9 Dragons Read online

  “You speak Chinese, Sarge?”

  “No, that’s why I called ACU.”

  “Then, how did you know to ask for Chinese and not Korean or maybe even Vietnamese?”

  “I’ve been on the job twenty-six years, Detective. And-”

  “And you know Chinese when you see it.”

  “No, what I’m saying is I have a hard time making it through a shift these days without a little jolt, you know? So once a day I stop by here to pick up one of those energy drinks. Five-hour boost it gives you. Anyway, I got to know Mr. Li a little bit from coming in. He told me he and his wife came from China and that’s how I knew.”

  Bosch nodded and was embarrassed at his effort to embarrass Lucas.

  “I guess I’ll have to try one of those boosts,” he said. “Did Mrs. Li call nine-one-one”

  “No, like I said, she doesn’t have much English. From what I got from dispatch, Mrs. Li called her son and he’s the one who called nine-one-one.?”

  Bosch stepped out and around the counter. Ferras lingered behind it, squatting to get the same view of the body and the gun that Bosch had just had.

  “Where is the son?” Bosch asked.

  “He’s coming but he works up in the Valley,” Lucas said. “Should be here anytime now.”

  Bosch pointed to the counter.

  “When he gets here, you and your people keep him away from this.”

  “Got it.”

  “And we’re going to have to try to keep this place as clear as possible now.”

  Lucas got the message and took his officers out of the store. Finished behind the counter, Ferras joined Bosch near the front door, where he was looking up at the camera mounted on the ceiling at the center of the store.

  “Why don’t you check out the back?” Bosch said. “See if the guy really pulled the disc, and look in on our witness.”

  “Got it.”

  “Oh, and find the thermostat and cool it down in here. It’s too warm. I don’t want that body to turn.”

  Ferras headed down the center aisle. Bosch looked back to take in the scene as a whole. The counter was about twelve feet long. The cash register was set up at center with an open space for customers to put down their purchases. On one side of this were racks of gum and candy. On the other side of the register were other point-of-purchase products like energy drinks, a plastic case containing cheap cigars and a lotto display case. Overhead was a wire-mesh storage box for cigarette cartons.

  Behind the counter were shelves where high-end liquors were stored, and which had to be asked for by customers. Bosch saw six rows of Hennessy. He knew the expensive cognac was favored by high-rolling gang members. He was pretty sure the location of Fortune Liquors would put it in the territory of the Hoover Street Criminals, a street gang that once was a Crips set but then became so powerful its leaders chose to forge their own name and reputation.

  Bosch noticed two things and stepped closer to the counter.

  The cash register had been turned askew on the counter, revealing a square of grit and dust on the Formica where it had been located. Bosch reasoned that the killer had pulled it toward him while he took the money from the drawer. This was a significant assumption because it meant that Mr. Li had not opened the drawer and given the robber the money. This likely meant he had already been shot. Ferras’s theory that the killer had come in shooting could be correct. And this could be significant in an eventual prosecution in proving intent to kill. More important, it gave Bosch a better idea of what had happened in the store and what kind of person they were looking for.

  Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the glasses he wore for close work. He put them on and without touching anything leaned over the counter to study the cash register’s keyboard. He saw no button that said open or any other obvious indication of how to open the cash drawer. Bosch was unsure how to open the register. He wondered how the killer knew.

  He straightened back up and looked at the shelves of bottles on the wall behind the counter. The Hennessy was front and center, with easy access for Mr. Li when members of Hoover Street came in. But the rows were flush. No bottle was missing.

  Again Bosch leaned forward across the counter. This time he tried to reach across to one of the bottles of Hennessy. He realized that if he put his hand down on the counter for balance he would be able to reach the row and take one of the bottles easily.

  “Harry?”

  Bosch straightened back up and turned to his partner.

  “The sergeant was right,” Ferras said. “The camera system records to disc. There’s no disc in the machine. It was either pulled or he wasn’t recording to disc and the camera was just for show.”

  “Are there any backup discs?”

  “There’s a couple back there on the counter but it’s a one-disc system. It just records over and over on the same disc. I worked Robbery way back when and we saw a lot of these. They last about a day and then it records over it. You pull the disc if you want to check something but you have to do it in the same day.”

  “Okay, make sure we get those extra discs.”

  Lucas came back in through the front door.

  “ACU is here,” he said. “Should I send him in?”

  Bosch looked at Lucas for a long moment before answering.

  “It’s AGU,” he finally said. “But don’t send him in. I’ll be right out.”

  3

  Bosch stepped out of the store into the sunlight. It was still warm though getting late in the day. The dry Santa Ana winds were passing through the city. Fires in the hills had put a pallor of smoke in the air. Bosch could feel the sweat drying on the back of his neck.

  He was almost immediately met outside the door by a plainclothes detective.

  “Detective Bosch?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Detective David Chu, AGU. Patrol called me down. How can I be of help?”

  Chu was short and slightly built. There was no trace of an accent in his voice. Bosch signaled him to follow as he ducked back under the tape and headed to his car. He took off his suit jacket as he went. He took the matchbook out and put it in his pants pocket, then folded the jacket inside out and put it in a clean cardboard box he kept in the trunk of his work car.

