Angels Flight

phone.
    “You’re not going to like this,” she said. “Dave Sheiman wants to bring in a special master to look at the files before you do.”
    “Special master?” Dellacroce asked. “What the hell is that?”
    “It’s an attorney,” Langwiser said. “An independent attorney appointed by a judge who will oversee the files. He will be hired to protect the rights of those clients while still giving you people what you need. Hopefully.”
    “Shit,” Bosch said, his frustration finally getting the better of him. “Why don’t we just stop the whole thing now and drop the damn case? If the DA’s office doesn’t care about us clearing it then we won’t care either.”
    “Detective Bosch, you know it’s not like that. Of course we care. We just want to be safe. The warrant you have is still good for searching the office. Sheiman said you can even go through completed case files – which I am sure you need to look at as well. But the special master will have to come in and look at all pending files first. Remember, this person is not an adversary to you. He will give you everything you are entitled to see.”
    “And when will that be? Next week? Next month?”
    “No. Sheiman is going to go to work on that this morning. He’ll call Judge Houghton, apprise him of the situation, and see if he has any recommendations for a special master. With any luck, the appointment will be made today and you’ll have what you need from the files this afternoon. Tomorrow, at the very latest.”
    “Tomorrow at the latest is too late. We need to keep moving on this.”
    “Yeah,” Chastain chimed in. “Don’t you know an investigation is like a shark? It’s got to keep – ”
    “All right, Chastain,” Bosch said.
    “Look,” Langwiser said. “I’ll make sure Dave understands the urgency of the situation. In the meantime you’ll just have to be patient. Now do you want to keep standing down here talking about it or do you want to go up and do what we can in the office?”
    Bosch looked at her for a long moment, annoyed by her chiding tone. The moment ended when the phone in his hand rang. It was Edgar and he was whispering. Bosch held a hand over his ear so he could hear.
    “I didn’t hear that. What?”
    “Listen, I’m in the bedroom. There’s no phone book in the bed table. I checked both bed tables. It’s not here.”
    “What?”
    “The phone book, it’s not here, man.”
    Bosch looked at Chastain, who was looking back at him. He turned and walked away, out of earshot of the others. Now he whispered to Edgar.
    “You sure?”
    “Course I’m sure. I woulda found it if it was here.”
    “You were first in the bedroom?”
    “Right. First one in. It’s not here.”
    “You’re in the bedroom to the right when you come down the hall.”
    “Yeah, Harry. I’m in the right place. It’s just not here.”
    “Shit.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “Nothing. Continue the search.”
    Bosch flipped the phone closed and put it in his pocket. He walked back to the others. He tried to act calm, as if the call had only been a minor annoyance.
    “Okay, let’s go up and do what we can up there.”
    They moved to the elevator, which was an open wrought-iron cage with ornate flourishes and polished brass trim.
    “Why don’t you take the ladies up first,” Bosch said to Dellacroce. “We’ll come up after. That ought to distribute the weight pretty evenly.”
    He took Elias’s key ring out of his pocket and handed it to Rider.
    “The office key should be on there,” he said. “And never mind about that other thing with Harris for the time being. Let’s see what we’ve got in the office first.”
    “Sure, Harry.”
    They got on and Dellacroce pulled the accordion gate closed. The elevator rose with a jerking motion. After it was up one floor and those on it could not see them, Bosch turned to Chastain. The anger and frustration of everything going wrong flooded him then. He dropped his briefcase and with both hands grabbed Chastain by the collar of his jacket. He roughly pushed him against the elevator cage and spoke in a low, dark voice that was full of rage.
    “Goddammit, Chastain, I’m only asking this one time. Where’s the fucking phone book?”
    Chastain’s face flushed crimson and his eyes grew wide in shock.
    “What? What the fuck are you talking about?”
    He brought his hands up to Bosch’s and tried to free himself but Bosch maintained the pressure, leaning all of his weight