“Why would he do that?”
“I’m not sure, but the will he wrote and had you send to me clearly assumes that I had found a living heir. But we never talked again after that day I visited him at the mansion.”
Forsythe squinted her eyes as though she had trouble tracking the story.
“Well, I don’t know,” she said. “You said you called that number he gave you and left messages. What did you tell him?”
Bosch didn’t answer her. He remembered now that he had left a carefully worded message that could be ascribed to the cover story of finding James Aldridge. But it could also have been taken as a message that Bosch had found an heir.
He decided to end the conversation with Forsythe.
“Ms. Forsythe,” he said. “You should look into hiring an attorney who will represent you in this. It’s probably going to get nasty when the will gets filed with the probate court. You need to protect yourself. I’m working with an attorney named Michael Haller. Have whoever you hire contact him.”
“I don’t know any lawyers I could call,” she said.
“Ask your friends for a recommendation. Or your banker. Bankers probably deal with probate lawyers all the time.”
“Okay, I will.”
“And you never answered about the affidavit. I’ll write it up today and bring it back tomorrow for you to sign. Will that be okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
Bosch stood up.
“Have you actually seen someone watching you or the house?”
“I have seen cars out there that don’t belong. But I can’t be sure.”
“Do you want me to go out the back?”
“That might be best.”
“No problem. Let me give you my number. Call me if you have any difficulties or if anybody starts asking you questions.”
“Okay.”
Bosch handed her a business card and she led him to the back door.
39
From South Pasadena it was an easy drive up to the Foothill Freeway and then west toward San Fernando. Along the way Bosch called Haller to tell him he had completed both the CellRight drop-off and the interview with Ida Townes Forsythe.
“I just left California Coding,” Haller said. “They’ll get back to us next week with the results.”
Bosch realized he was still in the car with Boyd driving and was playing to him, selling the decoy drop of DNA samples.
“You see any sign of surveillance?” Bosch asked.
“Not yet,” Haller said. “Tell me about the interview.”
Bosch recounted the conversation with Forsythe and said he would write up a summary for her to sign the next day.
“You have a notary you like to use?” he asked.
“Yes, I can set you up, or I can witness it myself,” Haller said.
Bosch said he would be in touch and disconnected. He got to the SFPD station shortly before 4 p.m. He expected the detective bureau to be deserted this late in the day but he saw the light was on in the captain’s office and the door was closed. He leaned his head to the doorjamb to hear if Trevino was on the phone but heard nothing. He knocked on the door, waited, and Trevino suddenly opened it.
“Harry. What’s up?”
“Just wanted to let you know I filed on Dockweiler today. One twenty to one sixty years in total if he goes down on all charges.”
“That’s excellent news. What did they think about our case?”
“Said we’re solid. The deputy gave me a list of things he wants me to put together before the prelim and I thought I’d get started.”
“Good. Good. So it was already assigned?”
“Yes, Dante Corvalis was in it from the start. He’s one of the best. He’s never lost a case.”
“Fantastic. Well, carry on. I’ll be heading home in a few.”
“How’s Bella? You go to the hospital today?”
“I didn’t go by today but I heard she’s doing okay. They said they were going to try to send her home tomorrow and she’s happy about that.”
“It will be good for her to be with Taryn and their kid.”
“Yeah.”
They were both still standing at the door to Trevino’s office. Bosch sensed that the captain had more to say but an awkward silence grew between them.
“Well, I’ve got some stuff to write up,” Bosch said.
He turned toward his desk.
“Uh, Harry?” Trevino said. “You got a minute to come in?”
“Sure,” Bosch said.
The captain stepped back into his office and moved behind his desk. He told Bosch to sit down and Harry took the one seat available.
“This about me using the DMV computer on my private case?” he asked.
“Oh, no,” Trevino said. “Far from it. That’s water under the bridge.”
He gestured to the paperwork on his desk.
“I’m working on the deployment schedule here,” he said. “I do the whole department. In patrol we’re fine but in detectives we’re not. We are obviously down one with Bella out and there’s no telling at this point when or if she’s coming back.”
Bosch nodded.
“Until that unknown is known, we need to keep her position open,” Trevino said. “So I talked to the chief about this today and he’s going to go to the city council with a temporary funding request. We’d like to bring you on full-time. What do you think?”
Bosch thought a moment before answering. He wasn’t expecting the offer, especially coming from Trevino, who had never been sold on Bosch in the first place.
“You mean I wouldn’t be a reserve? I’d get paid?”
“Yes, sir. Standard level-three salary. I know you made more with L.A. but it’s what we pay.”
“And I’d handle all the CAPs cases?”
“Well, for the most part I think you’d be doing prep on Dockweiler, and we don’t want to forget about cold cases. But, yes, when things come up you’d handle crimes against persons. You’d work with Sisto on those, when you need to go into the field.”
Bosch nodded. It was good to be wanted but he wasn’t sure he was ready to commit to a full schedule in San Fernando. He assumed the Vance case and his role as executor of his will would take up a lot of time in the near future, especially with a possible probate battle brewing.
Trevino took his silence for something else.
“Look,” he said. “I know you and Sisto had that flare-up in the Public Works office, but I think that was just a heat-of-the-moment sort of thing. By the time you two were finding and rescuing Bella, it seemed like you were working together well. Am I wrong?”
“Sisto’s all right,” Bosch said. “He wants to be a good detective and that’s half the battle right there. What about you? Was wanting to fire me that night a heat-of-the-moment sort of thing, too?”
Trevino raised his hand in a show of surrender.
“Harry, you know I’ve had trouble with this arrangement from the start,” he said. “But I’ll say it: I was wrong. Look at this case— the Screen Cutter. We got him all because of your work and I appreciate that. You and I are fine, as far as I’m concerned. And just so you know, this wasn’t the chief’s idea. I went to him and said I wanted to bring you on full-time.”
“I appreciate that. So it would mean no more private work, right?”
“We can talk to the chief if you think you need to keep the private ticket going. What do you say?”
“Well, what about the Sheriff’s investigation of the shooting? Don’t we need to wait until we get an official decision on that and it goes to the D.A.?”
“Come on. We know it was a good shooting. We may get dinged on tactics but as far as the shoot or don’t-shoot question, nobody’s going to bat a fucking eye. On top of that, everyone understands that Bella’s being out puts us in a personnel squeeze and it’s the chief’s call.”
Bosch nodded. He had a feeling that he could keep asking questions and Trevino would say yes to anything.
“Cap, can I take the night to think about it and get back to you tomorrow?”
“Sure, Harry, no problem. Just let me know.”