  “Hot in there,” he told Chu.

  Bosch opened the middle button of his shirt and stuck his tie inside. He now planned to get fully involved in the crime scene investigation and didn’t want it to get in the way.

  “Hot out here, too,” Chu said. “The patrol sergeant told me to wait until you came out.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. Okay, what we’ve got is, the old man who has run this store for a number of years is dead behind the counter. Shot at least three times in what looks like a robbery. His wife, who does not speak English, came into the store and found him. She called their son, who then called it in. We obviously need to interview her and that’s where you come in. We may also need help with the son when he gets here. That’s about all I know at the moment.”

  “And we’re sure they’re Chinese?”

  “Pretty sure. The patrol sergeant who made the call knew the victim, Mr. Li.”

  “Do you know which dialect Mrs. Li speaks?”

  They headed back to the tape.

  “Nope. Is that going to be a problem?”

  “I am familiar with the five main Chinese dialects and proficient in Cantonese and Mandarin. These are the two we most often encounter here in L.A.”

  This time Bosch held the tape up for Chu so he could go back under.

  “Which are you?”

  “I was born here, Detective. But my family is from Hong Kong and I was raised speaking Mandarin at home.”

  “Yeah? I have a kid who lives in Hong Kong with her mother. She’s getting good at Mandarin.”

  “Good for her. I hope it will be useful to her.”

  They entered the store and Bosch gave Chu a quick view of the body behind the counter and then walked him to the rear of the s
tore. They were met by Ferras and then Chu was used to make introductions to Mrs. Li.

  The newly widowed woman appeared to be in shock. Bosch saw no indication that she had shed a single tear for her husband so far. She seemed to be in a dissociated state that Bosch had seen before. Her husband was lying dead in the front of the store. She was surrounded by strangers who spoke a different language. Bosch guessed she was waiting for her son to arrive, and then the tears would fall.

  Chu was gentle with her and conversational at first. Bosch believed that they were speaking Mandarin. His daughter had told him that Mandarin was more singsong and less guttural than Cantonese and some of the other dialects.

  After a few minutes Chu broke away to report to Bosch and Ferras.

  “Her husband was alone in the store while she went home to prepare their supper. When she came back she thought the store was empty. Then she found him behind the counter. She saw no one in the store when she came in. She parked in the back and used a key to open the back door.”

  Bosch nodded.

  “How long was she gone? Ask her what time it was when she left the store.”

  Chu did as instructed and turned back to Bosch with the answer.

  “She leaves at two-thirty every day to pick up the supper. Then she comes back.”

  “Are there other employees?”

  “No, I asked that already. Just her husband and Mrs. Li. They work every day eleven to ten. Closed Sundays.”

  A typical immigrant story, Bosch thought. They just weren’t counting on the bullets coming at the end of it.

  Bosch heard voices coming from the front of the store and ducked his head into the rear hallway. The forensics team from SID had arrived and were going to work.

  He turned back into the storage room, where the interview with Mrs. Li was continuing.

  “Chu,” Bosch interrupted.

  The AGU detective looked up at him.

  “Ask about the son. Was he at home when she called?”

  “I already asked. There is another store. It’s in the Valley. He was working there. The family lives together in the middle. In the Wilshire District.”

  It seemed clear to Bosch that Chu knew what he was doing. He didn’t need Bosch to prompt him with questions.

  “Okay, we’re going back up front. You deal with her and after her son arrives it might be better to take everybody downtown. You okay with that?”

  “I’m fine with it,” Chu said.

  “Good. Tell me if you need anything.”

  Bosch and Ferras went down the hall and to the front of the store. Bosch already knew everybody on the forensics team. A team from the medical examiner’s office had also arrived to document the death scene and collect the body.

  Bosch and Ferras decided to split up at that point. Bosch would stay on scene. As lead detective he would monitor the collection of forensic evidence and the removal of the body. Ferras would leave the store and go knock on doors. The liquor store was located in a commercial area of small businesses. He would go door-to-door in an effort to find someone who had heard or seen something related to the killing. Both investigators knew this would likely be a fruitless effort but it was one that needed to be made. A description of a car or a suspicious person could be the piece of the puzzle that would eventually break the case. It was basic homicide work.

  “All right if I take one of the patrol guys?” Ferras asked. “They know the neighborhood.”

  “Sure.”

  Bosch thought that knowing the lay of the land was not Ferras’s true reason for taking a patrol officer with him. His partner thought he needed backup to knock on doors and visit stores in the neighborhood.

  Two minutes after Ferras left, Bosch heard loud voices and a commotion coming from outside at the front of the store. He stepped out and saw two of Lucas’s patrol officers trying to physically detain a man at the yellow tape. The struggling man was Asian and in his midtwenties. He wore a tight-fitting T-shirt that displayed his lean build. Bosch quickly stepped toward the problem.

  “Okay, stop it right there,” he said forcefully so no one would doubt who was in charge of the situation.

  “Let him go,” he added.

  “I want to see my father,” the young man said.

