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“That’s unbelievable. Who rejected the case, Plovc?”
“No, this comes from on high. Ernesto signed it.”
That explained it. Ernest O’Fallon was the recently elected district attorney. The chief of police had endorsed O’Fallon’s opponent in theelection and that had led to an ongoing feud between the two. Neither side would concede any victories to the other, and it had resulted in some questionable applications of justice in the county. O’Fallon, nicknamed “Ernesto” by his detractors because of an ill-conceived attempt to claim partial Latino heritage during the election, would never give the LAPD the public relations bonanza of solving the iconic Black Dahlia case. And Ballard was upset with herself for not foreseeing this when she took the case to Plovc.
“That is complete bullshit,” she said. “That case is cleared.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Gandle said. “You know the protocol. If the DA doesn’t sign off on it, it’s not cleared.”
“We should go to the media. Reporters will love this story.”
“Ballard, think about what you’re saying. Don’t do something stupid that gets you demoted or worse. You’ve already been through that. You make a false move on this and you’re looking at freeway therapy just as a start. You’ll be out of cold cases before the dust even settles.”
“It’s still bullshit. We have the evidence.”
“You’re preaching to the choir. But sometimes the choir has to stop singing.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Doesn’t matter. Stand down. Stay on the Pillowcase investigation, and if we’re lucky we get to stick it up the DA’s ass with an arrest, a press conference, and everything else.”
“Whatever. I have to concentrate on driving.”
“Then I’ll let you go. But remember, Ballard, think before you act. There are consequences. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The laws of politics are the same as the laws of physics.”
Ballard said nothing.
“Are you there, Ballard?”
“I’m here.”
“I want to make sure you hear me.”
“Loud and clear, Captain.”
“Good. Get back safe and I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
“Copy that.”
She disconnected, and Maddie was immediately on her.
“They rejected Thawyer?”
“Notthey. One guy. O’Fallon—because he didn’t want to give the department a big win.”
“That makes no sense. It’s Thawyer, I know it.”
“No argument from me.”
“So what do we do?”
“Maddie, how long have you been in the department? Two years?”
“Coming up on three.”
“Okay, I know you know a lot from your dad. He got tangled in the politics and bureaucracy of it more than once. But even now, in the so-called new LAPD, you’ll learn that the politics of policing are ever present, and never more so than when you get into detective services.”
“And so—what? We just roll over because some elected asshole won’t close a case we know we solved?”
