The Burning Room (2014), a Novel by Michael Connelly

Detective Harry Bosch and his new partner, Detective Lucia Soto, work on a cold case, the ten years old shooting. Lucy herself is a survivor of a basement fire back to 23 years ago, the fire has killed her childhood friends. The unsolved story has motivated her to become a police officer.  The antagonist of the two cold cases are unpredictable.

This Detective Bosch series book contains 442 pages and published by Grand Central Publishing in 2014. It’s the first time for me to enjoy Mr. Connelly’s book, this crime novel really entertains. Instead of the detail, smart, and slow narration, the plot is rich of conspiracy.

The Burning Room (2014), a Novel by Michael Connelly

Lucia Soto was short, well-proportioned, and 110 pounds the most. She wore the kind of stylish suit that was in vogue with female detectives. She was only twenty-eight years old and had been on the force fewer than five years. She was Mexican-American and spoke both English and Spanish fluently. She also punched a more traditional ticket to the detective ranks when she became an overnight media sensation after a deadly shoot-out with armed robbers at a liquor store.

Captain George Crowder, the new commander of the Open-Unsolved Unit, decided the best way to handle the influx of new blood into the unit was to split up all existing partnerships and pair every detective who had experience with a new detective who had none. Harry Bosch was the oldest man in the unit and had the most years on the job. Harry the old pro was paired with the youngest Soto. When Crowder told him his new partner would be Lucia Soto, Bosh was pleased.

There was also a nice bonus for Bosch in being teamed with Soto. Because she was female, he would not have to share a hotel room when on the road on a case. They would get their own rooms. The travel component to a job on the cold case squad was high. The captain asked him to read the paper that morning. The newspaper was reporting that Orlando Merced had died. Ten years earlier, Merced became famous in Los Angeles as a victim—the unintended target of a shooting at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. Merced was thirty-one years old at the time and a member of a mariachi band for which he played the vihuela, the five string guitarlike instrument that is the mainstay of the traditional Mexican folk sound. He and his three bandmates were among the several mariachi waiting in plaza for jobs. 

Merced would have become just another victim in a city where the media hits and runs. But a simple twist of fate changed that. Merced and his band, Los Reyes Jalisco, had performed three months earlier at the wedding of city councilman Armando Zeyas. Zeyas was now ramping up a campaign for the mayor’s office.

Merced lived. The bullet damaged his spine and rendered him both a paraplegic and a cause. As the mayoral campaign took shape, Zeyas rolled him out in his wheel chair at all of his political rally and speeches. Then Zeyas served two terms. Crime went down as his promise. But the person who shot Orlando Merced never caught, and overtime the bullet took a steady toll on his body. Crowder had stated it was a homicide. He was giving the Merced investigation to Bosch and Soto. Crowder knew from the start that it was suspected the bullet that had struck Merced had come from a gang gun.

It was essentially going to be a Spanish-language case, and while Soto was obviously fluent, Bosch had limited skills in the language. They took the old case from Oscar Rodrigues and Benito Rojas. The investigation conducted by Rodrigues and Rojas may have been through ten years before but they never found a bullet shell from the shooting and the slug had remained inside Merced’s body now. The ten years old case. The coroner just took out the bullet out of the victim’s spine.   

The normal protocol at the lab was to submit a bullet or shell casing analysis and wait in the backlog sometimes for weeks, before getting an answer and a report. But this time bullet cases could be handled on a first-come first-served basis. Bosch checked in with the bullet lab supervisor and was assigned to a technician appropriately named Gun Chung. It was a Remington .308, a hunting rifle.

The unofficial cause of death is blood poisoning, which is directly links to the wounds. Merced suffered in the shooting, the police was therefore handling the investigation as a homicide. Bosch did not know what to do. He had no idea why, but Lucia was obviously copying the records of a murder that was not assigned to them. She was just randomly pulling and looking at cases. It was the 1993 Bonnie Brae Apartment fire case. Nine people-most of them children-perished in an unlicensed day-care center in the low-income complex’s basement and become trapped by flames and smoke. The children were her friend, she was trying to solve it. 

