Page 39 of Resurrection Walk

“Okay, Eric. Thanks. Is there anything you want to ask me or Mr. Haller?”

The boy shrugged his shoulders and looked from Bosch to me and then back.

“Will you get my mom out of prison?” he asked.

“We can’t promise anything. But like Mr. Haller said, we’re sure going to try.”

“Do you think she did it?”

There it was. The question the boy lived with every day of his life.

“Tell you what, Eric,” Bosch said, “I will never lie to you. So I’ll say this: I don’t know yet. But there are enough things about the case that don’t work for me, that don’t add up, you know what I mean? So I think there is a chance they made a mistake about her and she didn’t do it. I’m going to investigate it more and then I’ll come back here and tell you what I know. And I won’t lie. Is that okay with you?”

“Okay,” Eric said.

The interview was over. We all stood up, and Muriel told Eric he could go back to his room to play on his computer. After he was gone, I looked at Muriel.

“Do you know who Matty is?” I asked.

“Matilda Landas,” she said. “Roberto’s whore.”

She almost spit the words out. She had a deeper accent than her daughter and the words came out sharp and bitter. I recalled what Lucinda had said about deputy dollies being a cause for the destruction of her marriage.

“Was Roberto involved with her before the marriage broke up?” I asked.

“He denied it,” Muriel said. “But he was a liar.”

“Have you heard from her or seen her since then?” Bosch asked.

“I don’t know where she is,” Muriel said. “I don’t want to know.Puta!”

“Well, I think we’ll leave it at that, then,” I said. “Thank you for your time, Muriel, and for allowing us to talk to Eric. He seems like a bright kid. You must be a good teacher.”

“It’s my job to make him a good man,” she said. “But it is hard. The gangs want him.”

“I understand,” I said.

I considered suggesting that she limit his exposure to Uncle Carlos and Cousin Cesar but decided against it.

“You must get her out so she can take him away from here,” Muriel said.

“We’re going to try.”

“Thank you.”

Muriel’s eyes revealed her hope that her daughter would come home soon. Bosch and I thanked her again and headed to the door.

After Muriel closed the front door behind us, I saw one of the men from the welcoming committee sitting in a blanket-covered chair on the porch. He stood up. He was the talker from before, Lucinda’s little brother, Carlos.

“Lincoln Lawyer,” he said. “I seen you on the billboard. You look like a clown up there in yourpinche pendejocar.”

“Probably not my best shot,” I said. “But I guess it’s a matter of opinion.”

He walked up close to me, holding his hands together to better flex his heavily inked biceps. In my peripheral vision I could tell Bosch had tensed. I smiled, hoping to defuse the situation.

“I take it you’re Eric’s uncle Carlos?” I said.

“Don’t fuck this up, Lincoln Lawyer,” he said.

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