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“They want the same place the first meeting was at, the parking lot at the beach. I told them Saturday morning, that lot will fill up fast. It’s a beach day for people. But they like that because, you know, they can get their people in there in cars and whatnot.”
“I get it. So have you texted the arrangements to Dehaven?”
“No, Olmstead and the Bureau people have sort of hijacked the texting. There’s a way they can do it without my phone.”
“Right. So when was the last time you talked to Olmstead or anybody with the Bureau?”
“Olmstead told me all of this a couple hours ago. He’ll probably call you once they have it set up.”
“Are they getting the plugged minis for you?”
“He said they’ll have them. They want the deal to go down because it will be an added case against him. Dehaven will never breathe free air again.”
“You’d think killing his ex would be enough for that, but I get it. They want more federal charges. They want to bury him in that supermax out in Colorado.”
Ballard saw a car glide into the open space next to her. It was Maddie Bosch.
“Okay, well, it looks like Olmstead doesn’t have me on the need-to-know list,” Ballard said. “So let me know what you know.”
“I will,” Bosch said. “This is your case whether you want credit for it or not.”
“Not anymore. But that’s the way it goes. Talk to you later, Harry.”
“Wait. I was going to call you. Did Maddie start with the unit today?”
“She did, yeah. It was good. I think she’s going to fit right in.”
“Okay. Good.”
“She told me she was going to call you today to tell you.”
“She hasn’t yet, but good.”
“Yeah. See ya, Harry.”
“Bye.”
Bosch clicked off and Ballard killed the engine. She put her phone in her pocket as she got out. Maddie was waiting behind her car, checking her phone.
“So,” Ballard said. “Storage Wars,huh? I would have had you down as a Kardashians girl.”
“What? Kardashians?No. And I don’t think I’ve ever watchedStorage Warseither.”
Storage Warswas a reality-television show in which people bid at auction on storage units whose renters were more than three months delinquent in their payments. Under California law, the contents of these storage units could be discarded or put up for auction by the business owner. The show was basically a treasure hunt, with winning bidders hoping to find valuable contents in the storage units they bought.
Maddie had explained to Ballard that she had a unit at Echo Park Storage that she’d rented when she moved into her boyfriend’s apartment and had to store the furniture and other belongings from her place. She wanted to keep her furniture in case the relationship didn’t work out. One day while on her way to work, she had stopped by her unit to retrieve a lamp she wanted to bring to her new home. She was not in uniform but had her badge on her belt. The manager saw the badge and told her he was cleaning out a storage unit that was delinquent on payments and had found some disturbing things inside. He wanted Maddie to take a look. What Maddie found in the unit madeher rent it on the spot and pay the manager five hundred dollars for its contents. Maddie had been going through those contents in her spare time. She decided to volunteer for the Open-Unsolved Unit after opening a file labeledBetty.
“Well,” Ballard said. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
The storage facility was an old brick warehouse that had somehow withstood the test of time and earthquakes. Ballard guessed that it had once been a manufacturing plant of some kind. She could see where windows had been removed and walled, creating a hodgepodge facade of cinder block, concrete, and brick.
“How old is this place?” Ballard asked.
“Built almost a hundred years ago,” Maddie said. “I asked the guy who runs it—Mr. Waxman. He said they originally made parts here for the Ford plant that was down on Terminal Island. In the sixties they moved in all these old shipping containers, and it became a storage facility. Most of the containers have separating walls inside, so you get half a container. There are doors on both ends.”
“The guy who rented the unit we’re talking about—how long did he have it?”
“Since the sixties—he supposedly got it then and kept it.”
