police officer."
"Yes, so? What's it mean?"
"We also know other things—"
"We know," Bosch cut in, "you were very highly paid as a police officer in Saigon, Mr. Binh. We know that for some of your work you were paid in diamonds."
"What does this mean, what he says?" Binh said, looking at Eleanor and gesturing with his hand to Bosch. He was lapsing into the defense of language barrier. He seemed to know less English as the interview went on.
"It means what he says," she answered. "We know about the diamonds you brought here from Vietnam, Captain Binh. We know you kept them in the safe-deposit box. We believe the diamonds were the motivation for the vault break-in."
The news didn't shake him, he may have already considered as much. He did not move. He said, "This not true."
"Mr. Binh, we've got your package," Bosch said. "We know all about you. We know what you were in Saigon, what you did. We know what you took with you when you came here. I don't know what you are into now—it all looks legit, but we don't really care. What we do care about is who ripped off that bank. And they ripped it off because of you. They took the collateral for all this and everything else you've got. Now, I don't think we are telling you something that you probably haven't figured out or thought about on your own. In fact, you might have even thought your old partner Nguyen Tran was behind it because he knew what you had and maybe where it was. Not a bad guess, but we don't think so. In fact, we think he is next on the list."
Not a crack formed on the stone that was Binh's face.
"Mr. Binh, we want to talk to Tran," Bosch said. "Where is he?"
Binh looked down through the coffee table in front of him to the three-headed dragon on the rug beneath it. He put his hands together on his lap, shook his head and said, "Who is this Tran?"
Eleanor glared at Bosch and tried to salvage what rapport she had had with the man before he butted in.
"Captain Binh, we're not interested in taking any action against you. We simply want to stop another vault break-in before it happens. Can you help us, please?"
Binh didn't answer. He looked down at his hands.
"Look, Binh, I don't know what you've got going on this," Bosch said. "You might have people out there trying to find the same people we are, I don't know. But I'm telling you right now, you are out of it. So tell us where Tran is."
"I don't know this man."
"We are your only hope. We have to get to Tran. The people that ripped you off, they are in the tunnels again. Right now. If we don't get to Tran this weekend, there won't be anything left for you or him."
Binh remained a stone, as Bosch expected. Eleanor stood up.
"Think about it, Mr. Binh," she said.
"We're running out of time, and so is your old partner," Bosch said as they headed for the door.
After walking through the showroom door Bosch looked both ways for traffic and ran across Vermont to the car. Eleanor walked it, anger making her strides stiff and jerky. Bosch got in and reached to the floor behind the front seat for the Nagra. He turned it on and set the recording speed at its fastest level. He didn't think the wait would be long. He hoped all the electronic equipment in the store would not skew the reception. Eleanor got in the passenger side and started to complain.
"That was magnificent," she said. "We'll never get anything out of that guy now. He's just going to call up Tran and—what the hell is that?"
"Something I picked up from the shooflies. They dropped a bug in my phone. Oldest trick in the IAD book."
"And you just put it in . . ." She pointed across the street and Bosch nodded.
"Bosch, do you realize what could happen to us, what this means? I'm going back in there and getting—"
She opened the car door but he reached across and pulled it closed.
"You don't want to do that. This is our only way to get to Tran. Binh wasn't going to tell us, no matter how we handled the interview, and deep down behind those angry eyes you know it. So it's this or nothing. Binh warns Tran and we never know where he is, or we use