Angels Flight

flashed through his mind.
    The group slowed as they passed Bosch’s car. They considered whether to do something to the car and then decided against it and moved on.
    “Lucky we didn’t meet in your car,” Garwood said.
    Bosch didn’t say anything.
    “This place is going to come apart tonight,” Garwood continued. “I can feel it. Pity the rain stopped.”
    “Chastain,” Bosch said, getting back on track. “Somebody put a cork in him. Complaint unfounded. Then Elias files his suit and eventually subpoenas Chastain. Chastain doesn’t want to testify, why?”
    “Maybe he takes the oath seriously. He didn’t want to lie.”
    “There’s got to be more than that.”
    “Ask him.”
    “Elias had a source inside Parker. A leak. I think it was Chastain. I don’t mean just on this case. I mean a longtime leak – adirect conduit inside to records, everything. I think it was Chastain.”
    “It’s funny. A cop who hates cops.”
    “Yeah.”
    “But if he was Elias’s big important conduit, why would Elias put him on the stand and expose him like that?”
    That was the question and Bosch had no answer. He was silent for a while, thinking about this. He finally put together the thin beginnings of a theory and said it out loud.
    “Elias wouldn’t have known Chastain had been corked unless Chastain had told him, right?”
    “Right.”
    “So just by putting Chastain on the stand and asking him about it would be revealing Chastain as his source.”
    Garwood nodded.
    “I can see that,” he said. “Yeah.”
    “Even if Chastain sat up there and denied every question, Elias could ask the questions in a way that they would still get the point – and in this case, the truth – across to the jury.”
    “It would also make the point at Parker Center,” Garwood said. “Chastain would be exposed. Question is, why would Elias expose his source? Somebody who had been helping him a hell of a lot over the years. Why would he give that up?”
    “Because this was Elias’s home run case. The big one that would put him on the national map. It would put him on Court TV, Sixty Minutes, Larry King and everything else. It would make him. He would be willing to burn his source for that. Any lawyer would.”
    “I see that, too. Yeah.”
    The next part was left unsaid. That being the question of what Chastain would do to prevent being publicly burned on the stand. To Bosch the answer was obvious. If he were exposed not only as Elias’s source but as the investigator who compromised the internal investigation of Michael Harris’s complaint, he would be vilified both inside and outside the department. There would be nowhere for him to go and that would be untenable for a man like Chastain, for any man. Bosch believed Chastain would be willing to kill to prevent that from happening.
    “Thanks, Captain,” he said. “I’ve got to go.”
    “It doesn’t matter, you know.”
    Bosch looked over at him.
    “What?”
    “Doesn’t matter. The press releases have been made, the press conferences given, the story’s out and the city is ready to go like kindling. You think the people in the south end care which cop killed Elias? They don’t give a shit. They already have what they want. Chastain, Sheehan, doesn’t matter. What matters is that a badge did it. And if you go making noise you’ll just be adding more fuel to the fire. You bring up Chastain and you bring up the cover-up. A lot of people might get hurt, lose their jobs, all because they wanted to head this off in the first place. You better think about that, Harry. Nobody cares.”
    Bosch nodded. He understood the message. Go along to get along.
    “I care,” he said.
    “Is that enough of a reason?”
    “What about Chastain then?”
    Garwood had a thin smile on his face. Bosch could see it behind the glowing point of his cigarette.
    “I think Chastain deserves whatever he gets. And someday he’ll get it.”
    Now there was a new message and Bosch thought he understood that as well.
    “And what about Frankie Sheehan? What about his reputation?”
    “There’s that,” Garwood said, nodding. “Frankie Sheehan was one of my guys… but he’s dead and his family doesn’t live here anymore.”
    Bosch said nothing but that answer wasn’t acceptable. Sheehan was his friend and partner. Tainting him tainted Bosch himself.
    “You know what bothers me?” Garwood asked. “And maybe you might be able to help me, being that you and Sheehan were partners at one