Trunk Music - Michael Connelly [161]
“Yes, Hank, I know. Who was it?”
“I looked at the video. It was very clear. John Galvin is a man I know. He’s in Metro, a captain. His name is —”
“John Felton.”
“How’d —”
“Because I know him, too. Now listen to me, Hank. You didn’t tell me this, okay? We never talked. It’s best that way. Safest for you. Understand?”
“Yes, but…but what is going to happen?”
“You don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of it and no one at Metro will ever know about this. Okay?”
“Okay, I guess. I —”
“Hank, I’ve got to go. Thanks, and I owe you a favor.”
Bosch hung up and called information for the number of Southwest Airlines at the airport in Burbank. He knew Southwest and America West handled most of the flights to Las Vegas and they both flew out of the same terminal. He called Southwest and had them page Roy Lindell. While he waited, he looked at his watch. It had been more than an hour since he had talked to Lindell, but he didn’t think the agent was in as much of a hurry as he had intimated on the phone. Bosch thought he had just said that to get off the phone.
A voice came on the line and asked who he was holding for. After Bosch repeated Lindell’s name, he was told to hold and after two clicks Lindell’s voice was on the line.
“Yeah, this is Roy, who’s this?”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Who is this?”
“John Galvin is John Felton and you knew it all the time.”
“Bosch? Bosch, what are you doing?”
“Felton is Joey’s man in Metro. You knew that from being on the inside. And when Felton does things for Marks, he uses the name John Galvin. You knew that, too.”
“Bosch, I can’t talk about this. It’s all part of our in —”
“I don’t give a shit about your investigation. You have to figure out whose side you’re on, man. Felton has got Veronica Aliso. And that means Joey Marks has got her.”
“What are you talking about? This is crazy.”
“They know about the skim, don’t you see? Joey wants his money back and they’re going to squeeze it out of her.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Because I know.”
Bosch thought of something and looked out through the kitchen door to the living room. Eleanor was still watching the movie and she looked over at him and raised her eyebrows in a question. Bosch shook his head to show his dissatisfaction with the person on the other end.
“I’m going to Vegas, Lindell. And I think I know where they’ll be. You want to get your people involved? I sure as hell can’t call Metro on this.”
“How are you so sure she’s even there?”
“Because she sent up a distress signal. Are you in or out?”
“We’re in, Bosch. Let me give you a number. You call it when you get over there.”
After Bosch hung up, he went into the living room. Eleanor had already turned off the tape.
“I can’t watch any more of that. It’s terrible. What’s going on?”
“That time you followed Tony Aliso around in Vegas, you said he went to a bank with the girlfriend, right?”
“Right.”
“Which bank? Where?”
“I, uh…it was on Flamingo, east of the Strip, east of Paradise Road. I can’t remember the name. I think it was Silver State National. Yes, that’s it. Silver State.”
“The Silver State on Flamingo, are you sure now?”
“Right, yes.”
“And it looked like she was opening an account?”
“Yes, but I can’t be sure. That’s the problem with a one-man tail. It’s a small branch bank and I couldn’t hang around inside too long. It looked like she was signing account papers and Tony was just watching. But I had to go out and wait outside until they were done. Remember, Tony knew me. If he even saw me, the tail would be blown.”
“Okay, I’m going.”
“Tonight?”
“Tonight. I have to make some calls first.”
Bosch went back into the kitchen and called Grace Billets. While filling her in on what he had learned and his hunch about what it all meant, he got a pot of coffee going. After getting her approval to travel, he next called Edgar and then Rider and made arrangements to pick