Trunk Music - Michael Connelly [159]
“How well do you think she knew Joey Marks? You think she could’ve gone back to him now?”
“No way. She killed the golden goose. Tony made Joey legitimate money. His first allegiance is always to the money.”
Bosch was quiet for a few moments and so was Lindell.
“So what happens with you now?” Bosch finally said.
“You mean with my thing? I go back to Vegas tonight. I sit down in front of the grand jury in the morning. I figure I’ll be talking to them at least a couple weeks. I’ve got a pretty good story to tell ’em. We should have Joey and his crew tagged and bagged by Christmas.”
“Hope you’re bringing your bodyguards.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m not alone.”
“Well, good luck, Lindell. All the bullshit aside, I like your style, too. Let me ask you something, why’d you tell me about the safe house and the Samoans? That wasn’t in keeping with your character.”
“I had to, Bosch. You scared me.”
“You thought I’d actually clip you for them?”
“I wasn’t sure, but that didn’t really worry me. I had people watching over me that you didn’t know about. But I was sure that they’d clip her. And I’m an agent, man. It was my duty to try to stop that. So I told you. I was surprised you didn’t guess I was undercover right then.”
“Never crossed my mind. You were good.”
“Well, I fooled the people I had to fool. I’ll see you around, Bosch.”
“Sure. Oh, Lindell?”
“Yeah.”
“Did Joey Marks ever think that Tony A. was skimming off him?”
Lindell laughed.
“You don’t give up, do you, Bosch?”
“I guess not.”
“Well, that information would be part of the investigation and I can’t talk about it. Officially.”
“What about unofficially?”
“Unofficially you didn’t hear it from me and I never talked to you. But to answer your question, Joey Marks thought everybody was skimming off him. He trusted no one. Every time I wore a wire with the guy, I was sweating bullets. Because you never knew when he was going to put his hand down your chest. I was with him more than a year and he was still doin’ that every now and then. I had to wear the bug in my armpit, man. You try pulling tape out of your armpit sometime, man. It hurts.”
“What about Tony?”
“That’s what I’m getting at. Sure, Joey thought Tony was skimming. He thought I was, too. And you gotta understand, a certain amount of that was permissible. Joey knew everybody had to make a buck to be happy. But he mighta felt Tony was taking more than his share. He never told me that’s what he thought, but I know he had the boy followed a couple times over here in L.A. And he got to somebody in Tony’s bank in Beverly Hills. Joey was being copied on the monthly statements.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He would’ve known if there were any deposits that were outta line.”
Bosch thought a moment but couldn’t think what else to ask.
“Why’d you ask that, Bosch?”
“Oh, I don’t know, something I’m workin’ out. Powers said the wife told him Tony had a couple million he skimmed. It’s hidden somewhere.”
Lindell whistled over the line.
“Seems like a lot to me. Seems like Joey would’ve caught that and put the hammer down on Tony pronto. That’s not what you call permissible.”
“Well, I think it accrued over the years, you know. He could have piecemealed it. Also, he was washing money for some of Joey’s friends in Chicago and Arizona, remember? He could’ve skimmed them, too.”
“Anything’s possible. Listen, Bosch, let me know how it all shakes out. I have to catch a plane.”
“One more thing.”
“Bosch, I gotta get to Burbank.”
“You ever heard of anybody in Vegas named John Galvin?”
Galvin was the name of the man who had last visited Veronica Aliso on the night she disappeared. There was a beat of silence before Lindell finally said the name was not familiar. But that silence was what Bosch really heard.
“You sure?”
“Look, I never heard of the guy, okay? I gotta go.”
After hanging up, Bosch opened his briefcase on the dining room table and took out a notebook so he could write