Bosch smiled and shook his head.

“I wish,” he said. “O.J., too. But they weren’t in business back then for that one. We just lost those cases on our own.”

“Doesn’t matter. This is going to be huge.”

“Biggest one I’ve ever had.”

He folded his arms and glanced over his shoulder at the view.

“You’ve got the Sunset Strip and I’ve got Universal,” he said.

I heard the door open and looked back to see Hayley peeking out.

“Dad?”

“What’s up, Hay?”

“Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine. Hayley, this is Detective Bosch. He’s a policeman.”

“Hello, Hayley,” Bosch said.

I think it was the only time I had ever seen him put a real smile on his face.

“Hi,” my daughter said.

“Hayley, did you eat your cereal?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, then you can watch TV until it’s time to go.”

She disappeared inside and closed the door. I checked my watch. She still had ten minutes before we had to leave.

“She’s a cute kid,” Bosch said.

I nodded.

“I gotta ask you a question,” he said. “You started this whole thing tumbling, didn’t you? You sent that anonymous letter to the judge.”

I thought for a moment before answering.

“If I say yes, am I going to become a witness?”

I had not been called to the federal grand jury after all. With McSweeney giving everything up, they apparently didn’t need me. And I didn’t want to change that now.

“No, it’s just for me,” Bosch said. “I just want to know if you did the right thing.”

I considered not telling him but ultimately I wanted him to know.

“Yeah, that was me. I wanted to get McSweeney off the jury and then win the case fair and square. I didn’t expect Judge Stanton to take the letter and consult other judges about it.”

“He called up the chief judge and asked her advice.”

I nodded.

“It’s gotta be what happened,” I said. “He calls her, not knowing she was behind the whole thing. She then tipped McSweeney and told him not to show up for court, then used him to try to clean up the mess.”

Bosch nodded as though I was confirming things he already knew.

“And you were part of the mess. She must’ve figured you sent the letter to Judge Stanton. You knew too much and had to go — just like Vincent. It wasn’t about the story we planted. It was about you tipping Judge Stanton.”

I shook my head. My own actions had almost brought about my own demise in the form of a high dive off Mulholland.

“I guess I was pretty stupid.”

“I don’t know about that. You’re still standing. After today none of them will be.”

“There’s that. What kind of deal did McSweeney cut?”