mangroves outside, he finally turned the conversation toward her. Bosch had sensed a loneliness about her, a mystery of some sort. Behind the pretty face there were scars. The kind that couldn't be seen.
Her name was Jasmine Corian but she said that friends called her Jazz. She spoke of growing up in the Florida sun, of never wanting to leave it. She had married once but it was a long time ago. There was nobody in her life now and she was used to it. She said she concentrated most of her life on her art and, in a way, Bosch understood what she meant. His own art, though few would call it that, took most of his life as well.
'What do you paint?'
'Portraits mostly.'
'Who are they?'
'Just someone I know. Maybe I'll paint you, Bosch. Someday.'
He didn't know what to say to that so he made a clumsy transition to safer ground.
'Why don't you give this place to a realtor to sell? That way you could stay in Tampa and paint.'
'Because I wanted the diversion. I also didn't want to give a realtor the five percent. This is a nice complex. These units sell pretty well without realtors. A lot of Canadian investment. I think I'll sell it. This was only the first week I've run the ad.'
Bosch just nodded and wished he had kept the conversation on her painting instead of realtors. The clumsy change seemed to have clogged things up a bit.
'I was thinking, you want to have dinner?'
She looked at him solemnly, as if the request and her answer had far deeper implications. They probably did. At least, he thought they did.
'Where would we go?'
That was a stall but he played along.
'I don't know. It's not my town. Not my state. You could pick a place. Around here or on the way up to Tampa. I don't care. I'd like your company, though, Jazz. If you want to.'
'How long has it been since you were with a woman? I mean on a date.'
'On a date? I don't know. A few months, I guess. But, look, I'm not a hard-luck case. I'm just in town and alone and thought maybe you'd -'
'It's okay, Harry. Let's go.'
'To eat?'
'Yes, to eat. I know a place on the way up. It's above Longboat. You'll have to follow me.'
He smiled and nodded.
She drove a Volkswagen Beetle convertible that was powder blue with one red fender. He couldn't lose her in a hailstorm let alone the slow-moving Florida highways.
Bosch counted two drawbridges that they had to stop for before they got to Longboat Key. From there they headed north for the length of the island, crossed a bridge onto Anna Maria Island and finally stopped at a place called the Sandbar. They walked through the bar and sat on a deck overlooking the Gulf. It was cool and they ate crabs and oysters chased with Mexican beer. Bosch loved it.
They didn't talk much but didn't need to. It was always in the silences that Bosch felt most comfortable with the
women who had moved through his life. He felt the vodka and beer working on him, warming him toward her, sanding off any sharp edges to the evening. He felt a desire for her growing and tugging at him. McKittrick and the case had somehow been pushed into the darkness at the back of his mind.
'This is good,' he said when he was finally nearing his capacity for food and drink. 'It's great.'
'Yeah, they do it right. Can I tell you something, Bosch?'
'Go ahead.'
'I was only kidding about what I was saying about LA cops before. But I have known some cops before ... and you seem different. I don't know what it is but it's like you've got too much of yourself left, you know?'
'I guess.' He nodded. 'Thanks. I think.'
They both laughed and then in a hesitant move, she leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. It was nice and he smiled. He could taste garlic.
'I'm glad you're already sunburned or you'd be turning red again.'
'No, I wouldn't. I mean, that was a nice thing to say.'
'You want to come home with me, Bosch?'
Now he hesitated. Not because there was any deliberation in his answer. But he wanted her to have the chance to withdraw it in case she had spoken too quickly. After a moment of silence from her he smiled and nodded.
'Yes, I would like that.'
They left then and cut inland to the freeway. Bosch wondered as he tailed the Volkswagen if she would change her mind as she drove alone. He got his answer at the Skyway bridge. As he pulled up to the tollbooth with his dollar already in hand, the tolltaker shook his head and waved off the money.
'Nope. That lady in the bug got ya covered.'
'Yeah?'
'Yeah. You know her?'
'Not yet.'
'I think you're goin' to. Good luck.'
'Thanks.'
Now Bosch couldn't lose her in a blizzard. As the drive grew longer, he found himself in a growing sense of an almost adolescent euphoria of anticipation. He was captured by the directness of this woman and he was wondering how and what that would translate to when they were making love.
She led him north to Tampa and then into an area called Hyde Park. Overlooking the bay, the neighborhood consisted of old Victorian and Craftsman-style houses with sweeping front porches. Her home was an apartment above the three-car garage set behind a gray Victorian with green trim.
As they got to the top of the steps and she was putting the key into the knob, Bosch thought of something and didn't know what to do. She opened the door and looked at him. She read him.
'What's wrong?'
'Nothing. But I was thinking, maybe I should go find a drugstore or something and then come back.'
'Don't worry, I've got what you'll need. But can you stand out here for a second? I just want to make a mad dash inside and clean up a few things.'
He looked at her.
'I don't care about that.'
'Please?'
'Okay. Take your time.'
He waited for about three minutes and then she opened the door and pulled him in. If she had cleaned up, she had done it in the dark. The only light came from what Bosch could see was the kitchen. She took his hand and led him away from the light to a darkened hallway that gave way to her bedroom. Here she turned on the light, revealing a sparely furnished room. A wrought-iron bed with a canopy was the centerpiece. There was a night table of unfinished wood next to it, a matching unfinished bureau and an antique Singer sewing machine table on which stood a blue vase with dead flowers in it. There was nothing hung on any of the walls, though Bosch saw a nail protruding from the plaster above the vase. Jasmine noticed the flowers and quickly took the vase off the table and headed out the door.
'I have to go dump this. I haven't been here in a week and forgot to change them.'
Moving the flowers raised a slightly acrid smell in the room. While she was gone Bosch looked at the nail again and thought he could see the delineation of a rectangle on the wall. Something had hung there, he decided. She hadn't come in to clean up. If she had, she would have gotten rid of the flowers. She'd come in to take down a painting.
When she came back into the room, she put the empty vase back on the table.
'Would you like another beer? I have some wine, too.'
Bosch moved toward her, intrigued even more by her mysteries.
'No, I'm fine.'
