The Night Fire (Harry Bosch #22) - Michael Connelly Page 0,80
texted it to Bosch. His response came quick.
No CLOSER!
And she sent him one back.
Roger that!
She started the video again but didn’t hold the phone consistently in one spot or it could be a giveaway. She ate her food and continued to act like she was reading e-mails, at times placing the phone flat on the table, at other times holding it up as if to look closely at something on the screen. The whole time she was recording.
Because of the distance between the two tables, Ballard could make out very little of what was said by Kidd and nothing of what was said by Dupree. The men were speaking in low tones, and only now and then could a word or two be heard from Kidd. It was clear by his demeanor, however, that Kidd was agitated if not angry about something. At one point he poked a finger down hard on the table and Ballard clearly heard him say, “I am not fucking around.”
He said it in a controlled and angry tone that carried through the sounds of dining, conversation, and overhead music in the room.
At that point Ballard had propped her phone against a sugar caddy on the table. The phone was tilted so it would look like she was reading or watching something, but it provided a low-angle recording of Kidd. She just hoped it picked up the audio.
Kidd lowered his voice again and continued speaking to Dupree. Then, seemingly in mid-sentence, Kidd got up from the table and started walking toward Ballard.
She quickly realized that if he saw the screen of her phone, he would know she was recording his meeting with Dupree. She grabbed the phone and cleared the screen just as Kidd got to her table.
He walked by her.
She waited, wanting to turn to see where he was going, but not willing to risk it.
Then she saw Dupree rise and head up the aisle to the main room and the front door of the restaurant. She saw him stuff an envelope in the side pocket of his sweatpants as he walked.
Ballard let a long five seconds go by before she turned to look behind her. Kidd was nowhere to be seen. There was a rear hallway with a restroom sign. She quickly texted Bosch.
Elvin has left the building. Dupree coming out front.
Blue sweats, dodgers cap, stay with him.
Ballard got up and went in the direction Kidd had gone. There were three doors at the end of the rear hallway: two restrooms and a rear exit. She pushed the third door open a few inches and saw nothing. She went wider and saw a white pickup truck with the KIDD CONSTRUCTION sign on the door going down the alley. She turned around and hurried back to the front of the restaurant, calling Bosch as she went.
“Elvin has left the building—really?” he said.
“I thought it was cute,” Ballard said. “Where’s Dupree?”
“He’s sitting in a car on the street, making a call. Where’s Kidd?”
“I think he’s heading back to Rialto.”
“Did you get anything?”
“I’m not sure. I got close but they were whispering. I’ll tell you one thing, though, Kidd was angry. I could tell.”
Ballard slowed her pace so that when she stepped out of the restaurant, she would look nonchalant.
“What’s our move?” Bosch asked.
“Stay on Dupree,” Ballard said. “I want to get to my van and see what I got on my phone.”
“Roger that.”
“I think Kidd gave Dupree something. I want to see if I got it.”
“You were videoing?”
“Trying to. Let me check and I’ll hit you back.”
She disconnected and ten seconds later was at her van.
She sat and watched the video she had taken. The playback was jumpy but she had Kidd on the screen and Dupree in side profile at times. Even with the volume on Max she could not make out what was said until Kidd’s outburst—“I am not fucking around”—came through loud and clear.
She then watched as Kidd got up from the table and started walking toward the camera. His body partially obscured the angle, and the frame jostled as Ballard grabbed the phone to kill the camera. A split second before the recording ended, Kidd cleared enough of the frame to reveal the table he had just left. A white envelope was lying on the red-and-white-checked tablecloth at the spot he had vacated. It looked like a folded napkin for a place setting.
The video ended but Ballard knew that Dupree had then picked the envelope up.