The Overlook - Michael Connelly [50]
“I remember this guy,” he said. “He was just a talker, Captain. There was never any solid link between Samir and—”
Hadley held up a finger like a teacher demanding silence.
“Never a solid link established,” he corrected. “But that doesn’t mean anything. This guy raises money for the Palestinian Jihad and other Muslim causes.”
“The Palestinian Jihad?” Bosch asked. “What is that? And what Muslim causes? Are you saying Muslim causes can’t be legit?”
“Look, all I’m saying is that this is a bad dude and he’s got a car that was used in a murder and zesium heist sitting right in front of his house.”
“Cesium,” Ferras said. “It was cesium that was stolen.”
Not used to being corrected, Hadley narrowed his eyes and stared at Ferras for a moment before speaking.
“Whatever. It’s not going to make much difference what you call it, son, if he dumps it into the reservoir across the street or is in that house putting it in a bomb while we’re sitting here waiting on a warrant.”
“The FBI didn’t say anything about it being a water-borne threat,” Bosch said.
Hadley shook his head.
“Doesn’t matter. Bottom line is that it’s a threat. I’m sure the FBI said that. Well, the bureau can talk about it. We’re going to do something about it.”
Bosch stepped back, trying to draw some fresh air into the discussion. This was moving too quickly.
“So you’re going to go in?” he asked.
Hadley was working his jaw in quick powerful bites of the gum. He seemed not to notice the strong odor of garbage emanating from the back of the truck.
“You’re damn right we’re going to go in,” he said. “Just as soon as that warrant gets here.”
“You got a judge to sign a warrant that’s based on a stolen car being parked in front of the house?” Bosch asked.
Hadley signaled to one of his men.
“Bring the bags, Perez,” he called. Then to Bosch he said, “No, that’s not all we got. Today’s trash day, Detective. I sent the garbage truck up the street and a couple of my men emptied the two cans that were in front of Samir’s house. Perfectly legal, as you know. And lookee at what we got.”
Perez hustled over with the plastic evidence bags and handed them to Hadley.
“Captain, I checked the OP,” Perez said. “Still quiet up there.”
“Thank you, Perez.”
Hadley took the bags and turned back to Bosch and Ferras. Perez went back to the SUV.
“Our observation post is a guy in a tree,” Hadley said with a smile. “He’ll let us know if anybody makes a move up there before we’re ready.”
He handed Bosch the bags. Two of them contained black woolen ski masks. The third contained a slip of paper with a hand-drawn map on it. Bosch looked closely at it. It was a series of crisscrossing lines with two of them marked as Arrowhead and Mulholland. Once he registered these he could tell the map was a fairly accurate rendering of the neighborhood where Stanley Kent had lived and died.
Bosch handed the bags back and shook his head.
“Captain, I think you should hold up.”
Hadley looked shocked by the suggestion.
“Hold up? We’re not holding up. If this guy and his pals contaminate the reservoir with that poison, do you think the people of this city are going to accept that we held up to make sure we dotted every i and crossed every t? We’re not holding up.”
He underlined his resolve by taking the gum out of his mouth and throwing it into the back of the sanitation truck. He took his foot off the bumper and started heading back to his crew but then made a sudden U-turn and came back directly to Bosch.
“As far as I’m concerned we’ve got the leader of a terrorist cell operating out of that house and we’re going to go in and shut it down. What’s your problem with that, Detective Bosch?”
“It’s too easy, that’s my problem. It’s not about us dotting every i because that’s what the killers already did. This was a carefully planned crime, Captain. They wouldn’t have just left the car in front of the house or put this stuff in