The video-and-data-imagery unit was on the third floor of the regional lab. Copeland was waiting for them in a video booth where there was a sound-and video board set up on a lab table in front of a multiscreen wall display. Copeland pointed at the center screen, which showed the music store. The three screens were right next to each other and so it was not difficult for Bosch to watch all three at once. Bosch’ eyes were primarily drawn to the center image, which showed Merced sitting on the table. He tried to pull his vision back to all three screens at the moment Merced was shot. The shot had come from a window- the second-floor in the Mariachi Hotel. They studied the trumpet player’s reaction. He showed no confusion. It was like he knew right away that Merced was shot, and the other guys tumbled to it late.

He was Angel Ojeda. Copeland ran the simulation, and the bullet again streaked into the picture as a red line hitting Merced. At the moment of impact the figure was Ojeda, the trumpeter, was in motion behind the table. It was clear that if the bullet had not hit Merced, it was on course to strike Ojeda. The animation Bailey Copeland had made that indicated the bullet that hit Merced might have been meant for Angel Ojeda.

Soto reported that she had already tracked two members of the mariachi band and they were both local, but Angel Ojeda - the one they most wanted to talk to – was proving difficult to find.  He had split from the band and apparently left Los Angeles very soon after the shooting. Hernandez, one of the band members was not helpful. He only said Ojeda was very handsome and that was also a consideration in adding him to the band.

Soto was seven when the smoke coming under the door. They tried to leave but they had to go back because the fire was in the stairwell and the stairs at the other end of the hallway were blocked. A fireman saved them. They did not read the reports. Soto was interviewed back then.

Alberto Cabral knew about Ojeda, he was the one who hire the young man. Ojeda went to Tulsa. When he quit the band he said he was going to Oklahoma to run his uncle’s bar. He knew his address because Cabral had sent him a money order with the last money he made with the band. El Chihuahua bar in Oklahoma.

Bosch’s daughter had a rare night at home. With Explorer meetings and activities and even a part-time volunteer job delivering diners to shut-ins, she seemed to use the house only for sleeping these days. And all the activities counted as a public service at her school would help round out her application package for college. She had her eye on Cal State, Los Angeles, where there were top criminal justice and forensics programs. Bosch was pleased with her choice because it was still in the city.

Trip to Tulsa

They got lucky on the first flight. The murder book s from both The Merced and Bonnie Brae cases were with them. Bosch was determined to use any downtime during the trip to review the Bonnie Brae case for Soto and continue to read and reread the reports on the original Merced investigation. 

The mandate of the Open-Unsolved Unit was to search old cases for new attack angels – those most often being areas where new forensic sciences could be applied. DNA and fingerprint technologies were the mainstays of this effort. And there was no such evidence in the Bonnie Brae case.

The Bonnie Brae fire did most of its damage with smoke. The fire gutted the trash room and spread only into the basement hallway. The fire and the attendant smoke cut off the escape route of the children and teachers in the makeshift and unlicensed day-care facility in one of the basement rooms.

A key reason the case had gone unsolved for so long was that a precious two weeks went by before the fire was determined to be arson. The kind of delay in a homicide investigation was usually too hard to overcome. Most cases not solved in forty-eight hours were never solved. A two-week delay in an investigation made the odds of success even longer.

Despite the fire department’s declaration that the fire was accidental, patrol officer out of Rampart Division started picking up street talk from snitched that cause was intentional. The story repeated by many in the snitch world was that the Pico-Union La Raza gang had been having issues with the manager at Bonnie Brae over his refusal to let the gang openly sell drugs in the complex. The word was that the fire had been meant as a warning to the manager that there would be consequences if he continued to thwart the gang’s drug enterprises. The deaths that resulted were unintentional.

It was nothing more than street talk until lab analysis of samples of the charred rubble from the burned-out trash bin came back from the state fire lab. Gas chromatography testing found at least two IRLs- ignitable liquid residues—in all batches of samples collected from the trash bin at the fire scene. The accelerants were listed in the report as petroleum and something called Varsol. The report concluded that there was no reasonable explanation for the presence of those chemicals in large quantities in the trash bin, and the case became an arson investigation. Varsol was expensive.

The only thing that came close was a gallon container of Varsol from an auto-repair shop where one of the gang members, an apprentice mechanic name Victor Chapa was employed. Though the manager of the Bonnie Brae complex could not identify him as one of the gang members who threatened him, and Chapa provided and airtight alibi, he was still seen as the man who most likely obtained the fuel and probably built the firebomb.

