“Lack of evidence, and that’s all I can say about it.”
“Oh, I see. You can’t divulge any information, but you expect me to be a fountain of it.”
“I’m the one with the badge.”
“And I’m the one with the doctorate,” she fired back. “Which prohibits a breach of confidentiality.”
They could pivot around that argument all night, and, regardless of what he’d told Dylan about his truck not being easily detectable, he could be wrong and was anxious to get it off the road.
Speaking more urgently, he said, “Malone has friends in high places. Compromised, corrupt friends in high places. New Orleans is a city well known for favors being swapped. I don’t want to make a move on him until I have something an honest and by-the-book prosecutor can and will sink his teeth into.”
“That’s where I come in, I suppose. That’s why you orchestrated this charade.”
He just looked at her, not having to verbally verify that she was correct.
She shook her head again, this time with more decisiveness.“I’ve listened, Mitch. But you’ve gone to a lot of trouble for nothing. I would never share what a patient has confided to me.” She extended her hand. “My phone, please.” He withheld it for several seconds before reluctantly laying it in her palm. “Thank you.” She tried the door again. When it didn’t open, she sighed. “Please unlock the door.”
“Let me ask you one question.”
“Unlock—”
“It’s pouring out there.” He motioned at their surroundings made virtually invisible by darkness and heavy rain. “Even I’m not sure where this road goes. Do you know?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“One question.”
She folded her arms again.
“Thanks.”
“Just ask the question.”
“Were you telling me the truth when you said that tonight was the first time you’d been to Malone’s restaurant?”
“Easy answer. Yes. My first time. Why is that important?”
“What prompted you to go tonight?”
“I didn’t agree to answering a second question.”
He raised his eyebrows. “This one is harder to answer?”
She stewed on that for a moment, then said, “Roland invited me.”
“Is that a first, too?”
“No. I had an open invitation.”
“Any particular reason why you decided tonight was an ideal time to take him up on it?”
“No. Well, yes.”
“Huh. Conflicting answers to one simple question. In policeparlance, we call that hedging. Which means not exactly lying, but—”
“I know what hedging means.”
He snapped his fingers. “Right. You have a doctorate.”
