“What the fuck is this?”

“This is you being arrested. Now we’re going to walk to the back door of my car, and if you struggle with me again, you are going to trip and fall right on your face, you understand? You’ll be spitting out gravel, Banks. You want that?”

“No, I just want a lawyer.”

“You get a lawyer once you’re booked. Let’s go.”

Bosch jerked him away from his car and walked him back to the Crown Vic. The strobe light was still pulsing. Bosch took him to the rear passenger-side door, put him in the seat, and then buckled his seat belt.

“If you move from this spot while we’re driving, you’re going to get the butt end of my flashlight in your mouth. Then you’ll want a dentist to go with your lawyer. Am I clear?”

“Yes. I won’t fight. Just take me in and get me my lawyer.”

Bosch slammed the door shut. He went back to Banks’s car, took the keys out of the ignition, and locked it up. The last thing he did was go back to his car for the “Out of Gas” note he had used the night before. He took it to Banks’s car and clipped it under the windshield wiper.

As he returned to his car, Bosch saw a car silhouetted by the lights from the freeway. The car was dark and parked on the shoulder of the freeway exit. Bosch didn’t remember passing a car parked there when he exited behind Banks.

The interior of the car was too dark for Bosch to see if there was anyone in it. He opened his door and got in, killed the strobe, and dropped it into drive. He then quickly pulled out of the gravel lot and drove down the freeway frontage road. The whole way he kept his eye on the rearview mirror, half to check on Banks and half to check for the mystery car.

Bosch pulled into the parking lot of the Blu-Lite and saw that there were only two other cars and they were on the other side of the lot from Bosch’s room. He backed into the slot that put the passenger side of his car closest to his room’s door.

“What’s going on here?” Banks demanded.

Bosch didn’t answer. He got out and used his key to open his room’s door. He then went back to the car and scanned the parking lot before getting Banks out of the backseat. He walked him quickly toward the door, his arm around him as if he were supporting a drunk being taken to his room.

Inside the room, he hit the light switch, kicked the door closed behind him, and walked Banks to the chair at the table that positioned him facing the lights.