It was part of the Open-Unsolved Unit’s travel protocol for detectives to check in with the locals and explain what they were in town for and where they planned to go. Detective Ricky Childers led them to the bar in Little Mexico. The place was a twenty-minute drive east from downtown. Bosch swiveled his focus and took in the faces, looking for one that approximated the ten year-old photo of Angel Ojeda’s driver’s license from California.

Bosch was sure it was him, but the man stayed behind the bar insisted he was Francisco Bernal. He handed a photocopy of a Permanent Resident Card identifying the man as Francisco Bernal. They had let Ojeda cook for close to an hour before Bosch entered the room. They had removed the handcuffs. Bosch had checked with immigration and the printout there was fake.

Ojeda got the wrong woman. She was married to the man who had the house. He was very rich and very powerful man. He had made her a prenup. Ojeda loved her, the rich man found his wife’s game. He had threatened Ojeda to leave Maria, but he did not stop. His band had played at his wedding. Bruce Broussard wanted to be mayor, one of Zeyas’s opponents.

Soto browsed Broussard. The profile of Broussard described him as a local businessman who had been an important fund-riser for local politician for many years. The accompanying photo was a shot taken on the night of the mayor’s election and it showed Zeyas with his arm around Broussard’s shoulders. A smiling woman standing nearby was identified as Maria Broussard. She was much younger than her husband. But Ojeda said the fund-riser where he met Maria was not for Zeyas. Soto had identified their next investigative target, Charles Broussard.

As he landed, he called for Virginia Skinner. She was one of few veteran reporters had left in its downtown newsroom. She was covering local and state politics and government was what she wanted all along and where she had stayed to this day. In the same year Charles Broussard went from being for Robert Inglin in January to being all in for Zeyas in May, only a month after Orlando Merced was shot.

Back to the article news about Bonnie Brae fire, Bosch found an armed robbers hit mid-city check casher at the same page. A bank robbery. The robbery suspects were white and they did not see the connection to a Pico-Union firetrap where only Hispanic lived. The robbery took place fifteen minutes after the fire was reported.

It was a line he borrowed from his daughter, Madeline. And it was his friend Bennett with call-back when his cell buzzed. A real tragedy had happened. A guy had killed his best friend when he mistook him for a deer o something in the brush. The shooter was Charles Andrew Broussard, the victim was David Willman. He was the manager of the ranch and Broussard was the owner. 

Charles had Willman shoot Merced, then he killed Willman. Charles’s maid was I the house and overheard Borussard and his friend Willman talking about the shooting at Mariachi Plaza. When Zeyas put up the reward, and she tried to call instead of the police. The call wet to Spivak. She never got the reward, but was threatened by Spivak. Charles was trying to kill his maid when Bosch and Soto arrived. Suddenly two shots echoed loudly off the concrete walls and in all directions. The bullets hit Broussard. Bosch knew his spine had been shattered, all the body’s infrastructure crashing in an instant. Maria Broussard tried to get to the stairs, but Bosch whispered into her ear that her husband was dead.

The Zeyas for Governor exploratory committee was in the process of opening new offices. Connor Spivak welcomed him, the detectives introduced Detective Rodrigues and Rojas, the original investigators o Merced case. He helped facilitate the murder for hire. Spivak was under arrest for accessory to murder, he had the information that could led to the arrest of Broussard and Willman. 

Bosch had investigated Burrows, the security, and Maxim Boiko, the manager of the bank. Both of them were linked to Ana Acevedo, the woman who opened the door for the robbers. The two men have visited Ana’s apartment at Bonnie Brae frequently. Anna also had admitted that they were her boyfriends in the original investigation twenty three years ago. In fact, the fire was set at the same day when the bank robbery happened.  Anna had quit, and disappeared

Boiko had her address, it was a photo copy of an Internal Revenue Service W-2 form for 1993 earnings and deductions. It was made out the name of Ana Maria Acevedo and carried an address in Calexico, California, on it.  They checked on the tablet and the Google Street View pointed a large building of Spanish mission that looked like a school, the Sister of the Sacred Promised Covenant. 

Ana Acevedo aka Sister Esther Gonzales killed by the narcos. They came into the village where she was dragged her out. It was said she was an informant for Judicial Policia. Her body was found on the side of a road. The body was supposedly coming across the border the day for burial in cemetery behind the convent. They got to the Sister of Sacred Promised Covenant. Ana wrote a note for her funeral instructions. She found the written letter on the stone Redemption for the Children.

