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  There was nothing Bosch could say to that. He had sat with enough parents of dead children to know there was no debating what the councilman had said. Irving had his head down, eyes on the ornate pattern of the rug in front of him.

  “I’ve worked for this city in one capacity or another for over fifty years,” he continued. “And here I am and I can’t trust a soul in it. So I reach out to a man I’ve tried to destroy in the past. Why? I’m not even sure myself. I suppose it’s because there was an integrity to our skirmishes. An integrity to you. I didn’t like you or your methods but I respected you.”

  He looked up at Bosch now.

  “I want you to tell me what happened to my son, Detective Bosch. I want the truth and I think I can trust you to give it to me.”

  “No matter how it falls?”

  “No matter how it falls.”

  Bosch nodded.

  “I can do that.”

  He started to get up but paused when Irving continued.

  “You said once that everybody counts or nobody counts. I remember that. This would put that to the test. Does the son of your enemy count? Will you give your best effort for him? Will you be relentless for him?”

  Bosch just stared at him. Everybody counts or nobody counts. It was his code as a man. But it was never spoken. It was only followed. He was sure he had never said it to Irving.

  “When?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “When did I say that?”

  Realizing he may have misspoken, Irving shrugged and adopted the pose of a confused old man even though his eyes were as sharp as black marbles in snow.

  “I don’t remember, actually. It’s just something I know about you.”

  Bosch st fo"3">Bosood up.

  “I’ll find out what happened to your son. Is there anything you can tell me about what he was doing here?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “How did you find out this morning?”

  “I was called by the chief of police. Personally. I came right away. But they wouldn’t let me see him.”

  “They were right. Did he have a family? I mean besides you.”

  “A wife and son—the boy just went away to college. I was just on the phone with Deborah. I told her the news.”

  “If you call her back, tell her I’ll be coming to see her.”

  “Of course.”

  “What did your son do for a living?”

  “He was a lawyer specializing in corporate relations.”

  Bosch waited for more but that was all that was offered.

  “Corporate relations? What does that mean?”

  “It means he got things done. People came to him when they wanted things done in this city. He had worked for the city. First as a cop, then for the City Attorney.”

  “And he had an office?”

  “He had a cell phone.”

  “What did he call his company?”

  “It was a law firm. Irving and Associates—only there weren’t any associates. Just a one-man shop.”

  Bosch knew he would have to come back to this. But it wasn’t useful to spar with Irving when he had so little basic knowledge through which to filter the councilman’s answers. He would wait until he knew more.

  “I’ll be in touch,” he said.

  Irving raised his hand and flipped two fingers out with a business card between them.

  “This is my private cell number. I’ll expect to hear something from you by the end of the day.”

  Or you’ll take another ten million out of the overtime budget? Bosch didn’t like this. But he took the card and headed to the elevators.

  On the way up to seven he thought about the stilted conversation with Irving. What bothered him most was that Irving knew his code and Harry had a pretty good idea how he had come by the information. It was something he would have to deal witnci to deah later.

  Contents

  Front Cover Image

  Christmas Even

  Father’s Day

  Angle of Investigation

  A Preview of The Drop

  About the Author

  Also by Michael Connelly

  Copyright

  About the Author

  Michael Connelly is the author of the recent #1 New York Times bestsellers The Fifth Witness, The Reversal, The Scarecrow, The Brass Verdict, and The Lincoln Lawyer, as well as the bestselling Harry Bosch series of novels. He is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels. He spends his time in California and Florida.

  Books by Michael Connelly

  Featuring Harry Bosch

  The Black Echo

  The Black Ice

  The Concrete Blonde

  The Last Coyote

  Trunk Music

  Angels Flight

  A Darkness More Than Night

  City of Bones

  Lost Light

  The Narrows

  The Closers

  Echo Park

  The Overlook

  Nine Dragons

  Featuring Mickey Haller

  The Lincoln Lawyer

  The Fifth Witness

  Featuring Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller

  The Brass Verdict

  The Reversal

  Featuring Jack McEvoy

  The Poet

  The Scarecrow

  Other Novels

  Blood Work

  Void Moon

  Nonfiction

  Chasing the Dime

  Crime Beat

  Short Stories

  Suicide Run

  Angle of Investigation

  Copyright

  AN ORION EBOOK

  This collection first published in Great Britain in 2011 by Orion Books.

  This eBook first published in 2011 by Orion Books.

  Copyright © Hieronymus, Inc 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008

  “Christmas Even” was originally published in Murder and All That Jazz, edited by Robert J Randisi.

  “Father’s Day” was originally published in The Blue Religion, edited by Michael Connelly.

  “Angle if Investigation” was originally published in Plots with Guns, edited by Anthony Neil Smith.

  Excerpt from The Drop © Hieronymus, Inc 2011

  The moral right of Michael Connelly to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All characters and events in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978 1 4091 4310 9

  Orion Books

  The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

  Orion House

  5 Upper St Martin’s Lane

  London WC2H 9EA

  An Hachette UK Company

  www.orionbooks.co.uk

  Table of Contents

  Front Cover Image

  Christmas Even

  Father’s Day

  Angle of Investigation

  A Preview of The Drop

  About the Author

  Also by Michael Connelly

  Copyright

 

 

 
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