Irving put his hands down on the table and leaned a few inches toward its center. He seemed impatient when he spoke.

“All I am saying is that you cannot completely eliminate these other possible scenarios.”

“That might be true but we’re not pursuing those scenarios. I believe it would be a waste of time and I don’t have the manpower.”

“I told you I wanted a thorough investigation. I want no stone unturned.”

“Well, we’ll get to those stones later. Look, Chief, if you are focusing on this so you can tell the media it might be a robbery, then fine, say it might be. I don’t care about what you tell the media. I’m just trying to tell you where we stand and where we’re going to be looking.”

“Fine. Proceed.”

He waved a hand in a dismissive gesture.

“We need to look at the man’s files and draw up lists of potential suspects. The cops who Elias really nailed in court or vilified in the media over the years. Or both. The grudges. And the cops he would have tried to nail beginning Monday.”

Irving showed no reaction at all. It seemed to Bosch he was already thinking about the next hour, when he and the police chief would go out on a cliff and address the media about such a dangerous case.

“We are being handicapped,” Bosch continued. “Carla Entrenkin has been appointed by the warrants judge as a special master to oversee the protection of Elias’s clients. She’s in his office right now and won’t let us in.”

“I thought you said you found the man’s wallet and watch in the office.”

“I did. That was before Carla showed up and kicked us out.”

“How did she get appointed?”

“She says the judge called her, thought she’d be perfect. She and a deputy from the DA are there. I’m hoping to get the first batch of files this afternoon.”

“Okay, what else?”

“There’s something you should know. Before Carla made us leave, we came across a couple things of interest. The first is some notes Elias kept at his desk. I read through them and there were indications that he had a source in here. Parker Center, I mean. A good source, somebody who apparently knew how to find and get access to old files — unsubstantiated IAD investigations. And there were indications of a dispute. The source either couldn’t or wouldn’t provide something Elias wanted on the Black Warrior thing.”

Irving went quiet for a second, staring at Bosch, processing. When he spoke again his voice was more distant still.

“Was this source identified?”

“Not in what I saw, which wasn’t a lot. It was coded.”

“What was it that Elias wanted? Could it be related to the killings?”