Bosch dug further into the old box that owned by Ana. A folded document that was revealed to be birth certificate for Esther Maria Gonzalez. It was printed on heavy-stock paper and appeared legitimate, but Bosch had no doubt that it was phony. Instead, he found a faded newsprint depicting side-by-side photos of two men. He had no trouble recognizing the two bank robbers. Bosch remembered that day of the shoot-out. He was there and was put on the evidence team. There was the army blanket in the backseat covering up a few more guns and there was a Molotov cocktail held under the seatbelt. Ana was the player. She played Burrows (the security guard) and Boiko (the bank manager) like a pro. 

Bosch arrived in the squad room to find Soto already in place at her desk. She had come in to write the Bonnie Brae investigative summary that would be submitted to Captain Crowder for approval. It was her story and it was time to tell it. It would, however reveal that when she had applied to the Department, she had left out any mention of the Bonnie Brae fire as a motivating factor in her decision to become a police officer.

The Merced shooting case was closed, though Zeyas was free. There was no independent corroborating evidence. The case closed. Unpredictable, Captain Crowder asked him to put his weapon and badge. The TV monitor showed Bosch entered the room. He tossed something into the trash can and proceeded to the shelves holding the robbery journals. Harry Bosch broke into a captain’s room, he was suspended pending further investigation. Bosch gathered up a few belongings, he had no idea if he would ever got back to his desk again. Before he got exit door, he heard clapping behind him.   

*****

February 28, 2018

Sekapur Sirih

Novel kriminal berseri Detektif Bosch ini sangat mudah diikuti dan dihantarkan dengan bahasa yang cerdas dan narasi perlahan dan detail. Karya ini menggambarkan penulis Connelly benar-benar seorang yang teliti dan sabar. Detektif Bosch yang sudah tua, hampir memasuki masa pensiun diberi tugas di unitnya yakni Unit Kasus Tak Terpecahkan. Bagian yang menangani kasus yang tidak terpecahkan. Pemberitaan heboh kembali dengan kematian korban penembakan sepuluh tahun lalu, yang paling miris peluru itu telah bersarang sepuluh tahun pada tubuh pria itu, seusia dengan kasusnya. Si penembak tidak pernah tertangkap. Dengan tekun dibantu oleh rekan barunya Lucia Soto, seorang detektif muda, namun telah memiliki reputasi bagus, memecahkan kasus peti es tersebut.

Bagi Anda pengemar novel detektif, novel ini sangat tepat dimiliki. Di samping disampaikan dengan narasi dan percakapan mudah dimengerti, setiap bagian di dibanjiri intrik dan kejutan di luar dugaan menarik perhatian membawa rasa penasaran mengetahui siapakah pelaku. Fiksi ini memuat 442 halaman yang diterbitkan oleh Grand Central Publishing tahun 2014.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia, the Burning Room (2014), novel karya Michael Connely; ringkasan

Detektif Bosch tidak menolak saat dipasangkan dengan Lucia Soto, detektif muda berusia dua puluh delapan tahun. Bosch sendiri akan menghadapai masa pensiun, di masa akhir karirnya ia bertugas pada Unit Kasus Tidak Terpecahkan, bagian menangani kasus-kasus yang tidak terpecahkan.

Pemberitaan surat kabar akan kematian Merced, seorang korban penembakan sepuluh tahun silam. Peluru telah bersarang selama sepuluh tahun di tubuh lelaki Meksiko itu, seiring dengan usia kejadian penembakan di Hotel Mariachi, kembali ke sepuluh tahun sebelumnya.

Kapten Crowder menugaskan Bosch dan Lucia menangani kasus penembakan tersebut. Betapa mencengangkan, ketika didapati bahwa peluru tersebut adalah peluru berburu. Bosch meminta semua berkas dan mempelajarinya termasuk rekaman kamera pemantau dari pihak hotel. Setelah mendapat ijin dan mewawancarai dua detektif yang menangani kasus itu, Bosch sangat terbantu dengan hasil wawancara dengan para saksi dan bukti-bukti berkas dan hasil rekaman CCTV.

