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“Maybe not,” he said. “But I’ll wait in the car. Five minutes. If you don’t come out, I’ll know what you’ve decided.”

29

NATALIA SJOVALD WASN’T enough.

After spending most of the afternoon conferring with his Justice Department bosses in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, assistant US attorney Cutler came to the task force room and delivered the news to Cavanaugh, Singer, Shear, and Bosch.

“We are not going to proceed with charges against Nikolai Novak at this time,” he said. He held up a hand to quell any protest before it was made.

“I know what you’re going to say,” he said. “I know what you’re going to feel about this decision. But understand this: By knocking down Novak’s alibi, we do just that. We kill his alibi, but that’s not evidence that he committed these crimes.”

“What about the hotel records?” Shear asked. “He rented the room before the murders. That shows prior planning. I mean, if that isn’t premeditated murder, I don’t know what is.”

Cutler nodded to Shear’s point.

“We considered that,” Cutler said. “This is how that would go. Novak would say, ‘I heard what was about to go down and I knew the police would come around blaming me. So I went and got the hotel room and hid out there until it was over. But you don’t have any evidence that puts me in that house. You have me lying, you have me coercing Natalia into a story, but if there is any crime in that, the statute of limitations has long run out. Bottom line, if you think you can put me in that house, then take your best shot.’ And people, that’s not a shot we want to take with what we have now. Not if we want leverage on this guy.”

That brought silence from the group. Bosch looked around, waiting for one of the agents to make the obvious ask. When they didn’t, he did.

“What about a search warrant?” he said. “We’ve got to have enough for that. Maybe we get lucky and he kept the pipes he used.”

“And maybe we get lucky and find the missiles,” Shear said.

“Bingo,” Cutler said, pointing at Shear. “Yes, I believe we have more than enough to hit all locations with search warrants. And I’ve thought this through. We are going to go to our friends at the DA’s office for this so we can continue to hide the ball of what we’re really looking for — the missiles. We’re already setting this up so we can go to a judge over the weekend. I’m going to need a list of targets. The house, the plumbing store, and any other locations Novak owns or uses.”

“This is going to get out,” Cavanaugh said. “How do we handle the media?”

“Obviously, we say nothing about the missiles,” Cutler said. “This should all be under the Wonderland umbrella. A cold-case investigation found new evidence and that led to the search warrants and so on. Any other questions?”

Bosch raised his hand but spoke without being called on.

“I’m tight with the OIC at the Open-Unsolved Unit,” he said. “I could — ”

“What’s Open-Unsolved?” Cutler asked.

“Their fancy name for the cold-case unit,” Bosch said. “I worked with the OIC on cases. She’s good people and good at her job.”

“Is that Ballard?” Cutler said. “She’s the one who turned over the files to us. I like her. I want you to take this to her.”

“You can’t tell her about the missiles, Bosch,” Cavanaugh said.

Bosch shook his head. “Look, no matter who we bring in, they’ve gotta know the score,” he said. “They’ve gotta know what they’re looking for on the search.”

“Then it’s going to get out and we’ll have a media blitzkrieg on our hands,” Cavanaugh said. “The LAPD leaks like a sieve. That happens, we can kiss those missiles goodbye.”

“I think we can impress upon Ballard and the Open-Unsolved Unit the need for secrecy,” Cutler said. “I don’t think Mr. Bosch has run around leaking like a sieve. It’s a national security issue, people.”

“Mark my words, it’s a mistake,” Cavanaugh said.

An awkward silence ensued.

“So,” Bosch finally said. “Do I talk to Ballard today?”

Cutler nodded.

“Talk to her,” he said. “Tell her what’s coming. Make sure she understands the need for case security. But I want her name on the warrants.”

Cavanaugh made a scoffing sound and Bosch ignored him. Cavanaugh’s annoyance with Bosch had ramped up since he’d come in with Natalia Sjovald and the first break in the Wonderland case since the start of the century.