  “Well, that’s not the way to go about doing it.”

  Bosch stepped closer and nodded to the two patrolmen.

  “I’ll take care of Mr. Li now.”

  They left Bosch and the victim’s son alone.

  “What is your full name, Mr. Li?”

  “Robert Li. I want to see my father.”

  “I understand that. I’m going to let you see your father if you really want to. But you can’t until it’s clear. I’m the detective in charge of this whole thing and I can’t even see your father yet. So I need you to calm down. The only way you will get what you want is if you calm down.”

  The young man looked down at the ground and nodded. Bosch reached out and touched him on the shoulder.

  “Okay, good,” Bosch said.

  “Where’s my mother?”

  “She’s inside in the back room being interviewed by another detective.”

  “Can I at least see her?”

  “Yes, you can. I’ll walk you around back in a minute. I just need to ask you a few questions first. Is that okay?”

  “Fine. Go ahead.”

  “First of all, my name is Harry Bosch. I’m the lead detective on this investigation. I’m going to find whoever killed your father. I promise you that.”

  “Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep. You didn’t even know him. You don’t care. He’s just another-never mind.”

  “Another what?”

  “I said, never mind.”

  Bosch stared at him for a moment before responding.

  “How old are you, Robert?”

  “I’m twenty-six and I would like to see my mother now.”

  He made a move to turn and head toward the back of the store but Bosch grabbed him on the arm. The younger man was strong but Bosch had a strength in his grip that was surprising. The young man stopped and looked down at the hand on his arm.

  “Let me show you something and then I’ll take you to your mother.”

  He let go of Li’s arm and then pulled the matchbook from his pocket. He handed it over. Li looked at it with no surprise.

  “What about it? We used to give these away until the economy went bad and we couldn’t afford the extras.”

  Bosch took the matchbook back and nodded.

  “I got it in your father’s store twelve years ago,” he said. “I guess you were about fourteen years old then. We almost had a riot in this city. Happened right here. This intersection.”

  “I remember. They looted the store and beat up my father. He should have never reopened here. My mother and me, we told him to open the store up in the Valley but he wouldn’t listen to us. He wasn’t going to let anybody drive him out and now look what happened.”

  He gestured helplessly toward the front of the store.

  “Yeah, well, I was here that night, too,” Bosch said. “Twelve years ago. A riot started but it ended pretty quick. Right here. One casualty.”

  “A cop. I know. They pulled him right out of his car.”

  “I was in that car with him but they didn’t get to me. And when I got to this spot I was safe. I needed a smoke and I went into your father’s store. He was there behind the counter but the looters had taken every last pack of cigarettes in the place.”

  Bosch held up the book of matches.

  “I found plenty of matches but no cigarettes. And then your father reached into his pocket and pulled out his own. He had one last smoke left and he gave it to me.”

  Bosch nodded. That was the story. That was it.

  “I didn’t know your father, Robert. But I’m going to find the person who killed him. That’s a promise I’ll keep.”

  Robert Li nodded and looked down at the ground.

  “Okay,” Bosc
h said. “Let’s go see your mother now.”

  4

  The detectives didn’t clear the crime scene and get back to the squad room until almost midnight. By then Bosch had decided not to bring the victim’s family to PAB for formal interviews. After appointments were made for them to come in Wednesday morning, he let them go home to grieve. Shortly after getting back to the squad Bosch also sent Ferras home so he could attempt to repair damages with his own family. Harry stayed behind alone to organize the evidence inventory and to contemplate things about the case for the first time without interruption. He knew that Wednesday was shaping up as a busy day, with appointments with the family in the morning and results of some of the forensic and lab work coming in, as well as the possible scheduling of the autopsy.

  While the canvass of the nearby businesses by Ferras had proved fruitless as expected, the evening’s work had produced one possible suspect. On Saturday afternoon, three days before his murder, Mr. Li had confronted a young man he believed had been routinely shoplifting from the store. According to Mrs. Li and as translated by Detective Chu, the teenager had angrily denied ever stealing anything and drew the race card, claiming Mr. Li had only accused him because he was black. This seemed laughable, since ninety-nine percent of the store’s business came from neighborhood residents who were black. But Li did not call the police. He simply banished the teenager from the store, telling him never to return. Mrs. Li told Chu that the teen’s parting shot at the door was to tell her husband that the next time he came back it would be to blow the shopkeeper’s head off. Li in turn had pulled his weapon from beneath the counter and pointed it at the youth, assuring him that he would be ready for his return.

  This meant the teenager was aware of the weapon Li had beneath the counter. If he were to make good on his threat, he would have to enter the store and act swiftly, shooting Li before he could get to his gun.

  Mrs. Li would look through gang books in the morning in an effort to find a photo of the threatening youth. If he was associated with the Hoover Street Criminals, then chances were they had his photo in the books.

  But Bosch wasn’t fully convinced it was a viable lead or that the kid was a valid suspect. There were things about the crime scene that didn’t add up to a revenge killing. There was no doubt that they had to run the lead down and talk to the kid but Bosch wasn’t expecting to close the case with him. That would be too easy and there were things about the case that defied easy.