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.Bosch said nothing, waiting for Carbone.'Okay, so what's so important you have to kidnap me away from the station?' he finally asked.Bosch drove another block without answering.He wanted Carbone to sweat a little.'You've got problems, Carbone,' he finally said.'I just thought I should tell you.See, I want to be your friend, Carbone.' Carbone looked at Bosch with caution.'I know I got problems,' he said.'I'm paying two different women child support, my house still has cracks in the walls from the earthquake and the union ain't going to get us a raise again this year.So fuckin' what?' 'Those aren't problems, man.Those are inconveniences.I'm talking about real problems.About the break-in you did the other night over at Archway.' Carbone was silent for a long moment and Bosch wasn't sure but he thought the man was holding his breath.'I don't know what you're talking about.Take me back.' 'No, Carbone, see, that's the wrong answer.I'm here to help you, not hurt you.I'm your friend.And that goes for your boss, Fitzgerald, too.' 'I still don't know what you're talking about.' 'Okay, then I'll tell you what I'm talking about.I called you Sunday night and asked you about my stiff named Aliso.You call me back and tell me not only is OCID taking a pass, but you never heard of the guy.But as soon as you hang up the phone, you get over to Archway, break into the guy's office and pop the bug you people planted in his phone.That's what I'm talking about.' Bosch looked over at him for the first time and he saw the face of a man whose mind is racing to find a way out.Bosch knew he had him now.'Bullshit, that's what you're talking about.' 'Yeah, you dumb fuck? Next time you decide to do a little breaking and entering, look up.Check for cameras.Rodney King Rule Number One, don't get caught on tape.' He waited a moment to let that sink in and then put the final nails in the coffin.'You knocked the mug off the desk and broke it.You then dumped it outside hoping nobody would notice anything.And one last thing about the rules.If you're going to do a B&E in short sleeves, then you ought to get yourself a Band-Aid or somethin' and cover up that tattoo on your arm, know what I mean? That's a slam-bang identifier when you got it on tape.And, Carbone, you're on tape, lots of tape.' Carbone wiped a hand across his face.Bosch turned on Third and they went into the tunnel that runs under Bunker Hill.In the darkness that shrouded the car, Carbone finally spoke.'Who knows about this?' 'For the moment, just me.But don't get any ideas.Anything happens to me and the tape will get known by a lot of people.But for the moment, I can probably contain it.' 'What do you want?' 'I want to know what was going on and I want all the tapes you took off his phone.' 'Impossible.Can't do it.I don't have those tapes.It wasn't even my file.I just did what.' 'What Fitz told you to do.Yeah, I know.But I don't care about that.You go to Fitz or whoever's file it was and get it.I'll go with you if you want or I'll wait out in the car.But we're going back now to get them.' 'I can't do it.' What Bosch knew he meant was that he couldn't get the tapes without going to Fitzgerald and telling him how he had so badly messed up the break-in.'You're going to have to, Carbone.I don't give a shit about you.You lied to me and fucked with my case.You either get me the tapes and an explanation or this is what I do.I dub off three copies of the surveillance tape.One goes to the chiefs office in the Glass House, one goes to Jim Newton at the Times and the last goes over to Stan Chambers at Channel 5.Stan's a good man, he'll know what to do with it.Do you know he's the one who got the Rodney King tape first?' 'Jesus, Bosch, you're killing me!' 'You've got your choice.' The autopsy was being conducted by a deputy coroner named Salazar.He had already started by the time Bosch got to the coroner's office at County-USC Medical Center.They said their perfunctory hellos and Bosch, garbed in the protective paper body suit and plastic mask, leaned back against one of the stainless counters and just watched.He wasn't expecting much from the autopsy.He had really only come for the bullets and his hope was that one of them would be usable for comparison purposes.It was well known that one reason hitters preferred to use twenty-twos on the job was that the soft bullets often became so misshapen after bouncing around in the brain case that they were worthless for ballistic comparison.Salazar kept his long black hair in a ponytail that he then wrapped in a larger paper cap.Because he was in a wheelchair, he worked at an autopsy table that was lowered to accommodate him.This gave Bosch an unusually clear vantage point in viewing what was happening to the body.In years past, Bosch would have maintained an ongoing banter with Salazar while the autopsy proceeded.But since his motorcycle accident, his nine-month medical leave and his return in a wheelchair, Salazar was no longer a cheerful man and rarely engaged in small talk [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]