Original subtitles

Previously on Ballard...

I found a closed case from 2008.

The family reported a gold bracelet missing from the scene.

-That's Elena's. Where did you get this? -In a storage unit

that belonged to the person who actually killed your fiancée.

We're juggling a police conspiracy and a serial killer,

so it's not like we can put either of them on hold.

Do we have an update on Ibarra's girlfriend?

I got better than an update. I got her name.

-Abril Cortez? -Yes.

Does the cartel has my son?

We are going to keep looking for him.

-Whoa, whoa. What's going on? -Hey. What the hell?

Homicide is taking the Pearlman case.

-Who's Anthony Driscoll? -He murdered a John Doe,

one of my cold cases.

And then I find out this guy's running guns and drugs

between the cartel and the LAPD.

-Jesus, Ballard. -Yeah.

And he must've been in deep because he chose to pull his trache

rather than get arrested.

No!

You okay?

Everything's gonna be fine.

I gotta figure out how to get that phone back in the chain of custody.

Already took care of it.

Working with Mo.

We traced another number from Driscoll's cell phone.

I wanted you to see it for yourself.

-Kids, where are you going? -Hey, hey. Slowly. Slowly.

She okay, Cap?

She's been better.

What are you doing out here, Bobby?

Hey, it's not like you two root each other on.

She's still one of ours.

Hey. RHD needs to get out in front of this.

Got any leads on that piece of shit in there?

He have a wallet on him? Cell phone?

No, but Ballard ID'd him.

Guy's an ex cop.

No way. Who?

Anthony Driscoll. Worked GND.

She was chasing him down for one of her cold case murders.

Jesus.

Are you okay?

Let's go!

LAPD! Search warrant!

Crossing.

Clear!

Clear!

-Clear! -Let's go, boys.

Are those the boxes from Cold Cases?

I know Sheriff's are doing their thing but I wanna put eyes on it too.

Driscoll tried to kill a cop.

What if he talked? He could have told her about the whole operation.

Look, if he talked, Ballard would have kept him around to testify.

Oh, I am out. This whole thing is sideways.

And what, Pincher? You're gonna just walk away?

Anyone else want to commit suicide?

I saw her book, all right?

She's got Driscoll tied to this five-year-old Ibarra murder

and that's as far as she got.

She doesn't even know that we exist.

So keep doing your jobs and the money will keep flowing.

I'll make sure the cartel knows it's business as usual.

So, what, you... You running this thing now?

Oh, you're welcome to the job if you want it.

Yeah.

Go on then. I'll be in touch.

Hey, Driscoll had me working this intern at the Ahmanson.

Nice girl, but Ballard kept her at arm's length.

I was thinking, if it's all the same,

-we just let her go since... -No.

Stay on her. See if Ballard's gonna keep digging.

Mijo, hold the door for everyone please.

-Thank you. -Thank you.

I know that was really hard for you.

-Mmm. -Wow.

Wow. That is a mess.

-Oh, no. I made it worse. Sorry. -Hey, hey, hey.

Ooh. Sorry.

-Kids, where are you going? -Oh. Hey, hey.

-Slow. Slow, slow. -Oh, my God.

You gotta be fucking kidding me.

I'm all about security, but, uh, it's a little cramped in here, don't you think?

We're dealing with dirty cops and drug cartels

so... no boards, no bullpen.

Tight ship.

Until we have concrete evidence to bring to Berchem.

You actually saw Olivas?

No question.

Bosch's guy pulled 14 numbers off of Driscoll's phone.

All burners.

We traced one of them directly to Olivas last night.

He's fourth on the list. Number ends in 0666.

Little on the nose, don't you think?

Three of those burners are in Mexico.

One of 'em's in state prison. That leaves nine here in LA.

They're still operational?

Yeah.

They don't know we're onto them.

Exactly. Which is why we have to move fast.

So, names we know so far.

Jesus Velasco.

Cartel shot-caller that Abril told us about.

The other four are dirty cops.

Chuck Tolli. Damen Pincher. Cindi Bundshu.

And, of course, Olivas.

Disgrace to the badge. All of 'em.

And there could be more.

Mo's still tracking down the other numbers.

Could be LAPD, Sheriff's Department, anyone.

Take a good look at these photos.

I'm pulling them for now. Tight ship.

I'll deep dive into the background on the cops.

Gimme a hand?

I'm a background machine.

