up and say, how ya doin?’”
“No, you are. Block your ID and call the number in five minutes. If he answers, tell him you’ve got a wrong number. Let me borrow the binocs and, Davy, you come with me.”
“Wait a minute,” Tao said. “What are we doing fucking with the phones”
“If the number’s still good we can go for a wire. Give me the glasses. You call while I’m watching and we confirm, get it?”
“Sure.”
Bosch handed the shake card back to Tao and took the binoculars in return. Chu got out of their car, came around to Bosch’s ride and got in.
Bosch pulled out onto Garvey and headed toward Club 88. He scanned the parking lots, looking for a place to get close.
“Where were you parked before?”
“Up there on the left.”
He pointed to a lot and Bosch turned in, circled around and killed the lights as he pulled into a space that was facing Club 88 across the street.
“Take the glasses and see if he answers his phone,” he told Chu.
As Chu zeroed in on Chang, Bosch studied the entire view of the club, looking for anyone who might be looking out the window in their direction.
“Which one is Chang?” he asked.
“He’s at the left end, next to the guy in the hat.”
Bosch picked him out. But he was too far away for Harry to make any confirmation of Chang as the man in the video from Fortune Liquors.
“You think it’s him or you just going with Tao’s ID?” he asked.
“No, it’s a good ID,” Chu said. “It’s him.”
Bosch checked his watch. Herrera should’ve made the call. He was growing impatient.
“What are we doing, anyway?” Chu asked.
“We’re building a case, Detective. We confirm that number, then we get a warrant for a wire. We start listening to him and we find things out. Who he talks to, what he’s up to. Maybe we hear him talk about Li. Maybe we don’t and we spook him and we see who he calls. We start closing in. The point is, we take our time and do it right. We don’t ride in on horses, shooting up the town.”
Chu didn’t respond. He kept the binoculars locked on his eyes.
“Tell me something,” Bosch said. “Do you trust those two guys, Tao and Herrera?”
Chu didn’t hesitate.
“I trust them. You don’t?”
“I don’t know them, so I can’t trust them. All I know is that you took my case and my suspect and showed everything all around that police department.”
“Look, I was trying to make a break in the case and I did. We got the ID.”
“Yeah, we got the ID and hopefully our suspect doesn’t find out about it.”
Chu lowered the binoculars and looked at Bosch.
“I think you’re just pissed because it wasn’t you.”
“No, Chu, I don’t care who makes the break as long as it’s handled right. Showing my cards to people I don’t know is not my idea of good case management.”
“Man, don’t you trust anybody?”
“Just watch the club,” Bosch responded sternly.
Chu put the binoculars back up as instructed.
“I trust myself,” Bosch said.
“I just wonder if this is something to do with me and Tao. Whether that’s the issue.”
Bosch turned toward him.
“Don’t start that shit again, Chu. I don’t care what you’re wondering. You can go back to AGU and stay the hell out of my case. I didn’t call you out in the first-”
“Chang just took a call.”
Bosch looked at the club. He thought he saw the man Chu had identified as Chang with a phone to his ear. He then dropped his arm.
“He put it away,” Chu said. “The number’s good.”
Bosch backed out of the space and started back to the super-market.
“I still don’t know why we’re fucking around with a phone number,” Chu said. “Why don’t we just go pick the guy up? We got him on tape. Same day, same time. We use it to break him.”
“And what if he doesn’t break? We’re left with nothing. The DA would laugh us right out the door if we went in with just that tape. We need more. That’s what I’m trying to teach you.”
“I don’t need a teacher, Bosch. And I still think we can turn him.”
“Yeah, go home and watch some more TV. Why the fuck would he say a single word to us? These guys are told from day one, you get popped, you say nothing. If you go down, you go down and we’ll take care of you.”
“You told me you never worked a triad case before.”
“I haven’t