and put them back in his pocket.
“Tell her we pay nothing for lies, but that I’ll pay two thousand for the truth.”
The woman protested after hearing Sun’s translation but then Sun’s demeanor changed and he angrily barked at her, and the woman clearly got scared. She put her hands together as if to beg his forgiveness and then walked into another room.
“What did you tell her?” Bosch asked.
“I told her she must tell the truth or she would lose her apartment.”
Bosch raised his eyebrows. Sun had certainly kicked it up a notch.
“She believes I am police officer and you are my supervisor,” he added.
“How’d she get that idea?” Bosch asked.
Before Sun could answer, the woman came back carrying a small cardboard box. She went directly to Bosch and handed it to him, then bowed as she backed away. Harry opened it and found the remains of a melted and burnt cell phone.
While the woman gave Sun an explanation, Bosch pulled his own cell phone and compared it to the burned phone. Despite the damage, it was clear the phone the woman retrieved from her ash can was a match.
“She said Peng was burning that,” Sun said. “It made a very foul smell that would be displeasing to the ghosts so she removed it.”
“It’s my daughter’s.”
“Are you sure?”
“I bought it for her. I’m sure.”
Bosch opened his own phone and went to the photo files. He scrolled through his photos of his daughter until he found one of her in her school uniform.
“Show her this. See if she’s seen her with Peng.”
Sun showed the phone to the woman and asked the question. The woman shook her head as she responded, putting her hands together in prayer to underline that she was telling the truth now. Bosch didn’t need the translation. He stood up and pulled out his money. He put two thousand Hong Kong dollars on the table-less than three hundred American-and headed to the door.
“Let’s go,” he said.
32
They knocked on Peng’s door once again but got no answer. Bosch knelt down to untie and retie his shoe. He studied the lock on the doorknob as he did so.
“What do we do?” Sun asked after Bosch stood back up.
“I have picks. I can open the door.”
Bosch could see reluctance immediately cloud Sun’s face, even with the sunglasses.
“My daughter could be in there. And if she isn’t, there might be something that tells us where she is. You stand behind me and block anyone’s view. I’ll get us in in less than a minute.”
Sun looked out at the wall of duplicate buildings surrounding them like giants.
“We watch first?,” he said.
“Watch?” Bosch asked. “Watch what?”
“The door. Peng could come back. He could lead us to Madeline.”
Bosch looked at his watch. It was half past one.
“I don’t think we have time. We can’t go static here.”
“What is ‘static?’”
“We can’t stand still, man. We have to keep moving if we are going to find her.”
Sun turned from the view and looked directly at Bosch.
“One hour. We watch. If we come back to open the door, you don’t take the gun.”
Bosch nodded. He understood. Getting caught breaking and entering was one thing. Getting caught breaking and entering with a gun was about ten years of something else.
“Okay, one hour.”
They went down the elevator and out through the tunnel. Along the way Bosch tapped Sun on the arm and asked him which one of the mailboxes had Peng’s apartment number on it. Sun found the box and they saw that the lock had long been punched out. Bosch glanced back through the tunnel to the security guard reading the paper. He opened the mailbox and saw two letters.
“Looks like nobody got Saturday’s mail,” Bosch said. “I think Peng and his family have split.”
They returned to the car and Sun said he wanted to move it to a less noticeable spot now that they were back in it. He drove up the street, turned around and then parked by a containment wall that surrounded the trash bins for the building across the street and down one. They still had a view of the sixth-floor walkway and the door to Peng’s apartment.
“I think we’re wasting our time,” Bosch said. “They’re not coming back.”
“One hour, Harry. Please.”
Bosch noted it was the first time Sun had called him by his name. It didn’t placate him.
“You’re giving him another hour’s lead time, that’s all.”
Bosch pulled the box out of his jacket pocket. He opened it up and looked at the phone.
“You watch the