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“Yeah, put it on there,” he said.
Ballard stepped back and Bosch drove off.
He was in his daughter’s neighborhood. He decided to drive by her house, even though he assumed she was still working her mid-watch shift. The small house she shared with her boyfriend was dark. Bosch idled for a few moments and then drove on, pulling his phone up to call her.
The call went to message.
“Hey, Mads, just wanted to let you know I’m back in L.A. I’m around if you need anything or want to grab a coffee or a beer or dinner. Be safe. I love you.”
He disconnected, knowing she probably wouldn’t call him back or take him up on his offer. He continued driving into the night.
27
BALLARD GOT INTO the car, lowered the window, and composed herself.
“Shit,” she said.
She pulled her phone and called Bosch. He answered right away and Ballard could hear traffic noise in the background.
“Harry, it’s me. Where are you?”
“In my rental, following Hastings to City Hall.”
“City Hall—are you sure? It’s Saturday.”
“I won’t be sure till he gets there, but it looks like he’s heading downtown. He left Rita Ford’s place about eight, went home, and then came out a little while later in casual Saturday clothes.”
“What does that mean?”
“Jacket, dress shirt, no tie.”
“No other stops?”
“Not so far. Anything from the lab?”
“I just left. And it’s not good.”
“No prints on the button?”
“No, there’s a print. But it belongs to Laura Wilson.”
“Okay. What about the wine bottle? Did you—”
“It’s a smudge. It’s useless.”
“What about DNA?”
“I dropped the bottle and the pin off at serology. Darcy’s off but I called her. She said she’d come in to swab them. But don’t get your hopes up. She said we got lucky with the windowsill palm print because the guy was probably nervous and sweating. I doubt Hastings broke much of a sweat picking out a bottle of wine.”
Bosch didn’t respond.
“Are you there, Harry?”
“Yeah, I’m just thinking. You don’t want to go through his trash until it’s out on the street. So maybe we should bring him in.”
“What, arrest him? We have nothing.”
“No, bring him back to Ahmanson. I don’t know, we make something up, tell him he needs to come in for an update.”
