Mitch muttered, “You should.”
“Mitch, how bad is it?” John asked.
“It’s all right. I got it taken care of.” He looked at Dylan and winked.
“How’d it happen? Where? Who did it?”
Mitch debated with himself about how much he should disclose, then said, “I was following a lead on the Bayou Coeur murders. I know you told me to stay off that case, but I had a notion that just wouldn’t let go. So I went to New Orleans totake a look around. Ran into some trouble.” He paused before adding, “Here’s where you chew my ass.”
John grumbled something indistinct, exhaled heavily, then said, “I’m glad you’re all right. What provoked it?”
“I guess the guy just didn’t like my looks. He jumped me, whipped out a switchblade, sliced me, ran like hell.”
“Did you go after him?”
“No. Even I had better sense. Wasn’t my turf, it was his. I didn’t want to get trapped there by either his buddies or local police, so I split.”
“Give me a description of him. I’ll alert NOPD.”
“Negative.”
“Only to put this guy on their radar,” John said.
“Nope.”
“Then you can add obstruction of justice to stalking a prominent psychologist.”
“Damn,” Mitch sighed. “All right, but better all around if you don’t ID me as your source.”
“Understood.”
“Okay. He’s a little guy. Early twenties. Swagger. Out to prove he’s a badass. Even before he attacked, I had him pegged for a street-smart, scary dude.”
“Not much of a description.”
“It’ll have to do.”
John said, “Hold on. Lear and Nix are coming this way. Head them off, will you, Clarence? Tell them I’ll be with them in a minute.”
“Mitch, I’m really sorry,” Clarence said.
“Yeah, yeah. Have a nice day.”
There was shuffling and a door closing, then John said in a low voice, “You were hanging around Malone’s, weren’t you?”
“Are we off speaker?”
“Yes.”
“Then, yes. Guilty.”
“Mitch—”
“Not now. Later, you can have at me, but right now, listen up. The asshole with the switchblade works for Malone. Goes by the name of El Paso. A recent addition to the corps, and I doubt Malone hired him full-time to hassle the homeless population, which is what he was doing when he jumped me. He’d attacked two others before me. He’s dangerous.”
“Where’d you get all this information?”
“A reliable source.”