And I can build a phone tree with these.

See how these creeps communicate.

What about that black-and-white we saw make that meet with Driscoll?

The-The Hollywood car in Inglewood.

If you can trace one of these names back to that car...

I got a friend I could ask in the Hollywood division.

And you trust him?

To buy a round, no. With my life, 100.

Take me with you. Can't be stuck in here all day.

And, guys, one more thing.

They don't know we're onto them, and it has to stay that way.

So, work other cases.

Make it look like business as usual. All right?

In that case, we got a stop I gotta make before we get to Hollywood.

Great.

I know I should be happy.

The man who killed Luis is dead.

But he took my family from me.

And I'll never get that back.

Luis's case may be closed,

but that doesn't mean we'll stop looking for your son.

The last time I saw him...

I was giving him bottles and rocking him to sleep

and singing "Arrorró Mi Niño".

He's a boy now.

He wouldn't recognize me.

What if I don't recognize him?

Don't worry about that right now.

Um...

If we find Gael, we'll need a DNA sample to match to him.

Okay?

Little premature, isn't it?

Getting her DNA. We've got no lead on that kid.

Actually, my Gael age progression came through.

I'm narrowing down potential matches.

Well, all right then.

Here you go.

I need you on your A-game.

I thought you'd be thrilled.

We're going after him.

Yeah, but not for what he did to me.

What he did to us.

He will know that we're the ones that brought this down on him.

Yeah.

Maybe it's better this way.

Doesn't have to all come out. People don't have to... know why I left.

What made me come back.

You don't owe anyone in this department an explanation.

I'm not talking about the department.

Your mom.

You know, I'm still learning this myself, but...

sometimes when you show people the hurt side of you,

it lessens the sting a little.

I know you're busy.

Look, send me everything you have on the kids, and I'll do the work myself.

Thanks.

Hey, if you've got all these pictures of potential Gaels,

why not just show them to Abril?

I'd rather not upset her over what could be a dead end.

Besides, she's not wrong, she may not recognize him.

Okay, well, we get the addresses,

we collect the DNA, we-we find the one that matches.

We can't go around testing kids willy-nilly.

We need to narrow the field.

But that's what's in the record.

Where they were surrendered.

Maybe the name of the person who surrendered them, if we're lucky.

Baby in a haystack.

You gotta work on your metaphors.

Hey.

Any luck?

If this was for anybody else, I would not be doing it.

I checked the sign out for the black-and-whites on the day you flagged.

All the cops were on duty except for one.

A Blue Suit. Chuck Tolli.

He checked out a Shamu to go to court.

Tolli. You're sure?

Yeah, no question.

It's weird, huh?

I mean, most cops drive their own cars so that they can go home after.

Thanks, Duff.

And remember, we never asked about this.

Asked about what?

Hi, you've reached Detective Lidell.

Hey, this is Detective Ballard, Cold Cases.

Uh, I left word yesterday.

I have some new information on the Pearlman case,

I heard you were running it, so give me a ring.

Tolli was the one who met with Driscoll in the black-and-white that night.

That tracks.

Driscoll called his burner maybe an hour before that meet up.

Not looking good for Officer Tolli.

What other fruit you got in the tree?

Well, Driscoll mostly dialed up the chain to Jesus and the phones in Mexico,

but look at these.

All to a number ending in 1922.

A lot of 'em.

Bosch's guy's on it. Hopefully he gets a name.

Anything else on the other cops?

Damen Pincher.

Driscoll's old partner from Gangs and Narcotics.

Undercover long enough to lose his way I guess.

Driscoll must have roped him in early on.

And the woman?

Cindi Bundshu failed her sergeant's exam twice.

And is deep in debt.

Like, 200K.

Oof.

Pretty easy to guess how she ended up over a barrel.

Sighs

Olivas is coming up clean, of course.

Of course, but we'll find something.

All right, let's call it. Take everything off the board.

This was really good work for one day, you guys.

If I were them, I'd be running scared.

You know how it works.

A good school gives you a leg-up, and I'm no legacy.

You don't need any of that.

You're gonna get in to everywhere you apply.

You are delusional.

But sweet.

So, what's up with work?

You said they took that big serial case away?

We still got plenty to do.

Yeah, like what?

There's 6,000 cold cases in the LAPD.

Right.

What about that craziness with your boss?

And that guy who attacked her.

I told you, it's fine.

