The Overlook - Michael Connelly [54]
Hadley glanced at Bosch and then quickly looked back at Peck.
“Tell them to check the place again,” he ordered. “The fucker went for a gun. He had to have been hiding something. Tear the place apart if you have to. Especially that room—it looks like a meeting place for terrorists.”
“It’s a prayer room,” Bosch said. “And maybe the guy went for the gun because he was scared shitless when people came busting through the doors.”
Peck hadn’t moved. He was listening to Bosch.
“Go!” Hadley ordered. “Tear the fucker apart! The material was in a lead container. Just because you got no reading doesn’t mean it’s not in there!”
Peck hustled back to the house and Hadley turned his stare to Bosch.
“We need Forensics to process the car,” Bosch said. “And I don’t have a phone to make the call.”
“Go get your phone and make the call.”
Bosch went back to the SUV. He watched the woman who had been in the house being placed in the back of the SUV parked on the lawn. She was still crying and Bosch assumed the tears wouldn’t stop anytime soon. For Samir now, herself later.
As he leaned through the door of Hadley’s SUV he realized that the vehicle was still running. He turned off the engine, then opened the glove compartment and took out the two phones. He opened and checked his to see if the call to Rachel Walling was still connected. It wasn’t and he didn’t know if the call had gone through in the first place.
When he turned from the door Hadley was standing there. They were away from the others and no one would hear them.
“Bosch, if you try to make trouble for this unit I will make trouble for you. You understand?”
Bosch studied him for a moment before responding.
“Sure, Captain. I’m glad you’re thinking about the unit.”
“I have connections that go all the way up and right out of this department. I can hurt you.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
Bosch started to walk away from him but then stopped. He wanted to say something but hesitated.
“What?” Hadley said. “Say it.”
“I was just thinking about a captain I once worked for. This was a long time ago and in another place. He kept making all the wrong moves and his fuckups kept costing people their lives. Good people. So eventually it had to stop. That captain ended up getting fragged in the latrine by some of his own men. The story was that afterward they couldn’t separate his parts from the shit.”
Bosch walked away but Hadley stopped him.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s a story.”
“And you’re calling that guy in there good people? Let me tell you, a guy like that stood up and cheered when the planes hit the buildings.”
Bosch kept walking as he answered.
“I don’t know what kind of people he was, Captain. I just know he wasn’t part of this and he was set up just like you. If you figure out who it was who tipped you to the car, let me know. It might help us.”
Bosch walked over to Ferras and gave him back his phone. He told his partner to remain on the scene to supervise the forensic analysis of the Chrysler.
“Where are you going, Harry?”
“Downtown.”
“What about the meeting with the bureau?”
Bosch didn’t check his watch.
“We missed it. Call me if SID comes up with anything.”
Bosch left him there and started walking down the street toward the recreation center, where the car was parked.
“Bosch, where are you going?” Hadley called. “You’re not done here!”
Bosch waved without looking back. He kept walking. When he was halfway back to the rec center the first TV truck passed him on its way to Samir’s house.
FIFTEEN
BOSCH WAS HOPING TO GET to the federal building downtown before news of the raid on Ramin Samir’s house did. He had tried to call Rachel Walling but got no answer. He knew that she might be at the Tactical Intelligence location but he didn’t know where that was. He only knew where the federal building was and he was banking on the idea that the growing size and importance of the investigation would dictate that it be directed from the main building and