He introduced Chastain and gave Langwiser a more detailed rundown on the investigation. By the time he was finished, Rider and Dellacroce had parked their cars in front of Langwiser’s car. Bosch tried the doors to the building but they were locked. He got out the key ring and hit the right key on the second try. They entered the atrium of the building and each of them involuntarily looked up, such was the beauty of the place. Above them the atrium skylight was filled with the purples and grays of dawn. Classical music played from hidden speakers. Something haunting and sad but Bosch couldn’t place it.

“Barber’s ‘Adagio,’ ” Langwiser said.

“What?” Bosch said, still looking up.

“The music.”

“Oh.”

A police helicopter streaked across the skylight, heading home to Piper Tech for change of shift. It broke the spell and Bosch brought his eyes down. A uniformed security guard was walking toward them. He was a young black man with close-cropped hair and startling green eyes.

“Can I help you people? The building’s closed right now.”

“Police,” Bosch said, pulling out his ID wallet and flipping it open. “We’ve got a search warrant here for suite five-oh-five.”

He nodded to Dellacroce, who removed the search warrant from his coat pocket once again and handed it to the guard.

“That’s Mr. Elias’s office,” the guard said.

“We know,” Dellacroce said.

“What’s going on?” the guard asked. “Why do you have to search his place?”

“We can’t tell you that right now,” Bosch said. “We need you to answer a couple questions, though. When’s your shift start? Were you here when Mr. Elias left last night?”

“Yeah, I was here. I work a six-to-six shift. I watched them leave about eleven last night.”

“Them?”

“Yeah, him and a couple other guys. I locked the door right after they went through. The place was empty after that — ’cept for me.”

“Do you know who the other guys were?”

“One was Mr. Elias’s assistant or a whatchamacallit.”

“Secretary? Clerk?”

“Yeah, clerk. That’s it. Like a young student who helped him with the cases.”

“You know his name?”

“Nah, I never asked.”

“Okay, what about the other guy? Who was he?”

“Don’t know that one.”

“Had you seen him around here before?”

“Yeah, the last couple nights they left together. And a few times before that I think I saw him going or coming by hisself.”

“Did he have an office here?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Was he Elias’s client?”

“How would I know?”

“A black guy, white guy?”

“Black.”

“What did he look like?”

“Well, I didn’t get a real good look at him.”

“You said you’ve seen him around here before. What did he look like?”

“He was just a normal-looking guy. He . . .”