Page 60 of Resurrection Walk

Fontaine just stared at us for a few moments.

“Gentlemen, we’re done here,” she finally said. “I have nothing more to say about those cases. They’re closed. Justice was done. And I’m going to be late for court.”

She started stacking files on her desk and getting ready to go.

“I’d rather talk now than have to subpoena you,” I said.

“Well, good luck with that,” Fontaine said.

“The most damning piece of evidence you had on her was the GSR. I’ll tell you right now, we can blow that up.”

“You’re a defense lawyer. You can find a so-called expert to say whatever you want. But over here we deal in facts, and the fact is she shot her ex-husband and is where she deserves to be.”

She stood up and dumped her gathered files into a leather bag with initials in gold near the handle. Bosch started to stand up. But I didn’t.

“I’d hate to see you dragged through the shit that’s about to come out,” I said. “When this gets to court.”

“Is that a threat?” Fontaine asked.

“It’s more like a choice. Work with us to find the truth. Or work against us and hide it.”

“That’ll be the day, when I find a defense attorney really interested in the truth. Now, you need to go or I’m going to call security to escort you out.”

I took my time standing up, holding her angry stare as I did.

“Just remember,” I said. “We gave you the choice.”

“Just go,” she said loudly. “Now!”

Bosch and I didn’t speak until we were on the elevator going down.

“I’d say you succeeded in rattling her cage,” Bosch said.

“Hers and a few others down the line, I’m sure,” I said.

“Are we ready for that? What happened to ‘no footprints’?”

“Changing course. Besides, somebody out there already knows what we’re doing.”

“How do you know that?”

“Easy. Somebody broke into your house because they wanted us to know.”

Bosch nodded and we were silent while the old elevator made its way down.

When we stepped out into the lobby, Bosch brought up what I had been mulling over myself.

“So,” he said. “Fontaine. Think she’s bent or is she a victim?”

“Good question,” I said. “They threatened the defense attorney into doing what they wanted. Maybe they did it with the prosecutor too. Or maybe she’s just as corrupt as the Cucos.”

“Maybe it’s somewhere in the middle. She was pressured into protecting the sheriff’s department from scandal. It is, after all, the sister agency to the DA’s office.”

“I think you’re being too kind, Harry. You gotta remember, two years after this shit went down, she gets a transfer from Antelope fucking Valley to Major Crimes downtown. That feels like a payoff to me.”

“True, I guess.”

“We can’t guess. We have to have it down solid before we get into court.”

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