Bosch did not know what the Danish word meant but it sounded like an exclamation of both surprise and relief. There was then a long silence, and Bosch guessed that the man on the other end of the line half a world away had possibly started to cry. Bosch had seen the behavior before when he had delivered such news in person. In this case he had asked to go to Denmark to personally brief Henrik Jespersen, but the request was denied by Lieutenant O’Toole, who was still smarting from the denial of his 128 complaint against Bosch by Mendenhall and the PSB.

“I am sorry, Detective,” Henrik said. “I am very emotional, you see. Who is the killer of my sister?”

“A man named John James Drummond. She didn’t know him.”

There was no immediate response, so Bosch filled the space.

“Henrik, you may start hearing from some journalists about the arrest. I made a deal with a reporter at the BT there in Copenhagen. He helped me with the investigation. I need to call him next.”

Again there was no response.

“Henrik, are you—”

“This man Drummond, why did he kill her?”

“Because he believed it would bring him favor with a very powerful man and family. It helped them cover up another crime against your sister.”

“Is he in jail now?”

“Not yet. He’s in a hospital, but they will be moving him soon to the jail ward.”

“In hospital? Did you shoot him?”

Bosch nodded. He understood the emotion behind the question. The hopefulness in it.

“No, Henrik. He was trying to get away. In a helicopter. And he crashed. He’ll never walk again. His spine was crushed. They think he is paralyzed from the neck down.”

“I think this is good. Do you?”

Bosch didn’t hesitate.

“Yes, Henrik, I do.”

“You say killing Anneke brought him power. How?”

Bosch spent the next fifteen minutes summarizing the history from the standpoint of the men in the conspiracy. Who they were and what they did. The war crime Anneke had made reference to. He ended the story with the latest turn of the investigation, the deaths of Banks, Dowler, and Cosgrove, and the execution of search warrants on two properties and a storage facility owned or leased by Drummond in Stanislaus County.