Resurrection Walk

“What I mean is you may have to make the identification again. By photo or if she’s there.”

“She’ll be there?”

“She may be, yes. We’re going to subpoena her as a witness. But I don’t know for sure whether she’ll be in court if you testify.”

“When will they move me to L.A.?”

“I’m not sure about that either. I’ll get Mr. Haller to check on it.”

“I don’t want to be held in the county jail. The sheriffs run that.”

“You won’t be. It’s a federal case. You’ll be transferred from here to federal custody — the U.S. Marshals Service — so they can bring you to court on Monday.”

“You’re sure?”

A loud buzz sounded in the phone’s earpiece, followed by an electronic voice stating that the interview had one minute left.

“I’m sure, Cindi,” Bosch said. “Don’t worry about that.”

A look of desperation came over her face as she realized the final seconds of the interview were ticking away.

“Mr. Bosch, are we going to win?” she said.

“We’re going to do our best,” Bosch said, immediately knowing his words were inadequate. “The truth will come out and we’re going to get you home to your son.”

“Do you promise me?”

Bosch hesitated, but before he could answer, the connection went dead. He just looked at Lucinda Sanz and nodded. He knew as he did so that it was a promise that would haunt him if things didn’t turn out the way he hoped.

He got up from the stool and gave Lucinda a half-hearted wave goodbye. She did the same and her face showed the uncertainty of what lay ahead. Promises or no promises, nothing was for sure in court.

He followed the arrows on the floor to the prison’s exit gate. He felt bad about how the interview had ended but tried to concentrate on what had been accomplished. She had identified Stephanie Sanger as the one who started the chain reaction that resulted in Lucinda Sanz being charged with her ex-husband’s murder. That was a big get and as soon as he got to the prison’s parking lot, he turned his phone back on and called Haller.

The call rang through to voice mail. Bosch guessed that Haller was in court. He started to leave a message but heard a beep and saw that Haller was calling him back. He ended the message and took the call.

“So, what’s happening in Chino?” Haller said.

“Cindi identified Sanger as the one who conducted the GSR test,” Bosch said.

Haller whistled. Bosch could hear traffic noises and guessed that he was in the Lincoln.

“This is good,” Haller said. “It’s what we thought but nice to have it on the record.”

“Sort of,” Bosch said. “They wouldn’t give me the lawyer room. I had to show her the photos through the glass. She couldn’t sign the photo, but there was a camera behind her. It’s on video if we ever need it.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“She’s nervous, especially about Sanger. Afraid.”

“Well, we’re six days out. I’d say it’s time to initiate our plan.”

“Subpoena Sanger?”

“And her pal Mitchell.”

“Yeah, they’re not going to like it.”

“That’s an understatement. I also want you to pick up the thumb drive AT and T has been holding for us.”

“Doesn’t it become discovery the minute I do?”

“Technically it’s not discoverable until I decide I’m going to present it in court. But if I wait and sandbag ’em with it the day before, they’ll scream bloody murder and get a continuance from the judge.”

“So what do we do?”

“You pick it up, download the data, then print out the entire file. Should be a couple thousand pages, I’m guessing. Then we give them the hard copy while you keep the searchable electronic file. My guess is they’ll look at that haystack and think we’re scamming them into wasting time on it. And they’ll have no valid complaint when we put it into evidence.”

“If we put it into evidence.”

“That’s a big if. We have our hunches about what you’ll find, but it’s all got to pan out or we’ve wasted our time and our client’s chance at freedom.”

“Well, I’ll get to work on the cell data as soon as I have it.”

“Let me know what you get.”

“Wait — what about the FBI?”

“I’m not going to play that card until I have to.”

Bosch wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but he knew not to ask further questions about it. Haller was trying to play hide the ball with the attorney general’s office — handing over what he had to but only when he had to and disguising his court strategy as best he could. It was a high-wire act with no net that could ultimately come down to an angry federal judge wanting to know what he knew and when he’d known it. It was the kind of defense ploy that would have made Bosch’s blood boil when he carried a badge. Now he almost admired Haller for the moves he was making. He saw the Lincoln Lawyer as a master at staying just inside the ethical boundary lines when it came to dealings with those sitting across the aisle. Haller called it dancing between the raindrops.