Майкл Коннелли - The Law of Innocence

“I don’t have any money,” I said. “Either of you have a five we can give this guy for ten minutes on the beach?”

“I got it,” Kendall said.

She paid the man and we all walked across the pedestrian and bike paths and across the sand toward the water. Kendall took off her heels and carried them in one hand. There was something very sexy about her doing that.

“Dad, you’re not going to jump in, right?” Hayley asked.

“Nah,” I said. “I just want to hear the waves. Everything sounds like echoes and iron where I’ve been. I need to wash it out of my ears with something good.”

We stopped on a berm that was just above the wet sand where the surf washed in. The sun was slinking down toward the blue-black water. I held both my companions’ hands and said nothing. I breathed deeply and thought about where I had been. I resolved at that moment that I had to win the case because there was no way I was going to go back into lockup. I would take all extreme alternatives to that.

I let go of Hayley’s hand and then pulled her close.

“All this about me,” I said. “How are you doing, Hay?”

“I’m good,” she said. “What you told me about first year being a bitch is true.”

“Yeah, but you’re smarter than I ever was. You’ll do fine.”

“We’ll see.”

“How’s your mom? I saw her in court, and Jennifer said she was going to vouch for me if needed.”

“She’s good. And, yeah, she was ready to speak up for you.”

“I’ll call her and thank her.”

“That would be nice.”

I turned and looked at Kendall. It almost felt like she had never left me for Hawaii.

“And you?” I said. “You doing all right?”

“I am now,” she said. “I didn’t like seeing you in the courtroom.”

I nodded. I got that. I looked out at the ocean. The pounding of the waves seemed to echo in my chest. The colors were vibrant, not the gray of my last six weeks. It was beautiful and I didn’t want to leave.

“Okay,” I finally said. “Time’s up. Back to work.”

The traffic was not as kind heading in the opposite direction. It took almost an hour to get Hayley to her apartment in K-town after she turned down my invitation to dinner in favor of her weekly study group. This week’s subject: The Rule Against Perpetuities.

After dropping her off, I stayed on the curb and called Lorna. She told me that dinner was set up at Dan Tana’s at 8 p.m. and that Harry Bosch would be in attendance.

“I think he has something to discuss,” Lorna said.

“Good,” I said. “I’ll want to hear it.”

I disconnected and looked at Kendall.

“So,” I said. “The dinner with my team is at eight and it sounds like they really want to work and discuss the case. I don’t think—”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I know you want to get to it. You can just drop me off.”

“Where?”

“Well, I took you up on your offer. I’ve been at your place. Is that okay?”

“Of course. I forgot, but that’s great. I want to go there anyway to change. This is the suit I was arrested in. It doesn’t fit anymore and it smells like jail to me.”

“Good, then. You’ll be taking off your clothes.”

I looked at her and she smiled provocatively.

“Um, I thought we were broken up,” I said.

“We are,” she said. “That’s why this is going to be so much fun.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Okay, then.”

I pulled the Lincoln away from the curb.

Somebody once said that a person’s favorite restaurant is where they know you. That might be true. They knew me at Dan Tana’s and I knew them: Christian at the door, Arturo at the table, Mike behind the bar. But that didn’t obscure the fact that the kitschy Italian joint with checkered tablecloths served up the best New York strip in the city. I liked the place because they knew me, but I liked the steak even better.

When I pulled up to the valet, I saw Bosch standing outside the restaurant’s front door by himself. He was at the smoking bench but I knew he didn’t smoke. After turning over the car keys, I walked over. I noticed he had an inch-thick file tucked under his arm. The discovery file, I assumed.

“You’re the first one here?” I asked.

“No, they’re all in there,” he said. “Table in the back corner.”

“But you’re here waiting for me. Is this where you ask me if I did it?”

“Give me a little more credit, Mick. If I thought you did it, I wouldn’t have put up the money.”

I nodded.

“And nothing in that file changed your mind?”

“Not really. Just made me think you’ve got yourself in a pretty tight box.”

“Tell me about it. Should we go in?”

“Sure, but one thing before we’re with the others. Like I said, somebody really put you in a box here, and I was thinking that you may want to run this out for as long as you can. You know, drop the speedy trial thing... take your time with it.”

“So much for the vote of confidence.”

“It is what it is.”

“Thanks for the advice but I’ll pass. One way or another, I want this thing done.”

“I get it.”

“What about you? You okay? Still taking your pills?”

“Every day. So far, so good.”

“I like hearing that. And Maddie? How’s she doing?”

“She’s good. In the academy.”

“Man, the second generation, just like the first.”

“I thought Hayley wants to be a prosecutor.”

“She’ll change her mind.”

I smiled at him.

“Let’s go in.”

“One other thing. I just wanted to explain why I never came to see you in the jail.”

“I don’t think you need to, Harry. Don’t worry about it.”

“I should have visited, I know. But I didn’t want to see you in there.”

“I know. Lorna told me. To be honest, I didn’t even put you on my list. I didn’t want you to see me in there either.”

He nodded and we went inside. Christian, the tuxedo-clad maître d’, greeted me warmly and had the class not to mention that I hadn’t been there in more than six weeks, even though he probably knew why. I introduced Bosch as my brother. Christian escorted us to the table where the others were waiting: Jennifer, Lorna, and Cisco. It was a table for six but with Cisco in the mix it was crowded.

The smell of food on the tables around us was almost overpowering. I was distracted by it and found myself turning and craning my neck to see what other patrons had ordered.

“You all right, boss?” Cisco asked.

I turned back to him.

“Fine, I’m fine,” I said. “But let’s order first. Where’s Arturo?”

Lorna waved to someone behind me and soon Arturo was at our table with his order pad. It was orders of Steak Helen all around except for Jennifer, who wasn’t a red-meat eater. She went with eggplant parmigiana on Arturo’s recommendation. Lorna ordered a bottle of red wine for the drinkers, and I asked for a big bottle of sparkling water. I also told Arturo to bring bread and butter as soon as he could.

“Okay,” I said when we were alone. “Tonight we can celebrate because I’m free and we knocked the prosecution down a notch or two in court. But that’s it. No hangovers tomorrow because we go back to work.”

Everybody nodded except Bosch. He just stared at me from the opposite side of the table.

“Harry, you’re dying to say something,” I said. “Probably something bad. You want to start? You have the discovery file. Did you read it?”

“Uh, sure,” he said. “I read the discovery and I also talked to some people I know.”

“Like who?” Jennifer asked.

Bosch looked at her for a moment. I raised my hand a few inches off the table as a signal to her to cool it. Bosch was long retired from the LAPD but he was still tightly connected. I knew that firsthand and did not need him to name his sources.