The Overlook - Michael Connelly [7]
Walling looked around and then back at Bosch. She pointed out beyond the yellow tape.
“Can we?”
Bosch held out his hand, telling her to lead the way. They went under the tape and out into the street. When he judged that they were out of earshot of everyone else at the crime scene, Bosch stopped and looked at her.
“Okay, this is far enough,” he said. “What is going on here? Who called you out here?”
She locked eyes with him again.
“Listen, what I tell you here has to remain confidential,” she said. “For now.”
“Look, Rachel, I don’t have time for—”
“Stanley Kent is on a list. When you or one of your colleagues ran his name on the National Crime Index Computer tonight a flag went up in Washington, DC, and a call went out to me at Tactical.”
“What, was he a terrorist?”
“No, he was a medical physicist. And, as far as I know, a law-abiding citizen.”
“Then what’s with the radiation rings and the FBI showing up in the middle of the night? What list was Stanley Kent on?”
Walling ignored the question.
“Let me ask you something, Harry. Has anyone checked on this man’s home or wife yet?”
“Not yet. We were working the crime scene first. I plan to—”
“Then I think we need to do that right now,” she said in an urgent tone. “You can ask your questions along the way. Get the guy’s keys in case we need to go in. And I’ll go get my car.”
Walling started to move away but Bosch caught her by the arm.
“I’m driving,” he said.
He pointed toward his Mustang and left her there. He headed to the patrol car, where the evidence bags were still spread on the trunk. As he made his way he regretted having already cut Edgar loose from the scene. He signaled the watch sergeant over.
“Listen, I have to leave the scene to check on the victim’s house. I shouldn’t be gone long and Detective Ferras should be here any minute. Just maintain the scene until one of us gets here.”
“You got it.”
Bosch pulled out his cell phone and called his partner.
“Where are you?”
“I just cleared Parker Center. I’m twenty minutes away.”
Bosch explained that he was leaving the scene and that Ferras needed to hurry. He disconnected, grabbed the evidence bag containing the key ring off the cruiser’s trunk and shoved it into his coat pocket.
As he got to his car he saw Walling already in the passenger seat. She was finishing a call and closing her cell phone.
“Who was that?” Bosch asked after getting in. “The president?”
“My partner,” she replied. “I told him to meet me at the house. Where’s your partner?”
“He’s coming.”
Bosch started the car. As soon as they pulled out he began asking questions.
“If Stanley Kent wasn’t a terrorist, then what list was he on?”
“As a medical physicist he had direct access to radioactive materials. That put him on a list.”
Bosch thought of all the hospital name tags he had found in the dead man’s Porsche.
“Access where? In the hospitals?”
“Exactly. That’s where it’s kept. These are materials primarily used in the treatment of cancer.”
Bosch nodded. He was getting the picture but still didn’t have enough information.
“Okay, so what am I missing here, Rachel? Lay it out for me.”
“Stanley Kent had direct access to materials that some people in the world would like to get their hands on. Materials that could be very, very valuable to these other people. But not in the treatment of cancer.”
“Terrorists.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you saying that this guy could just waltz into a hospital and get this stuff? Aren’t there regulations?”
Walling nodded.
“There are always regulations, Harry. But just having them is not always enough. Repetition, routine—these are the cracks in any security system. We used to leave the cockpit doors on commercial airlines unlocked. Now we don’t. It takes an event of life-altering consequences to change procedures and strengthen precautions. Do you understand what I am saying?”
He thought of the notations on the back of some of the ID cards in the victim’s Porsche. Could Stanley Kent have been so lax about