“Yeah, but at least I’d get back the money I’ve put in the fund so far. I guess I could also go back to sleeping on the beach.”
“You’d need to get another dog.”
Ballard smiled and then thought of Pinto, the dog she was supposed to meet soon. He wouldn’t make much of a guard dog, though.
“Still,” Bosch said. “It’s always easier to change an organization from within. Street protests won’t do it.”
“You think I’m command staff material?” Ballard asked. “You gotta be on the tenth floor if you’re going to change anything.”
“Not necessarily. I always thought if you fight the good fight, it gets noticed. And then maybe the next guy does the same thing. The right thing.”
“I don’t think it’s that kind of department anymore.”
She sipped her hot coffee and thought she recognized the blend right away. She held the cup up like a toast.
“Where do you get this stuff?” she asked.
“My daughter,” Bosch said. “She’s always trying different things, then passes them on to me. This stuck. I like it.”
“Me too. Maddie’s got great taste. You said she has a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, they moved in together. In your neighborhood, in fact. I haven’t been there yet. Haven’t been invited.”
“Whereabouts?”
“You go down Franklin and take the first left after the Shakespeare Bridge at St. George. Up there by the reservoir.”
“But you said you’ve never been there.”
“Well, you know, I had to check it out. I haven’t been inside — put it that way.”
“You’re such a dad. Who’s the guy? Are you worried?”
“No, he’s a good kid. Works in the industry as a set builder.”
“That’s a union gig, right?”
“Yep. IATSE, Local thirty-three. He does pretty well, and that’s all they have coming in with her in the academy. It was slow for him last year but now stuff is picking up. I gave them a little bit to get through.”
“You rented that place for them, didn’t you?”
“Well, I got ’em started, yeah.”
“You’re such a dad.”
“You said that. Feel more like a grandfather these days.”
“Come on. You’ve got a lot of cases still to work, Harry.”
“Especially if I take on a partner.”
Ballard smiled and they lapsed into an easy silence. But then she felt bad about castigating the department his daughter was in training to join.
“Sorry about what I said before about the department,” she said. “It’s just a cycle, and when Maddie gets out of the academy, she’ll be part of the new LAPD.”
“Hope so,” Bosch said.
They dropped back into silence and after a while she heard Bosch’s measured breathing. She looked over. He had just dropped his chin and gone to sleep. He still held his empty cup. That was a real skill.
She took out her phone and checked messages and texts. Garrett Single had emailed her the recording of their FaceTime call when he had checked to see whether Bonner was properly intubated during the field trach. Ballard cut the volume on her phone and started to watch it, but then stopped the playback when she realized she didn’t want to see Bonner.
Instead, she flipped over to her phone’s browser and went to the Wags and Walks website. She navigated to the page for Pinto, the dog she would soon meet. There were several photos of him taken at the shelter.
One short video showed the dog interacting with his foster caretakers. He seemed attentive and wanting to please but he also seemed wary and maybe scarred by past experience. Still, Ballard had a good feeling about Pinto. She couldn’t wait to meet him and take him home.
She closed the video when she heard a ping. At first she thought it was on Bosch’s phone. But then it sounded again and she realized it was coming from Bonner’s burner in the Ziploc, which was in her coat pocket. She pulled the bag out and managed to open the phone without taking it out of the plastic.
The text was just three letters: WTF?
Ballard looked at Bosch. He was still head down and asleep. She wanted to answer the text and attempt to draw the person texting Bonner to a meeting. She could use Bosch’s advice here — there were legal considerations to answering the text — but she didn’t want to wake him up.
Looking at the burner phone, she saw that the battery was running low and its charging port didn’t look like it would fit an iPhone charger. Soon the phone would become useless until charged.