Page 37 of Resurrection Walk

I looked over to Muriel for confirmation.

“Yes, I teach Eric,” she said. “The children at the school were cruel.”

I took that to mean that Eric had been bullied or taunted about his size or maybe, if the other children knew, about having his mother in prison for killing his father. Bosch rolled with it and kept going.

“Do you like any sports, Eric?” he asked.

“I like football,” Eric said.

“Which football? Soccer or, like, the Rams?”

“I like the Chargers.”

Bosch nodded and smiled.

“Me too. But that was a bad exit last year. Have you been to a game yet?”

“No, not yet.”

Bosch nodded.

“So, like Mr. Haller said, we want to try to help your mother,” he said. “And I know it was an awful day when you lost your father and your mother was taken away, but I was wondering if we could talk about that. Do you remember that day, Eric?”

The boy looked down at his hands clasped between his knees.

“Yes,” he said.

“Good,” Bosch said. “Do you remember, did the sheriff’s deputies ever talk to you about what you may have seen or heard that day?”

“There was a lady. She talked to me.”

“Did she have on a uniform? With a badge?”

“No uniform. She had a badge on a chain. She put me in the car in the back seat where they put the bad people.”

“You mean when people are arrested?”

“Yes, but we didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Of course not. I bet she said she was putting you there so you’d be safe.”

Eric shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Did she interview you in the car?”

“She asked me questions about my mom and dad.”

“Do you remember what you told her?”

“Just that they were yelling at each other and my mom said I had to go to my room.”

“Did you see or hear anything else?”

“Not really. They said my mom shot my dad, but I didn’t see that.”

Muriel put her arm around the boy and squeezed him against her body.

“No,mijo,no,” she said. “Your mother isinocente.”

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