“I have to step out for a second.”
Bosch answered the call as he stepped out of the conference room into the hallway.
“Kiz?”
“Harry, I’ve been trying to get to you with a heads-up.”
“I’m in a meeting. What heads-up?”
“You are about to get a forthwith from the OCP.”
“You want me to come up to ten?”
In the new PAB, the chief’s suite of offices was on the tenth floor, complete with a private courtyard balcony that looked out across the civic center.
“No, Sunset Strip. You’re going to be sent to a scene to take over a case. And you’re not going to like it.”
“Look, Lieutenant, I just got a case this morning. I don’t need another one.”
He thought that using her formal title would communicate his wariness. Forthwiths and assignments out of the OCP always carried high jingo—political overtones. It could be hard to navigate your way through it.
“He’s not going to give you a choice here, Harry.”
He being the chief of police.
“What’s the case?”
“A jumper at the Chateau Marmont.”
“Who was it?”
“Harry, I think you should wait for the chief to call you. I just wanted to—”
“Who was it, Kiz? If you know anything about me I think you know I can keep a secret until it’s no longer a secret.”
She paused before answering.
“From what I understand there is not a lot that is recognizable—he came down seven floors onto concrete. But the initial ID is George Thomas Irving. Age forty-six, of Eight—”
“Irving as in Irvin Irving? As in Councilman Irvin Irving?”
“Scourge of the LAPD in general and one Detective Harry Bosch in particular. Yes, one and the same. It’s his son, and Councilman Irving has spoken to the chief and insisted that you take over the investigation. The chief said, ‘No problem.’ ”
Bosch paused, his mouth open.
“Why does Irving want me? He’s spent most of his careers in police and politics trying to end mine.”
“This I don’t know, Harry. I only know that he wants you.”
“When did this come in?”
“The call came in at about five forty-five this morning. My understanding is that it’s unclear when it actually happened.”
Bosch checked his watch. The case was more than three hours old, quite late for coming into a case. He’d be starting at a disadvantage.
“What’s to investigate?” he asked. “You said it was a jumper.”
“Hollywood originally responded and they were going to wrap it up as a suicide. The councilman arrived and he is not ready to sign off on that. That’s why he wants you.”
“And does the chief understand that I have a history with Irving that—”
“Yes, he does. He also understands that he needs every vote he can get on the council if we ever want to get overtime flowing to the department again.”
Bosch saw his boss, Lieutenant Duvall, enter the hallway from the Open-Unsolved Unit. She made a There you are! gesture and started toward him.
“Looks like I’m about to get the official word,” Bosch said into the phone. “Thanks for the heads-up, Kiz. Doesn’t make any sense to me, but thanks. If you hear anything else, let me know.”
“Harry, you be careful with this. Irving’s old but he’s still got teeth.”
“I know that.”
Bosch closed his phone just as Duvall got to him, holding out a sheet of paper.
“Sorry, Harry, change of plans. You and Chu need to go to this address and take a live case.”
“What are you talking about?”
Bosch looked at the address. It was the Chateau Marmont.
“Orders from the chief’s office. You and Chu are to proceed code three and take over a case. That’s all I know. And that the chief himself is there, waiting.”
“What about the case you just gave us?”
“Move it to the back burner for now. I want you on it, but just get to it when you can.”
She pointed to the paper in his hand.
“That’s the priority.”
“You sure about this, Lieutenant?”
“Of course I’m sure. The chief called me directly and he’s going to call you. So grab Chu and get going.”
Contents
Front Cover Image
Welcome
Dedication
A Preview of The Drop
Part One: The Magic Words
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Part Two: The Hypothesis of Innocence
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Part Three: Boléro
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Chapter Thirty-six
Chapter Thirty-seven
Chapter Thirty-eight
Part Four: The Fifth Witness
Chapter Thirty-nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-one
Chapter Forty-two
Chapter Forty-three
Chapter Forty-four
Chapter Forty-five
Chapter Forty-six
Chapter Forty-seven
Chapter Forty-eight
Chapter Forty-nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-one
Chapter Fifty-two
Part Five: The Hypocrisy of Innocence
Chapter Fifty-three
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Michael Connelly
Copyright
About the Author
Michael Connelly is a former journalist and the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Reversal, The Scarecrow, The Brass Verdict and The Lincoln Lawyer, the bestselling series of Harry Bosch novels, and the bestselling novels Chasing the Dime, Void Moon, Blood Work, and The Poet. Crime Beat, a collection of his journalism, was also a New York Times bestseller. He spends his time in California and Florida.
ALSO BY MICHAEL CONNELLY
Fiction
The Black Echo
The Black Ice
The Concrete Blonde
The Last Coyote
The Poet
Trunk Music
Blood Work
Angels Flight
Void Moon
A Darkness More than Night
City of Bones
Chasing the Dime
Lost Light
The Narrows
The Closers
The Lincoln Lawyer
Echo Park
The Overlook
The Brass Verdict
The Scarecrow
Nine Dragons
The Reversal
Nonfiction
Crime Beat
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Hieronymus, Inc.
Excerpt from The Drop copyright © 2011 by Hieronymus, Inc.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted unde
r the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.
www.twitter.com/littlebrown.
First eBook Edition: April 2011
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Lyrics from “Poor Man’s Shangri-La,” copyright © 2005 by Ry Cooder, Hi-Lo Shag Music (BMI), from the album Ch vez Ravine. Used by permission of Ry Cooder.
ISBN: 978-0-316-06938-0
Table of Contents
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
Unnamed
Table of Contents
A Preview of The Drop
Copyright Page
The Magic Words
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
The Hypothesis of Innocence
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Boléro
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Thirty
Thirty-one
Thirty-two
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-five
Thirty-six
Thirty-seven
Thirty-eight
The Fifth Witness
Thirty-nine
Forty
Forty-one
Forty-two