Petugas forensik, Gun Chung mendapati jikalau peluru itu ditembkkan dari senapan berburu. Bosch dan Lucia dengan mendapat surat persetujuan dari hakim menyelidiki tempat kejadian, baik hotel dan gedung di sekitar kejadian. Sepuluh tahun tidak banyak yang berubah, hotel masih berdiri teguh, begitu juga sekitarnya. Bosch mempelajari trajektori peluru setelah memutar rekaman video dari kamera pemantau penembakan berkali-kali. Tembakan berasal dari jendela kamar, lantai dua Hotel Mariachi.

Suasana tenang berubah seketika menjadi kacau, lima anggota bang Mariachi (musik khas Meksiko) berpencar. Kerumunan yang tengah merayakan ulang tahun anggota keluarga orang ternama, pengusaha Zeyas, di tempat itu. Anggota band Orlando Merced, terjatuh kena peluru. Empat teman lainnya panik, Bosch mendapati hal ganjil. mempelajari reaksi seorang anggota band. Pemuda itu sepertinya kaget, melihat dan seolah mencari tahu arah penembak. Kalau saja tembakan itu meleset, maka dia yang akan menjadi korban. Pengalaman Bosch di lapangan sangat beralasan untuk mencurigai gelagat pemuda itu. Reaksi seolah mengetahui tembakan itu.

Sebagian berspekulasi tembakan itu hanyalah tembakan acak dari kelompok gang narkoba di sekitar yang ingin memberi pelajaran pada publik, Merced hanyalah korban penembakan tidak disengaja, mengingat Merced hanyalah anggota pemusik band, bukan siapa-siapa. Media sempat pula, menaruh curiga Merced hanyalah dijadikan alat politik oleh Zeyas. Politisi Zeyas memanfaatkan kepincangan Merced selama dalam masa kampanyenya. Akhirnya ia pun terpilih menjadi walikota dua periode. Janji kampanyenya untuk menertibkan geng narkoba dan kartel benar terbukti, kotanya aman semenjak ia duduk di kursi walikota. Tapi penembak Merced tidak pernah terungkap.

Belakangan Merced meninggal akibat infeksi peluru yng bersarang selam sepuluh tahun dalam tubuhnya. Kapten Crowder dan Bosch pun sepakat ini jelas pembunuhan. Merced tewas karena infeksi peluru, penembaknya sendiri tidak  pernah tertangkap. Bosch pun tidak percaya itu sebuah kecelakan peluru menyasar atau penembakan tidak sengaja. Setelah menginvestigasi dan mewawancari sejumlah saksi dan empat anggota band musik, kecurigaan bertumpu pada satu anggota band yang meninggalkan kota itu beberapa saat setelah kejadian. 

Angel Ojeda, personel band yang paling muda dan rupawan, dari keterangan teman bandnya, ia merantau ke Tulsa bekerja pada bar pamannya di Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dengan tidak mudah, hanya berbekal nama sebuah bar tanpa alamat dan foto diri dari SIM, Bosch dan Soto tidak menyerah dan terbang ke Tulsa. Tiba dengan pesawat pertama, mereka terlebih dahulu menghubungi kantor polisi terdekat dan mencari tahu Ojeda dan bar yang dimaksud. Tidak terlalu sulit menemukan bar itu, memang komunitas warga Meksiko.

Lelaki berada di belakang bar itu dikenal pelanggannya dengan nama Fransisco Bernal, tapi bagi Bosch ia adalah Angel Ojeda. Awalnya pria itu mengaku bahwa dia tidak bermaksud memalsukan identitas, hanya menyeragamkan namanya dengan nama belakang pamannya. Sisa ketampanannya masih tersirat di wajahnya, Bosch dan Lucy pun mengakuinya. Mulanya, ia enggan bekerja sama dengan Bosch, tapi sang detektif mengancam akan mendeportasi dirinya jika tidak kerjasama. Pemalsuan identitas adalah masalah serius, apalagi dilakukan seorang Meksiko.  Akhirnya Angel Ojeda pun menuturkan versinya.

Seorang kaya dan terpandang mengadakan pesta pernikahan, Ojeda dan kelompok musiknya diundang untuk memberikan hiburan. Semenjak itu, Maria Broussard, istri pemilik pesta, telah jatuh cinta padanya, Ojeda pun merasakan gelora cinta yang sama. Keduanya kerap bertemu di sebuah hotel, hingga suatu ketika Charles Broussard mendapati keduanya. Pengusaha itu telah memperingatkan untuk tidak menemui istri cantiknya lagi, namun Ojeda bersikeras.

