“You’re talking about public relations,” he said. “I’m talking about murder. What happened to everybody counting, no matter who they are? Or were. Do you even remember that from Homicide Special?”

“Of course I do and it still stands, Harry. I’m not asking you to drop the case. Just put some space in it. Wait a month, till after the first, clear it then and clear it quietly. And we’ll tell the family and leave it at that. If we’re lucky, the suspect will be dead and we won’t have to worry about a trial. Meantime, O’Toole told me he had a hot shot from the Death Squad that you can run with. Maybe that one will bring us the kind of attention we want.”

Bosch shook his head.

“I have a case I’m running with now.”

Maycock was losing patience with Bosch. His ruddy complexion was turning a deeper red.

“Put it on hold and go with the hot shot.”

“Did O’Toole tell you that if I clear this one, I may clear five or six others?”

Maycock nodded but dismissed the news with a wave of the hand.

“Yeah, gangbangers all, and none during the riots.”

“This was your idea, to go into these cases.”

“How was I to know that you’d be the only one to get some traction on a case and it would happen to be Snow White? Jesus Christ, the name alone, Harry. In fact, no matter what happens, stop calling her that.”

Bosch took a few steps around the room. He found an angle where the spire of City Hall was doubled in the reflection of the glass skin of the PAB’s northern wing. Fresh kills or cold cases, the pursuit of killers had to be relentless. It was the only way to go and the only way Bosch knew how to go. But when political and social considerations intruded, his patience always stretched thin.

“Goddamn it, Marty,” he said.

“I know how you feel,” the chief said.

Bosch finally looked back at him.

“No, you don’t. Not anymore.”

“You’re entitled to your opinion.”

“But not to work my case.”

“Again, that is not what I’m saying. You keep putting it in a way that is not—”

“It’s too late, Marty. It’s about to break.”

“Break how?”

“I needed information about my victim. I went to the paper she worked for and traded information. I’m working with a reporter on it. If I blow it off now, he’ll know why and it will be a bigger story for that than for me closing it.”

“You son of a bitch. What paper? In Sweden?”