The Narrows - Michael Connelly [75]
Rachel gave him a short laugh.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard him utter a full sentence yet. But then again, I’ve only been here a couple days. Basically, they brought me in because they didn’t have much of a choice. I’ve got my little back story with Bob Backus and the GPS was sent to me at Quantico, even though I haven’t set foot there in eight years. As you picked up on in the RV, this could be about me. Maybe, maybe not, but it cuts me in.”
“And where did they bring you in from?”
“Rapid City.”
Bosch grimaced.
“No, that’s good,” she said. “Before that it was Minot, North Dakota. A one-agent office. I think in my second year there they actually had a spring.”
“Man, that hurts. In L.A. what they do if they want to get rid of you is give you what they call ‘freeway therapy,’ transfer you to the division furthest from where you live so you have to fight the traffic every day. Couple years of two-hour commutes and guys turn in their badges.”
“Is that what happened to you?”
“No, but you probably already know what happened to me.”
She didn’t respond to that, moving quickly back the other way.
“In the bureau they have the whole country and then some. They don’t call it freeway therapy, they call it ‘hardship posting.’ They send you where nobody wants to go. And there are a lot of places like that, places they can bury an agent if they want to. In Minot it was all reservation stuff and on the res they don’t take so kindly to those of us of the FBI persuasion. Rapid City is only a small improvement. At least there are other agents in the office. My fellow outcasts. We actually have a good time because the pressure’s off. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah. How long have you been up there?”
“Eight years altogether.”
“Jeez.”
She waved her free hand dismissively, as if it was all water under the bridge. She knew she was drawing him in. Revealing herself would make him trust her. She wanted his trust.
“Tell me,” he said. “Was it because you were the messenger? Because you shot Backus? Or because he got away?”
“All that and other things. Consorting with the enemy, chewing gum in class, the usual stuff.”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t you just walk away, Rachel?”
“Well, Harry, because I didn’t want them to win.”
He nodded again and she could see a gleam in his eyes. She had connected on that answer. She knew it, could feel it, and it felt good.
“Can I tell you something off the record, Harry?”
“Sure.”
“My assignment right now is to keep an eye on you.”
“Me? Why? I don’t know if you were listening in that rolling field office today but I was kind of kicked off the case.”
“Yes, and I’m sure you just packed it in and are quitting.”
She turned and looked toward the table, at the map book and his notebook. She then turned back to him and spoke in a stern but even tone.
“My assignment is to watch you and to shut you down hard if you come anywhere near this investigation.”
“Look, Agent Walling, I don’t think —”
“Don’t suddenly go formal on me here.”
“Okay, Rachel, then. If this is some kind of threat, then all right, message received. I get it. But I don’t think you —”
“I’m not threatening you. I’m here to tell you I don’t plan to carry out my assignment.”
He paused and studied her for a long moment.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ve checked you out. You were right about that. I know about you and I know about what kind of cop you were. I know what has happened with you and the bureau in the past. I know all of that and I know you’re more than meets the eye. And my guess is that you’re onto something, that you told us just enough today to get out of that RV in one piece.”
She stopped and waited and finally he responded.
“Hey, look, if all of that is a compliment, then I’ll take it. But what’s your point?”
“My point is that I have a history, too. And I’m not going to sit on the sideline while they go after Backus and leave me back in the FO making coffee. Not on this one. I want to get there first, and since this is a betting town I’m betting on you.”
Bosch