Page 11 of Resurrection Walk

“I understand. Just walk me through whatcouldhave happened and I’ll take it from there.”

“Well, we know from Anthony that Dexter had his weapon out and drew down on him. It was an adrenaline-fueled chase and then arrest. Before approaching him, he made Anthony get on his knees and lace his fingers behind his head. The procedure would then be to grab and hold the suspect’s wrists with one hand and holster your weapon with the other. Then you cuff the suspect. According to the transcript of the radio calls, Dexter said the suspect was code four, which means in custody. And then eight seconds later he makes the officer-down call.”

“Oh my God, Dexter shot himself!”

Aronson was almost gleeful in her response as she saw an open route to successfully defending her sister’s kid.

“I don’t know what happened,” Bosch said. “And neither do you. But a couple things. The first is that Anthony did not have Dexter’s handcuffs on his wrists when he was caught later. So whatever happened, it happened before Dexter was able to handcuff him. Then you have the trajectory of the bullet that was fired.”

“Down through his foot,” Aronson said.

“After wounding the outside of his right calf. Definite downward trajectory. What you need to find out is if Dexter is right-handed and holstered his weapon on his right side. It could mean he unintentionally fired the gun while attempting to holster it. Remember, it was a high-tension, adrenalized moment. It’s happened before.”

“And he’s willing to send a sixteen-year-old boy to prison to cover his own fuckup.”

“Maybe. There was nothing in what you got that said how long he’s been with the LAPD. I’m guessing not long. Accidental discharge is usually a rookie mistake. This could also explain the GSR on Anthony. He was in a kneeling position, hands behind his head, Dexter right behind him. Depending on how tall Dexter is, this position puts Anthony’s hands and right arm close to a right-handed discharge of the weapon.”

“Oh my God… I’ll be getting all that information before the end of the day.”

“Well, keep in mind that if you’re looking at it this way, FID probably is too. That fingerprint report is important.”

“Harry, I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“You can thank me by keeping me out of it.”

“You don’t have to worry. You are completely out. But I have to go. They just signaled me that they’ve put Anthony in the attorney-client room.”

“Okay, good luck.”

Aronson disconnected. Bosch took the file off the hood and got back into the driver’s seat of the Navigator. Haller and Lorna were apparently finished with the casework and engaged in small talk about Haller’s daughter, Hayley, who was studying for the bar exam after having finished law school at USC.

“You’ll have to change the firm’s name to Haller, Haller, and Associates,” Lorna said.

“I don’t think she wants to pursue criminal law,” Haller said. “She wants to go into environmental law and help save the planet.”

“Good intentions, but boring as hell.”

“She’ll find her way.”

“All right, boys, I’m out of here. Mickey, I’ll let you know about the guitar fraud. Hopefully he can pay the retainer.”

“Hopefully.”

Bosch heard Lorna pull up the door handle to get out.

“Hold it,” he said.

He checked the side-view mirror to make sure she wasn’t about to swing the door out into traffic.

“Okay, you’re clear,” he said.

“Thanks, Harry,” Lorna said.

She got out and closed the door.

“Would it have killed you to get out and open the door for her?” Haller asked.

“Probably not,” Bosch said. “My bad. Where to now?”

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