I think it’s them. I can’t be sure but I think so. The tattoos are right and that’s the boat. But it has been a long time and I was drinking. But, yes, I think it’s them.

Bosch sat down at the table and reread the email. He felt a growing sense of both dread and excitement. It was not a rock-solid identification from Charlotte Jackson, but it was close. He knew that occurrences of twenty years ago or longer were now coming together at an undeniable speed. The hand of the past was reaching up through the ground, and there was no telling who or what it would grab and pull down when it finally broke through the surface of the earth.

Chapter 29

29

Bosch spent the morning in his room, leaving only briefly to walk across the parking lot to the liquor store to buy a carton of milk and some doughnuts for breakfast. He left the “Do Not Disturb” sign hooked on the knob and chose to make the bed and hang the towels himself. He called his daughter before she left for school and talked to Hannah as well. Both conversations were quick and of the have-a-great-day variety. He then got down to work, spending the next two hours on his laptop, updating in full detail the ongoing summary of the investigation. Once finished, he returned the computer and all the documents he’d used to his backpack.

Before leaving, he prepared his room, sliding the bed against one wall to create an open center space under the ceiling light. He then moved the table from the kitchenette under the light. His last move was to take the shades off the two bedside lamps and position the lights so they would shine toward the face of the individual who sat on the left side of the table.

At the door he reached into the back pocket of his pants to make sure he still had the room key. He felt the plastic fob attached to the key and something else. He pulled out Detective Mendenhall’s business card and realized it had been in his pants since he found it waiting for him on his desk.

The card prompted him to think about calling Mendenhall to see if she had gone to San Quentin yesterday as she had told Hannah she would. He dismissed the idea, deciding to stay focused on the wave of momentum the call from Charlotte Jackson had provided. He pocketed the card again and opened the door. He made sure the “Do Not Disturb” sign remained in place and pulled the door closed.

It was an investigative standard. The best and fastest way to break a conspiracy was to identify the weakest link in the chain and find a way to exploit it. When one link was broken, the chain would come loose.