The concrete blonde - By Michael Connelly Page 0,49
unsolved. Are you saying you don't know if that would have been germane to your investigation?”
“I, yes … I don't know at this time.”
Bosch wanted to put his head down on the table. He had noticed that even Belk had stopped scribbling notes and was just watching the interchange between Irving and Chandler. Bosch tried to shake off the anger he felt and concentrate on how Chandler had obtained the information. He realized she had probably gotten the P-file in a discovery motion. But the details of the crime and his mother's background would not be in it. She had most likely procured the due diligence report from the archives warehouse on a Freedom of Information petition.
He realized he had missed several questions to Irving. He began watching and listening again. He wished he had a lawyer like Money Chandler.
“Chief, did you or any IAD detectives go to the scene of the shooting?”
“No, we did not.”
“So your information about what happened came from members of the shooting team, who in turn got their information from the shooter, Detective Bosch, correct?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“You have no personal knowledge of the evidentiary layout: the toupee under the pillow, the cosmetics beneath the sink in the bathroom?”
“Correct. I was not there.”
“Do you believe all of that was there as I just stated?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“It was all there in the reports—reports from several different officers.”
“But all originating with the information from Detective Bosch, correct?”
“To a degree. There were investigators swarming that place. Bosch didn't tell them what to write.”
“Before, as you say, they swarmed the place, how long was Bosch there alone?”
“I don't know.”
“Is that piece of information on any report that you know of?”
“I'm not sure.”
“Isn't it true, Chief, that you wanted to fire Bosch and refer this shooting to the district attorney's office for the filing of criminal charges against him?”
“No, that is wrong. The DA looked at it and passed. It's routine. They said it was within policy, too.”
Well, score one for me, Bosch thought. It was the first misstep he had seen her take with Irving.
“What happened to the woman who gave Bosch this tip? Her name was McQueen. I believe she was a prostitute.”
“She died about a year later. Hepatitis.”
“At the time of her death was she part of an ongoing investigation of Detective Bosch and this shooting?”
“Not that I am aware of and I was in charge of IAD at the time.”
“What about the two IAD detectives who investigated the shooting? Lewis and Clarke, I believe their names were. Didn't they continue their investigation of Bosch long after the shooting had been determined officially to be within policy?”
Irving took a while to answer. He was probably leery of being led to slaughter again.
“If they conducted such an ongoing investigation it was without my knowledge or approval.”
“Where are those detectives now?”
“They are also dead. Both killed in the line of duty a couple years ago.”
“As the commander of IAD wasn't it your practice to initiate covert investigations of problem officers that you had marked for dismissal? Wasn't Detective Bosch one of those officers?”
“The answer to both questions is no. Unequivocally, no.”
“And what happened to Detective Bosch for his violation of procedures during the shooting of the unarmed Norman Church?”
“He was suspended for one deployment period and transferred within detective services to Hollywood Division.”
“In English, that means he was suspended for a month and demoted from the elite Robbery-Homicide squad to the Hollywood Division, correct?”
“You could say it that way.”
Chandler flipped a page up on her pad.
“Chief, if there were no cosmetics in the bathroom and no evidence that Norman Church was anything other than a lonely man who had taken a prostitute to his apartment, would Harry Bosch still be on the force? Would he have been prosecuted for killing this man?”
“I'm not sure I understand the question.”
“I'm asking, sir, did the alleged evidence tying Mr. Church to the killings that was allegedly found in his apartment save Detective Bosch? Did it not only save his job but save him from criminal prosecution?”
Belk stood up and objected, then walked to the lectern.
“She is asking him to speculate again, Your Honor. He can't tell what would have happened given an elaborate set of circumstances that didn't exist.”
Judge Keyes clasped his hands together in front of him and leaned back thinking. Then he abruptly leaned forward to the microphone.
“Ms. Chandler is laying the groundwork to make a case that the evidence in the apartment was fabricated. I'm not saying whether she has adequately