The Narrows - Michael Connelly [76]
“Let me ask you something,” he finally said. “Why is it they don’t have you in a hotel room with two guards on the door? You know, in case Backus shows up. Like you said, this could be all about you. First Terry McCaleb, then you.”
She shook her head, dismissing the idea.
“Because maybe they’re using me. Maybe I’m bait.”
“Are they?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know. I’m not privy to everything about this investigation. Either way, it doesn’t matter. If he is coming at me let him come. I’m not going to hide out in a hotel room. Not when he’s out there and not as long as I have my pals Sig and Glock with me.”
“Oh, a two-gun agent. That’s interesting. Most of the two-gun cops I knew had a little too much testosterone to go with all the extra bullets. I didn’t like working with those guys.”
He said it with sort of a smile in his voice. She knew he was close to being hooked.
“I don’t carry them both at once. One’s on the job, one’s off. And you’re trying to change the subject.”
“Which is?”
“Your next move. Look, you know how they say it in the movies? We can do this the hard way or we can —”
“Hit you in the face with a phone book.”
“Exactly. You’re working alone, against the grain, but you obviously have good instincts and probably know things about this we don’t know yet. Why not work together?”
“And what happens when Agent Dei and the rest of the FBI hear about this?”
“I take the risk, I take the fall. But it won’t be too hard. What are they going to do to me? Send me back to Minot? Big deal.”
He nodded. She watched him, tried to look through those dark eyes to see how his mind worked. Her take on Bosch was that he put case sense ahead of vanity and petty things. He would churn through it and ultimately know this was the way to go.
He finally nodded again and spoke.
“What are you doing tomorrow morning?”
“Watching you. Why?”
“Where are you staying?”
“The Embassy Suites on Paradise near Harmon.”
“I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“And where are we going?”
“To the top of the triangle.”
“What do you mean? Where?”
“I’ll explain tomorrow. I’m thinking I can trust you, Rachel. But let’s take it one step at a time. Are you going with me?”
“All right, Bosch, I’ll go with you.”
“You getting formal with me now?”
“Just a slip. I don’t want to get formal with you.”
She smiled and she watched him try to read it.
“All right, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said. “I have to get ready now to go see my kid.”
He stood up and so did she. She took one more drink from her beer and put it down half finished on the dinette table.
“Eight o’clock tomorrow,” she said. “You pick me up?”
“Right.”
“You sure you don’t want me to drive? Uncle Sugar pay for the gas?”
“That’s all right. Can you get the photos of the missing men? I had them on the newspaper clip but Agent Dei took it from me.”
“I’ll see what I can do. There’s probably a six-pack that won’t be missed at the FO.”
“And one other thing. Bring both your friends.”
“What friends?”
“Sig and Glock.”
She smiled and shook her head at him.
“You can’t carry a weapon now, can you? Legally, anyway.”
“No, I can’t. I don’t.”
“Must feel naked.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
She gave him another smile.
“Well, I’m not giving you a weapon, Harry. No way.”
He shrugged.
“Had to ask.”
He opened the door and she walked out. After he closed it she walked down the steps to the parking lot and looked back up at the door. She wondered if he was watching her through the peephole. She got into the Crown Vic she had signed out of the car pool. She knew she was close to the edge of trouble. What she had revealed to Bosch and agreed to do the next day with him guaranteed the final stage of the destruction of her career if things went sideways. But she didn’t care. It was a gambling town. She trusted