They made Ballard sit in the waiting room for thirty-five minutes before she finally was told that the councilman was ready for her. It was Tuesday afternoon and the Rawls story had held firm in the news since Sunday night. It was the mystery that kept it afloat. Few of the details had leaked into the public discourse, largely because the LAPD was waiting for the confirmation of genetic linkage between Rawls and the murders of Sarah Pearlman and Laura Wilson. So far, the story had centered on the fact that an investigator with the Open-Unsolved Unit had exchanged gunfire with a murder suspect on a public street, leaving one man dead and another wounded. No names had been released or had leaked so far. But all of that would change in a few hours when the chief of police held a press conference in the plaza in front of the Police Administration Building. It was Ballard’s job to give the councilman a heads-up on what the chief would be announcing.
She entered Pearlman’s office to find the councilman waiting with Nelson Hastings and Rita Ford. There was a seating area to the right of the councilman’s grand desk that consisted of two couches facing each other with a glass-topped coffee table between them. Pearlman and Hastings anchored the corners of one couch while Ford held a corner of the opposite couch. Ballard was signaled to sit in the remaining corner.
“Detective Ballard, I’ve been waiting for an update,” Pearlman said. “What can you tell us?”
“Thanks for seeing me, Councilman,” Ballard began. “At four o’clock this afternoon, the chief of police will be holding a press conference. He will announce that DNA and a palm print from Ted Rawls have been matched to the murders of your sister and Laura Wilson. This will bring those cases to a close, but investigation of Rawls and evidence gathered from his car and elsewhere is continuing. It is possible that he is linked to other cases as well. Several other cases.”
Pearlman shook his head.
“Oh my god,” he said. “Wow. Is it really over?”
“Yes, sir, as far as your sister’s case,” Ballard said. “The D.A. will review and approve our closing of the case. I know there is no such thing as closure, but maybe this will give you some measure of peace.”
“And the other case?” Pearlman said. “He met her or picked her because he was door-knocking for me?”
“It looks that way,” Ballard said.
There was a pause and then Hastings spoke.
“This cannot come back on the councilman,” he said.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Ballard said.
“That last part, Detective,” Hastings said. “You have no proof that Rawls met or targeted Laura Wilson while knocking on doors for a candidate. You have a campaign button that she could have gotten anywhere. So do not put that conjecture out in the media. If your chief chooses to do so, then he will no longer enjoy the support of this office.”
“I will carry that message to media relations,” Ballard said. “They’ll be putting out the press release after the chief speaks.”
“How are you handling the inclusion of Rawls on the cold case squad?” Hastings asked.
“How do you mean?” Ballard asked.
“I think you can count on some smart reporters asking how Rawls ended up on the squad,” Hastings said. “And a follow-up question will be to ask what kind of background check was conducted.”
“Well, I assume that kind of question won’t come to me,” Ballard said. “But if it does, I’m not going to lie to the media or anybody else. You told me that the councilman wanted him on the team. I spoke to my captain about it and we did what was asked. I still have the emails from you.”
She wanted to make sure he understood that if he tried to throw her or the LAPD under the bus, it would likely backfire on him.
“Yes, the emails were from me,” Hastings said. “I told you to put him on the team. Not the councilman. That is the truth and that is all you have to reveal if asked.”
Hastings was willing to sacrifice himself to protect Pearlman. Ballard saw the valor in that—rare to find in politics. Her respect for Hastings grew in that moment.
“I understand,” she said.
“When does the chief hold his presser?” Ford asked.
“At four,” Ballard said.
“We should hold our own right afterward,” Ford said. “So we’re part of the same news cycle.”
“Excellent idea,” Hastings said. “Detective, a question for you. Would you be willing to stand with the councilman and state that his being instrumental in the reboot of the Open-Unsolved Unit led to the identity of the killer and to solving these two cases?”
“I’d have to get department approval,” Ballard said.
“Then please do,” Hastings said. “We would love to have you, and I’m sure you would want to show your respect for the man who led the charge in reinstating the unit after many years.”
“I’ll check with my captain and let you know,” Ballard said.
Sensing that the meeting was over, Ballard stood up. Pearlman seemed to come out of a daze and stood up as well. It was then that Ballard saw tears on his face. While she had been parrying with Hastings and Ford, Pearlman had apparently been thinking about his lost sister and having to accept that it was someone from his life—a friend—who had killed her.
