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And Kara Quinn.
“This whole thing is a mess, and if LAPD were smart, they would let us take over. They’ve spent countless hours protecting Detective Quinn from any real scrutiny. Bryce opened an investigation into her after the Chen situation because her actions were deplorable, but it got shut down before we could interview her, and then Bryce was pulled into an OPR hearing. It was, frankly, a complete surprise.”
She paused, then said, “Between you and me, I think he’s too close to this. He can’t be objective when it comes to Detective Quinn. They’ve crossed paths before. LAPD Internal Affairs used to be competent, now they are very selective in who they reprimand.”
“I feel a bit out of my depth, ma’am. Would you like to task another agent to assist on this?”
“No, you’re perfect. Because you have absolutely no loyalties or previous experience with LAPD, you’re a much-needed objective observer. I’m going to contact LAPD and request coordination with this investigation, and if they don’t grant it, we might have to play hardball. It’ll be a good lesson for you.”
Elena Gomez slammed down the phone. “I don’t fucking believe this!” she screamed to no one. She was alone in her office.
She was in command and her temper could get her in trouble. She took a deep breath, let it out.
Fucking FBI.
Was that why Matt Costa had called her earlier? Did he know they were flexing muscle? Was he involved?
She hadn’t gotten that vibe from him, and she didn’t think that Kara would have sung his praises if he was a prick. Maybe he had been trying to give her a heads-up. That still didn’t calm her anger.
She strode down the hall to her commander’s office. “Commander,” she said as soon as Joe Campana waved her in, “I just got a call from the FBI that they want Chen’s investigation—well, she said she wanted to ‘coordinate a task force’—” she used air quotes “—but you know damn well that means she wants to be in charge.”
“What’s their reasoning?” Campana asked calmly, a telltale pulse in his neck the only outward sign of his frustration.
“That we have a conflict of interest. Our office initially arrested Chen, our detective is the primary witness, Detective Quinn made a verbal threat against him and there had been a pending federal investigation, other assorted bullshit.”
“A threat?” Campana looked confused. “Quinn? I don’t remember that.”
“The press played it nonstop for a couple news cycles, when Quinn was caught saying on another officer’s body cam that she wished he’d broken his neck when he fell off the roof.”
Campana couldn’t stifle the smile that rose on his hangdog face. “She was slapped for that, I remember now. I also remember that she’d been stabbed in the back, was in pain and lost a lot of blood. I don’t think it should be held against her now.”
“The FBI will hold anything and everything against Quinn,” Elena said. “They also want a formal interview.”
“About what?”
“Where she was. I told those pricks she had a solid alibi. I did not give in to their request, but they’re going to push.”
“Push back. I’ll talk to the chief. They should have called me, not you. Who was it?”
“ASAC Rebecca Chavez.”
“She’s not in violent crimes, is she?”
“No, something in White Collar. Her squad had been investigating Chen for the feds.”
Though the FBI was divided into squads that each had their own specialties, there was a lot of overlap. If a suspect in cyberterrorism, for example, committed a violent crime, the cyberterrorism unit would still handle the investigation. Elena had never figured out how the FBI office worked—all she knew was that they were a huge bureaucracy and seemed to have unlimited funds to make LAPD’s life miserable.
“Keep working it,” Campana said. “And Quinn might have to go in and give a statement, but it’s our case, the FBI is not getting it. Clear?”
“Very.”
“Close the door,” he ordered.
She did.
“What’s the status of Operation Sunshine?”
Other than the chief of police himself, Joe Campana was the only senior officer who knew about their deep undercover operation into the homeless grant process at city hall that had benefited David Chen and others. Because there was at least one bad cop involved, they all had to be extremely careful with who was read into the program.
