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“Probably not,” Winston said. “But if it goes the way we think it will, the defense will ask for a bail hearing to try to get them out while we go through appeals.”

“What are the chances of that?” Bosch asked. “That they would get out.”

“I would put it between slim and none,” Winston said. “But you never know. Leibowitz is a right-down-the-middle guy. If he rules against the suppression, he might throw them a bone on bail. But you have to remember, if there’s an appeal, they’re basically saying this guy was wrong, that he made a bad ruling. No judge likes being second-guessed. It could affect how he rules on an ROR.”

“ROR?” Bosch said. “They’ll actually ask to be released? No bail at all?”

“I’m sure they’ll start out that way,” Winston said. “Ask for the best, expect the worst. Anyway, I really need to go.”

Winston stepped away from the small circle and headed toward the courtroom exit. But she turned around before she got there and came back.

“Listen, I want to apologize for this morning,” she said. “You know, with the judge. I should have been better. The judge was nice enough not to bring that out in open court. But in chambers he jumped on me, and I have to say, he was right. I should have had my head in the game.”

“You made up for it,” Ballard said. “You kicked ass, if you ask me.”

Bosch nodded his agreement.

“Especially when you trashed their arguments,” he said. “I think it’s going to go our way and that first part won’t matter.”

“Let’s hope so,” Winston said. “Anyway, I’ll be in touch.”

Winston made it all the way to the door this time before turning and coming back.

“There’s something you should all be thinking about for when this gets to trial,” she said.

“Sure,” Ballard said. “Tell us.”

“In his opening statement, Garland said something I took note of,” Winston said. “He was hitting the Fourth Amendment, illegal-search stuff, but he implied that the content of the recording was misinterpreted by the state.”

“I remember that,” Ballard said. “And that is bullshit. There is only one way to interpret what Talbot said, and he clearly acknowledged killing his wife.”

“Right, that seems obvious when you hear the recording,” Winston said. “So why did he say that? I think he’s setting something up for trial.”

“Like what?” Bosch said.

“Like if they lose all the appeals and the recording comes in as evidence, how do you defend that?” Winston said. “I think they’ll try to make an argument that he knew he was being bugged and played along.”

“That’s a joke,” Ballard said.

“No jury will believe that,” Laffont added.

Winston nodded.

“Not unless they have something backing it up,” she said. “Something like a text or an email he sent to his wife or his lawyer saying he knew what the cops were up to and he was going to play along and lure them into a trap.”

“But what trap?” Ballard asked. “He’s the one in jail. I’d say the joke’s on him.”

“I don’t know,” Winston said. “Maybe it sets up a lawsuit. They kept hitting on themes of obsession and harassment with Harry. And mentioned going civil with the intrusion tort. Maybe that’s why Garland spent so much time on the investigation from twenty-five years ago. He’s building a record of some sort. I just don’t know what he’s building it for.”

She looked at Bosch as if he might know something she didn’t.

“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re doing. But they might not know themselves. They were all over the place bringing up civil torts and the misguided entrapment claim. We know, first of all, that Talbot had no idea about the bug. We saw it on his face when we played him the tape. So to go back and try to construct something that shows prior knowledge and planning would take a lot of doing. I just think we’re wasting time worrying about this.”

“You’re probably right,” Winston said. “I just wanted to throw all the cards on the table. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really will leave this time.”

She headed out with all eyes on her. This time she actually opened the door and left.

The cemetery-caper team followed, and in the hall Ballard asked Bosch if he’d like to join her and Laffont for lunch. He passed, saying he already had plans to meet someone.