Read Online The Closers by Michael Connelly - Free Book Online Page B

guy as a killer. Maybe spur-of-the-moment or heat of passion. But not something like this, something planned, and certainly not at age eighteen.”
    Rider shook her head in an almost wistful manner.
    “A few hours ago this was given to us as a welcome-aboard present. It was supposed to be a slam dunk…”
    “The DNA made everybody jump to a conclusion. It’s what’s wrong with the world. People think technology is an easy ride. They’re watching too much TV.”
    “Is that your weird way of saying you don’t think he did this?”
    “I don’t know what I’m thinking yet.”
    “So we put a tail on him, tap his phone, spook him somehow and then see who he calls and how he acts.”
    Bosch nodded.
    “That’s what I’m thinking,” he said.
    “We’d need to clear it with Abel first.”
    “We follow the rules. Just like the chief told me today.”
    “Holy smoke-the new Harry Bosch.”
    “You’re looking at him.”
    “Before we go for the tap we have to finish the due diligence. We have to make sure Roland Mackey was not known to any of the players. If that turns out to be the case then I say we go see Pratt about the tap.”
    “Sounds right to me. What else did you get on the read?”
    He wanted to see if she picked up on the undercurrent of race before suggesting it.
    “Just what was there,” Rider responded. “Was there something I missed?”
    “I don’t know-nothing obvious.”
    “Then what?”
    “I was thinking about the girl being biracial. Even in ’eighty-eight there would have been people that didn’t like the idea of that. Then you add in the burglary the gun came from. The vic was Jewish. He said he was being harassed. That’s why he bought the gun.”
    Rider nodded thoughtfully while she finished a mouthful of rice.
    “It’s something to look for,” she said. “But I don’t see enough there to hang a lantern on at the moment.”
    “There was nothing in the book…”
    They ate in silence for a few minutes. Bosch always thought Chinese Friends had the softest and sweetest shrimp he had ever tasted in fried rice. The pork chops, as thin as the plastic plates they ate off of, were also perfect. And Kiz was right, they were best eaten by hand.
    “What about Green and Garcia?” Rider finally asked.
    “What about them?”
    “How would you grade them on this?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe a C if I was being charitable. They made mistakes, slowed things down. After that they seemed to cover the bases. You?”
    “Same thing. They wrote a good murder book but it’s got CYA written all through it. Like they knew they were never going to break it but wanted the book to look like they turned over every stone.”
    Bosch nodded and looked down at his pad on the empty chair to the side. He looked at the list of people to interview.
    “We’ve got to talk to the parents and Garcia and Green. We need to get a photo of Mackey, too. From when he was eighteen.”
    “I think we hold back on the parents until we talk to everybody else. They might be most important but they should be last. I want to know as much as possible before we hit them with this after seventeen years.”
    “Fine. Maybe we should start at probation. He only cleared a year ago. He probably was assigned to Van Nuys.”
    “Right. We could go there and then walk over to talk to Art Garcia.”
    “You found him? He’s still around?”
    “Didn’t have to look. He’s commander of Valley Bureau now.”
    Bosch nodded. He was not surprised. Garcia had done well. The rank of commander put him just below deputy chief. It meant he was second in command over the Valley’s five police divisions, including Devonshire, where years earlier he had worked the Verloren case.
    Rider continued.
    “In addition to our regular projects in the chief’s office, each of the special assistants was assigned as sort of a liaison to one of the four bureaus. My assignment was the Valley. So Commander Garcia and I spoke from time to time. Most often I