Page 34 of Resurrection Walk

“Yes.”

“Did you know her or get her name?”

Before she could answer, an electronic voice interrupted the call and announced the connection would be terminated in one minute. Bosch prompted Lucinda once the interruption was over.

“Cindi, who was the deputy who tested you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think she told me her name. She said she worked with Robbie. I remember that.”

“Was she a detective?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, was she in a sheriff’s uniform or plain clothes?”

“No, she was in regular clothes. She had her badge on a chain.”

“Around her neck?”

“Yes.”

“Would you know her if you saw her again?”

“Uh, I’m not so sure… I think yes, I —”

The call ended.

“Shit, she’s gone,” Bosch said.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“I’m reading the interview transcript right here. The detectives confront her with the GSR and explain that a deputy, who they don’t name but refer to as he, swiped her for GSR. Then she says it was a she.”

“Okay. So what’s the issue?”

“Well, the whole thing reads as off to me. I don’t know what the sheriff’s department crime scene protocols are but they can’t be that different from the LAPD’s. And I can tell you, at the LAPD, gunshot-residue testing is done by the detectives. Or at the very least, a criminalist. Definitely not somebody who works with the victim.”

I now remembered reading the exchange in the transcript. It hadn’t raised a flag for me in the way it did for Bosch. But that was Bosch. I had seen it before. He had this facility for seeing the details and evidence of a case and how it all matched up, or didn’t. He was playing chess while most people were playing checkers.

“Interesting,” I finally said. “So it was a female detective?”

“Not necessarily,” Bosch said. “It could have been somebody called in from home, no time to put on a uniform. But it sounds like somebody from Roberto’s unit. Detectives usually carry the badge on the belt. A badge on a chain indicates a plainclothes unit, like gangs or drugs. They use the chain so they can hide it and pull it out when shit goes down, like a raid or at a crime scene.”

“Got it.”

Bosch began looking through the pockets in the file on his lap. I glanced over and saw him pull out a document.

“This is the first crime report. It has the names of the two deputies who first responded: Gutierrez and Spain.”

“Well, we need to talk to them.”

“Maybe not right away. Remember, you said no footprints till we’re ready?”

I nodded. “Right.”

Bosch pulled out another document.

“What’s that?” I asked.

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