get this.”
As he called latents, Bosch looked up over the wall of his cubicle and saw Gandle escorting the two HKPD detectives back to the conference room. He waved his arm at Bosch, signaling him to come back as well. Bosch held up a finger, telling him that he needed a minute.
“Latents.”
“Let me speak to Teri, please.”
He waited another ten seconds, excitement growing. Bo-Jing Chang might have been kicked loose and might already be back in Hong Kong for all Bosch knew, but if his fingerprint was on the casing of one of the bullets that killed John Li, then that was a game changer. It was direct evidence linking him to the murder. They could charge him and seek an extradition warrant.
“This is Teri.”
“It’s Harry Bosch. I just got your message.”
“I was wondering where you were. We got a match on your casing.”
“That’s wonderful. Bo-Jing Chang?”
“I’m in the lab. Let me go to my desk. It was a Chinese name but not the one on the print card your partner gave me. Those prints didn’t match. Let me put you on hold.”
She was gone and Bosch felt a fissure suddenly form in his assumptions about the case.
“Harry, are you coming?”
He looked up and out of the cubicle. Gandle had called from the door of the conference room. Bosch pointed to the phone and shook his head. Not satisfied, Gandle stepped out of the conference room and came over to Bosch’s cubicle.
“Look, they are folding on this,” he said urgently. “You need to get in there and finish it off.”
“My lawyer can handle it. I just got the call.”
“What call?”
“The one that changes-”
“Harry?”
It was Sopp back on the line. Bosch covered the mouthpiece.
“I have to take this,” he said to Gandle. Then, dropping his hand and speaking into the phone, he said, “Teri, give me the name.”
Gandle shook his head and went back toward the conference room.
“Okay, it’s not the name you mentioned. It’s Henry Lau, L-A-U. DOB is nine-nine-eighty-two.”
“What’s he in the computer for?”
“He was pulled over on a deuce two years ago in Venice.”
“That’s all he’s got?”
“Yeah. Other than that he’s clean.”
“What about an address?”
“The address on his DL is eighteen Quarterdeck in Venice. Unit eleven.”
Bosch copied the information into his pocket notebook.
“Okay, and this print you pulled, it’s solid, right?”
“No doubt, Harry. It came up glowing like Christmas. This technology is amazing. It’s going to change things.”
“And they want to use this as the test case for California?”
“I wouldn’t jump the gun on that just yet. My supervisor wants to first see how this plays in your case. You know, whether this guy is your shooter and what other evidence there is. We’re looking for a case where the technology is an integral piece in the prosecution.”
“Well, you’ll know it when I know it, Teri. Thanks for this. We’re going to move on it right now.”
“Good luck, Harry.”
Bosch hung up. He first looked over the cubicle wall at the conference room. The blinds were down but open. He could see Haller gesturing toward the two men from Hong Kong. Bosch checked his partner’s cubicle once more but it was still empty. He made a decision and picked up the phone again.
David Chu was in the AGU office and took Bosch’s call. Harry updated him on the latest piece of information to come out of latent prints and told him to run Henry Lau’s name through the triad files. In the meantime, Bosch said, he was heading over to pick Chu up.
“Where are we going?” Chu asked.
“To go find this guy.”
Bosch hung up and headed to the conference room, not to take part in whatever was being discussed, but to inform Gandle of what appeared to be a major breakthrough in the case.
When he opened the door, Gandle put his it’s-about-time look on his face. Bosch signaled him to step out again.
“Harry, these men still have questions for you,” Gandle said.
“They’ll have to wait. We’ve caught a break on the Li case and I need to move on it. Now.”
Gandle got up and started toward the door.
“Harry, I think I can handle this,” Haller said from his seat. “But there’s one question you need to answer.”
Bosch looked at him and Haller nodded, meaning the remaining question was a safe one.
“What?”
“Do you want your ex-wife’s body transported to Los Angeles?”
The question gave Bosch pause. The immediate answer was yes, but the hesitation was in measuring the consequences for his daughter.
“Yes,” he finally said. “Send her to me.”
He let Gandle