over with.”
Bosch turned back to the deck. Chu was coming through the door. They followed Lau up the stairs and then down a hallway that cut back to the rear of the unit. Framed photographs, movie posters and diplomas lined both sides. They passed an open door to a bedroom that was used as a writing office and then entered the -master bedroom, a grand room with twelve-foot ceilings and ten-foot windows looking out over the beach.
“I called Pacific Division,” Chu said to Bosch. “The shooting was on the night of the first. They have two suspects in custody on it.”
Bosch flipped back through the calendar in his mind. The first was the Tuesday one week before the killing of John Li.
Lau sat down on the unmade bed next to a two-drawer side table. He opened the bottom drawer and pulled out a steel box with a handle on the top.
“Hold it right there,” Bosch said.
Lau put the box on the bed and stood up, hands up.
“Hey, I wasn’t going to do anything, man. You asked to see it.”
“Why don’t you let my partner open the box,” Bosch said.
“Suit yourself.”
“Detective.”
Bosch pulled a pair of latex gloves from his coat pocket and handed them to Chu. He then stepped over to Lau so that he was within arm’s reach if necessary.
“Why’d you buy the gun, Henry?”
“Because I was living in a complete shithole at the time and the bangers were all over the place. But it’s funny. I paid a million fucking dollars for this place and they’re still right out there on the beach, shooting the place up.”
Chu snapped the second glove on and looked at Lau.
“Do you give us permission to open this box?” he asked.
“Sure, go ahead. I don’t know what this is about but why the hell not? Just open it. The key is on a little hook on the back side of the table.”
Chu reached behind the bed table and found the key. He then used it to open the box. A black felt gun bag sat on some folded papers and envelopes. There was a passport and a box of bullets as well. Chu carefully lifted the bag out and opened it, producing a black semiautomatic pistol. He turned it and examined it.
“One box of Cor Bon nine-millimeter bullets, one Glock Model Nineteen. I think this is it, Harry.”
He popped the gun’s magazine and studied the bullets through the slot. He then ejected the round from the chamber.
“Fully loaded and ready to go.”
Lau took a step toward the door but Bosch immediately put his hand on his chest to stop him and then backed him against the wall.
“Look,” Lau said, “I don’t know what this is about but you people are freaking me out here. What the fuck is going on?”
Bosch kept his hand on his chest.
“Just tell me about the gun, Henry. You had it the night of the first. Has it been out of your possession at any time since then?”
“No, I…right there is where I keep it.”
“Where were you last Tuesday, three o’clock in the afternoon?”
“Um, last week I was here. I think I was here, working. We didn’t start shooting until Thursday.”
“You work here alone?”
“Yes, I work alone. Writing is a solitary pursuit. No, wait! Wait! Last Tuesday I was at Paramount all day. We had a read-through of the script with the cast. I was over there all afternoon.”
“And there will be people who will vouch for you?”
“At least a dozen. Matthew fucking McConaughey will vouch for me. He was there. He’s playing the lead.”
Bosch made a jump then, hitting Lau with a question designed to keep him off balance. It was amazing what fell out of people’s pockets when they were being knocked back and forth by seemingly unrelated questions.
“Are you associated with a triad, Henry?”
Lau burst out laughing.
“What? What the fuck are you-look, I’m out of here.”
He slapped Bosch’s hand away and pushed off the wall in the direction of the door again. It was a move Harry was ready for. He grabbed Lau by the arm and spun him around. He clipped his ankle with a kick and threw him facedown on the bed. He then moved in, kneeling on his back while he cuffed him.
“This is fucking crazy!” Lau yelled. “You can’t do this!”
“Calm down, Henry, just calm down,” Bosch said. “We’re going to go downtown and straighten all of this out.”
“But I’ve got a movie! I have to be on the set in three hours!”
“Fuck