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“Check the back,” Ballard said.
He did, then gripped the watch in his hand.
“That’s it,” he said. “I told my dad it was gone. He won’t believe this. How’d you get it back?”
“Well, I can’t tell you everything,” Ballard said. “It’s part of an ongoing investigation. But the person who stole it took it to a fence that cooperated with us. So we found it.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Glad to return it to you. I know it means a lot. Now I’m looking for one more wave and then I gotta go to work.”
Ballard glanced over her shoulder. The next set was coming in. It looked like more of the same—five-footers. She leaned forward and started paddling. She called back to Dawson, “That’s my wave. See you.”
Dawson started paddling too.
“Thank you!” he called after her.
They both got up on the wave but Dawson bailed early to go back out for more. Ballard was done for the day. She rode it all the way in, then stepped off the board in the shallows. She turned back to see Dawson holding up his hand, his fingers spread wide—a familiar surfer goodbye. She returned the gesture and lifted her board out of the surf.
39
THE FULL TEAMwas there for the meeting when Ballard entered at nine, coffee and computer bag in hand. She put both down on her desk and immediately went to her usual spot in front of the whiteboards.
“Okay, let’s get started,” she said. “We’ve got a lot going on.”
“How was the water?” Masser asked.
Ballard looked at him, surprised, then realized her hair was the giveaway. It was still wet.
“It was nice,” she said. “But too short.”
She waited to see if there were any questions from the others. There weren’t.
“Okay, let’s go with old business before we see where we are on the Pillowcase and Black Dahlia cases.”
Ballard turned to look at the whiteboards.
“Tom, you have an update on Shaquilla Washington?” she asked.
“I do,” Laffont said. “We got a genetic match to a man who is twenty-two years into a twenty-five-to-life sentence at Soledad. Gerald Grover, a gangster, formerly from Inglewood.”
“Well done,” Ballard said. “You take it to John Lewin?”
“I did and he’s going to file charges,” Laffont said. “Grover wasprobably counting on parole in the next few years, but that won’t happen now. He’s never getting out.”
“Beautiful,” Ballard said. “Did you talk to the victim’s family?”
“Not yet,” Laffont said. “Waiting on John. I don’t want to make the call until charges are in place.”
Ballard nodded approval. She walked over to what they called the scoreboard. It had been part of a sign for keeping track of consecutive days without injury on the manufacturing floor of the aerospace firm that previously occupied the center. It had been salvaged from the debris left behind when the company moved out and the LAPD moved in. Ballard flipped the number indicating the cases solved since the inception of the unit from 41 to 42, and the team seated behind her applauded, as was the routine.
“Okay,” Ballard said as she turned back to the group. “Anybody else? Paul?”
Masser reported that the interview with the now-cooperating Maxine Russell was still being negotiated by her lawyer and Lewin. Ballard decided not to flip over another number yet.
Ballard then went to new business and reported that she and Maddie Bosch were heading downtown after the meeting to present the Black Dahlia evidence to Carol Plovc at the district attorney’s office. She also said she was awaiting approval from command staff for a trip to Las Vegas to track down and interview Rodney Van Ness with the hope of getting closer to the Pillowcase Rapist.
“Everyone has done great work on these cases,” she said. “But let’s keep digging. Thank you.”