“Detective, thank you,” he said. “When I pushed for the reinstatement of the unit, it was because I didn’t want my sister’s case forgotten. To know that we have solved the case validates everything I said about the unit’s importance. That’s the message I will convey at my press conference. I can’t thank you enough, and I’ll be sure to say that as well. I hope you will join us.”
He put his hand out and Ballard shook it.
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
As she walked the half block down Spring Street from City Hall to the PAB, Ballard reviewed the answers she had given during the intense meeting and believed she had acquitted herself well. She had no intention of asking permission to stand with Councilman Pearlman at a press conference—even if he was going to sing the praises of her and the unit. That would be mixing politics and police work, and that was a recipe for eventual disaster. She would take a pass on that.
When she got to the PAB, she saw a handful of television crews setting up in front of a lectern with a large gold replica of the LAPD badge affixed to it. On the badge was the image of City Hall, the iconic building Ballard had just come from—Old Faithful, as it was called by the denizens of the Civic Center. When the chief took the lectern for the press conference, the twenty-seven-floor tower would be reflected behind him in the glass facade of the PAB. It would be a reminder that politics and police work could never really be separated.
Ballard badged her way into the building and took the elevator to the tenth floor, where a pre–press conference meeting was scheduled in the media relations office just down the hall from the OCP—the Office of the Chief of Police.
The department’s chief spokesperson was a civilian, a former reporter for Channel 5 News named Ramon Rivera. He welcomed Ballard into his office, and she was surprised to see the chief of police sitting there as well. They were going over the statement the chief would read at the press conference. A copy of the statement would be distributed to the reporters.
Ballard sat down and Rivera gave her a copy to read. The statement included the case details Ballard had given Rivera in an earlier phone call. It was a strict recitation of the facts of the case. That would be the easy part of the press conference. The difficult part would be anticipating what questions would be asked and deciding how to answer them.
A year earlier, the chief of police had urged Ballard to return to the department after she had resigned in frustration. It was his promise to give her the assignment of her choosing that had resulted in her getting the job running the reconstituted Open-Unsolved Unit. He now asked her the questions he anticipated the gathered media would hurl at him when he was finished reading the statement.
“Why was Bosch following Rawls by himself?” he asked.
“Following him wasn’t the plan, actually,” Ballard said. “But he had no choice. Bosch saw Rawls’s car outside his place of business. He was keeping watch while I went to see a judge to get a search warrant signed. When Rawls took off before I got there, Bosch had no choice but to attempt a one-car follow. It’s unclear whether Rawls knew he had a tail from the start or spotted Bosch’s car while he was in transit.”
“And you recruited Bosch for the Open-Unsolved Unit?”
“I did. He’s the most experienced detective on the team.”
“Did you know about his issues when he was with the department?”
“Issues, sir?”
“He’d been involved in several previous shootings. He didn’t leave the department on good terms. Some might say he retired before the department retired him.”
“Some of that I knew, yes. But I wanted to put together the best team of volunteers I could find, and he was at the top of my list. We solved this case largely because of moves he made.”
“How would you feel if we had to remove him from the team?”
“I don’t understand. It was his work that led us to Rawls, and now you want to kick him to the curb?”
“I’m not saying that. At least not yet. But we will have a perception problem with the unit when it is revealed that one of your selections was a killer. I’m sure you will agree that it’s not a good look, Detective Ballard. And I’m wondering if we want to start over.”
“You mean clean house?”
“For lack of a better term.”
“First, I want to say that Rawls was not my selection. He was pushed on us by the councilman’s office. I didn’t want Rawls, but Councilman Pearlman’s chief of staff made me take him. I talked to Captain Gandle about it and we agreed to take him on to keep the support of the councilman. But I still don’t see why this should result in cleaning house. We have a good team. We have a former deputy D.A. who is our legal sounding board, an IGG expert, and other capable investigators, with Harry Bosch being the best of the bunch.”
“Well, let’s put that decision aside for now and go down and talk to the media. We’ll see how things go before making any decisions.”
Somehow Ballard felt that a decision had already been made. The chief stood up and Rivera did as well.
“Let me get the handouts from the printer,” he said.
After Rivera left the room, Ballard stood and faced the chief of police.
“Sir, if you decide you need to start over with the unit, then you will have to do that without me. If Harry Bosch goes, I go.”
The chief looked at her for a long moment before responding.
“Are you threatening me, Detective Ballard?” he said.
“Not at all,” Ballard said. “I’m just telling you the facts, sir. If he goes, I go.”
“Understood. But let’s take things one step at a time. Let’s see how this thing goes and then we can decide the future.”
“Yes, sir.”