“So then, the three who responded—what did they say when you asked about the West Coast?”

“That’s what I was checking for today. I’ve only gotten one reply so far to that question and it was a negative.”

“Meaning what?”

“That she knew of no relatives in Los Angeles or California. But she did say she would try to find out.”

“That’s not a lot of help.”

“Actually, in a way it is. We can definitely get an informative read off what we have here. These four DNA relatives are in a fairly tight geographic cluster. Not a lot of spreading out across the country over the decades, as is usually the case. So what this tells me is we are likely looking for a family member who moved away to the West Coast at least a generation or two ago. Because we have two crimes separated by eleven years, it leads me to conclude that this wasn’t a tourist, but more likely a resident here but with roots in the Midwest.”

“Okay. So how will the person who responded to you try to find out more if it’s not on here?”

“If you look at the tree, this is the one who answered me. Shannon Laughlin. You can see here that she has one living grandparent. It’s her grandmother on her mother’s side. Edith McGrath. She will likely go to her and ask if anybody she knows of in her line—a brother, cousin, anybody—moved west.”

Ballard felt the phone in her pocket vibrate.

“Hold on a second,” she said.

She pulled the phone and checked the text. It was from Bosch.

I’m here. Just heard from St. Louis.

We need to talk.

Ballard quickly typed a response.

Go to the upstairs break room. Meet there in 5.

She put the phone away and turned her attention back to Hatteras.

“So, you’ll follow up with Shannon Laughlin about her grandmother?”

“I will.”

Ballard pointed to the screen.

“And meantime, all we know for sure is that our suspect will have Midwestern roots,” she said.

“That’s correct,” Hatteras said. “And I’m going to keep at it.”

“And how are you identifying yourself with these people?”

“I’m saying I’m a genealogist looking at cold cases for the police department. As you know, there’s a lot of anti-police sentiment out there lately, so I’m just trying to tread slowly and gently and hopefully gain their trust. It’s better, I think, that I don’t outright say I’m LAPD.”

“I think that’s fine. But keep in mind you aren’t actually LAPD. You’re a civilian volunteer.”

“I understand.”

“Okay, Colleen, good stuff. Keep at it and let me know when you make the next link.”