Maria jauh lebih muda dari suaminya, wanita cantik itu telah menandatangani perjanjian pranikah, ia sulit meninggalkan Charles, namun hatinya lebih nyaman dengan Ojeda muda. Ia tahu tembakan itu untuk dirinya, dan ia tidak yakin penembakan itu ada hubungannya dengan calon walikota Zeyas, karena saat itu Broussard sendiri mendukung lawan politik Zeyas.

Di sela-sela waktu luangnya, Soto membaca ulang berkas terbakarnya sebuah gedung yang menewaskan sejumlah anak-anak dan pengasuhnya. Korban anak-anak yang menjadi temannya juga, sebuah tempat penitipan anak terletak di lantai dasar sebuah apartemen. Penitipan anak ilegal untuk anak-anak Meksiko, Lucy masih mengingat jelas teriakan temannya yang terbakar, ia beruntung petugas pemadam kebakaran menolongnya. Ia juga heran kenapa teman lainnya tidak diselamatkan.

Bosch sendiri kaget mengetahui bahwa Lucy adalah korban selamat dari peristiwa kebakaran Apartemen Bonnie Brae 1993. Detektif tua itu dapat memaklumi perasaan kehilangan dalam diri Lucy. Kasus kebakaran itu tidak pernah terselesaikan, tidak ada pelaku yang ditangkap. Bosch sendiri memiliki putri semata wayang, sebentar lagi memasuki dunia kampus. Madeline super sibuk dengan ambisinya masuk ke universitas negeri di Los Angeles. Kasus ini murni keinginan Lucy, di luar tugas utama mereka mengusut penembakan Merced. Rupanya Bosch juga berminat membantu Lucy memecahkan kasus itu.

Pengakuan dari Ojeda telah mengerucutkan ke arah pelaku penembakan. Nama Braussard memiliki catatan. Teman dekatnya, teman sejak sekolah Willman terbunuh tidak sengaja oleh peluru berburu. Ia menyangka seekor rusa, dengan cekatan tangannya membidik temannya sendiri. Willman juga menjadi manajer peternakan yang dimiliki oleh Charles. Ia tewas seketika, dan Charles tidak pernah menjadi tersangka, kejadian itu hanyalah kecelakaan.

Bosch dan Lucy mendatangi janda Willman, Bosch mendapati temuan baru. Senjata berburu yang dipakai Willman sama dengan senjata diduga digunakan penembak Merced. Karena kasus ini sedang heboh di media, Zeyas sendiri mengadakan sayembara siapa penembak Merced membuat banyaknya telepon yang masuk dan mengaku si A sampai Z pelakunya, adapula yang mengaku bahwa ia tahu pelakunya adalah Charles Broussard. Bosch menyelidiki sebuah nomor telepon dan didapati dari rumah Charles, telepon dari seorang wanita. Bosch dan Lucy mengikuti gerak-gerik Maria Broussard. Dan mereka menduga yang menelepon adalah Maria.

Bosch sempat menghampiri Maria di tempat perbelanjaan, wanita itu menolak bicara dengannya. Dengan membawa surat ijin, Bosch dan Lucy memasuki kediaman Charles. Dari lantai dua, mereka mendengar tangisan dan teriakan wanita, ringisan orang yang sedang dianiaya. Chales membelasah dan memegang pistol ke arah pembantunya. Maria telah menelepon suaminya dan memberitahu bahwa seseorang di dalam rumahnya telah berkhianat melapor ke polisi. Beruntung Bosch tiba di saat tepat, dua kali tembakan melumpuhkan Charles.

Bosch tidak mengelak ketika Bosch mengungkap kejahatannya. Kecemburuan memicunya hendak menghabisi nyawa selingkuhan istrinya, Ojeda. Peluru itu salah sasar, Willam sahabat sekaligus karyawannya disuruh menembak Ojeda. Charles pun merekayasa kematian sahabatnya itu pada saat berburu. Pembantunya tidak sengaja mendengar percakapan penembakan Merced, wanita itu tergiur hadiah sayembara Zeyas. Namun yang mengangkat telepon kala itu adalah Spivak anak buah Zeyas. Semenjak itu pula Charles diperas oleh Spivak dan Zeyas. Walikota duduk hingga dua kali periode, berbekal uang perasan dari Charles.  

