and I'm not asking. If I did, they would say, 'What bug?' You know that."
Bosch nodded and was immediately tired of the man. A thought was pushing into his head that he didn't want to allow in. He looked away from Irving to the window. Irving told him once more to think of the department before he did anything, then walked out. When he was sure Irving had made his way down the hall, Bosch lashed out with his left arm and sent the vase of daisies tumbling into the corner of the room. The vase was plastic and didn't break. The damage was just spilled water and flowers. Galvin Junior's ferret face momentarily poked in and then out of the room. He said nothing, but it tipped Bosch that the IAD man was posted outside in the hall. Was that for his protection? Or for the department's? Bosch didn't know. He didn't know anything anymore.
Bosch pushed away an untouched tray containing an institutional meal of turkey loaf with flour gravy, corn, yams, a hard roll that was supposed to be soft, and strawberry shortcake with flat whipped cream.
"You eat that, you might never get out of here."
He looked up. It was Eleanor. She stood in the open door, smiling. He smiled back. He couldn't help himself.
"I know."
"How are you, Harry?"
"Okay. I'll be okay. Might not be able to do chin-ups anymore, but I'll survive with that. How are you, Eleanor?"
"I'm fine," she said, and her smile just slayed him. "They put you through the Veg-O-Matic today?"
"Oh, yeah. Sliced and diced. The best and the brightest of my fine department—a couple of your pals, too— had me on the ropes all morning. There's a chair on this side."
She circled the bed but continued standing next to the chair. She looked around and a slight frown creased her brow, as if she knew this room and therefore knew something wasn't right.
"They got me, too. Last night. They wouldn't let me come see you till they were through with you. Orders. Didn't want us going together on the story. But I guess our stories came out all right. At least they didn't pull me back in after they talked to you today. Told me that was it."
"They find the diamonds?"
"Not that I've heard, but they aren't telling me much anymore. They've got two crews working it today, but I'm out of it. I'm on a desk till it cools off and the shooting team finishes up. They're still probably at Rourke's place looking."
"What about Tran and Binh, they cooperate?"
"No. They aren't saying word one. I know that from a friend who was on the interrogation. They don't know anything about any diamonds. Probably got their own people together in a posse. They'll be out on the treasure hunt, too."
"Where do you think the treasure is?"
"I don't have any idea. This whole thing, Harry, it's kind of thrown me. I don't know what I think about things anymore."
That included how she thought about him, he knew. He didn't say anything and after a while the silence became uneasy.
"What happened, Eleanor? Irving told me Lewis and Clarke intercepted Avery. But that's all I know. I don't understand."
"They watched us watch the vault all night. They must've gotten it into their heads that we were lookouts. If you start with the assumption that you were a bad cop, like they did, then you might come to the same conclusion. So when they see you turn Avery away and send the two uniforms home, they figure they know your game. They grab Avery at Darling's and he tells them about your visit the day before, and all the alarms this week, and then he lets it slip that you didn't want him to open the vault."
"And they said, 'You mean you can open the vault?' and the next thing is they are sneaking down the alley."
"Yeah. They had an idea about being heroes. Catching the bad cops and the robbers all at once. Nice plan until the payoff."
"Poor dumb jerks."
"Poor dumb jerks."
The silence came back then and Eleanor didn't wait for it to settle.
"Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing."
He nodded.
"And . . . and to tell you—"
Here it is, he thought, the kiss good-bye.
"—I've decided to quit. I'm going to leave the bureau."
"What about. . . . What will you do?"
"I don't know. But I'm going to leave here, Harry. I have some money so I'll travel awhile and then see what