Michael Connelly: Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories

Bosch spread the six shots out side by side and stared at them.

“Could this just be a coincidence?” Rider asked. “Maybe Hollywood and Vine Studios is a place all the photographers use.”

“Maybe,” Bosch said, continuing to stare at the photos.

“I guess we could check out wheth-”

“Wait a minute,” Bosch said excitedly.

He picked up one of the photos and looked at it closely. It was a shot of an actress named Marnie Fox. She had supposedly committed suicide by overdose six weeks earlier. He nodded and put it back down. He then went to the Grayson file.

“What?” Rider asked.

From the file he pulled one of the photos of Lizbeth Grayson in death and placed it down next to the shot of Marnie Fox. Now it was Bosch’s turn.

“What do you see that is the same?” he asked.

Rider moved in to look closely at the side-by-side photos. She got it quickly.

“The pendant. They are both wearing the same kind of pendant.”

“What if they are not duplicates?” Bosch asked. “What if they are wearing the same pendant? A diamond pendant the killer takes from one victim and then puts on his next victim. And from that victim he takes her pearl necklace and puts it-”

“On the next victim,” Rider finished.

Bosch started putting the files back into a stack he could carry.

“What’s next?” Rider asked. “Hollywood and Vine Studios?”

“You got that right.”

“I’m going with you.”

Bosch looked at her.

“You sure? Do you need to get an okay?”

“I’ll call it a long lunch.”

On the way Rider made a list of the photographers’ names and handed it to Bosch. When they got to Hollywood they parked in the lot by the Henry Fonda Theater and Bosch found a pay phone to call Jerry Edgar. He brought him up to date and his partner seemed miffed that he was working the case with an analyst, but Bosch reminded Edgar that he hadn’t been interested in Bosch’s hunch about Lizbeth Grayson. Properly cowed, Edgar said he would meet them at Hollywood & Vine Studios.

The photo studio was on the third floor of an old office building at the northeast corner of Hollywood and Vine. The building had been updated in recent years with each floor having been gutted and turned into lofts. This was attractive to the creative industry. Most of the listings on the building directory in the lobby were production companies, talent management offices and various other enterprises from the fringe of Hollywood. Bosch assumed that having an address that was as steeped in myth as Hollywood and Vine was a bonus to them all.

They waited ten minutes in the lobby for Edgar and then Bosch grew annoyed. Hollywood Division was less than five minutes away. He pushed the button and told Rider they weren’t waiting any longer. On the ride up they worked out how they would handle the visit to the photo studio. They stepped out of the elevator and approached a counter where there was a young man with his head down reading a script. He got to the bottom of the page before looking up at them.

Bosch badged him and asked his name. He said Louis Reineke and he spelled it for them. Bosch asked to see a photographer named Stephen Jepson and Reineke told him that Jepson wasn’t there. Bosch proceeded down the list of six photographers. None were there and none could be reached, according to Reineke. The counterman became increasingly nervous as Bosch asked about the photographers.

“So none of these photographers are here and you have no contact information for them either,” Bosch said.

“We rent space by the hour,” Reineke said. “The photographers come in, pay for an hour or whatever time they want and then they split. There is no need for numbers. Are you guys from Internal Affairs or something?”

Bosch was getting annoyed that the lead was hitting a dead end.

“We’re from homicide,” he said. “Where is the manager of the studio?”

“He’s not here. I’m the only one here.”

“All right, when was the last time any of these six men were here taking photographs?”

“I’ll have to check the books.”

He moved down the counter and opened a drawer. From it he took a large accounts book and opened it. The book appeared to list rentals of studio space by date, time and photographer. Reineke ran his finger backward over the columns and finally stopped.

“He was here last Friday,” he said. “Shot for an hour.”

“He? Which one?”

Reineke looked back down at the book.

“That would have been Stephen Jepson.”

There was something off about the conversation with Reineke. It was like they were missing each other.

“So how would that have worked?” Bosch asked. “He just came in and said he wanted some space to shoot?”

“Yeah, like that. Or he might’ve called first to make sure we weren’t booked up. Sometimes that happens.”

“Did he call?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Can we go back and look at the studio space?”

“Sure. We’re empty right now. I’ve got a three o’clock and then a four.”

They went around the counter and through a door into the loft space. There were three different photo setup areas with light stands and pull-down backgrounds. There were a few pieces of furniture to use as props. There were wires running across the ceiling and black curtains that would allow the different photo areas to be partitioned for privacy. Bosch saw the brick wall from the photos running the length of the space. He guessed that Stephen Jepson’s session on Friday had been with Lizbeth Grayson.

Bosch was staring at the wall when he remembered something that had been wrong about the conversation with Reineke. He turned and looked at the young script reader.

“Why did you ask if we were with Internal Affairs?”

Reineke stuck out his lower lip and shook his head as he looked over at the doorway and then back to the counter.

“Did I? I don’t know. I guess I was just wondering.”

“Why would you wonder if we were with Internal Affairs?”

Reineke did not look at him. The classic act of a liar.

“I don’t know. I was just guessing.”

“No, Louis, you were just lying. Why did you ask about IAD?”

“Look, man, I just was goofing. I was trying to think of something to ask.”

“Call the manager, Louis. Tell him he better get here for the three o’clock because you are going to the station with us. We’ll sit you down in a room for a while and when you’re finished goofing and want to tell us the truth, then we’ll talk.”

“No, man, I’ll lose my job here, man. I can’t go to the station now!”

Bosch made a move toward him.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. I don’t owe the guy anything anyway.”

“What guy?”

Reineke shrugged off any further hesitation.

“The guys you asked about. They’re all one guy. He’s a cop.”

“A cop?” Bosch asked.

“I think so. He says he is. He takes photos for the police. All the crime scenes.”

“He told you this?”

“Yeah, he told me. He said that’s why he uses all the different names when he comes in. Because it’s like moonlighting and that’s not allowed. When you came in asking about all those names, I thought you were like Internal Affairs and you were onto him.”

Bosch looked over at Rider and then back at Reineke.

“Louis, call the manager. You still have to come to the station to look at photographs.”

“Ah, come on, man! I told you everything I know. I don’t even know the guy’s real name.”

“But you know his real face. Let’s go.”

Bosch took him by the arm and started to lead him toward the door to the counter. As they approached, Edgar stepped into the studio.