Marty, you're not trained to protect yourself.

And if she's not safe, then...

My boyfriend's a cop. I have nothing to worry about.

Mm-hmm.

Hurry up. It's Love is Blind time.

And don't think for a second I won't watch without you.

It'd be faster if you helped.

No, thanks.

Hey.

Are you okay?

Actually, I'm not feeling great.

Um, yeah, I think maybe I should go home.

How much did you drink?

No, it's not that. It's just my stomach.

I think it's just, uh... you know, lady stuff.

How about I drive you home?

No, I'm good.

And I won't watch without you.

Promise.

I'll text you when I'm home.

Hey, what are you doing here?

Uh, it's him.

What are you talking about? Who?

-Can I come in? -Of course.

I took a picture.

What is this?

He was getting texts. From Olivas.

0666.

Martina, who was getting texts?

Manny Santos. My boyfriend.

Does Manny know you know?

I told him I was home and feeling sick.

Only half a lie.

What happened?

I don't know.

He just...

My God, he kept... asking about work.

And you.

But I-I didn't tell him anything, I swear.

I need your phone.

I have to check your messages.

You have to tell me everything.

Holy shit.

-Yeah. -You sure?

Yeah.

Martina figured it out. She came to me right away.

Poor thing. She must be crushed.

That's what you're worried about? She compromised us.

I saw all her text messages and listened to her voice mails.

She wasn't complicit, but she did bring him into the bullpen one night.

-So she exposed us unintentionally. -Exactly.

Look, Martina's not the problem right now. Manny is.

His burner is the 1922 number.

He was in close contact with Driscoll.

Which makes him privy to a lot.

He could blow this case wide open but we need the right approach.

Dude works patrol, right? So let's give him some patrol business.

A search warrant, run down a drunk and disorderly.

And then we pull him aside, give him the come-to-Jesus talk.

No, that would leave a paper trail.

What about his apartment? He lives alone, right?

But we don't know who's watching.

We've got company.

I called Chief Hughes, tried to get you back on Sarah's case,

but she said the scope was too big for your unit.

To be honest, I think she's worried about the optics.

I know how that must sound coming from a politician.

But she says this Lidell guy's one of the best.

And... I know how much time and effort you and your team put in.

I'm sorry.

No apology needed. This cannot be easy on you either.

Councilman...

...Sarah's case gave this unit purpose.

I won't forget her.

Thank you, Detective.

Of course.

Hi, you've reached Detective Lidell.

Hey, Lidell, it's Ballard.

Uh, if your hands are full, I'd be happy to take the Pearlman case back.

Otherwise, call me back so an innocent man doesn't rot in prison.

Prick.

Martina.

He keeps texting me and I keep sending him the vomit emoji.

But he wants to see me.

What do I do?

Sorry, uh, boss, all due respect.

That's the worst idea I've ever heard.

She is the reason that we are in this mess.

-Hey! -What? She is.

Sh-Sh-She's the reason that we have a way in.

-No. -Okay, but she's not trained

-for undercover. -No one said undercover.

Okay then, bait.

That makes so much more sense.

Okay.

Does anyone have a better idea?

He trusts her.

I trust her too.

All she's doing is setting a meet and getting him to the table.

Does she have to be on-site for that?

I wanna see his face when he realizes he was burned.

You were a jerk back there.

Anyone could have made the mistake she made.

Anyone with actual feelings.

Feelings? Feelings have no place in any of this.

Feelings are what got her into trouble to begin with.

God, you never back us up. Why can't you just support her?

Putting this in her hands is risky.

For the operation and for Martina. She is an intern, for Christ's sake.

And you're a civilian playing dress up as a cop.

Maybe I don't wanna see her get hurt.

You ever think of that?

Yeah. We can enter from the back.

I'd love you to stay and cover the back.

So, then you get out of your car, right?

Holy hell.

Hey, Ballard.

Yeah?

I... I narrowed it down to seven kids who could be a match for Gael Ibarra.

-Gael? -Yeah.

These are the addresses where each one first entered the system,

but this one...

was surrendered at a firehouse six blocks from the Sunbeam.

Well, that's a lead.

The name of the woman who dropped him off was Renata Cardenas.

You got an address for Renata?

No. But I'll find one.

She's gonna be messed up about this for a while.

Yeah.

Hey.

How you doing?

I feel like a clown.

Great. Now I look like one.

