Recovery
Chapter 20
Journal of John Nolan
I hardly know where to start. First of all, Lucy survived her undercover assignment in one piece. I don't know any of the details. The undercover people play everything pretty close to the vest. But all of us heard that Lucy took La Fiera down – or at least the detectives thought so.
Against all odds, team Angela put together her wedding on time. I did manage to ask Bailey to be my plus one, and she agreed. I didn't even have to bribe her. I just asked. I guess she might even like me. She felt good on my arm and stayed pretty close until all hell broke loose. She even mentioned a first kiss.
I was with Bailey at the bar when one of the kids that Bradford and Jackson recruited to help out was looking for Jackson so that he could give Angela her bouquet. She couldn't find him, so I offered to take the flowers to the bride. I went to the bridal sanctum and called out for Angela, but I got no answer. No one was there, but I found a little red woven bracelet on the floor that Angela's been wearing as a talisman of sorts. I haven't seen Angela without it for weeks. If she took it off now, it would be anywhere but the floor.
I was staring at the bracelet when I heard noises outside. I don't know if it was a loud truck or maybe even a helicopter, but someone took Angela.
Jackson is missing too. Maybe he tried to protect Angela and was killed and dumped somewhere. Or perhaps, he was taken as a hostage. I'm praying for the second option. At least he'd be alive.
No one at the wedding knew, but La Fiera's people snatched her from the van transferring her to prison. So right now, the working theory is that she's the one responsible for grabbing Angela and probably Jackson, too.
I don't know what asshole decided to transport her with only a few officers for security, including Smitty. I assume Bradford looked elsewhere for a D.J. – if Angela was even supposed to have one, and Smitty didn't make the guest list. I have zero evidence, at least so far, but I suspect that Del Monte was the sonofabitch that arranged to send La Fiera off without adequate security. Screwing up with powerful females seems to be his M.O.
But at this point, it doesn't make any difference. All that matters is getting Angela and Jackson back safe and sound. Every cop at Mid-Wilshire will be working to make that happen.
On top of dealing with Angela and Jackson's disappearance, I have to take my final ethics exam. With everything swimming around in my head, I'm having a hell of a time concentrating. But Bailey's offered to quiz me. She got a heavy dose of Fiona Ryan's attitudes about racial justice when the two of them were here with me. So she had a pretty good idea of what direction things would go.
I'm amazed that she's wanted to hang around. The wedding had to be the worst first date ever. But I suppose that as a firefighter and a member of the military, she's doubly accustomed to running toward disaster. And Angela's wedding was a disaster no bridezilla could ever have spawned.
Lucy and Harper are putting their heads together to figure out why La Fiera took Angela and Jackson and more to the point where. Angela activated every agency in the city to find Lucy. She had 400 cops out there. So now, even more cops would be looking for her – if they had a clue where to look. We exhausted checking all La Fiera's known facilities and hideaways within hours of the time Angela and Jackson disappeared. But Harper is sure those were just the tip of the iceberg.
It was Silas, one of the kids Jackson and Bradford hired to help out at the wedding, who spotted a clue. I already knew Silas. He also likes to help out in the neighborhood around the Community Policing Center. He's on the spectrum, which in his case means observing details almost anyone else would miss. He noticed that the logo on the catering truck wasn't exactly like the one he had seen in their ads on T.V. He told Mrs. Evers about it, and at the time, she dismissed it as nothing. But after Angela was taken, she remembered.
We checked. The original caterers had been replaced by imposters. That's probably how they determined the time and spot for La Fiera to strike. We managed to round up a couple of them again, thanks to Silas. He remembered exactly what they looked like. The kid could make a hell of a cop someday, but he said he wants to work for the crime lab. I think he can do it.
Bradford and Harper carried out the interrogations of the phony caterers. They didn't know much, but they thought they heard La Fiera's people mention something about taking Angela into the hills. But what hills? L.A. is surrounded by hills and mountains. Still, that information is a place to start. Some of that territory is patrolled by park rangers. So we're pulling them into the hunt too. With a lot of luck, they may know more about the area La Fiera went than she does.
But Jane Evers isn't waiting around for real cops to track down Angela. I get it. Lopez is carrying Mrs. Evers' grandchild. Jackson's family is going crazy too. But Mrs. Evers has the money to fund a hunt of her own – and she has. She's offering a million dollars for information leading to Angela's and Jackson's safe return. The problem is we don't have the personnel to respond to the flood of well-meaning but useless tips. She doesn't mean to, but she's slowing down our search.
Harper takes the podium at the front of roll call. "We have a tip." She waits a moment as groans roll through the room. "This one didn't come from someone after the Evers money. It came from the Park Service. They pointed us at private property in the San Gabriel Mountains. They couldn't control it, but they kept track of the traffic in and out that passed through their jurisdiction. According to the ranger I talked to, it had all the hallmarks of a cannabis plantation. There wasn't much they could do about that even when cannabis was illegal, but they believe it might have been set up as a base for La Fiera's cartel. The place appeared practically deserted after the cartel started getting competition from legitimate growers. But in the past few months, activity has picked up again."
"You believe La Fiera might be using it as a base of operations now?" Nolan asks.
"I believe that it's possible," Harper responds. "We're coordinating surveillance with the San Gabriel Police."
"Was the fake catering van caught on any video on the road into the plantation?" Nolan persists.
"There's a lot of footage, and we just started scrubbing it. We can use volunteers to help," Harper responds.
Every hand in the room, including Smitty's, goes up. Grey steps forward. "I'll be reviewing your assignments to see which of you I can spare and still cover the streets. But Smitty, Nolan, you're with Harper right now."
"We should try to get Silas in, too," Nolan suggests. "He's the only one who noticed the difference in the van. He still might see something the rest of us can't. And he wants to help."
"He's a minor," Grey points out. "There will be limits to what he can do and how long he can work. But it's a good idea, Officer Nolan. I'll check with his parents and his school and see what I can work out."
