Read Online A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly - Free Book Online

too.”
    Winston was silent but he could tell by her demeanor she was waiting for an explanation.
    “In order to profile an unknown subject, it’s important to know the victim. His routines, personality, everything. You know the drill. The sister and, to a lesser extent, Bosch can help with that.”
    “I only asked you to look at the book and the tape, Terry. You’re going to make me start feeling guilty here.” McCaleb paused while the waitress brought Winston’s coffee and put down two small glass pitchers containing boysenberry and maple syrup. After she went away he spoke.
    “You knew I’d get hooked, Jaye. ‘Beware, beware, God sees?’ I mean, come on. You’re going to tell me you thought I’d look it all over and phone in the report? Besides, I’m not complaining. I’m here because I want to be. If you feel guilty, you can buy the pancakes.”
    “What did your wife say about it?”
    “Nothing. She knows it’s something I have to do. I called her from the dock after I crossed. It was too late for her to really say anything by then anyway. She just told me to pick up a bag of green corn tamales at El Cholo before I headed back. They sell ’em frozen.”
    The pancakes came. They stopped talking and McCaleb politely waited for Winston to choose a syrup first but she was using a fork to move her pancakes around on her plate and he finally couldn’t wait. He doused his stack with maple syrup and started eating. The waitress came back by and put a check down. Winston quickly grabbed it.
    “The sheriff will pay for this.”
    “Tell him thanks.”
    “You know, I don’t know what you expect from Harry Bosch. He told me he’d only had a handful of contacts with Gunn in the six years since the prostitute case.”
    “When were those, when he got popped?”
    Winston nodded as she poured boysenberry syrup on her pancakes.
    “That means he would have seen him the night before he was killed. I didn’t see anything about it in the book.”
    “I haven’t written it up. There’s not much to it. The watch sergeant called him and told him Gunn was in the drunk tank on a DUI.”
    McCaleb nodded.
    “And?”
    “And he came in to look at the guy. That was it. He said they didn’t even talk because Gunn was too blitzed.”
    “Well…, I still want to talk to Harry. I worked a case with him once. He’s a good cop. Intuitive and observant. He might know something I could use.”
    “That is, if you can get to talk to him.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You don’t know? He’s riding the prosecution table on the David Storey murder case. Up in Van Nuys. Don’t you watch the news?”
    “Ah, damn, I forgot about that. I remember reading his name in the newspapers after they took Storey down. That was, what, in October? They’re already in trial?”
    “They sure are. No delays and they didn’t need a prelim because they went through the grand jury. They started jury selection right after the first. Last I heard, they had the panel so openers will probably be this week, maybe even today.”
    “Shit.”
    “Yeah, good luck getting to Bosch. I’m sure this is just what he’ll want to hear about.”
    “Are you saying you don’t want me to talk to him?”
    Winston shrugged her shoulders.
    “No, I’m not saying that at all. Do whatever you want to do. I just didn’t think you’d be doing so much legwork on this. I can talk to my captain about maybe getting a consulting fee for you but -”
    “Don’t worry about it. The sheriff’s buying breakfast. That’s enough.”
    “Doesn’t seem like it.”
    He didn’t tell her that he’d work the case for free, just to be back in the life for a few days. And he didn’t tell her that he couldn’t take any money from her anyway. If he made any “official” income he would lose his eligibility for the state medical assistance that paid for the fifty-four pills he swallowed every day. The pills were so expensive that if he had to pay for them himself he’d be