Bosch stopped and looked back at him.

“No, I don’t know,” he said. “If you want to put unconfirmed information on the air, that’s your choice. But I’m not confirming anything. And I already have a team.”

He turned without waiting for a reply and headed toward the door with Howard Elias’s name on it. He heard nothing else from Chainey or Button.

When he walked into the office he found Janis Langwiser sitting behind the secretary’s desk, looking through a file. Next to the desk there were three cardboard boxes full of files that weren’t there before. Langwiser looked up.

“Detective Bosch.”

“Hey. These boxes for me?”

She nodded.

“The first batch. And, hey, that wasn’t very nice what you did before.”

“What?”

“Telling me my car was being towed. That was a lie, wasn’t it?”

Bosch had completely forgotten.

“Uh, no, not really,” he said. “You were in a tow-away zone. They would’ve gotten you.”

He smiled when he knew she knew it was a bullshit cover-up. His face started turning red.

“Look, I had to talk to Inspector Entrenkin alone. I’m sorry.”

Before she could say anything, Carla Entrenkin looked in from the room next door. She, too, was holding a file in her hand. Bosch pointed to the three boxes on the floor.

“Looks like you’re making some progress.”

“I hope so. Can I talk to you for a moment in here?”

“Sure. But first, did Channel Four come in here and try to talk to you two?”

“They did,” Langwiser said. “And Channel Nine was here before them.”

“Did you talk to them?”

Langwiser’s eyes darted momentarily toward Entrenkin and then down at the floor. She said nothing.

“I gave a brief statement,” Entrenkin said. “Something innocuous, just explaining my role. Can we talk in here?”

She stepped back from the doorway and Bosch entered the file room. There was another cardboard box on the desk that was half full of files. Entrenkin closed the door after Bosch entered. She then threw the file she was holding on the clerk’s desk, folded her arms and put a stern expression on her face.

“What is it?” Bosch asked.

“Tom Chainey just told me that it was announced at the press conference that How — uh, Mr. Elias had left his wallet and watch in his office, in his desk. And I thought that when you people were asked to leave this morning it was clear that — ”

“I’m sorry. I forgot.”

Bosch put his briefcase down on the desk and opened it. He lifted out the evidence bags containing the wallet and watch.

“I had already bagged them and put them in my case before you came in this morning. I forgot about it and left with them. You want me to put it all back where I found it?”