over the back of her collar. Her eyes were dark brown. He guessed she liked the outdoors. Her skin had an even tan.
“Like I said, don’t worry about it.”
“You’re alone?”
Bosch hesitated.
“My partner’s working on something else while I check this out.”
He saw the doctor coming out the front door of the house with the dog on a leash. He decided not to get out his crime scene jumpsuit and put it on. He glanced over at Julia Brasher, who was now watching the approaching dog.
“You guys don’t have calls?”
“No, it’s slow.”
Bosch looked down at the MagLite in his equipment box. He looked at her and then reached into the trunk and grabbed an oil rag, which he threw over the flashlight. He took out a roll of yellow crime scene tape and the Polaroid camera, then closed the trunk and turned to Brasher.
“Then do you mind if I borrow your Mag? I, uh, forgot mine.”
“No problem.”
She slid the flashlight out of the ring on her equipment belt and handed it to him.
The doctor and his dog came up then.
“Ready.”
“Okay, Doctor, I want you to take us up to the spot where you let the dog go and we’ll see where she goes.”
“I’m not sure you’ll be able to stay with her.”
“I’ll worry about that, Doctor.”
“This way then.”
They walked up the incline toward the small turnaround circle where Wonderland reached a dead end. Brasher made a hand signal to her partner in the car and walked along with them.
“You know, we had a little excitement up this way a few years ago,” Guyot said. “A man was followed home from the Hollywood Bowl and then killed in a robbery.”
“I remember,” Bosch said.
He knew the investigation was still open but didn’t mention it. It wasn’t his case.
Dr. Guyot walked with a strong step that belied his age and apparent condition. He let the dog set the pace and soon moved several paces ahead of Bosch and Brasher.
“So where were you before?” Bosch asked Brasher.
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were new in Hollywood Division. What about before?”
“Oh. The academy.”
He was surprised. He looked over at her, thinking he might need to reassess his age estimate.
She nodded and said, “I know, I’m old.”
Bosch got embarrassed.
“No, I wasn’t saying that. I just thought that you had been somewhere else. You don’t seem like a rookie.”
“I didn’t go in until I was thirty-four.”
“Really? Wow.”
“Yeah. Got the bug a little late.”
“What were you doing before?”
“Oh, a bunch of different things. Travel mostly. Took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do. And you want to know what I want to do the most?”
Bosch looked at her.
“What?”
“What you do. Homicide.”
He didn’t know what to say, whether to encourage her or dissuade her.
“Well, good luck,” he said.
“I mean, don’t you just find it to be the most fulfilling job ever? Look at what you do, you take the most evil people out of the mix.”
“The mix?”
“Society.”
“Yeah, I guess so. When we get lucky.”
They caught up to Dr. Guyot, who had stopped with the dog at the turnaround circle.
“This the place?”
“Yes. I let her go here. She went up through there.”
He pointed to an empty and overgrown lot that started level with the street but then quickly rose into a steep incline toward the crest of the hills. There was a large concrete drainage culvert, which explained why the lot had never been built on. It was city property, used to funnel storm water runoff away from the homes on the street. Many of the streets in the canyon were former creek and river beds. When it rained they would return to their original purpose if not for the drainage system.
“Are you going up there?” the doctor asked.
“I’m going to try.”
“I’ll go with you,” Brasher said.
Bosch looked at her and then turned at the sound of a car. It was the patrol car. It pulled up and Edgewood put down the window.
“We got a hot shot, partner. Double D.”
He nodded toward the empty passenger seat. Brasher frowned and looked at Bosch.
“I hate domestic disputes.”
Bosch smiled. He hated them too, especially when they turned into homicides.
“Sorry about that.”
“Well, maybe next time.”
She started around the front of the car.
“Here,” Bosch said, holding out the MagLite.
“I’ve got an extra in the car,” she said. “You can just get that back to me.”
“You sure?”
He was tempted to ask for a phone number but didn’t.
“I’m sure. Good luck.”
“You too. Be careful.”
She smiled at him and then hurried around the front of the car. She got in and the car pulled away. Bosch turned his attention back to Guyot and the dog.
“An attractive woman,” Guyot said.
Bosch ignored it, wondering if the doctor had made the comment based on seeing Bosch’s reaction to Brasher. He hoped he hadn’t been that obvious.
“Okay, Doctor,” he said, “let the dog go and I’ll try to keep up.”
Guyot unhooked the leash while patting the dog’s chest.
“Go get the bone, girl. Get a bone! Go!”
The dog took off into the lot and was gone from sight before Bosch had taken a step. He almost laughed.
“Well, I guess you were right about that, Doc.”
He turned to make sure the patrol car was gone and Brasher hadn’t seen the dog take off.
“You want me to whistle?”
“Nah. I’ll just go in and take a look around, see if I can catch up to her.”
He turned the flashlight on.
