Bosch got back to the Blu-Lite Motel by eleven. He went straight into the bathroom and stripped off his wet and muddy clothes, throwing them into the bathtub. He was about to step into the tub and turn on the shower when he heard his phone buzzing—he had turned the ringer setting down after the incident at the Steers.

He walked out of the bathroom with a towel as stiff as cardboard wrapped around his waist. The caller ID was blocked. Bosch sat down on the bed and took the call.

“Bosch.”

“Harry, it’s me. Are you all right?”

Chu.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“’Cause I haven’t heard from you and you didn’t respond to my emails.”

“I’ve been on the road all day and haven’t looked at email. I just got to the motel and am not sure about the Wi-Fi yet.”

“Harry, you get email on your phone.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s a pain with the password and all of that. It’s too small and I don’t like doing that. I text.”

“Whatever. You want me to tell you what I sent?”

Bosch was dead tired. The exhaustion of the day and the slog back and forth through the almond grove had set into his bones. The muscles in his thighs ached from what felt like ten thousand steps through the sucking mud. He wanted to take a shower and go to sleep, but he told Chu to go ahead.

“Basically two things,” his partner said. “First, I made a pretty solid connection between two of the names on the list you gave me.”

Bosch looked around for his notebook and realized he had left it in the car. He couldn’t go out for it now.

“Go ahead, what?”

“Well, you know how Drummond is running for Congress?”

“Yeah, I saw one sign today but nothing else.”

“That’s because the election is next year. So it’s not going to get hot and heavy for a while. In fact, he doesn’t even have an opponent yet. The incumbent is retiring and Drummond probably announced early to scare away the competition.”

“Yeah, whatever. What’s the connection?”

“It’s Cosgrove. Cosgrove personally and Cosgrove Agriculture are two of the biggest donors to his campaign. I pulled the initial campaign report that he filed when he announced.”

Bosch nodded. Chu was right, a good solid connection between two members of the conspiracy. Now all he needed was the conspiracy.

“Harry, you there? You’re not falling asleep on me, are you?”

“Just about to. But that was good work, Dave. If he’s backing him now, he probably backed his two runs for sheriff as well.”

“That’s what I was thinking, too, but those records aren’t accessible online. You might be able to pull them from the county clerk’s office up there.”

Bosch shook his head.