He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the crime scene in the train car. As he did this he glanced at Garwood but the captain was still looking down at the floor.
“No conflict of interest,” Irving said. “Correct?”
The three detectives nodded. Bosch had been sued often enough in his twenty-five years with the department, but somehow he had always avoided tangling with Elias. Still, he didn’t believe Irving’s explanation was complete. He knew that Edgar had already alluded to a reason for their choice, probably a reason more important than the fact that none of them had been sued by Elias. Bosch’s two partners were black. That might come in handy for Irving at some point. Bosch knew Irving’s desire that the department have only one face and one race – blue – would go out the window when he needed a black face for the cameras.
“I don’t want my people paraded in front of the media, Chief,” Bosch said. “If we’re on the case, we’re on the case to work it, not for a show.”
Irving stared at him with angry eyes.
“What did you call me?”
Bosch was momentarily taken aback.
“I called you Chief.”
“Oh, good. Because I was wondering if there was some confusion here over the line of command in this room. Is there, Detective?”
Bosch looked away and out the window again. He could feel his face turning red and it upset him to give himself away.
“No,” he said.
“Good,” Irving said without a trace of tension. “Then I am going to leave you with Captain Garwood. He will bring you up to speed on what has been accomplished so far. When he is done, we will talk about how we are going to set this case up.”