He turned to the door but Bosch stopped him.

“One more thing, Chief.”

Irving turned back to him. Bosch had recovered his composure now. He looked calmly at the deputy chief.

“You know we are going to be looking hard at cops on this. Lots of them. We’ll have to go through all of the lawyer’s cases, not just the Black Warrior thing. So I just need to know up front – we all need to – do you and the police chief want the chips to fall where they fall or…”

He didn’t finish and Irving said nothing.

“I want to protect my people,” Bosch said. “This kind of case… we just need to be clear about everything up front.”

Bosch was taking a gamble saying it in front of Garwood and the others. It would likely anger Irving again. But Bosch took the shot because he wanted Irving to answer him in front of Garwood. The captain was a powerful man in the department. Bosch wanted him to know that his team would be following the directives of the highest command, just in case the chips fell close to some of Garwood’s people.

Irving looked at him for a long moment before finally speaking.

“Your insolence is noted, Detective Bosch.”

“Yes, sir. But what’s the answer?”

“Let them fall, Detective. Two people are dead that should not be dead. It does not matter who they were. They should not be dead. Do your best work. Use all your skills. And let the chips fall.”

Bosch nodded once. Irving turned and glanced quickly at Garwood before leaving the room.

Chapter 4

HARRY, you have a smoke?”

“Sorry, Cap, I’m trying to quit.”

“Me, too. I guess all that really means is that you borrow ’em rather than buy ’em.”

Garwood stepped away from the corner and blew out his breath.