I wanted to apologize to you, Martina.

If I had been honest with you guys sooner...

It's not your fault.

I-I-It's mine.

-Don't do that. -I put too much on.

Don't let him make you think less of yourself.

We can protect you.

But I need to know if Manny carries his weapon off-duty.

Um...

But he locks it in the glove box if he's gonna be drinking.

Are you sure you can do this?

-You did good. -Sorry. Excused me.

Manny Santos? Detective Renée...

Whoa.

-Hey! -No!

-Hey! -Whoa! Hey!

Stay down!

Who you running to, Manny? Huh?

Chuck Tolli?

Damen Pincher?

Maybe Bundshu?

Or Olivas?

They weren't even loyal to the badge. You think they're gonna be loyal to you?

I can't...

Look, I c... I can't do this.

Consider your alternatives.

We're the best you got.

Look, you can't take me to a station.

If anyone finds out I'm talking to you... ...I'm a dead man.

Should have thought of that before you brought Martina into this.

Come on.

Jesus.

Yeah. I'd pray if I were you too.

You can't intimidate my client into a confession.

Your client requested an off-site location

because he's terrified to go to the police station.

So, if he's intimidated, it's not by us.

Let's make this easy.

-You have an opportunity... -Nice digs, by the way.

We could use your budget.

Private clients, better toys.

You ID the other cops, provide testimony,

there could be leniency.

Driscoll pulled a trache from his own throat,

because he knew what the cartel would do to him would be worse.

You're burned, Manny.

You're just the only one who knows it right now.

Don't you wanna keep it that way?

Come on. Come on.

Okay.

My name is Officer Emmanuel Santos.

I'm cooperating of my own volition.

I was part of a group of cops across the LAPD

that colluded with the Zacatecas Nuevas Cartel.

I am not this guy.

I was just...

I was just doing Driscoll favors. You know?

And he took care of me. He never told me how deep it went and then...

and then all of a sudden, they're asking me to do crazy shit.

You mean they paid you to do crazy shit?

I mean, yeah, but it's not like I could say no.

And I tried.

I swear to God.

I tried to get them off Martina, but Olivas pushed me to stay on her.

Olivas is in charge?

He is now.

I want everything.

Names, numbers, locations, meets.

If they check out, I'll let the DA know you were helpful.

Can I see Martina?

Please.

I just wanna tell her I'm sorry.

It's not my choice.

I-I wanna go home.

All right.

Start identifying.

That's Chuck Tolli.

He handled most of the drops to Driscoll.

Driscoll ran this thing?

He did. Yeah.

Now Olivas is in communication with the cartel contact.

Keeps the whole operation on track.

And he's in charge of the cash.

How so?

-Doles out the money to the other cops... -All right. Stop it.

How could you not have read me in on this sooner?

You wouldn't have believed us without proof.

Especially considering Olivas's involvement.

Manny is that proof.

He can take 'em all down.

All right.

I'll send notifications up the chain.

Sir, there's still two burner phones that Manny can't ID.

They could belong to anyone on the Force, so I think we need more than IA on this.

We need to bring in the feds and maybe the DA's office.

I'll put something together.

Get someone to take him to county until we sort out this shit show.

He's already in a black-and-white. Was just waiting for your word.

I'll walk you out, Captain.

This is good work, Ballard.

But I mean it, from now on,

bring me in from the get-go if you want me on your side.

He's calling it in.

I got him, Tutu.

I got that son of a bitch.

Why didn't you tell me?

Because I knew what you'd say.

That I was betraying my community. That the institution is toxic.

It's not about the institution, baby.

It never was.

I lost you the last time you wore that badge.

I saw the light drain right out of you.

I can't watch that happen again.

This time is gonna be different.

I'm taking back what I lost.

What does that mean?

There's something else. Isn't it?

What is it?

My sweet baby girl.

Hey.

So, I spent all night listing all the sons of bitches you know.

I only came up with one.

You finally got him.

Yeah.

And we got him for something that's gonna put him away for a long time.

So I never have to think about that guy again.

I bet he'll think about you, though.

Every day.

Men like him can't stand it when we end up on top.

Honey.

Hi. You've reached Detective Lidell.

Hey, what's up? I'm on my way in.

Hey.

Laffont and I just went to see the woman who surrendered Gael.

-Renata? -Yeah.

She actually worked at the Sunbeam back then.

