The door opened and Bosch turned. Mickey Haller stepped into the room. Bosch did a double take. Not because he didn’t recognize Haller. They were half brothers and he easily knew him on sight. But seeing Haller in the DA’s office was one of those images that didn’t quite make sense. Haller was a criminal defense attorney. He fit in at the DA’s office about as well as a cat did at the dog pound.

“I know,” Haller said. “You’re thinking, What in the hell is this?”

Smiling, Haller moved to McPherson’s side of the table and started pulling out a chair. Then Bosch remembered how he knew McPherson’s name.

“You two…,” Bosch said. “You were married, right?”

“That’s right,” Haller said. “Eight wonderful years.”

“And what, she’s prosecuting Jessup and you’re defending him? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

Haller’s smile became a broad grin.

“It would only be a conflict if we were opposing each other, Harry. But we’re not. We’re prosecuting him. Together. I’m first chair. Maggie’s second. And we want you to be our investigator.”

Bosch was completely confused.

“Wait a minute. You’re not a prosecutor. This doesn’t-”

“I’m an appointed independent prosecutor, Harry. It’s all legit. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t. We’re going after Jessup and we want you to help us.”

Bosch pulled out a chair and slowly sat down.

“From what I heard, this case is beyond help. Unless you’re telling me Jessup rigged the DNA test.”

“No, we’re not telling you that,” McPherson said. “We did our own testing and matching. His results were correct. It wasn’t his DNA on the victim’s dress.”

“But that doesn’t mean we’ve lost the case,” Haller quickly added.

Bosch looked from McPherson to Haller and then back again. He was clearly missing something.