AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay,” she said. “Thanks for hearing me out. But I’ll be back with this one when the time and evidence is right.”
“I hope you do bring it to me, Renée,” Blodget said.
Ballard got up to leave.
As she left the Major Crimes Unit, her cheeks grew hot with humiliation as she thought about the meeting earlier that day at the house where Jorge Ochoa grew up. The distrust that Jorge’s brother had voiced about the police and the justice system had just been validated. Ballard had promised to stay in touch with Jorge’s mother and brother, but now she had no idea how she would ever be able to face them again.
Waiting for the elevator, Ballard checked her phone and saw she had no signal. This was not surprising. The Major Crimes Unit was located in the former jail at the top of the Hall of Justice. Though renovated into offices years earlier, the floors and walls were still concrete and reinforced with steel to prevent escape. The structure was notorious for knocking out cell service. It wasn’t until Ballard stepped out of the elevator on the ground floor that her texts and voice mail messages came through. There were several from Maddie Bosch.
Call me.
Need to talk ASAP.
Where are you?
There were also two voice mails but Ballard didn’t bother to listen to them, deciding to quickly call back instead as she headed down Spring Street to the PAB. Maddie picked up the call right away and spoke as if they were already in mid-conversation.
“This is weird. After I went back into the house to write my dad a note, I found this envelope in a drawer with my name on it. So I opened it, and it was this long letter to me about how good a person I am and how I’m strong and what a good cop I’ll be. Like stuff he wanted me to know after he’s gone, you know?”
Ballard knew exactly what the note was meant for but didn’t want to make Maddie any more upset than she was.
“Well, Maddie,” she said. “Maybe it was just something he—”
“And then I fucking missed a call from him,” Maddie interjected. “I was so stressed about this note I found and I couldn’t get you, so I went and I worked out at the station, and he called while I was in the shower afterward.”
“Did he leave a message?”
“Yes. He said he was in Key West and he was fine. But it was kind of weird.”
“What do you mean? How was it weird?”
“Well, not like him. He was saying he was fine and he was working a case and that he loved me very much. He just didn’t sound right. He said I was the best thing that ever happened in his life. And then with the note I found … I don’t know. I’m really worried.”
“Do you have the number he called from on your phone?”
“Yes, I called it back as soon as I heard the message. It’s a hotel in Key West, and I asked for Harry Bosch’s room and theyput me through. But he didn’t answer. I’ve called three times and he doesn’t answer.”
“What’s the hotel?”
“It’s called the Pier House.”
“Okay, I’m on it, Maddie. I’ll call you back as soon as I know something.”
“And listen, there’s one more thing that adds to the weirdness of what’s going on with him.”
“What?”
“I was looking for paper to write a note on and I opened a drawer in his worktable. That’s where I found the note to me. But there were also some loose pills in there. And the unit I’m on now, we’ve backed up enough narco operations for me to know counterfeit fentanyl when I see it. I don’t know where he got it or why, but he has fucking fentanyl in that drawer.”
It was a confirmation of the information Ballard had gotten earlier at the lab.
“Okay, Maddie, try to stay calm,” Ballard said. “There’s gotta be an explanation for that. And he’ll tell us once we find him. So let’s just calm down until we get to that point.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” Maddie said. “But please find him. And let me know what I can do to help. I mean it.”
“I understand. And I will.”
Ballard disconnected, then immediately did an internet search on her phone for the Key West Police Department. She called the main number, identified herself, and asked for the commanding officer on duty. She told a lieutenant named Burke that she needed an emergency welfare check on a guest at the Pier House. She gave him Bosch’s details and asked for a callback as soon as he was checked on.
