There was a pause as she looked through the documents Bosch had provided.

“I think, gentlemen, that that’s it for now.”

“No more questions?” Bosch asked.

“For now. I may have follow-ups later.”

“Can I ask some questions now?”

“You can ask and I’ll answer if I can.”

Bosch nodded. Fair enough.

“How long will this take?”

Mendenhall frowned.

“Well, in actual investigation time I don’t think it will take long. Unless I can’t get what I need by phone from San Quentin and have to go up there.”

“So, they might spend the money to send you all the way up there to check out what I did with an extra hour of my time.”

“That would be my captain’s call. He’ll certainly look at the costs involved and the level of seriousness of the investigation. He also knows that I carry several other investigations at the moment. He might decide that it is not worth the expenditure of money and investigative time.”

Bosch had no doubt that they would send Mendenhall to San Quentin if needed. She might be in a bubble where there was no pressure from above, but her captain wasn’t.

“Anything else?” she asked. “I have an interview at nine that I should prepare for.”

“Yes, one more thing,” Bosch said. “Where did this complaint come from?”

Mendenhall seem surprised by the question.

“I can’t discuss that, but I thought you knew. I thought it was obvious.”

“No, I know it came from O’Toole. But the whole thing about me visiting Shawn Stone—how did he come up with that? How did he know?”

“That I can’t talk to you about, Detective. When my investigation is complete and I make a recommendation, you may become aware of those facts.”

Bosch nodded but the open question bothered him. Had someone from San Quentin called O’Toole to suggest Bosch had acted improperly, or had O’Toole pursued this, going so far as to check on Bosch’s activities at the prison? Either way, it was disconcerting to Bosch. He had walked in believing the 128 complaint would easily be discarded after his explanations to Mendenhall. Now he saw that things might not be so clear-cut.