“Fine. That’s lovely. I’d expect nothing less. Now, where did it happen?”

“I’m not tellin’ ya’.”

“Why not?”

“‘Cause if I do, you’ll try ta’ find a way ta’ get into it.”

“How do you know that?”

He half chuckled. “How? ‘Cause I know you, that’s how. Besides, if that ain’t your plan, whaddaya need to know the particulars for?”

I couldn’t dispute either point, so I asked, “Yeah, so what if I do? Maybe if I check out the crime scene, I can pick up on something they can’t see. You know how that tends to happen with me.”

“Yeah, I do. But, the scene’s a week old.”

“A week?!” I exclaimed. “Why in the hell are we just now hearing about it?”

“NCIC backlog, Row,” he explained. “Not to mention a hurricane and a flood which I’m sure you noticed. NOLA PD is swamped. Too much crime, not enough time or coppers for that matter. It just got entered, and that’s only ‘cause a fresh volunteer from KC is down there, and he remembered somethin’ about one of our bulletins that made ‘im do a little diggin’.”

“Well, I’ve pulled impressions from old crime scenes before. So that’s not really an issue.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

His stonewalling was really pushing me to the edge, but I knew I wasn’t getting anywhere with the direct approach, so I changed my plan of attack, “Well, are you certain it’s her?”

“Until they finish processin’ evidence, no. And with things the way they are down there, that could take awhile. But I did talk ta’ the copper workin’ the case myself. The victim was male, found in a room at a no-tell motel just like the two here, and he was tied ta’ the bed kinky-sex style. From all indications, he was tortured ta’ death, which we know is ‘er favorite pastime. Still waitin’ on autopsy results, somethin’ else that could take awhile, but from what I understand she worked ‘im over good. He also said they found hair that sounds like it could be a match. And, if that ain’t enough, she carved one of ‘er pictures inta’ his chest.”