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.
*****
28 Februari 2018
