“I’m not so sure what you mean about making him a star but my guess is that they’ll go for the death penalty and they’ll get it.”
Pell laughed derisively.
“That’s a fucking joke. If you’re going to have the death penalty, then you’ve got to use it. Not dance around it for twenty years.”
This time Bosch nodded in agreement but said nothing further. Pell scratched his name on the document and proffered the pen toward Bosch. When Harry took it, Pell held on to it. They looked at each other for a moment.
“You don’t like it any more than I do,” Pell whispered. “Do you, Detective Bosch?”
Pell finally released the pen and Bosch put it into one of his inside coat pockets.
“No,” he said. “I don’t.”
Pell backed away then and they were finished.
Five minutes later Bosch and Chu were heading out through the iron gate when Bosch suddenly stopped. Chu turned and looked back at him and Bosch tossed him the keys to the car.
“Get it started,” he said. “I forgot my pen.”
Bosch went back to Hannah Stone’s office. She seemed to be expecting him. She was standing in the reception area, waiting.
“Come on back, Detective.”
They went back into the interview room and she closed the door. When she turned around, the first thing she did was kiss him. Bosch got embarrassed.
“What?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think we should be mixing things like this.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. But you did come back—just like I guessed you would.”
“Yeah, well . . .”
He smiled at being caught in the inconsistency.
“Look, how about tomorrow night?” he asked. “After Hardy’s arraigned. It sounds odd to say I want to celebrate but it’s like, when you put another one down . . . it feels good, you know?”
“I think so. And I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Bosch left her then. Chu had pulled the car up directly out front and Harry jumped into the passenger seat.
“So,” Chu said. “Did you get her number?”
“Just drive,” Bosch said.
41
On Wednesday morning Bosch and Chu decided they would go to court to witness the first step of the judicial process involving Chilton Hardy. Though they were not needed for the proceedings involving Hardy’s first appearance on the murder charge, Bosch and his partner wanted to be there. It was rare in homicide work that an investigator brought to ground one of the true monsters in the world, and Hardy was one of them. They wanted to see him shackled and displayed, brought before the People.
Bosch had checked with the MDC and knew that Hardy was on the bus that transported white inmates. It was the second bus scheduled for departure. This would put off his appearance in court until at least ten. It gave Harry time to drink a coffee and glance at the stories the investigation had generated in the morning papers.
The phones in the cubicle kept ringing unanswered as journalists and producers left a series of messages seeking comment or inside access to the ongoing investigation. Bosch decided to get away from the noise and head over to the courthouse. As he and Chu stood and put their jackets on—without conferring they had both come dressed in their A suits—Harry could feel the eyes of the squad room on them. He went over to Tim Marcia’s desk and told him where they were going. He said that they would be back directly after Hardy’s appearance unless the prosecutor assigned to the case wanted to talk to them.
“Who got the case?” Marcia asked.
“Maggie McPherson,” Bosch said.
“Maggie McFierce? I thought she was up in the Valley.”
“She was. But now she’s in major crimes. It’s a good break for us.”
Marcia agreed.
They took the elevator down and there were reporters waiting outside the PAB. A few of them recognized Bosch and that started the stampede. Bosch brushed them off with no comment and he and Chu headed to the sidewalk. They crossed First and Bosch pointed to the monolithic Times Building.
“Tell your girlfriend she did a good job with the story in today’s paper.”
“I told you, she’s not my girlfriend,” Chu protested. “I made a mistake with her and it’s been corrected. I didn’t read the story but whatever she got, she got without my help.”
Bosch nodded and decided he would finally let up on Chu about it. It was behind them now.
“So how’s your girlfriend?” Chu asked, jabbing back at Bosch.
“My girlfriend? Uh, as soon as I meet her I’ll ask how she’s doing and let you know.”
“Come on, Harry. You gotta go for that. I saw the look, man.”
“Didn’t you just fall in and out of the shit by allowing a work relationship to become something more than a work relationship?”
“Your situation is something totally different.”
Bosch’s cell buzzed and he pulled it and looked at the screen. Speak of the devil, it was Hannah Stone. Bosch pointed to the phone as he answered it so Chu would know not to say anything in background.
“Dr. Stone?”
“I guess that means you’re not alone.”
There was stress in her voice.
“No, but what’s up?”
“Um, I don’t know if it means anything but Clayton Pell didn’t come back to the facility last night, and it turns out that he didn’t go to work when he left here after signing the statement for you.”
Bosch stopped on the sidewalk and took a moment to compute this.
“And he’s still not back?”
“No, I just found out when I came in.”
“Did you call his work?”
“Yes, I talked to his boss. He said Clayton called in sick yesterday and never showed. But he left here right after you left. He said he was going to work.”
“Okay, what about his PO? Was he informed last night?”
“Not last night. I just called him before calling you. He said he hadn’t heard anything but would do some checking. Then I called you.”
“Why did you wait until this morning? He’s gone almost twenty-four hours now.”
“I told you; I just found out. Remember, this is a voluntary program. We have rules and everyone must abide by them when they’re here, but when someone takes off like that, there’s really very little you can do about it. You wait and see if they come back and you inform Probation and Parole that he’s left the program. But because of what happened this week and him being a witness in the case, I thought you should know.”
“Okay, I get it. So any idea where he would have gone? Does he have friends or family around?”
“No, he’s got nobody.”
“Okay, I’ll make some calls. Let me know if you hear anything.”
Bosch closed the phone and looked at Chu. An uneasy feeling was rising in his chest. He thought he might know where Pell was.
“Clayton Pell is in the wind. He apparently took off right after we talked to him yesterday.”
“He’s probably . . .”
But Chu didn’t finish because he didn’t have a good answer.
Bosch thought he did. He called the communications center and asked an operator to run the name Clayton Pell through the computer to see if he’d had any recent interaction with the justice system.
