Page 48

“I was going to see a friend who lives up here,” he said.

“Who was that?” Novak asked.

“A guy named Paul Callan. He lives right below the overlook on Westfall Drive.”

Novak held the phone up over his shoulder.

“Check it,” he said.

Topknot came up behind Novak and took the phone. Bosch had also anticipated that. Paul Callan’s name, cell number, and address were in the phone’s contacts list. Giving his name would not endanger Callan, an ex-cop and longtime friend of Bosch’s, because he was already dead, cancer having taken him five months earlier.

“He’s in here,” Topknot said. “On Westfall, in Encino. It checks.”

Novak slowly nodded his head.

“You’re lucky, Birder,” he said. “I believe you and you can go now. Sorry for any inconvenience we might have caused you.”

He stepped back and out of Bosch’s personal space.

“Give him his shit and take him back to his car,” he said.

“You sure about that, Nick?” Sidewalls said. “He could cause trouble if he goes to the cops.”

“Nah, he’s not going to be any trouble,” Novak said. “He’s not going to the cops. He knows we know where he lives and who his daughter is. You’re just going to accept our apology and move on, aren’t you, Mr. Bosch?”

“No trouble,” Bosch said. “I’m not going to the cops. I know I was trespassing up there.”

“Good, because if you do make trouble for me, you’ll get a whole lot of trouble coming right back at you. Right?”

“Right.”

“Perfect. One of you take him to his car and make sure you help him find his binoculars. We don’t want to hinder his bird-watching, do we?”

“I got him,” Topknot said.

He moved forward and opened the front passenger door of the SUV.

“Get in,” he said.

Bosch put his hand on the door so he could leverage himself up into the raised vehicle. Novak spoke from behind him.

“One more thing,” he said.

Bosch turned around, realizing Novak had just been playing with him and he probably wasn’t going anywhere.

“How do you say the name on your driver’s license?” Novak asked.

“Hieronymus,” Bosch said. “Rhymes with anonymous.”

Novak nodded.

“That’s good,” he said. “Anonymous. I like that.”

Bosch turned back and climbed into the SUV.

“Bosch,” Novak said. “You sure I don’t know you? That name is familiar to me.”

“I was named after a fifteenth-century Dutch painter,” Bosch said. “Maybe you remember the name through him.”