Michael Connelly: 9 Dragons

“Thanks, Harry,” Ferras said. “I should have known you’d be here before-hey, you wore that suit yesterday. Don’t tell me you’ve been working all night.”

Bosch sat down.

“I got a couple hours on the lieutenant’s couch. What time are Mrs. Li and her son coming in today?”

“I told them ten. Why?”

“I think I’ve got something we need to pursue. I watched the extra discs from the store’s cameras last night.”

“What did you find?”

“Grab your coffee and I’ll show you. The lieutenant wants to see it, too.”

Ten minutes later Bosch was standing with the remote control in front of the AV equipment while Ferras and Gandle sat at the end of the boardroom table. He cued the disc marked 9/01 to the right spot and then froze the playback until he was ready.

“Okay, our shooter took the disc out of the recorder, so we have no video of what happened in the store yesterday. But what was left behind were two extra discs marked August twenty-seven and September one. This is the disc from September one, which happens to be one week prior to yesterday. You follow?”

“Follow,” Gandle said.

“So what Mr. Li was doing was documenting a tag team of shoplifters. The commonality between these two discs is that on both days these same two guys come in and one goes to the counter and asks for cigarettes while the other goes down the liquor aisle. The first guy draws Li’s attention away from his partner and the camera screen he had behind the counter. While Li’s getting smokes for the guy at the counter the other guy slides a couple flasks of vodka into his pants, then takes a third to the counter for purchase. The guy at the counter pulls his wallet, sees he left his money at home or whatever and they leave without making a purchase. It happens on both these days with them alternating their roles. I think that is why Li kept the discs out.”

“You think he was trying to make a case or something?” Ferras asked.

“Maybe,” Bosch said. “If he got them on film he’d have something to give the police.”

“This is your lead?” Gandle said. “You worked through the night for this? I was reading the reports. I think I like the kid Li pulled the gun on better than this.”

“This is not the lead,” Bosch said impatiently. “I’m only telling you the reason for the discs. Li pulled the discs out of the camera because he must have known those two guys were up to something and he wanted to preserve the record of it. Inadvertently, he also preserved this on the September first tape.”

Bosch hit the playback and the image started to move. On the split screen both camera angles showed the store was empty except for Li behind the counter. The time stamp at the top showed that it was 3:03 P.M. on Tuesday, September 1.

The front door of the store opened and a customer entered. He waved casually to Li at the counter and proceeded to the rear of the store. The image was grainy but it was clear enough for the three viewers to tell the customer was an Asian man in his early thirties. He was picked up on the second camera as he went to one of the cold cases at the rear of the store and selected a single can of beer. He took it forward to the counter.

“What’s he doing?” Gandle asked.

“Just watch,” Bosch said.

At the counter the customer said something to Li and the store owner reached up to the overhead storage rack and pulled down a carton of Camel cigarettes. He put them on the counter and then put the can of beer into a small brown bag.

The customer had an imposing build. Though short and squat, he had thick arms and heavy shoulders. He dropped a single bill on the counter and Li took it and opened the cash register. He put the bill in the last slot of the drawer and then counted several bills out as change and handed the money across the counter. The customer took his money and pocketed it. He put the carton of cigarettes under one arm, grabbed the beer and with his remaining free hand pointed a finger like a gun at Li. He pumped his thumb as if shooting the gun and then left the store.

Bosch stopped the playback.

“What was that?” Gandle asked. “Was that a threat with the finger? Is that what you’ve got?”

Ferras didn’t say anything but Bosch was pretty sure his young partner had seen what Harry wanted them to see. He backed the video up and started to replay it.

“What do you see, Ignacio?”

Ferras stepped forward so he could point to the screen.

“First of all, the guy’s Asian. So he’s not from the neighborhood.”

Bosch nodded.

“I watched twenty-two hours of video,” he said. “This was the only Asian who came into the store besides Li and his wife. What else, Ignacio?”

“Watch the money,” Ferras said. “He gets back more than he gives.”

On the screen Li was taking bills out of the cash register.

“Look, he puts the guy’s money in the drawer and then he starts giving him money back, including what the guy gave him in the first place. So he gets the beer and smokes for free and then all the money.”

Bosch nodded. Ferras was good.

“How much does he get?” Gandle asked.

It was a good question because the video image was too grainy to make out the denominations on the currency being exchanged.

“There are four slots in the drawer,” Bosch said. “So you’ve got ones, fives, tens and twenties. I slowed this down last night. He puts the customer’s bill in the fourth slot. A carton of smokes and a beer, we assume that is the slot for twenties. If that is the case, he gives him a one, a five, a ten and then eleven twenties. Ten twenties if you don’t count the one the customer put in first.”

“It’s a payoff,” Ferras said.

“Two hundred thirty-six dollars?” Gandle asked. “Seems like an odd payoff and you can see there’s still money in the drawer. So it was like a set amount.”

“Actually,” Ferras said, “two sixteen if you subtract the twenty the customer gives in the first place.”

“Right,” Bosch said.

The three of them stared at the frozen screen for a few moments without speaking.

“So, Harry,” Gandle finally said. “You got to sleep on this for a couple hours. What’s it mean?”

Bosch pointed to the time stamp on the top of the screen.

“This payoff was made exactly one week before the murder. Three o’clock on Tuesday a week ago. This Tuesday at about three Mr. Li gets shot. Maybe this week he decided not to pay.”

“Or he didn’t have the money to pay,” Ferras offered. “The son told us yesterday that business has been way down and opening the store in the Valley has nearly bankrupted them.”

“So the old man says no and gets popped,” Gandle said. “Isn’t that a bit extreme? You kill the guy and as they say in high finance, you’ve lost your funding stream.”

Ferras shrugged.

“There’s always the wife and the son,” he said. “They’d get the message.”

“They’re coming in at ten to sign statements,” Bosch added.

Gandle nodded.

“So how are you going to handle this?” he asked.

“We’ll put Mrs. Li with Chu, the guy from AGU, and Ignacio and I will talk to the son. We find out what it’s about.”

Gandle’s usually dour expression brightened. He was pleased with the progress of the case and the lead that had surfaced.

“Okay, gentlemen, I want to know,” he said.

“When we know,” Bosch said.

Gandle left the meeting room, and Bosch and Ferras were left standing in front of the screen.

“Nice going, Harry. You made him happy.”

“He’ll be happier if we clear this thing.”

“What do you think?”

“I think we have some work to do before the Li family gets here. You check with the lab and see what they’ve got done. See if they’re finished with the cash register. Bring it over here if you can.”