Bosch felt a sudden pause. A follower would completely contradict the theory he had just spun with Gunn.
“Are you sure, Ignacio?”
“Well, nothing’s for sure but I have her on tape leaving the casino with a security escort. The guy walked her out to her car. He then stood in the lot until she pulled out. Everything was copacetic. But then in thirty-second intervals two more cars pulled out and headed in the same direction she did. Toward the freeway entrance down the block.”
“Two cars…”
“Yeah, two.”
“Okay, but aren’t cars pulling in and out of there at a regular clip? Even in the middle of the night? And probably most of the cars that leave go to the freeway, right?”
“Yeah, they do. At all hours-the casino’s open twenty-four hours. But after I saw these two cars follow her out, I went back through the tapes to trace the drivers. I found one of them came out a couple minutes before the victim. He got in his car and took a little time before pulling out. I think he was smoking. That allowed the victim to leave first.”
“Okay, and what about the second car?”
“That’s the thing, Harry. I couldn’t find anybody walking out of the casino that connects with that car. Not at first. So I had to go all the way back an hour to find the guy. He left an hour before the victim and he sat out there in his car waiting for her.”
Bosch started to pace in the street as all of this registered.
“Did you also look at the tapes from inside the casino with this guy?” he asked.
“I did. And the guy wasn’t playing, Harry. He was just watching. He was walking around, acting like he was a player but he never actually played. He was watching the tables and in the last hour he was watching her play. The victim. He zeroed in on her, then he left and waited for her in the parking lot.”
Bosch nodded slowly. He was seeing the case turning completely in a new direction. Kimber Gunn walked up to him then but he held up a finger so he could finish the call.
“Ignacio, did you get plates off the cars that left after Tracey Blitzstein?”
“Yeah, we got the plates on the tape. The first car was registered to a Douglas Pennington of Beverly Hills. The second car’s registered to a Charles Turnbull of Hollywood.”
Beverly Hills and Hollywood were on the west side, same as Venice. If Pennington and Turnbull were heading home from the casino in Commerce, they would have gone in the same direction as Tracey Blitzstein. That was explainable-at least as far as Pennington went. But Turnbull’s activity in the casino and then his waiting in the parking lot for an hour wasn’t-yet.
“And you put them through the box?” Bosch asked his partner.
“Yeah, both clean. I mean, Turnbull’s got a lot of parking and moving violations but that’s it.”
Bosch looked into Gunn’s eyes while he tried to think about what to do. Her eyebrows were raised. He could tell she sensed a change in the winds of the investigation.
“Harry, what do you want me to do?” Ferras asked.
“Head to Parker Center. I’m going to put Sauer on a search warrant for the victim’s house. Hopefully he’ll have it signed and ready to go by the time you get there. Pick it up and come out here to the scene. We’ll figure out things then.”
“What about Turnbull?”
“Give me his address. I’m going to take a run by there now.”
After he finished the call and hung up, Gunn spoke first.
“I checked the purse. The money’s gone. What’s happening?”
“You have a company car here?”
“Yeah, I’ve got a piece-of-shit cruiser from the barn at Pacific.”
“Good. You drive. I’ll tell you what’s happening on the way. Everything I just told you-that we talked about-it all just went down the tubes.”
The address Ferras had given Bosch for the home of Charles Turnbull led to a brick apartment building on Franklin. On the way there Bosch filled Gunn in on what Ferras had come up with at the casino in Commerce.
They had no background on Turnbull other than what Ferras had given them but when they got to the entrance to the apartment building, another new dimension was added. Next to the button for apartment 4B it said
“He’s held a PI license for sixteen years,” he told Gunn. “Before that he was a Santa Monica cop.”
Bosch pushed the button next to Turnbull Investigations. After getting no response he pushed it two more times, each time longer than the time before. He had opened his phone again and was asking directory assistance for a number for Turnbull when a sleepy and annoyed voice sounded from the speaker above the entrance buttons.
“
Bosch stepped close to the speaker.
“Mr. Turnbull?”
“What? It’s eight o’clock in the morning!”
“LAPD, Mr. Turnbull. We need to speak to you.”
“About what?”
“It’s an emergency situation, sir, involving one of your clients. Can we come up?”
“Which client?”
“Can we come up?”
There was no response for five seconds and then there was a buzzing sound and the entrance door was electronically unlocked. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor and on the way Bosch unsnapped the safety strap on his holster. Gunn did the same.
“That a Kimber?” Bosch asked.
“Yeah, the Ultra Carry.”
Bosch nodded. It was the same weapon he carried.
“Good gun. Never jams.”
“I hope we don’t have to find out.”
When they stepped out of the elevator, there was a man standing in the hallway in blue jeans and a white T- shirt. He wore a ragged bathrobe over the ensemble, which hid much of his belt line and anything he might have hidden in it. He was in bare feet and his dark brown hair was sticking straight up on one side. He had been asleep.
“Turnbull?” Bosch asked, while using his right hand to show the man his badge.
“What’s this about?” the man asked.
“Not in the hallway. Can we come in, Mr. Turnbull?”
“Whatever.”
He pointed them toward the open door to apartment B but Bosch signaled him to go in first. Bosch wanted to keep Turnbull in front of him and in sight at all times.
“Have a seat if you can find a spot,” Turnbull said as they entered. “Coffee?”
“I could use some,” Bosch said.
“Thank you,” said Gunn.
They both remained standing. The apartment had furnishings of a contemporary design but it was cluttered with Turnbull’s work. There were files stacked on the coffee table and spread on a couch. It was clear that the living room was the nexus of his practice.
Bosch followed him to the kitchen alcove, again so he could keep a visual on him. Turnbull spoke as he filled a glass coffeepot with water.
“Which client is in the shit?” Turnbull asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You said there was an emergency. So which client is in the shit?”
Bosch decided to roll with things.
