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“Yeah?” Ballard said. “Dr. Hinojos? How’s that going, Harry?”
“Uh, it’s fine,” Bosch said. “How do you know about her?”
“I have sources.”
“Like my daughter? That’s the last time I tell her about anything.”
“Come on, Harry. It’s cute.”
“At my age, nothing’s cute.”
“Such a grump. At least try to have fun, Harry. But before you go, what do you hear about Novak and his sidekick?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. The feds have cut me out, so I haven’t heard shit. I assume they’re both still out there somewhere in the wind. They’re probably already out of the country.”
“That sucks.”
“Why? You’re going to make a case on Wonderland?”
“Maybe. I got the forensics back. They found DNA in the threads at the end of the pipe we recovered. Microscopic but enough to make a profile. After lunch, I’m going to the evidence archives to see if there’s any clothing or anything else with blood from the case. Most evidence in the case was destroyed after Eddie Nash beat the rap in court.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“I’ll let you know what I find. Let me know if you hear anything on Novak.”
“You got it.”
Ballard and Laffont went off to take a law enforcement elevator down.
Bosch walked over to the crowd of people standing by the public elevators. He prepared to wait.
40
1965
THE RIDE ON the new freeway was smooth and fast. Harry watched out the window, focused on the blurring of the guardrail posts as they flew by. He wished they could just keep going and stay at speed forever.
“You know, kid, you caught a big break.”
Harry pulled away from the outside world and looked up at the front seats. He didn’t know which of the cops had said it.
“What?”
“You caught a break here. You should take it and run with it.”
It was the cop in the passenger seat. The young one. He couldn’t be more than eight years older than Harry.
“You mean like how I took his fancy car and ran with it?” Harry responded.
He thought that was a clever comeback and was pleased with himself. He started to turn back to the blurring guardrail when the driver spoke.
“Think, kid,” he said. “We could be driving you up to Sylmar and the juvie jail. You could be in handcuffs back there. But you’re not and that’s because of Mr. Pierce deciding not to press charges. Remember that.”
“You get a juvie jacket and you’re one foot down the road,” the young cop added. “Next thing you know, you’re on the bad-guy list and you can’t never get off it when you want to go to school or get a good job. But here you got a break, so use it. You’re fifteen, you’re almost out of the system.”
“You ask me, join the military,” the driver said. “Couple years, they’re going to need you. This shit over there in Vit-However-You-Say-It is getting serious. It’s an all-out war now with those Commies. You could do some good.”
The driver was looking at him in the rearview mirror.
