him.
“Um, can you go back in there and ask him about the case?”
“The case? You mean the display cabinet?”
“Yeah, ask him if he’s sure he locked it every time. On all the burglaries.”
He could tell Braxton was still waiting by the table.
“What?”
“What am I? The errand boy here?”
“No, Brax, you’re the guy he trusts. Go ask him the question.”
Bosch waited, stroking his mustache and thinking. Braxton wasn’t long.
“He said he absolutely locks that case. Even when he’s open for business it’s locked. He only unlocks it to put something in or take something out. Then he relocks it, every time. He keeps the key with him, all the time. There are no copies.”
“So then our guy used picks.”
“Looks that way.”
Bosch nodded.
“Um, one more thing, Brax. The saxophone. He has to keep pawn records, right?”
“He has to keep them and we get copied as well. The