The Burning Room

30



They traded updates once Soto made it back to the car, and Bosch headed toward the PAB. She summarized the interview with Stephanie Perez and then he recounted his conversation with Crowder, reporting that the captain was at first upset to hear that the Merced investigation had temporarily stalled but then was placated when informed that Bosch and Soto were closing in on something regarding the much bigger Bonnie Brae case—a break that happened to come out of an anonymous call to the Merced tip line.

“Speaking of Crowder,” he said, “I need to drop you back at the PAB while I go to breakfast. Crowder said media relations approved an interview with you and a reporter from La Opinión. It’s been over a week since Orlando Merced passed and they want to run an update. I told him to set it up now so we have the rest of the day. You do that while I meet my federal friend.”

“Okay,” Soto said. “How much do I tell the reporter?”

Bosch took the car across the 110 freeway overpass and glanced down as he considered Soto’s question. All ten lanes looked as though they were frozen.

“Well, you don’t mention Broussard by name.”

“Right. What about the rifle?”

Bosch wasn’t sure.

“Ask Crowder,” he said. “Let him decide. We put it out and we might stir things up. Put some pressure on Broussard.”

“Okay, I’ll ask. Does Crowder know about Broussard?”

“I’ve left that out of my updates.”

“Does he know we’re looking at someone?”

“I left that out, too.”

“Got it.”

“Good. In the meantime, if I don’t get back by the time you’re finished, try to confirm locations on Ana Acevedo. We might be most interested in Burrows but we need to talk to Acevedo to tie in the story. Boiko, too.”

“Okay.”

“By the way, did you ask Perez if she ever thought Ana had started the fire?”

“I did and she said no. She said Ana wasn’t a good roommate but she was a good person. She said she would never have done something like that.”

Bosch thought about this answer. They were looking into the possibility that, good person or not, Ana Acevedo had direct involvement with the fire or at least the men who started it—as well as the robbery connected to it.

“Harry,” Soto said. “Do you want me to reschedule my shrink session?”

Bosch came out of his thoughts and looked over at her. He had forgotten. It was Wednesday and Soto had her regular afternoon session with Dr. Hinojos at Behavioral Sciences.

“Yeah,” Bosch said. “See if she’ll let you skip this week. We have things moving on this. Let’s not break momentum.”

“I’ll call her.”

“And I’ll be back in an hour. Maybe we’ll know more about Burrows by then.”

“Who is this agent you’re meeting?”

“She works in an intelligence unit. They throw out the net, you know. Then they analyze.”

“I thought it was a she. Your voice completely changed when you were talking to her on the phone today. It was like when you talk to your daughter. You get all nice.”

Bosch glanced over at her. He didn’t know whether to compliment her perception or tell her to mind her own business.

“Yeah, well. There’s a history.”

“And she wants to meet you by yourself.”

“That’s just the way she is. She’ll say more if it’s just me.”

“Whatever works, Harry.”

Bosch nodded. He was happy to move on from a discussion about Rachel Walling.

“Okay, let’s go back to Stephanie Perez for a minute before you jump out. Through her we have all three of these EZBank people in the Bonnie Brae.”

“That’s absolutely solid. We have her six-pack IDs and her take on Burrows, which confirms the racist attitudes.”

“Okay, what about Ana? How did she and Perez hook up? How long did they share the apartment before Perez made her move out?”

“Stephanie said they lived together for a year and she got her after putting a roommate-needed notice on the bulletin board in the complex’s laundry room.”

“Ana was already living there?”

“No, but she had lived there when she was a kid. She was back visiting friends, saw the notice, and made contact with Perez. She said she wanted to live there because she knew the place and could walk to work. She didn’t have a car.”

Bosch nodded. This was all good. In her earlier summary of the Perez interview Soto had also said that Burrows spent at least two nights a week in the apartment with Acevedo over a three-month period leading up to the point where Acevedo was asked to leave. Boiko was a less frequent visitor but was still an occasional overnight guest as well. But when Perez started complaining about the situation, Acevedo reacted by making both men get involved in the upkeep of the apartment. This included chores such as taking out the trash.

All of this was based on Stephanie Perez’s twenty-one-year-old memories but it was positive in terms of case momentum. What Bosch and Soto needed now was further confirmation through Acevedo, Burrows, and Boiko themselves.

“We really need to find Ana Acevedo,” Bosch said.

“I told you,” Soto said. “I’m on it.”

They were stopped at a light at 1st and Hill, a few blocks from the PAB.

“Gus Braley said the video showed her pulling the alarm before the robbers came in,” he said. “Based on that, they decided back then that she wasn’t part of the robbery.”

“You’re thinking otherwise?”

“Not yet. But I’m looking at the video from the opposite side of things now.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning, if you knew there was a camera on you, then you probably knew that if you didn’t pull the alarm, you were guaranteeing you would be considered a suspect.”

Soto thought about that for a bit and then nodded.

“I get it,” she said.

“That’s why we need to find her and talk to her,” Bosch said. “You said she’s disappeared. No DL, no record, whereabouts unknown. I don’t like that.”

“Neither do I. Do you think she’s dead? Maybe they used her and buried her in the desert.”

Bosch nodded. It was a possibility.

“The other thing is, we don’t have any idea about the two gunmen,” he said. “All three of these people we’re talking about were inside EZBank. They didn’t commit the actual robbery.”

“Or start the fire.”

“If one of these people is the insider, they lead us to the other two.”

“Can we back up and just talk about how the whole thing went down?”

The light changed and Bosch proceeded.

“You have the two guys in the car,” he said. “Their first stop is the Bonnie Brae. One of them goes in and drops the Molotov down the trash chute.”

“They start the fire, then head to the cash box,” Soto said.

“Right. They’ve got a scanner in the car and pull up close to the target and wait to hear the response on the fire. When they hear ‘all units,’ they go to the cash box. Or maybe they’re not that sophisticated. They just pull over and wait for sirens. When they hear the big response, they go in, hit the target, and have time to get away before police can respond.”

Bosch pulled the car up to the courtyard that fronted the PAB. Soto hopped out and looked back in at him.

“I think it works,” she said.

Bosch nodded.

“See you in an hour,” he said.