The Harry Bosch Novels Vol Ii Part 141

"You have been advised of your rights, correct, Mrs. Kincaid?"

"Yes, I have."

"Would you like to continue the interview?"

"Yes."

"You mentioned earlier that you decided to help Howard Elias. Why is that?"

"He was suing on behalf of Michael Harris. I wanted Michael Harris completely exonerated. And I wanted my husband and his friends exposed. I knew the authorities probably wouldn't do it. But I knew Howard Elias was not part of that establishment. He wouldn't be controlled by money and power. Only the truth."

"Did you ever speak with Mr. Elias directly?"

"No. I thought my husband might be watching me. After that day when I heard them, when I knew it was him, it was impossible for me not to be completely repulsed by him. I think he realized I had come to a conclusion. I think he had Richter watch me. Richter or people working for him."

Bosch realized that Richter could be nearby, having followed her to the house. Lindell had said the security man's whereabouts were currently unknown. He looked at the front door and realized he had left it unlocked.

"So you sent Elias notes."

"Yes, anonymous. I guess I wanted him to expose these people but leave me out of it ... I know it was selfish. I was a horrible mother. I guess I had this fantasy that the bad men would be shown to the world without it happening to the bad woman."

Bosch saw a lot of pain in her eyes as she said it. He waited for the tears to start again but it didn't happen.

"I just have a few more questions at this point," he said. "How did you know the web page address and about how to get to the secret site?"

"You mean Charlotte's Web? My husband is not a smart man, Detective Bosch. He is rich, and that always gives the appearance of intellect. He wrote the directions down so he wouldn't have to memorize them and he hid them in his desk. I found them. I know how to use a computer. I went to that awful place ... I saw Stacey there."

Again no tears. Bosch was puzzled. Kate Kincaid had dropped her voice into a monotone. She was reciting the story, it seemed, out of duty. But whatever impact it personally had on her was done with and compartmentalized, put away from the surface.

"Do you believe that to be your husband on the images with Stacey?"

"No. I don't know who that was."

"How can you be sure?"

"My husband has a birthmark. A discoloration on his back. I said he wasn't smart, but he was at least smart enough not to appear on that web site."

Bosch thought about this. Though he did not doubt Kate Kincaid's story, he also knew that hard evidence backing it up would be needed to prosecute Kincaid. For the same reason she felt she could not bring her story to the authorities, Bosch needed to be able to go into the district attorney's office with Sam Kincaid solidly locked down by the evidence. Right now all he had was a wife saying evil things about her husband. The fact that Kincaid apparently was not the man in the web site images with his stepdaughter was a major loss of corroborative evidence. He thought about the searches. Teams were descending on Kincaid's home and office at that moment. It was Bosch's hope that they would find evidence that would prove his wife's story.

"Your last note to Howard Elias," he said. "You warned him. You said your husband knew. Did you mean your husband knew that Elias had found the secret web site?"

"At the time, yes."

"Why?"

"Because of the way he was acting-on edge, suspicious of me. He asked me if I had been on his computer. It made me think that they must have known someone was poking around. I sent the message, but now I'm not so sure."

"Why is that? Howard Elias is dead."

"I'm not sure he did that. He would have told me."

"What?"

Bosch was thoroughly confused by her logic.

"He would have told me. He told me about Stacey, why wouldn't he tell me about Elias as well? And the fact that you know about the web site. If they thought Elias knew, wouldn't they have closed it down or hidden it somewhere else?"

"Not if they were just going to kill the intruder instead."

She shook her head. She didn't see it the way Bosch obviously did.

"I still think he would've told me."

Still confused, Bosch said, "Wait a minute. Are you talking about the confrontation you mentioned at the start of this interview?"

Bosch's pager went off and he reached down and silenced it without taking his eyes off Kate Kincaid.

"Yes."

"Well, when was this confrontation?"

"Last night."

"Last night?"

Bosch was shocked. He had jumped to the conclusion that the confrontation she had mentioned had been weeks or even months earlier.

"Yes. After you left. I knew by the questions you asked that you had probably found my notes to Howard Elias. I knew you would find Charlotte's Web. It was a matter of time."

Bosch looked down at his pager. The number belonged to Lindell's cell phone. The emergency code 911 was printed on the little screen after it. He looked back up at Kate Kincaid.

"So I finally summoned the courage I didn't have for all those months and years. I confronted him. And he told me. And he laughed at me. He asked me why I cared now since I didn't care while Stacey was alive."

Now Bosch's cell phone began to ring inside his briefcase. Kate Kincaid slowly stood up.

"I'll let you take that in private."

As he reached to his briefcase, he watched her pick her purse up and walk across the room in the direction of the hallway to her dead daughter's bedroom. Bosch fumbled with the briefcase's release but eventually got it open and got to the phone. It was Lindell.

