“It’s good stuff but it’s sort of after-the-fact,” he said. “Dubose and his partner missed the chance to put together a list of people with kidney disease back at the time of the killing. I don’t see how we could do that now. So after we arrest the guy, we use it to tie him in. But we’ll already be able to do that with DNA.”

“So there’s no way at all to use this to identify him?” Ballard asked.

“That’s the hard part, because we don’t know when he sought treatment, or if he even did seek treatment. Maybe he never knew and got sick and died.”

Ballard nodded.

“What about you?” Bosch prompted.

“I just think there has to be a way to use this as a search tool,” Ballard said. “The others may have some ideas when we bring them up to speed.”

“Maybe Colleen can tell you whether the guy’s dead or alive.”

“Harry, please. It’s not funny. I don’t know what I’m going to do about her. I think I’m going to ask Lilia to take over the hereditary part of this.”

“But you said Hatteras was the best on your team.”

“She is, but I can’t have her disobeying direct orders. The psychic bullshit I can actually deal with. But when I tell her not to handle property and evidence and she does exactly that, then I have to do something.”

“I guess so.”

Ballard stood up, ready to go.

“Okay,” Bosch said. “I’m going to call Juanita Wilson. Do you have her contacts?”

“I have her number,” Ballard said. “I’ll text it to you.”

They left the interview room and returned to the pod. Hatteras, Masser, Aghzafi, and Laffont were all at their stations. Bosch guessed they were working multiple days because they knew how important this case was to the longevity of the unit. He sat down at his station and made the call to Chicago as soon as Ballard sent him the number for Juanita Wilson. The call was answered right away.

“Mrs. Wilson?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Harry Bosch. I’m with the Los Angeles Police Department cold case squad. You spoke with my colleague Renée Ballard yesterday.”

“Yes. Have you made an arrest?”

“Not yet, Mrs. Wilson, but we’re working very hard on the case. I wondered if I could ask you a few more questions.”

“Yes, of course. I’m just so thankful that there is still an investigation. I thought you people had given up.”

“No, ma’am, we aren’t giving up. I know this must be very difficult for you to be thinking of those horrible times, but do you remember, after your daughter’s death, what happened to all her property and belongings that were here in Los Angeles?”

There was a long silence before Juanita Wilson responded.