Angels Flight

connected family.”
    “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the car czar.”
    Bosch checked her look to make sure she was kidding.
    “I’m afraid of moving too fast and blowing it. We’ve got nothing that directly links anybody to Stacey Kincaid or Howard Elias. If we bring mom down here and don’t turn her, then we watch the car czar drive away. That’s what I’m afraid of, okay?”
    Rider nodded.
    “She’s dying to be turned,” Edgar said. “Why else send those notes to Elias?”
    Bosch put his elbows on the desk and washed his face with his hands as he thought about things. He had to make a decision.
    “What about Charlotte’s Web Site?” he asked, his face still covered by his hands. “What do we do with that?”
    “We give that to Inglert and the O’Connors,” Rider said. “They’ll jump all over it. Like I said, they’ll be able to trace the good guy list to the users. They’ll identify them and take them down. We’re talking multiple arrests of an Internet pedophile ring. That’s just for starters. The DA might want to try to link them all to the homicides.”
    “They’re probably all over the country,” Edgar said. “Not just L.A.”
    “They might be all over the world but it won’t matter. Our people will work with the bureau on it.”
    More silence passed by and Bosch finally dropped his hands to the desk. He’d made his decision.
    “Okay,” he said. “You two stay here and work on the search warrants. I want them ready to go tonight, in case we decide to move. We want all weapons, computer equipment – you know what to do. I want warrants for the old house, which they still own, as well as the new house, all cars and Kincaid’s office. Also, Jerry, see what you can find out about the security guy.”
    “D.C. Richter, will do. What – ”
    “In fact, on the warrants, write up one for his car.”
    “What’s the PC?” Rider asked.
    Bosch thought a moment. He knew what he wanted but he needed a legal means of getting there.
    “Just say that as Kincaid’s director of security it is believed that his vehicle may have been used in the commission of crimes relating to Stacey Kincaid.”
    “That’s not probable cause, Harry.”
    “We stick the warrant in with the other ones,” he said. “Maybe the judge won’t care after he’s read what is in them. In fact, check the judge list. Let’s take these to a woman.”
    Rider smiled and said, “Aren’t we sly?”
    “What are you going to be doing, Harry?” Edgar asked.
    “I’m going downtown to talk to Irving and Lindell, tell them what we got and see how they want to play it.”
    Bosch looked at Rider and now saw disappointment.
    “Harry, this isn’t like you,” she said. “You know that if you go to Irving he’ll take the conservative route. He won’t let us move until we’ve nailed down every possibility.”
    Bosch nodded and said, “Normally, that would be true. But these aren’t normal times. He wants to prevent the city from burning. Going with this, and going fast, might be the way. Irving’s smart enough to see that.”
    “You have too much faith in human nature,” she said.
    “What are you talking about?”
    “The best way of cooling this city off is to arrest a cop. Irving’s already down there with Sheehan in the box. He isn’t going to want to hear this, Harry.”
    “You think that if you arrest the car czar and say he did Elias that everybody will believe you and be cool,” Edgar added. “You don’t understand. There are people out there who need this to be a cop and they won’t listen to anything else. Irving’s smart enough to see that, too.”
    Bosch thought of Sheehan downtown at Parker Center in a room. He was being measured as the department’s sacrificial lamb.
    “Just work on the warrants,” he said. “I’ll worry about the rest.”

Chapter 27
    BOSCH looked out the window and down at the protesters lining the sidewalks in front of Parker Center and across Los Angeles Street. They moved in orderly lines, carrying signs that said JUSTICE NOW on one side and JUSTICE FOR HOWARD ELIAS on the other. The duplication of the signs attested to the careful orchestration of the protest for the benefit of the media. Bosch saw Reverend Preston Tuggins was one of the marchers. As he walked, reporters walked along with him, sticking microphones in front of him and focusing cameras at his face. Bosch didn’t see any signs that said anything about Catalina Perez.
    “Detective