Maria berteriak mendapati suaminya tewas tergeletak di lantai. Zeyas menerima hukuman, tapi Zeyas terbebas dengan alasan tidak ada bukti langsung menahannya. Kasus ditutup. Bosch dan Lucy kembali ke kasus terbakarnya apartemen, mereka mendapati pada saat yang bersamaan ada perampokan bank. Pelaku tidak pernah didapat, menggali kembali perampokan kedua detektif berhasil mendatangi mantan satpam bank dan menejer bank kala itu. Ana Acevedo pegawai bank yang membukakn pintu pada kawanan perampok tiba-tiba keluar dari bank. Semenjak itu tidak ada kabar darinya. Catatan hasil wawancara 23 tahun sebelumnya, ia mengaku menjalin asmara dengan Satpam Burrows dan Menejer Maxim Boiko.  Saksi di apartemen juga mengatakan satpam dan manajer Boiko kerap berkunjung ke apartemen Ana.  

Keduanya mengaku tidak terlibat dengan perampokan itu, apalagi dengan pembakaran. Rumor beredar pembakaran dilakukan oleh geng narkoba yang berselisih dengan pengelola apartemen. Pengelola apartemen resah dengan peredaran narkoba di lingkungannya. Diduga geng mengamuk dan ingin memberi pelajaran dengan menaruh zat varsol di dalam tempat sampah. Mereka tidak sengaja membakar anak-anak itu.

Ana Acevedo sulit dicari, keterangan dari Boiko dengan memberi nomor IRS, nomor itu memberi petunjuk sebuah alamat. Sebuah gedung biara atau semacam sekolah. Bosch dan Lucy berkendara selama dua jam mendatangi biara dan tidak ada orang bernama Ana di sana. Tapi kepala biara mengenal wajah dari SIM itu adalah Suster Esther Maria Gonzalez, sebuatan akrab Suster Esi.

Suster itu sekarang sedang bertugas mengajar anak-anak terlantar di Meksiko, dua minggu lagi dijadwalkan akan pulang ke Amerika. Bosch mengungkapkan temuannya ini pada bosnya Kapten Crowder, niat Bosch menyusul Suster Esi pun diurungkan oleh Crowder, mereka diminta menunggu kepulangan suster itu.  

Bosch terhentak mendapat telepon dari kepala suster. Tubuh Ana aka Suster Esi ditemukan tewas di pinggir jalan. Setelah dianiaya anggota kartel, ia dibunuh. Ana dituduh menjadi mata-mata kepolisian. Bosch pun ikut dalam upacara pemakaman dan memastikan mayat dalam peti adalah tubuh Ana. Mereka pun diijinkan menggeledah barang-barang mendiang Ana. Dari tulisan-tulisan bermakna penyesalan dan kutipan ayat-ayat Alkitab tentang pertobatan dan barang-barang yang ditemukan menunjukkan Ana adalah salah satu anggota otak perampokan dan pembakaran apartemen.

Kala perampokan terjadi, Bosch bertugas di unit barang bukti, ia kembali teringat barang bukti yang berada di belakang mobil perampok ditutupi kain loreng adalah sejumlah Molotov. Waktu perampokan dan terbakarnya gedung tidak berselang lama. Ana adalah pemain profesional, ia telah mempermainkan Burrows dan Boiko. Menebus kesalahannya, ia bergabung dengan biara dan mengajar anak–anak terlantar.

Dua kasus telah selesai dan ditutup dengan sempurna, Kapten Crowder puas dengan pekerjaan anak buahnya. Tiba-tiba seorang petugas meminta Bosch melepaskan senjata dan lencananya, ia disuspen selama masa investigasi. Sebuah video mempertontonkan Bosch memaksa masuk ke ruangan bos Divisi Perampokan, ia terlihat membuang sesuatu ke tempat sampah dan mengambil Jurnal Perampokan. Aturan adalah aturan, Kapten Crowder menyayangkan tindakan tidak perlu Bosch, Lucy juga sangat kaget. Detektif Bosch mengumpulkan barang-barang miliknya terutama foto putrinya Madeline, tepuk tangan bangga dari rekan-rekannya mengiringi kepergiannya.

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28 Februari 2018