“Can I see your recent text exchanges with Casey?” Spencer asked.

She hesitated. “Sure.”

April 13, 7:00 p.m.

Casey: Saw Walker.

Missy: And?

Casey: He gave me a sample.

Missy: Bring it by, girl. We can celebrate.

Casey: I should toss it.

Missy: Give it to me if you don’t want it. Crazy to waste anything.

“Do you know Walker?” Spencer asked. When she hesitated, he asked, “Marco Walker?”

“Yes,” Missy said. “He deals drugs.”

“Any idea why she was back in his area?”

“She lost a lot of friends when she got sober. When someone gets clean, they get a little full of themselves. They become kind of a buzzkill. When no one wants to be around them, they get lonely and start to miss their old life. When they return to the streets, it’s a matter of time before Walker appears.”

“Why is Walker so popular?” Spencer asked.

“He gives freebies if you’re willing to trade sex with him or one of his friends,” Missy said.

“Tell me about these friends,” Spencer said. “Any one of the friends not get along with Walker?”

“Walker pisses a lot of people off. He often makes promises he doesn’t keep. Most can’t do anything about it, but some can.”

“Tell me about the people he can’t charm,” Spencer said.

“I make it a point to keep away from those guys. I don’t want to end up hanging from a rope in my house like he did.”

Casey had vanished hours before Walker had hanged himself. If Walker had passed Casey off to a friend, he would have had to have done it on the thirteenth or fourteenth. “You ever heard of a guy named Harold Sunday?”

“The lawyer?”

“That’s right.”

She shifted her feet. “He’s been with a few of Walker’s girls.”

“Did he ever get rough?”

“Sure. But they all can be.”

“Anyone like to strangle the girls?”

“Once in a while.”

“What about Sunday?”

“I don’t know. The girls don’t talk that much. They’re too afraid.”

“I won’t let him hurt you.”

A bitter smile twisted her lips. “You can’t make that promise. No one can.”

He handed her his card. “If you change your mind and want to talk, call, okay?”

“Sure. Sure.”

“Thank you for your time.” He left her staring after him as he crossed the yard and got back into his vehicle. Casey had disappeared on April 13 or 14, and they were hard dates he could work from.

Spencer’s next stop was the forensic department. Inside the building, he removed his hat and found Andy Lucas and an assistant looking into a microscope. Neither looked up when he entered the room, forcing him to clear his throat. “Officer Lucas.”

The man shifted his gaze up. “Have you heard how Poe is doing?”

“No, but when she’s awake, I’d like to take her status report. You have anything new?”