an offering to a ghost. To an ancestor. You see, you are an outsider looking in, Detective Bosch. If all you knew from day one was that part of your money went to the triad just as simply as money goes to the IRS, then you would not view yourself as a victim. It was simply a given, a part of life.”
“But the IRS doesn’t put three slugs in your chest when you don’t pay.”
“Do you believe that Li was murdered by this man or the triad?”
Pointing at the man on the screen, Chu was almost indignant in asking the question.
“I believe it is the best lead we have at the moment,” Bosch countered.
“What about the lead we developed through Mrs. Li? The gangbanger who threatened her husband on Saturday.”
Bosch shook his head.
“Things don’t match up there. I still want her to look at the books and ID the kid but I think we are spinning our wheels there.”
“I don’t understand. He said he would come back and kill Mr. Li.”
“No, he said he would come back and blow his head off. Mr. Li was shot in the chest. It wasn’t a crime of rage, Detective Chu. It doesn’t fit. But don’t worry, we’ll run it down, even if it’s a waste of time.”
He waited for Chu to respond but the younger detective didn’t. Bosch pointed to the time stamp on the screen.
“Li was killed at the same time on the same day of the week. We have to assume that Li made regular payoffs. We have to assume that this man was there when Li was killed. I think that makes him the better suspect.”
The interview room was very small and they had left the door open. Bosch now stepped over and closed it, then looked back at Chu.
“So tell me you didn’t have any idea about this yesterday.”
“No, of course not.”
“Mrs. Li didn’t say anything about making payments to the local triad”
Chu stiffened. He was much smaller than Bosch but his posture suggested he was ready for a fight.
“Bosch, what are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting that this is your world and you should have told me. I found this by accident. Li kept that disc because there’s a shoplifter on it. Not because of the payoff.”
They were now facing each other less than two feet apart.
“Well, there was nothing before me yesterday that even suggested this,” Chu said. “I was called out there to translate. You didn’t ask me my opinion about anything else. You deliberately shut me out, Bosch. Maybe if you had included me, I would have seen or heard something.”
“That’s bullshit. You’re not trained as a detective to stand there with your thumb in your mouth. You don’t need an invite to ask a question.”
“With you I thought I did.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I watched you, Bosch. How you treated Mrs. Li, her son…me.”
“Oh, here we go.”
“What was it, Vietnam? You served in Vietnam, right?”
“Don’t pretend you know anything about me, Chu.”
“I know what I see and I’ve seen it before. I’m not from Vietnam, Detective. I’m an American. Born right here, like you.”
“Look, can we just drop this so we can get on with the case”
“Whatever you say. You’re the lead.”
Chu put his hands on his hips and turned back to the screen. Bosch tried to back his emotions down. He had to admit Chu had a point. And he was embarrassed that he had been so easily pegged as someone who had come back from Vietnam with a racial prejudice.
“All right,” he said. “Maybe the way I dealt with you yesterday was a mistake. I’m sorry. But you’re in now and I need to know what you know. No holding back.”
Chu relaxed too.
“I just told you everything. The only other thing I was thinking was about the two hundred sixteen.”
“What about it?”
“It’s a double payment. Like maybe Mr. Li missed a week. Maybe he was having trouble paying. His son said business was bad there.”
“And so maybe that’s what got him killed.”
Bosch pointed to the screen again.
“Can you make me a hard copy?”
“I would like one myself.”
Chu moved to the printer and pushed a button twice. Soon two copies of the image of the man turning from the counter were printing.
“Do you have mug books?” Bosch asked. “Intelligence files?”
“Of course,” Chu said. “I will try to identify him. I will make inquiries.”
“I don’t want him to know we’re coming.”
“Thank you, Detective. But, yes, I assumed that.”
Bosch didn’t respond. It had been