Michael Connelly: The Drop

Bosch nodded.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

Bosch sat down on the couch and Chu took one of the chairs. They said nothing else as they waited. They had spent two hours that morning delivering the charging package to a filing deputy in the DA’s Office. His name was Oscar Benitez and Bosch had taken cases to him before. He was a good, smart and cautious deputy assigned to major crimes. His job was to make sure the police had a case before filing charges against a suspect. He wasn’t a pushover and that was one of the things Bosch liked about him.

Their package had been received well by Benitez. He just wanted a few things cleaned up or formalized. One of them was Clayton Pell’s contribution to the prosecution of Chilton Hardy. Bosch and Chu were here to make sure that this part of the case was on solid ground. When Benitez was told of Pell’s pedigree, he became concerned about his role as a key witness and whether he might try to work the prosecution for some sort of payoff, or might work the other side and be willing to change his story. Benitez made a strategic decision to put Pell on paper, meaning they should get him to sign a statement. This was rarely done because a statement not only locks the details of a story into place but also must be turned over to the defense in discovery.

A few minutes later Stone came in with Clayton Pell. Bosch pointed him to the remaining chair.

“Clayton, how are you? Why don’t you sit there? You remember my partner, Detective Chu.”

Chu and Pell exchanged nods. Bosch looked at Stone as if to ask if she was staying or leaving.

“Clayton would like me to sit in again,” she said.

“That’s fine. We can share the couch.”

Once everyone was seated Bosch opened his briefcase on his lap and started talking as he removed a file.

“Clayton, have you been watching the news since last night?”

“Sure have. Looks like you got your man.”

He folded his legs up under himself. He was so small he looked like a child seated in the big stuffed chair.

“Yesterday we arrested Chilton Hardy for the murder I spoke to you about last week.”

“Yeah, that’s cool. Did you arrest him for what he did to me?”

Bosch was anticipating that Pell would ask him exactly that question.

“Well, we are hoping to bring a number of charges against him. That’s why we’re here, Clayton. We need your help.”

“And like I said last week, what do I get out of it?”

“Well, just like I said last week, you get to help us put this man away for good. Your tormentor. You may even get to face him in court if the DA needs you as a witness against him.”

Bosch opened the file on his briefcase.

“My partner and I spent the morning at the DA’s Office presenting our case against Hardy in the murder of Lily Price. We have a good, solid case and it’s only going to get better as the investigation continues. The DA plans to file a murder charge before the end of the day. We told him about your role and how it was actually your blood found on the victim and—”

“ What role? ” Pell shrieked. “I told you I wasn’t even there and now you’re telling the DA I had a role in it?”

Bosch dropped the file on his briefcase and held both hands up in a calming gesture.

“Hold on, Clayton, that’s not what we did at all. That was a poor choice of words but you have to let me finish. What we did was walk him through the case. What we knew, what the evidence is and how we see it all hanging together, all right? We told him your blood was on the victim but you weren’t even there. And not only that but you were just a kid at the time and there’s no way you were involved. So he gets all of that, okay? He knows you were a victim of this guy as well.”

Pell didn’t respond. He turned sideways on the chair as he had done the week before.

“Clayton,” Stone said. “Please pay attention. This is important.”

“I gotta go to work.”

“You won’t be late if you listen and don’t interrupt. This is very important. Not only for this case but for you, too. Please turn around and listen.”

Pell reluctantly turned back in his seat so that he was facing Bosch.

“Okay, okay, I’m listening.”

“All right, Clayton, I’ll give it to you straight. There is only one crime that doesn’t have a statute of limitations on it. Do you know what that means?”

“It means they can’t charge you after a certain amount of time’s gone by. Like for sex crimes it’s usually three years.”

Bosch realized that Pell had more than a passing familiarity with the statute of limitations. While he was in prison he probably gained an understanding of the California statute because of his own crimes. It was a grim reminder that the petulant little man who sat across from him was a dangerous predator and predators always knew the lay of the land they walked.

The statute of limitations for most sex crimes was three years. But Pell was wrong. There were various exceptions to the statute on the basis of the type of crime committed and the age of the victim. The D.A.’s office would need to render an opinion as to whether Hardy could be prosecuted for the crimes against Pell. Bosch thought that it was probably too late. Pell had been telling this story to prison evaluators for years but nobody ever bothered to push for an investigation. Bosch was sure Hardy’s run as a predator was over and he would pay for at least some of his crimes. But he would likely never pay for what he did to Clayton Pell.

“That’s generally right,” Bosch said. “It’s usually three years. So then you probably know the answer to your own question. I don’t think Hardy will ever be prosecuted for what he did to you, Clayton. But that doesn’t matter because you can play an instrumental part in his prosecution for murder. We told the DA that it’s your blood on Lily Price and you will be able to tell a jury how it got there. You will be able to testify about what he did to you — the sexual and physical abuse. You will provide what is called bridge testimony, Clayton. You will help us build a bridge from the DNA found on that girl to Chilton Hardy’s doorstep.”

Bosch picked up the document again.

“One of the things the DA needs right now is a signed statement from you that sets forth the facts of your relationship with Hardy. This morning my partner and I wrote this up based on my notes from last week. I want you to read it, and if it is accurate, then sign it and you will be helping make sure Hardy spends the rest of his life on death row.”

Bosch offered him the document but Pell waved it away.

“Why don’t you just read it to me out loud?”

Bosch realized that Pell probably couldn’t read. There was no indication in his record that he had ever attended school with any regularity and he certainly wasn’t encouraged to read or educate himself at home.

Bosch proceeded to read the one-and-a-half-page document. It purposely followed the adage that less is more. It briefly outlined Pell’s acknowledgment that he lived in Hardy’s home at the time of the Lily Price murder and was abused during the period both sexually and physically. It described the physical abuse in regard to the use of Hardy’s belt and stated that Pell often sustained beatings that led to his bleeding from wounds on his back.

The statement also described Pell’s recent identification of Hardy in a photographic lineup as well as his accurate recognition of the home he lived in with Hardy in the late 1980s.

“The undersigned agrees with these facts and believes them to be a true and accurate accounting of his involvement with Chilton Aaron Hardy Junior in nineteen eighty-nine,” Bosch read. “And that’s it.”

He looked at Pell, who was nodding his head as if in agreement.