Michael Connelly: The Closers

“We are conducting an investigation that I can’t tell you about. I need to ask you some questions about your cell phone.”

“My cell phone? You scared me to death over my cell phone?”

“It’s actually a very serious investigation, Mrs. Sobek. Do you have your cell phone with you?”

“It’s in my purse. Do you need to see it?”

“No, not yet. Can you tell me when you used it yesterday?”

Sobek shook her head like it was an inane question.

“I don’t know. In the morning I called Melody from the gym. I can’t remember when else. I went to the store and called my daughters to see if they were on their way home after school. I can’t remember anything else. I was home almost all day except for the gym. When I’m home I don’t use my cell. I use the regular phone.”

Bosch’s misgivings were multiplying. Somewhere they had made a wrong move.

“Could someone else have used the phone?” Rider asked.

“My daughters have their own. So does Melody. I don’t understand this.”

Bosch pulled the page from the pen register out of his coat pocket. Out loud he read the number of the phone that had called Tampa Towing.

“Is that your number?” he asked.

“No, it’s my daughter’s. It’s Kaitlyn’s.”

Bosch leaned forward. This changed things further.

“Your daughter’s? Where was she yesterday?”

“I already told you. She was in school. And she didn’t use her phone until after, because it’s not allowed at school.”

“What school does she go to?” Rider asked.

“ Hillside Prep. It’s over in Porter Ranch.”

Bosch leaned back and looked at Rider. Something had just come full circle. He wasn’t sure what it was but it felt important.

Amanda Sobek read the looks on their faces.

“What is it?” she asked. “Is something wrong at the school?”

“Not as far as we know, ma’am,” Bosch answered. “What grade is your daughter in?”

“She is a sophomore.”

“Does she have a teacher named Bailey Sable?” Rider asked.

Sobek nodded.

“She has her for homeroom and English.”

“Is there any reason why Mrs. Sable might have borrowed your daughter’s phone yesterday?” Rider asked.

Sobek shrugged.

“Not that I can think of. You have to understand how strange this is. All these questions. Was her phone used to make a threat or something? Is this some kind of terrorist thing?”

“No, ma’am,” Bosch said. “But it is a serious matter. We are going to have to go to the school now and talk to your daughter. We would appreciate it if you came with us and were there when we spoke to her.”

“Does she need a lawyer?”

“I don’t think so, ma’am.”

Bosch stood up.

“Shall we go?”

“Can Melody come too? I want Melody to go with me.”

“Tell you what. Have Melody meet us there. That way she can drive you back if we need to go somewhere else.”

ON THE DRIVE OVER to Hillside Prep the car was silent. Bosch wanted to talk to Rider, to dope out this latest twist, but he didn’t want to do it in front of Amanda Sobek. So they were silent until their passenger asked if she could call her husband and Bosch said that was fine. But she couldn’t reach him and left a message in a near-hysterical voice telling him to call her as soon as he could.

When they got to the school it was lunchtime. As they walked down the main hallway to the office they could hear the near-riotous collision of voices from the cafeteria.

Mrs. Atkins was behind the counter in the office. She looked a little confused when she saw Amanda Sobek in the company of the detectives. Bosch asked to see Principal Stoddard.

“Mr. Stoddard took lunch off-campus today,” Mrs. Atkins said. “Is there something I can help with?”

“Yes, we’d like to see Kaitlyn Sobek. Mrs. Sobek here will be with us when we talk to her.”

“Right now?”

“Yes, Mrs. Atkins, right now. I would appreciate it if you or another school employee could go and get her. It might be better if the other kids didn’t see her being accompanied by the police.”

“I could go get her,” Amanda offered.

“No,” Bosch said quickly. “We want to see her at the same time as you.”

It was a polite way of saying that he didn’t want her to ask her daughter about the cell phone before the police did.

“I’ll just go to the cafeteria and find her,” Mrs. Atkins said. “You can use the principal’s meeting room for your… uh, talk.”

She came around the counter, averted her eyes from Amanda Sobek and headed toward the door that led to the main hallway.

“Thank you, Mrs. Atkins,” Bosch said.

It took Mrs. Atkins almost five minutes to locate and return with Kaitlyn Sobek. While they were waiting, Melody Lane arrived and Bosch told Amanda that her assistant would have to wait outside the interview. The girl accompanied Bosch, Rider and her mother into a room off the principal’s office that had a round table with six chairs around it.

After everyone sat down, Bosch nodded to Rider and she took over. Bosch thought it would be best for a woman to lead the interview of the girl and Rider understood this without discussion. She explained to Kaitlyn that they were investigating a phone call that was made on her cell phone at 1:40 p.m. the day before. The girl immediately interrupted.

“That’s impossible,” she said.

“Why is that?” Rider asked. “We had an electronic trap on the line that was called. It showed the call came from your phone.”

“I was in school yesterday. We’re not allowed to use cell phones during school hours.”

The girl appeared nervous. Bosch could tell she was lying but couldn’t figure out what the play was. He wondered if she was lying because her mother was in the room.

“Where is your phone right now?” Rider asked.

“In my backpack in my locker. And it’s turned off.”

“Is that where it was yesterday at one-forty?”

“Uh-huh.”

She looked away from Rider as she lied. She was easy to read and Bosch knew Rider was getting the same thing he was getting.

“Kaitlyn, this is a very serious investigation,” Rider said in a soothing tone. “If you are lying to us you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.”

“Kaitlyn, don’t lie!” Amanda Sobek said forcefully.

“Mrs. Sobek, let’s stay calm about this,” Rider said. “Kaitlyn, these electronic traps I was telling you about are called pen registers. The registers don’t lie. Your cell phone was used to make the call. There is no doubt. So is it possible someone got into your locker and used your phone yesterday?”

She shrugged.

“Anything’s possible, I guess.”

“Okay, who would have done that?”

“I don’t know. You were the one who said it.”

Bosch cleared his throat, which drew the girl’s eyes to his. He stared hard at her and said, “I think maybe we should take a drive downtown. Maybe this is not the right place for an interview.”

He started to push back his chair and get up.

“Kaitlyn, what is going on here?” Amanda pleaded. “These people are serious. Who did you call?”

“No one, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay.”

“I didn’t have the phone, all right? It was confiscated.”

Bosch sat back down and Rider took over again.

“Who confiscated your phone?” she asked.

“Mrs. Sable,” the girl said.

“Why?”

“Because we’re not supposed to use them inside school once the homeroom bell rings. Yesterday my best friend Rita didn’t come to school. So I tried to text message her during homeroom to see if she was all right and Mrs. Sable caught me.”