Part 1, Pages 1-39 Summary

A young graffiti artist works in the early morning hours near a reservoir and hides in the bushes when he hears the approach of a truck along the access road. A few hours later Los Angeles Police Department detective Bosch is awakened by his desk sergeant who says a dead body has been found at the Mulholland Dam, 30 feet inside a pipe. .

Bosch surveys the crime scene and crawls inside to confirm the death and look for evidence. When the body is brought out, there are no scratches to indicate dragging and nothing in the victim's pockets. Sakai finds one fresh needle mark and assumes the cause of death is a "hot load." Bosch recognizes the tattoo of a Vietnam tunnel rat and asks his partner, Edgar, to check the computer for a "Meadows, William," born circa 1950.

Bosch says...