Майкл Коннелли - Dark Sacred Night

“I’ve got to send her back, get her out of here.”

Ballard pulled her van to a stop next to the patrol car and showed her badge to the officer behind the wheel. She didn’t recognize him and saw that the car’s roof code was from North Hollywood Division. They lowered their windows at the same time.

“I’ve got Harry Bosch here,” Ballard said. “He’s got to pick up some things inside.”

“Roger that,” the officer said.

“When did his daughter arrive?”

“A couple hours ago. She drove up, showed me her ID. I let her go in.”

“Roger that.”

Bosch got out of the car and checked up and down the street for any vehicles or anything else that didn’t belong. He looked back in at Ballard before closing the door.

“Are you going into the station from here?” he asked.

“Not yet,” Ballard said. “I’m heading downtown and taking the spotter from the airship yesterday to dinner. I called in a favor on that flyover.”

“Hold on, then. Let me go in and get some money. I want to buy dinner.”

“Don’t worry about it, Harry. We just go to the Denny’s by Piper Tech. It’s not a big deal.”

“Really? What about something nicer? Let me send you over to the Nickel Diner. I know Monica there. I’ll call and she’ll take good care of you.”

“Denny’s is good, Harry. Convenient. It’s right across from Piper.”

Bosch nodded toward his house.

“I’ve got to deal with my daughter and then I have something else to do,” he said. “But I want to meet this guy sometime — the spotter. To say thanks.”

“It’s not necessary and it’s not a guy. She was just doing her job.”

Bosch nodded.

“Well, tell her thanks for me,” he said. “The sound of that chopper — it changed everything.”

“I’ll tell her,” Ballard said. “You coming by the station later to help me look for Gayley?”

“Yeah, I’ll get by later on. Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime, Harry.”

She watched him cross in front of the van and go to the front door. He had to knock because his keys were one of the things left behind when he had been abducted. Soon the door was opened and Ballard caught a glimpse of a young woman as she grabbed Bosch into an embrace and closed the door.

Ballard stared at the door for a few seconds and then drove off.

Bosch hugged his daughter as tightly as she hugged him. It made his cracked ribs sing with pain but he didn’t care.

He heard the door close behind him and looked over her head pressed against his shoulder at the slider to the deck. It was still open a couple of feet, the way the intruders had left it. There was black fingerprint dust on the glass. He was reminded that the house had been processed as a crime scene.

He brought his hands up to his daughter’s shoulders and pulled back from her so he could look into her eyes.

“Maddie, you were told not to come up here,” he said. “It’s not safe yet.”

“I had to come up,” she said. “I couldn’t just stay down there when I didn’t know if you were all right.”

“I told you. I’m fine.”

“Are you crying?”

“No. I mean — I have two cracked ribs and when you hug... you really hug.”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know. But look at your face. You’re going to have a scar.”

She reached toward his face but he caught her hand and held it.

“I’m too old to worry about scars,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is you can’t stay here. I’m not even supposed to stay here. I was just coming for the Jeep and to get some of my own clothes.”

“I thought those looked weird,” she said, nodding toward the ill-fitting suit he was wearing.

“I borrowed clothes from another cop,” Bosch said.

“Where will you go?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’m waiting to see if they pick up the guy who was behind all of this.”

“Well, when is that?”

“There’s no telling. They’re looking for him.”

“Why did this happen, Dad?”

“Maddie, look, I can’t tell you about case stuff. You know that.”

He saw a determined look enter her eyes. She was not going to let him stonewall her with case protocol.

“Okay,” he said, “all I can tell you is that I was working on a cold-case murder that was a gang-on-gang killing and I tracked down a guy who was a witness to part of the planning. That led to the suspect and somehow that suspect found out I was onto him. So he had his guys grab me and they pushed me around a little, but nothing really happened because I got rescued. And that’s it. End of story. Now you need to go back down to school.”

“I don’t want to,” she said.

“You have to. No choice. Please.”

“Okay. But you have to answer the phone. I came up because you don’t answer and I always think the worst.”

“The landline? I wasn’t even staying here. And I told you when we talked yesterday that my cell phone was smashed.”

“Well, I forgot.”

“I’ll get a new one first thing tomorrow and then I’ll take every call from you.”

“You’d better.”

“Promise. How’s your gas?”

“It’s fine. I filled up on my way.”

“Good. I want you to get going because it’s going to get dark soon. You should be south of downtown before it gets dark.”

“Okay, okay, I’m leaving. You know, most dads like their daughters to be around.”

“Now you’re just being a smart guy.”

She grabbed him and pulled him into another painful hug. She heard his breath catch and quickly detached.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I forgot!”

“It’s okay. It’s just sore. You can hug me anytime. You have the landline number. When you get to your house, call that and leave a message that you’re home and safe. I’ll be checking the line.”

“You have to clear it first. I already left about ten messages today.”

“Okay. Did you bring anything up with you?”

“Just myself.”

Bosch touched her arm and led her toward the front door. Outside they walked to the Volkswagen. Bosch nodded to the officer in the patrol car. He scanned up and down the street again to check if he could see what he wasn’t supposed to see. This time he even checked the sky before returning his attention to his daughter.

“How’s the car?” he asked.

“It’s good,” she said.

“A couple more up and backs and I’ll get the oil changed and the tires checked.”

“I can get all of that done.”

“You’re busy.”

“So are you.”

This time he hugged her despite the penalty to his ribs. He kissed the top of her head. His heart hurt worse than his ribs, but he wanted her far away from him right now.

“Remember to leave a message on the house line so I know you’re home,” he said.

“I will,” she promised.

“Love you.”

“Love you.”

Bosch watched her drive off and around the bend. He headed back into the house, nodding once more to the patrol officer with the thanklessly boring job in the car out front. At least he had a car to sit in and wasn’t posted at the front door.

When he got back inside, Bosch went directly to the landline in the kitchen and pulled a business card out of his pocket. He called Lieutenant Omar Cespedes, who ran the SIS squad working the Cortez case. He didn’t bother to identify himself when Cespedes picked up.

“You should have told me she came up to the house.”

“Bosch? Couldn’t do it. You know that. Besides, you got no phone. How am I supposed to tell you anything?”

“Bullshit,” Bosch said. “You were using her as bait.”

“That’s totally wrong, Harry. We wouldn’t do that, not with a cop’s kid. But if we had told you she was coming up, then you would have called her and turned her around. That happens and it’s a giveaway. We don’t do giveaways and you know that. We play it as it lays.”