Brenner delivered the water, and the brand-new widow drank half of it down. Before anyone could ask a question there was a knock on the door and Bosch stepped over and let in two paramedics carrying big equipment boxes. Bosch moved out of the way while they came forward to assess the woman’s physical condition. He signaled Walling and Brenner into the kitchen, where they could confer in whispers. He realized that they should have talked about this earlier.
“So how do you want to handle her?” Bosch asked.
Brenner spread his hands wide again as though he was open to suggestions. It appeared to be his signature gesture.
“I think you keep the lead,” the agent said. “We’ll step in when needed. If you don’t like that we could-”
“No, that’s good. I’ll keep the lead.”
He looked at Walling, waiting for an objection, but she was fine with it, too. He turned to leave the kitchen but Brenner stopped him.
“Bosch, I want to be up front with you,” Brenner said.
Bosch turned back.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I had you checked out. The word is you-”
“What do you mean you checked me out? You asked questions about me?”
“I needed to know who we’re working with. All I knew about you prior to this is what I’d heard about Echo Park. I wanted-”
“If you have any questions you can ask me.”
Brenner raised his hands, palms out.
“Fair enough.”
Bosch left the kitchen and stood in the living room, waiting for the paramedics to finish with Alicia Kent. One of the medical men was putting some sort of cream on the chafe marks on her wrists and ankles. The other was taking a blood-pressure reading. Bosch saw that bandages had been placed on her neck and one wrist, apparently covering wounds that he hadn’t noticed before.
His phone buzzed and Bosch went back into the kitchen to take the call. He noticed that Walling and Brenner were gone, apparently having slipped into another part of the house. It made Bosch anxious. He didn’t know what they were looking for or up to.
The call was from his partner. Ferras had finally made it to the crime scene.
“Is the body still there?” Bosch asked.
“No, the ME just cleared the scene,” Ferras said. “I think Forensics is finishing up, too.”
Bosch updated him on the direction the case appeared to be going, telling him about the federal involvement and the potentially dangerous materials Stanley Kent had had access to. He then directed him to start knocking on doors and looking for witnesses who might have seen or heard something relating to the killing of Stanley Kent. He knew it was a long shot, because no one had called 9-1-1 after the shooting.
“Should I do that now, Harry? It’s the middle of the night and people are slee-”
“Yes, Ignacio, you should do it now.”
Bosch wasn’t worried about waking people up. There was a good chance that the generator that powered the crime scene lights had awakened the neighborhood anyway. But the canvassing of the neighborhood had to be done and it was always better to find witnesses sooner rather than later.
When Bosch came out of the kitchen the paramedics had packed up and were leaving. They told Bosch that Alicia Kent was physically fine, with minor wounds and skin abrasions. They also said they had given her a pill to help calm her and a tube of the cream to continue to apply to the chafe marks on her wrists and ankles.
Walling was sitting on the couch next to her again and Brenner was back in his seat by the fireplace.
Bosch sat down on the chair directly across the glass coffee table from Alicia Kent.
“Mrs. Kent,” he began, “we are very sorry for your loss and the trauma you have been through. But it is very urgent that we move quickly with the investigation. In a perfect world we would wait until you were ready to talk to us. But it’s not a perfect world. You know that better than we do now. We need to ask you questions about what happened here tonight.”
She folded her arms across her chest and nodded that she understood.
“Then let’s get started,” Bosch said. “Can you tell us what happened?”
“Two men,” she responded tearfully. “I never saw them. I mean their faces. I never saw their faces. There was a knock at the door and I answered. There was no one there. Then when I started to close the door they were there. They jumped out. They had on masks and hoods-like a sweatshirt with a hood. They pushed their way in and they grabbed me. They had a knife and one of them grabbed me and held it against my throat. He told me he would cut my throat if I didn’t do exactly what he told me to do.”
She lightly touched the bandage on her neck.
“Do you remember what time this was?” Bosch asked.
“It was almost six o’clock,” she said. “It had been dark for a while and I was about to start dinner. Stanley comes home most nights at seven. Unless he’s working down in the South County or up in the desert.”
The reminder of her husband’s habits brought a new rush of tears into Alicia Kent’s eyes and voice. Bosch tried to keep her on point by moving to the next question. He thought he already detected a slowing down of her speech. The pill the paramedics gave her was taking effect.
“What did the men do, Mrs. Kent?” he asked.
“They took me to the bedroom. They made me sit down on the bed and take off all my clothes. Then they-one of them-started to ask me questions. I was scared. I guess I got hysterical and he slapped me and he yelled at me. He told me to calm down and answer his questions.”
“What did he ask you?”
“I can’t remember everything. I was so scared.”
“Try, Mrs. Kent. It’s important. It will help us find your husband’s killers.”
“He asked me if we had a gun and he asked me where the-”
“Wait a minute, Mrs. Kent,” Bosch said. “Let’s go one at a time. He asked you if you had a gun. What did you tell him?”
“I was scared. I said, yes, we had a gun. He asked where it was and I told him it was in the drawer by the bed on my husband’s side. It was the gun we got after you warned us about the dangers Stan faced with his job.”
She said this last part while looking directly at Walling.
“Weren’t you afraid that they would kill you with it?” Bosch asked. “Why did you tell them where the gun was?”
Alicia Kent looked down at her hands.
“I was sitting there naked. I was already sure they were going to rape me and kill me. I guess I thought it didn’t matter anymore.”
Bosch nodded as if he understood.
“What else did they ask you, Mrs. Kent?”
“They wanted to know where the keys to the car were. I told them. I told them everything they wanted to know.”
“Is that your car they were talking about?”
“Yes, my car. In the garage. I keep the keys on the kitchen counter.”
“I checked the garage. It’s empty.”
“I heard the garage door-after they were here. They must’ve taken the car.”
Brenner abruptly stood up.
“We need to get this out,” he interjected. “Can you tell us what kind of car it is and the license plate number?”
“It’s a Chrysler Three Hundred. I can’t remember the number. I could look it up in our insurance file.”
Brenner held his hands up to stop her from getting up.
“Not necessary. I’ll be able to get it. I’m going to call it in right away.”
He got up to go to the kitchen to make the call without disturbing the interview. Bosch went back to his questions.
“What else did they ask you, Mrs. Kent?”