“At eight-thirty tonight. Less than two hours ago.”
“I don’t understand, Hank. Why is this upsetting to you?”
“Well, I left instructions on the computer for me to be contacted at home as soon as this slip was cashed. I was contacted. I came in and got the information on who cashed the slip so I could get it to you ASAP and then I went directly to the video room. I wanted to see this John Galvin, you know, if we got a clear picture of him.”
He stopped there. It was like pulling teeth getting the story out of him.
“And?” Bosch said. “Who was it, Hank?”
“We got a clear picture. It turns out I know John Galvin but not as John Galvin. Uh, as you know, one of my duties is to interface with law enforcement, maintain relations and help when I can whenever there-.”
“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 them up at the station in one hour.
He poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter in deep thought. Felton. There was a contradiction, it seemed to Bosch. If the Metro captain was the Joey Marks organization’s inside man, why had he moved so quickly to go after Goshen when he got the match on the fingerprints Bosch had provided? Bosch played with this for a while and finally decided that Felton must have seen an opportunity in moving Goshen out of the way. He must have believed that his position in the Las Vegas underworld would rise if Goshen were out of the picture. Perhaps he even planned to arrange Goshen’s assassination, thereby ensuring the indebtedness of Joey Marks. Bosch realized that for this plan to work, Felton either didn’t know that Goshen knew he was the organization’s inside man, or he planned to get rid of Goshen before he got a chance to tell anyone.
Bosch took a sip of the scalding coffee and put these thoughts aside. He went back into the living room. Eleanor was still on the couch.
“Are you going?”
“Yeah. I’ve got to pick up Jerry and Kiz.”
“Why tonight?”
“Got to be there before the bank opens tomorrow.”
“You think Veronica is going to be there?”
“It’s a hunch. I think Joey Marks finally figured out just like we did that if he didn’t whack Tony, then somebody else did and that person had to have been close to him. And that that person now has his money. He knew Veronica from way back and would figure she was up to it. I think he sent Felton over to check into it and to get his money back and take care of her if she was dirty on it. But she must’ve talked him out of it somehow. Probably by mentioning she had two million in skim in a safe deposit box in Vegas. I think that’s what stopped Felton from killing her and instead made him take her with him. She’s probably only alive until they get into that box. I think she gave Felton her husband’s last betting slip because she knew he might cash it and we’d be watching for it.”
“What makes you think it’s at the bank where I saw him go?”
“Because we know about everything he had over here, all his accounts. It’s not over here. Powers told me Veronica had told him that Tony dropped the skim into a safe deposit box that she wouldn’t have access to until he was dead. She wasn’t a signatory on it. So my guess is that it’s in Vegas. It’s the only place he’s been outside of L.A. for the last year. And that if one day he was taking his girlfriend to open a bank account somewhere, he’d just go ahead and take her to the same bank he used.”
Eleanor nodded.
