The Narrows - Michael Connelly [64]
Dei looked down at the file and realized Rachel was right. I looked at Rachel like I was hurt that she had ratted me out. Dei closed the file abruptly.
“Right. Of course.”
She looked up at me.
“You know what that means?”
“No, but I think you’ll tell me.”
“It means we’ll take it from here. You can head on back to L.A. now.”
“I’m not going to L.A. I’m going to Las Vegas. I have a place there.”
“You can go wherever you want but stay away from this investigation. We are officially taking it over.”
“You know I don’t work for any police department, Agent Dei. You can’t take anything over from me unless I want you to. I’m a private operator.”
She nodded like she was understanding of my situation.
“That’s fine, Mr. Bosch, we’ll be speaking to your employer later today and you’ll be unemployed before sunset.”
“I’m just trying to make a living.”
“I’m just trying to catch a killer. So understand me, your services are no longer required. Stay away from it. You’re out. You’re finished. Can I be any clearer?”
“Think maybe you could put it in writing, too?”
“You know what, I think you should get out of here and go home while you still can. Tom, would you get Mr. Bosch his license and keys and escort him to his car?”
“Gladly,” Zigo said, his first word uttered in the motor home.
I reached for the file but she snatched it away from my grasp.
“And we’ll be keeping this.”
“Sure. Happy hunting, Agent Dei.”
“Thank you.”
I followed Zigo toward the door. I glanced back and nodded to Rachel and she did the same to me. I think I saw a trace of light enter her eyes.
20
THE THREE AGENTS were still talking about Bosch when the helicopter lifted off the desert floor and they began the forty-minute journey back to Las Vegas. The three agents wore headphones so they could communicate with each other despite the noise of the rotor wash. Dei clearly remained annoyed with the private detective and Rachel thought that maybe Cherie felt that somehow Bosch had gotten something over on her. Rachel remained amused. She knew they hadn’t seen the last of Bosch. He had seen-it-all-twice eyes, and that nod at the end told her he wasn’t going to just fold up his tent and go home.
“What about the triangle theory?” Dei said.
Rachel waited for Zigo to go first but as usual he said nothing.
“I think Terry was probably onto something,” she said. “Somebody should go to work on it.”
“At the moment I don’t know if we have the bodies to chase all of this stuff. I’ll ask Brass if she’s got anybody. And this William Bing—that name hasn’t come up before.”
“My guess is that he is a doctor. Terry was coming over here and probably wanted to have a name in case something went wrong.”
“Rachel, when we get back, can you just run that down? I know what Alpert said, you’re an observer and all, but if that’s just a loose end, then it will be good to nail it down.”
“No problem. I can do it from my hotel room if you don’t want him seeing me working a phone.”
“No, stay in the FO. If Alpert doesn’t see you he’ll start wondering what you’re up to.”
Dei, who was in the front passenger seat, turned and looked back at Rachel, who was behind the pilot’s seat.
“What was with you two, anyway?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. You and Bosch. All the looks, the smiles. ‘I hope you are taking appropriate precautions.’ What’s going on with that, Rachel?”
“Look, he’s outnumbered here, okay? It’s natural that he’d pick one of us to play to. It’s covered in the manual on interview techniques and tendencies. Check it out sometime.”
“And what about you? Are you playing to him? Is that in the manual, too?”
Rachel shook her head as if to dismiss the whole discussion.
“I just like his style. He acts like he still has the badge, you know? He didn’t stand down to us and I think that’s sort of cool.”
“You’ve been out in the boonies too long, Rachel, or you wouldn’t say that. We don’t like people who won’t stand down to us.”
“Maybe I have.”
“So does that mean you think he’s going to be a problem?”
“Definitely,” said Zigo.
“Probably,” added Rachel.