Bosch pointed to the screen.

“You see the pearl?”

“Yes, she always wore that.”

“Always?”

“Yes, it had been her grandmother’s. She believed it brought her good luck. Once in class we did some biographical sketches. She told us all about it then. In our classes we all have alter egos with alternate names. Her name was Pearl. When I called on her, if I used the name Pearl, she would respond as that alter ego. Do you understand?”

“I think so. Do you have any tapes of her as Pearl?”

“I think so. I could look.”

“I don’t know if it is significant or not. I’ll let you know. Did you ever see Lizbeth wearing a pendant with a diamond in it?”

Palovich thought for a moment and then shook her head.

“No, never.”

Bosch nodded and thanked her for her time. He asked if he could take the headshot and she said that was fine. At the door to the studio she stopped him with a question.

“You don’t think she did this to herself, do you, Detective Bosch?”

Bosch looked at her a long moment before answering. He knew he should keep his assumptions and theories to himself. But he could tell she needed the answer.

“No, I don’t.”

She shook her head. The alternate to suicide was somehow more horrible to contemplate.

“Who would do this?” she asked. “Who could do this?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m going to find out.”

In the crime analysis office Bosch sat with an officer named Kizmin Rider. He had worked with her before and knew she was one of the quickest cops on a computer he had ever seen. She was clearly going places in the department and he knew she was being fast-tracked for administration. But the last time they had worked together she had confided that she really wanted to be a detective.

When she was ready Bosch told her what he wanted.

“I’m looking for suicides in the last five years,” Bosch said. “Young females.”