Michael Connelly - The Drop

“Because the reporter just called me and she knew we’re working it as a murder and that we have a suspect who’s an ex-cop. She’s been told everything.”

“Who’s the reporter?”

“Emily Gomez-Gonzmart. I’ve never talked to her before but I’ve heard of her. Supposedly they call her GoGo because she doesn’t give up on a story.”

“Well, she isn’t one of ours.”

Meaning GoGo wasn’t on the list of approved and trusted reporters the chief of police dealt with. This meant her source was Irvin Irving or someone on the city councilman’s staff.

“But you’re saying that she knew you had a suspect?” Rider said.

“That’s right. She knows everything but the name. She knew it was either about to go down or it already did.”

“Well, you know reporters often act like they know more than they do as a way of tricking you into confirming things.”

“She knew we had a suspect and he’s an ex-cop, Kiz. That wasn’t a bluff. I’m telling you, she knows it all. You people up there better get on the phone and jump on Irving’s shit for this. It’s his own son and he’s damaging the case for what? Is there a political advantage to putting this out now?”

“No, there isn’t. That’s why I’m not convinced it went through him. And the thing is, I was in the room when the chief got him on the phone and updated him. He held back on the suspect because he knew Irving would demand to know the name. So he left that out. He did tell him about the marks on the shoulder and the choke hold connection but he did not say that there was a named suspect. He said we were still working it.”

Bosch was quiet as he contemplated the meaning of all of this. It fell under the heading of high jingo and he knew there was no one to trust other than Kiz Rider.

“Harry, I’m in the car. What I suggest you do is go online and get into the Times website. Put in a search with the reporter’s name. See what comes up in previous stories. See if she has done stories involving Irving before. Maybe there’s a staffer she’s connected to and it’s obvious from previous stories.”

It was a good and savvy idea.

“Okay, I’ll do it but I don’t have a lot of time. This is forcing the issue with McQuillen. As soon as my partner gets in, we’re going to go grab him.”

“You sure you’re ready?”

“I don’t think we have a choice. This story hits the Internet at five o’clock. We need to grab him before that.”

“Let me know the moment it goes down.”

“You got it.”

Bosch disconnected and immediately called Chu, who should have already cleared the Chateau Marmont.

“Where are you?”

“Heading in. We got nothing, Harry.”

“Doesn’t matter. We grab McQuillen today.”

“Your call.”

“Yeah, my call and I’m making it. See you back here.”

He disconnected and put his phone down on the desk. He drummed his fingers. He didn’t like this. His case actions were being dictated by outside influences. It never felt good. Sure, the plan was to get McQuillen and bring him in for questioning. But before, Bosch was setting the pace. Now it was being set for him and it made him feel like a tiger in a cage. Confined and angry, ready to put a paw out through the bars and take a swipe at the first thing that goes by.

He got up and went over to Tim Marcia’s desk.

“Is the L.T. in?”

“Yeah, she’s in there.”

“Can I go in? I need to give her an update.”

“She’s all yours — if you can get her to open up.”

Bosch knocked on the agoraphobic lieutenant’s door. After a pause, he heard Duvall give the okay and he went in. She was at her desk, working on the computer. She glanced up to see who it was but then finished typing something as she spoke.

“What’s up, Harry?”

“What’s up is that I’m going to be bringing in a body today on the Irving case.”

This made her look up.

“The plan is to get him to come in voluntarily. But if that doesn’t work, we’ll hook him up.”

“Thanks for keeping me in the loop.”

It was not said as a sincere thanks. Bosch had not updated her in twenty-four hours and a lot had happened in that time. He pulled out the chair in front of her desk and sat down. He gave her the short version, taking ten minutes to lead her up to the phone call from the reporter.

“My bad for not keeping you updated,” he said. “Things have just been breaking quickly. The chief’s office is up to speed — I just spoke to his adjutant today at the funeral — and they’ll let the councilman know.”

“Well, I guess I should be glad you kept me in the dark.

Now I won’t be a suspect in the leak to the Times . Any idea about that?”

“I’m assuming it was Irving or someone in his camp.”

“But what does he get out of this? He’s not going to end up looking good here.”

It was the first time Bosch had considered this. The lieutenant was right. Why would Irving leak a story that was ultimately going to taint him with, at minimum, the whiff of corruption? That didn’t make sense.

“Good question,” Bosch said. “But I don’t have an answer. All I know is that it got across the street somehow.”

Duvall glanced at the blinds that covered the window looking out at the Times Building. It was as if her paranoia about reporters watching had been confirmed. Bosch stood up. He had said what he needed to say.

“What about backup, Harry?” Duvall asked. “You and Chu can handle this by yourselves?”

“I think so. McQuillen won’t see us coming — and like I said, we want him to come voluntarily.”

She thought about this and then nodded.

“Okay, let me know. In a timely manner this time.”

“Right.”

“That means tonight.”

“You got it.”

Bosch went back to the cubicle. Chu still wasn’t back.

Harry was consumed by the idea that the leak hadn’t come from the Irving camp. This left the chief’s office and the possibility that moves were being made that Kiz Rider didn’t know about, or that she was hiding from him. He went to his computer and opened up the Times website. In the search box he typed “Emily Gomez-Gonzmart” and hit return.

Soon he had a page full of citations — the headlines of stories that carried the reporter’s byline in reverse chronological order. He started scrolling through, reading the headlines, and quickly came to the conclusion that GoGo did not cover politics or city government. There were no stories in the last year that put her in proximity to Irvin or George Irving. She appeared to be a feature writer who specialized in crime stories. The day-later kind of stories in which she expanded on a crime, reporting on victims and their families. Bosch clicked on a few of these, read the opening paragraphs and then went back to the list.

He scrolled backwards through more than three years of stories, not seeing anything that would connect Gomez-Gonzmart to anyone involved in the George Irving case. And then a headline from early 2008 caught his eye.

Triads Exact Toll on Local Chinese

Bosch opened the story. It was an anecdotal lead about an old woman who owned an apothecary store in Chinatown and who had been paying a monthly protection fee to a Triad boss for more than thirty years. The story then widened into a report on the cultural history of local small-business owners continuing the age-old, Hong Kong — based tradition of paying Triad crime syndicates for protection. The story was spawned by the then-recent murder of a Chinatown landlord that was suspected to have been a Triad hit.

Bosch froze when he got to the ninth paragraph of the story.

“The Triads are alive and well in L.A.,” said Detective David Chu, a member of the LAPD’s Asian Gang Unit. “They prey on people like they’ve preyed on people in Hong Kong for three hundred years.”