Why did Bud White evade Pierce's question here?

Question

In L.A Confidential (1997), Bud White discovered that one of the victims of the Night Owl murders was Lefferts, whom he had seen with Pierce on Christmas night. As a result, he traced Pierce’s address through Nick’s liquor store and questioned him about his involvement in the Night Owl murders:

Pierce: All right, then...are you concerned about criminal matters peripheral to the Nite Owl murders?

Bud White: Not at the moment.

Pierce: You wouldn't feel obligated to report them?

Bud White: Why were Lefferts' eyes black?

Why did Bud White evade Pierce's question here?

Answer 1

It's a standard conversational ploy.
He'd already answered that he wasn't concerned. When asked effectively a second time about the same thing, he just moves on rather than repeating himself.

The motive for this is unimportant. People just don't like to be asked the same thing twice. For a movie script where run-times are tight, it's therefore abbreviated to zero response.