ID'd Ibarra off a photo.

He paid her 20 bucks to watch the kid and he never came back.

Wow.

We found our Baby Doe.

Yeah, we sure did.

She couldn't afford him so she surrendered him a couple weeks later.

Gael's been in the system ever since.

Guys, this is so great.

Write up a warrant to get his DNA.

I'll review it when I get in. I'm going to see Berchem first.

Is everything all right?

Better than all right. I've got a new theory on the Pearlman case.

Too bad it's not ours anymore.

Well, that's why I'm going to Berchem's.

I'll fill you in when I see you.

-Hi. -Hey.

I just finished my first shift on the bus.

Oh, that's right. I forgot. How did it go?

Kinda rough actually.

I'm sure you were great.

Look, I gotta go. I promise I'll call you later.

You're exhausting, you know that, Ballard?

Yeah. So I've been told.

I have a new theory I wanna work but Lidell won't call me back.

Theories don't make convictions.

That's why I need the case back, sir.

I need to see if I can make heads or tails of it.

I need the evidence.

How many times do I have to prove that I deserve the authority to do my job?

I just uncovered another Rampart that until a few weeks ago,

was just a cold case in a box.

Come on, Captain. This is me bringing you in.

You can have Pearlman back.

Just give me a few hours.

I gotta butter up the chief.

The connection between these victims is not proximity. Right?

It's not looks.

And it's not daily patterns.

I think it's behavior.

These women were advancing.

Ochoa's fiancé, she'd just gotten a job as a paralegal.

She bought them a couple of expensive gold bracelets to celebrate.

Laura Wilson had just booked her first national commercial campaign.

And Josie Culver was canvassing for a woman

who was aiming to break the thickest glass ceiling in American history.

What if our killer was punishing these women for stepping out of their place?

We're pretty sure he was stalking his victims.

It would make sense he'd know about their lives.

I like it.

And the souvenirs are symbols of their audacity.

Birth control.

That sure tracks.

Woman making choices for herself.

But I gotta say, you're usually Miss Air-Tight-Evidence.

Now you're going on a hunch?

Hunches can turn into evidence if they're worked properly.

But... it's late.

I-I'll kick the tires tonight and then we can all dig in tomorrow morning.

I don't know. I...

It could be something. It could be nothing.

We don't know until we work it. So, I'll... I'll see you then.

-Right. -Bye.

Good night.

Nothing comes to mind with Sarah, though.

No "audacity," I mean.

Yeah.

It would help if we knew which souvenir was hers.

Huh. Yeah.

Hey, how's Martina? I mean, I figured she'd need some time off.

I'm about to find out. I'm gonna go meet her now.

If you're kicking tires, I can stay a while.

I got a shift at the club later.

And I can keep you on your A-game.

Thank you.

Mmm.

Hey, by the way, Berchem heard from the DA's Office.

It's going down tomorrow morning.

Nice.

Mm-hmm.

I told my mom.

About the badge.

About everything.

And?

I don't know what I was so afraid of.

Should've known you'd sit here.

This was my bar before Manny showed up.

And it's gonna stay that way.

Two tequila shots.

Let me know if you need anything else.

What now?

Oh.

I wish I had your moxie when I was your age.

Honestly, I wish I had your moxie now.

God, that's not good.

Why do people do this?

What is it?

It's lipstick.

It was found under Sarah's bed like she dropped it there.

But she kept all her makeup in the bathroom.

That's not Sarah's.

How do you know?

That's Othella.

It's a brand for Black women.

Was it tested for DNA?

I don't know.

They got her prints on the outside of the tube

but nothing about DNA.

There was no analysis done on the lipstick inside.

Son of a bitch.

If it wasn't Sarah's, then whose was it?

Look, you be good today, okay, mijo.

All right. I'm gonna be working late,

but your Mommy's gonna come, and she's gonna pick you up, okay?

Love you. Go on.

Oh, hey, Bobby.

I'm meeting some of the moms for coffee. You wanna join?

Not today, Gina. Got in trouble with the Mrs. last time.

Maybe tomorrow.

-Okay. -I'm sorry.

You don't call me, Manny. I call you.

-What do you want? -I just wanted to see your face.

What?

LAPD. Olivas, hands up.

Hey, easy. Hey. You...

Put your hands on your head.

Come on. Let's see your hands!

Hands up!

Do it!

You got no idea what you've done.