"I'm at the house," the FBI agent said, his voice tight with adrenaline and excitement. "Kincaid and Richter are here. It's not very pretty."

"Tell me."

"They're dead. And it doesn't look like it was an easy ride for them. They were kneecapped, both of them shot in the b.a.l.l.s ... You still with the wife?"

Bosch looked in the direction of the hallway.

"Yes."

Just as he said it he heard a single popping sound from down the hallway. He knew what it was.

"Better bring her over here," Lindell said.

"Right."

Bosch closed the phone and placed it back in the briefcase, his eyes still on the hallway.

"Mrs. Kincaid?"

There was no answer. All he heard was the rain.

32

By the time Bosch cleared the scene in Brentwood and got up the hill to The Summit it was almost two o'clock. Driving through the rain on the way he could think only of Kate Kincaid's face. He had gotten to Stacey's room less than ten seconds after hearing the shot, but she was already gone. She had used a twenty-two and placed the muzzle in her mouth, firing the bullet up into her brain. Death was instant. The kick of the gun had knocked it out of her mouth and onto the floor. There was no exit wound, often the case with a twenty-two. She simply appeared as though she was sleeping. She had wrapped herself in the pink blanket that had been used by her daughter. Kate Kincaid looked as though she was serene in death. No mortician would be able to improve on that.

There were several cars and vans parked in front of the Kincaid residence. Bosch had to park so far away that his raincoat was soaked through by the time he got to the door. Lindell was there waiting for him.

"Well, this certainly's turned all to s.h.i.+t," the FBI agent said by way of greeting.

"Yeah."

"Should we have seen it coming?"

"I don't know. You never can tell what people are going to do."

"How'd you leave it over there?"

"The coroner and SID are still there. A couple RHD bulls-they're handling it."

Lindell nodded.

"I saw what I needed to see. Show me what you have here."

They went into the house and Lindell led the way to the huge living room where Bosch had sat with the Kincaids the afternoon before. He saw the bodies. Sam Kincaid was in the same spot on the couch where Bosch had last seen him. D.C. Richter was on the floor below the window that looked out across the Valley. There was no jetliner view now. It was just gray. Richter's body was in a pool of blood. Kincaid's blood had seeped into the material covering the couch. There were several technicians working in the room and lights were set up. Bosch saw that numbered plastic markers had been put in place where .22-caliber sh.e.l.ls had been located on the floor and other furniture.

"You have the twenty-two over in Brentwood, right?"

"Yeah, that's what she used."

"You didn't think about searching her before you started talking, huh?"

Bosch looked at the FBI agent and shook his head slightly in annoyance.

"Are you kidding me? It was a voluntary Q-and-A, man. Maybe you've never done one over there at the bureau, but rule number one is you don't make the subject feel like a suspect suspect before you even start. I didn't search and it would have been a mistake if -" before you even start. I didn't search and it would have been a mistake if -"

"I know, I know. Sorry I asked. It's just that ..."

He didn't finish but Bosch knew what he was getting at. He decided to change the subject.

"The old man show up?"

"Jack Kincaid? No, we sent people to him. I hear he is not taking it well. He's calling every politician he ever gave money to. I guess he thinks maybe the city council or the mayor will be able to bring his son back."

"He knew what his son was. Probably knew all the time. That's why he's making the calls. He doesn't want that to come out."

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that. We've already found digital video cameras and editing equipment. We'll tie him to Charlotte's Web. I feel confident of that."

"It won't matter. Where's Chief Irving?"

"On the way."

Bosch nodded. He stepped close to the couch and bent over, his hands on his knees, to look closely at the dead car czar. His eyes were open and his jaw was set in a final grimace. Lindell had been right when he'd said it had not been an easy ride down. He thought of Kincaid's expression in comparison to his wife's death look. There was no comparison.

"How do you think it went down?" he asked. "How'd she get the two of them?"

He continued to stare at the body while Lindell spoke.

"Well, you shoot a man in the b.a.l.l.s and he's going to be pretty docile. From the blood on them, I'd say that was where they got it first. Once she got past that point, I think she had pretty good control of the situation."

Bosch nodded.

"Richter wasn't armed?"

"Nope."

"Anybody find a nine-millimeter around here yet?"

"No, not yet."

Lindell gave Bosch another we f.u.c.ked up we f.u.c.ked up look. look.

"We need that nine," Bosch said. "Mrs. Kincaid got them to admit what they did with the girl but they didn't say anything about Elias. We need to find that nine to tie them in and end this thing."

"Well, we're looking. If anybody finds the nine, we'll be the first to know."

"You have people on Richter's home, office and car? I'm still putting my money on him being the shooter."

"Yeah, we're on it but don't count on anything there."

Bosch tried to read the FBI agent but couldn't. He knew that something was not being said.

"What?"

"Edgar pulled his file from the police academy this morning."