City of Echoes Read Online Free PDF Page B

him eyeball to eyeball, seething.
    “It’s my case,” he said. “It’s my case.”
    “Let go of him, Jones. Jesus Christ. Knock it off and let go.”
    “My case,” Matt said through clenched teeth.
    He gave Cabrera a final shove before releasing his hold on him. Once Cabrera regained his composure, he took a step toward Matt, but Grace pushed him out of the office and managed to get the door closed.

CHAPTER 7
    “Take a seat, Jones. And that’s a goddamn order.”
    Matt watched Grace move in behind his desk and sit down. Through the glass wall he could see Cabrera in the squad room, pacing and muttering and rubbing the back of his head. After several moments, Matt rolled a chair over to Grace’s desk and finally joined him.
    “What the fuck is your problem, Jones? Your supervisor on the Westside told me you were smart. I need this like I need—it’s not even your first fucking day.”
    “It’s my case,” he said quietly.
    “It’s your case,” Grace repeated. “You keep saying that, and I keep telling you that we’ll talk about it later.”
    He shook his head at Matt, then reached for his laptop and opened the lid. Once the computer woke up, he plugged in a portable drive and clicked open a short list of files.
    “They finished canvassing the neighborhood about a half hour before I called you. No one saw anything, Jones.”
    “What about the hotel?”
    “The windows on that side of the building face the parking lot. On the other side you can almost see the Hollywood sign. Not many people want a room with a view of the parking lot. And even if they get stuck with one, most people keep the blinds closed. Besides, the place is famous. They shot the movie Pretty Woman there. Everybody wants the room Julia Roberts stayed in, and that’s in the front. Cabrera said that the guys who made the sweep spoke with everyone who was checked in. No one saw anything until after the last shot was fired.”
    “Then what?”
    “Then nothing, Jones. All they saw was a parking lot and a handful of cops who showed up too late.”
    Matt thought about the apartments across the street. The twenty-five windows and balconies he’d counted before he left to notify Laura.
    “What about that new apartment building?” he said.
    “It just opened. They’ve only rented a couple of units. No one saw anything.”
    Grace’s eyes kept dancing back to that list of files on his laptop. There was something odd about it. Matt settled deeper into the chair, watching his supervisor and wondering if he had missed something. Why did Grace, a seasoned pro, still seem so anxious? Matt didn’t know him very well but trusted his read.
    “You’re leaving something out,” he said. “Something important. What is it?”
    Grace appeared surprised by the question but seemed to come to some sort of decision. After a quick glance at Cabrera, still pacing in the squad room, he opened a file on his computer and motioned Matt closer. Almost instantly Matt understood why both men had doubts about his ability to work the case. It was video from a security camera. Matt guessed from the angle that the lens was positioned over the entrance of the apartment building across the street. In spite of the distance, in spite of the darkness, he could see them in the background. The hooded sweatshirt. The outstretched hand grasping something shiny that had to be the pistol. Hughes sitting behind the wheel in the black SUV.
    Matt dug into his pocket for a piece of nicotine gum, gave it a few hurried bites to release the drug, then parked it against his cheek. Leaning over the desk, he moved closer to the screen. After several minutes Grace pointed at the time code burned into the image and running along the bottom edge of the frame. His supervisor didn’t need to say anything. Matt knew that the robbery was taking too much time. There was too much talking. Too much back and forth. Hughes wasn’t complying.
    And then it happened. A single flash from the end of