“I’ll talk to the L-T about it,” Neumayer said. “But if this leaks, we are not going to look good. They’ll scream that we should have warned the public.”
“Maybe we should,” Ballard said. “These two are already looking at life for multiple rapes. As soon as they figure that out, they’ll probably escalate. They’ll stop leaving live victims.”
“And that’s the risk we take,” Neumayer said. “Let me talk to the lieutenant, and he may want to talk to media relations. I’ll let you know what is decided.”
As they returned to the squad room, Moore said nothing to Ballard. The friendly and professional relationship they once shared seemed completely and permanently gone.
Ballard crossed the room and knocked on Robinson-Reynolds’s open door. He signaled her in.
“Ballard, I thought you’d left.”
“I stayed around to brief the Sex team. And now I have the autopsy to go to.”
“Then you probably heard about the next deployment. You’re off midnights, Ballard. I was going to tell you myself.”
“Yeah, I heard. And L-T, I gotta ask, Why am I getting punished for Lisa’s sins?”
“What are you talking about? You’re not being punished.”
“She said I’m off the late show and she’s on.”
“That’s exactly right. You go to the Sex table, where I’m sure we’ll see vast improvements. You and Neumayer will make a great team. Clarke is a deadweight but generally harmless.”
“That’s the point. I like the late show. By punishing Lisa, you’re punishing me. I wasn’t looking to leave midnights.”
Robinson-Reynolds paused. Ballard saw his mind churning. He had started with the assumption that no detective liked working the midnight shift. But that was his view of it, not Ballard’s.
“I see where I may have fucked up,” he said. “You don’t want to move.”
Ballard shook her head.
“The only move I’d want is back to Homicide downtown, and we know that isn’t going to happen. So, I like midnights. Good variety of cases, no deadweight partner to carry, out of sight and out of mind. It’s perfect for me.”
“Okay, I’ll rescind the order. When the next deployment comes out, you’ll still be third watch.”
“What about Lisa?”
“I don’t know about her. Probably she’ll stay where she is and I’ll ding her personnel jacket. But Ballard, don’t tell her I rescinded. I want her to stew about it for a week till the new DP is posted. That’ll be her punishment.”
Ballard shook her head.
“L-T, she’s got kids and she’s going to start making arrangements to get cover on the nights. I think you should tell her. Write her up, put it on her record, like you said, but don’t leave her swinging like that.”
“This needs to be a learning experience, Ballard. And don’t you tell her. Not a word. That’s an order.”
“Roger that.”
Ballard left the station, dejected.
It sometimes seemed to her as though the biggest barricades in the so-called justice system were on the inside, before you even got out the door.
28
The autopsy was routine, except that seeing Javier Raffa’s naked body on the exam table showed Ballard the lengths to which he had gone to escape the gang life and set an example for his son, Gabriel. In addition to what she had already seen on the neck, there were laser scars all over the chest, stomach, and arms, a painful map of tattoo removal. She guessed it had taken years to get rid of all the ink. It reminded Ballard of the monks who practiced self-flagellation with whips and other instruments to repent for their sins. Whatever Javier Raffa’s sins were, he had paid a painful price.
There was only one tattoo left on the body. It was a rising sun over water on the left shoulder blade. It showed no symbols or words of gang affiliation.
“Well, he got to keep one,” said Dr. Zvader, the deputy medical examiner handling the autopsy. “A setting sun.”
Ballard realized there was no telling whether it was a rising or setting sun, even though they might have significant differences in meaning.
“Funny,” she said. “I was thinking it was a rising sun.”
“It’s California,” Zvader said. “Has to be going down.”
Ballard nodded. He was probably right but it made her feel bad. A setting sun meant the end of day. A rising sun was a start. It was promise. She wondered if Raffa knew that his time was short.