Desert Star (Renée Ballard, #5; Harry Bosch Universe, #36) (49)

“I think he’s a good man at heart,” Hatteras said. “I feel it.”

“Well, he’s got to be a better team player or he’s out.”

“I’m sure he will be. My sense is he knows that.”

“Then, good.”

Ballard threw a backpack strap over her shoulder and looked at the others in the pod. They all had their heads down and were acting like they were deep in work and had not been listening to the skirmish with Bosch.

“Hey, everybody,” she said. “I just want to say I appreciate all the hours and days put in this week. It’s been above and beyond the call and you should know it does not go unnoticed. Have a good night.”

With that she turned and headed to the exit.





26


BOSCH POSITIONED HIS car at the curb on Los Angeles Street, a half block from the exit gate at the City Hall parking garage. Ballard had also run a DMV vehicle registration on Nelson Hastings and passed on the descriptors and license plate number of his personal vehicle. Unfortunately, Bosch was waiting for a black 2020 Tesla Model 3 and was well aware that the color, make, and model he was looking for was very popular on the streets of L.A. He would need to confirm he had the right car by license plate number and had already followed two cars out of the garage, only to catch up and then eliminate them.

It was now 6:40 p.m. He had been waiting and watching for two hours and was worried that he had missed Hastings’s exit. He pulled his phone, did an internet search, and then made a call. A woman answered.

“Councilman Jake Pearlman’s office, how can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes, is Nelson still there?” Bosch asked.

Bosch said it in a casual voice that he hoped suggested familiarity.

“He is here but he’s in a meeting with the councilman,” the woman said. “Can I take your name and ask what this is regarding?”

“Uh, it’s just a streetlight issue,” Bosch said. “He knows about it. I’ll call back Monday.”

He disconnected. At least he knew he had not missed Hastings’s exit. He settled in for a longer wait, keeping an eye on his sideview mirror for a traffic cop who had already told him once he was in a no-parking zone and needed to move on.

Twenty minutes further into the vigil, Bosch got a call and recognized the 208 area code for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He accepted the call.

“This is Bosch.”

“It’s Dubose. You left me a message.”

“I did. And my partner left two before that. Made us wonder why retirement up there keeps you so busy you can’t find time to return a call from your old department.”

“Fuck my old department, Bosch. It never gave one shit about me. I’m returning the calls now. What do you want?”

“I want to solve the Laura Wilson case.”

“We worked Wilson hard. But sometimes the breaks don’t go your way. We never solved it, end of story.”

“Not for her family. The story doesn’t ever end.”

“Yeah, that’s too bad. But everything we did, everything we knew about the murder, is in the book. I got nothing to add. Goodbye.”

“Don’t hang up.”

“I can’t help you, Bosch.”

“You don’t know that. Not until you hear me out. There’s another murder.”

Dubose said nothing and Bosch waited.

“When?” Dubose finally said.

“It was eleven years before, actually,” Bosch said. “We just connected it through DNA.”

“Where?”

“Hollywood Division. The foothills, like Wilson.”

“Black girl?”

“White. Does that make a difference?”

“No, I was just trying to get the details.”

“Did you think race had something to do with Wilson’s murder?”

“Not that we knew.”

“Did it play a part in the investigation?”

“What are you saying, Bosch?”

“Nothing. I’m just asking questions. Tell me something about the investigation that’s not in the murder book.”

“There’s nothing.”

“There always is. Reports not written, dead ends not explained. Why didn’t you run with the blood in the urine?”

“The what?”

“You heard me. You got the DNA off blood in the urine. It meant there was disease but there’s nothing in the book about a follow-up.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? What were we supposed to do? That could have meant anything. A solid punch in the gut will put blood in your piss. What, we were supposed to go to every hospital and dialysis clinic in the city and say, ‘Give us a list of your patients’? Fuck you, Bosch. We did the due diligence on the case and—”

“Nelson Hastings. That name ever come up?”

“Nelson … who?”

“Hastings. The name’s not in the book. He was around thirty at the time, just out of the military. Does the name mean anything to you?”

“No, never heard of him.”

“Think you’d remember if he had come up?”

“If he came up, then his name would be in the book. We left nothing out. Are we done?”