You want to arrest me, get to it. You want to talk to me, knock on my door and ask for permission. You think I'm kidding about the badge, try it out.

Pike said, Go ahead, Crimmens. Give it a try.

Crimmens smirked as he draped himself over the file cabinet. He studied Pike for a moment, then smirked some more.

Bastilla said, Do you recall a man named Lionel Byrd?

I didn't offer you a seat.

C'mon, you know Lionel Byrd or not?

Charlie said, He knows him. Jesus.

Something about Crimmens was familiar, though I couldn't place him. Most of the Hollywood Bureau detectives were friends of mine, but these two were blanks.

You aren't out of Hollywood.

Bastilla put her card on my desk.

Homicide Special. Charlie's attached out of Rampart. We're part of a task force investigating a series of homicides. Now, c'mon. Lionel Byrd.

I had to think.

We're talking about a criminal case?

Three years ago, Byrd was bound over for the murder of a twenty-eight-year-old prostitute named Yvonne Bennett, a crime he confessed to. You produced a witness and a security tape that supposedly cleared him of the crime. His attorney was J. Alan Levy, of Barshop, Barshop & Alter. We getting warmer here?

The facts of the case returned as slowly as surfacing fish. Lionel Byrd had been an unemployed mechanic with alcohol problems and a love/hate relationship with prostitutes. He wasn't a guy you would want to know socially, but he wasn't a murderer.

Yeah, I remember. Not all the details, but some. It was a bogus confession. He recanted.

Crimmens shifted.

Wasn't bogus.

I took my seat and hooked a foot on the edge of the desk.

Whatever. The video showed he was here in Hollywood when Bennett was murdered. She was killed in Silver Lake.

Behind them, Pike touched his watch. We were going to be late.

I lowered my foot and leaned forward.

You guys should have called. My partner and I have an appointment.

Bastilla took out a notepad to show me they weren't going to leave.

Have you seen much of Mr. Byrd since you got him off?

I never met the man.

Crimmens said, Bullshit. He was your client. You don't meet your clients?

Levy was my client. Barshop, Barshop paid the tab. That's what lawyers do.

Bastilla said, So it was Levy who hired you?

Yes. Most of my clients are lawyers.

Attorneys can't and don't rely on the word of their clients. Often, their clients don't know the whole and impartial truth, and sometimes their clients lie. Since lawyers are busy lawyering, they employ investigators to uncover the facts.

Bastilla twisted around to see Pike.

What about you? Did you work on Byrd's behalf?

Not my kind of job.

She twisted farther to get a better look.

How about you take off the shades while we talk?

No.

Crimmens said, You hiding something back there, Pike? How 'bout we look?