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“You told me that the 2005 election was before your time with Pearlman.”
“No, what I said, or at least what I meant, was that it was before my time as chief of staff. I was there back then. I was Jake’s driver. I had just gotten out of the VA and needed to restart my life, and he said he needed a driver. Believe me, if Laura Wilson was part of the campaign, I would have known, because first of all, it was a small operation, and second, she was Black.”
Ballard paused for a moment. She did not recall the exact words of the phone conversation earlier in the week when Hastings used the phrasebefore my time. But he had just corrected the record and it matched what Kramer had told her. This caused her to go temporarily off script.
“When I talked to the councilman about Laura, he said he didn’t know her,” Ballard said. “But somehow he knew she was Black before I even showed him her photo.”
“That’s because I told him,” Hastings said.
“Okay, and how did you know? I never got around to sending you the photo.”
“I know you didn’t. But I did what any good chief of staff would do. I don’t go into any meeting with my boss withoutbeing prepared. You didn’t send me a photo, and so I went online and googled ‘Laura Wilson murder Los Angeles.’ And what came up? A photo of her that ran in theTimes. Poor kid finally got famous as a murder victim. There was a whole story on it.”
Ballard had seen the newspaper clipping, including the photo, in the Laura Wilson murder book. Hastings had again talked his way out of one of the inconsistencies that had bred her suspicion. She felt the interview falling apart and Hastings doing the one thing she didn’t want. He was growing suspicious. She tried one more time to put him on the defensive.
“When I asked you if Pearlman had a campaign manager on that first run for office, you said you’d get me the name and contact,” she said. “But you knew right then it was Kramer and didn’t tell me. Why?”
“I just told you why,” Hastings said. “Kramer’s an asshole. A drunk. And I was concerned that he’d be vindictive because of the way we moved him out of the picture. It turns out my concerns were well founded. He’s given you a line of bullshit that has taken you completely off course.”
“I told you, it goes where it goes. If Kramer is lying I’ll deal with him.”
“What’s this really about, Ballard? Are you trying to make some kind of a play at Jake? Are you trying to threaten him? Is it you or the department?”
“I can assure you, it is no play. It is no threat. I am conducting a full field investigation. No stone left unturned. Why do you think I wanted to meet away from my team and yours? I thought you would appreciate—”
“Then what does Sandy Kramer want?”
Before Ballard could answer, a man came to the table. He wore an apron and gloves and carried a trash can. He wore a mask over his mouth and nose as other employees in the market still did.
“Finished, sir?”
He pointed to Hastings’s coffee cup. Ballard looked up and saw that the man behind the mask was Bosch. Hastings barely looked up at him.
“Take it,” he said. “I’m done.”
The second sentence was directed at Ballard. Bosch took the coffee cup in his gloved hand and walked away from the table. Hastings fixed Ballard with a hard stare.
“You know what?” he said. “I don’t even care what Sandy Kramer wants. Fuck him and fuck you, Ballard, if you think you’re going to make a move against Jake or me. This is weak and I’m out of here.”
He got up and started walking way.
“You have this completely wrong,” Ballard called after him.
He didn’t stop.
30
BOSCH GRABBED THE key off the rear tire of Ballard’s Defender, unlocked the vehicle, and placed the evidence package on the back seat floor. He relocked the vehicle and put the key back. He was heading back to the market when he got a call from Ballard.
“He left,” she said. “Where are you?”
“By your car,” Bosch said. “I put the cup on the floor in the back seat.”
“I went off script and he got mad. He headed back through the market. Can you pick him up?”
“Hold on.”
Bosch changed directions on 3rd Street. Instead of going up to Hill, he went down to Broadway and waited at the corner to see if Hastings emerged from the south side of the block-long food court.
