positions from the tunnels when they came across the Jeep. Rourke said there's a car pool parking lot down by the freeway. There's a beige Jeep parked with a covered trailer attached. It's theirs. The three blue ATVs are in the trailer."
"Is he getting a warrant?"
"Yeah, he's got somebody trying to find a judge now. So they'll have it. But they aren't going to go near it until they take down the operation. In case their plan is for someone to come out and get the ATVs. Or somebody already outside is going to show up and drive 'em in.
Bosch nodded and sipped. It was the smart way to go. He remembered he had a cigarette going in the ashtray and tossed it out the open window.
As if guessing what he would be thinking, she said, "Rourke said that from what they could see there was no blanket in the back of the Jeep. But if it's the Jeep Meadows's body was carried to the reservoir in, there still should be fiber evidence."
"What about the seal that Sharkey saw on the door?"
"Rourke said there was no seal. But there could have been one and they just took it off when they were leaving the Jeep out there."
"Yeah," Bosch said. After a few moments of thought, he said, "Does it bother you how everything is just coming together so well?"
"Should it?"
Bosch shrugged his shoulders. He looked up Wilshire. The curb in front of the fireplug was empty. Since they had come back from dinner Bosch hadn't seen the white LTD, which he'd been sure was an IAD car. He didn't know if Lewis and Clarke were around or had called it a night.
"Harry, good detective work pays off with cases that come together," Eleanor told him. "I mean, we aren't out of the dark on this by a long shot. But I think we finally have a measure of control. Damned sight better than we were three days ago. So why the worry when a few things finally start coming together?"
"Three days ago Sharkey was still alive."
"Well, while you're taking the blame for that, why don't you add everybody else who has ever made a choice and gotten themselves killed. You can't change those things, Harry. And you're not supposed to be a martyr."
"What do you mean, choice? Sharkey didn't make any choice."
"Yes, he did. When he chose the streets, he knew he might die on the streets."
"You don't believe that. He was a kid."
"I believe that shit happens. I believe that the best you can do in this job is come out even. Some people win and some lose. Hopefully, half the time it is the good guys who win. That's us, Harry."
Bosch drank his cup dry and they sat in silence for a while after that. They had a clear view of the vault sitting at the center of the glass room like a throne. Out there in the open, polished and shiny under the bright ceiling lights, it said "Take me" to the world, he thought. And somebody would. We're going to let them.
Wish picked up the radio handset, keyed the transmit button twice and said, "Broadway One to First, do you guys copy?"
"We copy, Broadway. Anything?" It was Houck's voice on the comeback. There was a lot of static, as the radio waves ricochetted off the tall buildings in the area.
"Only checking. What's your position?"
"We are due south of the front door of the pawnshop. A clear view of nothing going on."
"We're east. Can see the—" She clicked off the mike and looked at Bosch. "We forgot a code for the vault. Got any ideas?"
Bosch shook his head no, but then said, "Saxophone. I've seen saxophones hanging in pawnshop windows. Musical instruments, lots of them."
She clicked the mike open again. "Sorry, First Street, had technical difficulty. We are east of the pawnshop, have the piano in the window in sight. No activity inside."
"Stay awake."
"That's a K. Broadway out."
Bosch smiled and shook his head.
"What?" she said. "What?"
"I've seen lots of musical instruments in pawnshops, but I don't know about a piano. Who is going to take a piano to a pawnshop? You'd need a truck. We've blown our cover now." He picked up the radio mike, but without clicking the transmit button, and said, "Uh, First Street, check that. It's not a piano in the window. That's an accordion. Our mistake."
She slugged him on the shoulder and told him to never mind the piano. They settled into an