“When I found her, her body wasn’t even cold,” he said, his voice cracking. “I’m haunted by those extra twenty minutes I took to drink a beer.”
They were looking into each other’s eyes with such complete understanding and compassion that they both jumped when the burner in Mitch’s pocket rang.
Only one person knew to call it.
Chapter 23
I?’ve gotta get this.” With no more explanation than that, Mitch left Dylan sitting at the table, went swiftly into the guest bedroom, and clicked on the phone as he pulled the door shut. “Jim. Find out anything?”
“El Paso.”
“What?”
“Short and spry goes by the name El Paso. Even Malone refers to him that way. No one knows his real name.”
“So heisone of Malone’s men.”
“A kid. Early twenties at most. And he’s only been around for a week or so, coinciding with Adler’s departure.”
“Where’d you get this information?”
“A paid informant.”
“Reliable?”
“He has been as of tonight, and nobody’s wise to him.”
“You know this how?”
“He’s still breathing.”
“Okay, why’d this kid jump me?”
“You weren’t the only one he jumped, just the last one.” Tucker told him about two previous incidents involving homeless people that had occurred within blocks of Malone’s restaurant. “Malone has zero tolerance. Our snitch thinks he dispatched El Paso to spook a few so all of them would move to greener pastures.”
“I was a random pick, then.”
“I hope.”
“Had to be, Jim. No way he could have known I was a cop.”
“I hope. But we don’t know that for sure, do we? He might’ve been stabbing homeless people, believing them to be you, doing exactly what you’ve been doing, which is unauthorized spying on his boss.”
“Not a chance he knew me. I’d never laid eyes on him.”
“Somebody could’ve pointed you out to him,” Tucker argued. “Malone himself, maybe.”
“Then why would he attack the other two?”
“To make you seem random.”
Shit. That made sense. Uncomfortably so. Mitch moved on. “Does your informant know where El Paso went after he attacked me?”
“When I asked him that, he dried up.”
“Bullshit.”
“I swear.”
