“And you think that’s tied to my place somehow?” he asked, sounding slightly hysterical now.

“We don’t know anything yet, other than that two young people who worked for you died recently under suspicious circumstances. We suspect that Morgan most likely died from fentanyl poisoning.”

“Fentanyl? My God. Tim said Richard ran off when he heard you wanted to speak to him.”

“Are you aware that Richard Day isn’t his real name?”

“What? No.”

“His real name is Richard Kent, and he’s on probation for dealing cocaine, heroin and meth. He did three years at Jessup and was released late last year.”

“Oh my fucking God,” he said on a moan. “He had an outstanding résumé and sterling references.”

“I believe you were had by a career criminal, Mr. Atkins.”

“What kind of liability am I looking at if he sold laced pills that killed my employees?”

“I’m not sure, but you might want to check with your attorneys.”

“This cannot be happening. Do you have any idea how much goes into getting a restaurant off the ground, let alone making it profitable? We’re just starting to make real progress, and now this.”

Sam wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say to that.

“Will you keep me informed of the investigation?”

“Probably not. You’re not a person of interest currently, and you’re not a victim.”

“Two of my employees are dead. I’d say that makes me a victim.”

“Give me your number. If I have time to update you, I will.” She wrote down the number he recited.

“Thank you.”

“Sure.” Sam put down the phone and made a note of the info he’d provided, not that it was much of anything. She really did feel for the guy. He was right. It wasn’t easy to get a business off the ground or to make a success of it.

Faith Miller came in, wearing a sharp black suit, closed the door and took a seat. “Today has already been a day and a half, and it just started.”

“Sorry to hear it.”

“Your friend Stahl and his shenanigans are causing a lot of trouble. I’ve got lawyers filing requests for new trials left and right.”

“That didn’t take long.”

“Nope. I wanted to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your brother-in-law.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ve been thinking of your sister and family. What a shocking thing.”

“It was, and it’s why I asked you to come by.”

Faith tilted her head, eyeing Sam with trepidation. “Okay…”

“Here’s what I know.” She went through the details of the cases involving Spencer, Mary Alice Albright, Morgan Newell, Angelo Diaz and Cory White. “Each of them died unexpectedly in the last three weeks. The first three were found to have morphine in their brains during autopsy. Diaz’s family refused the autopsy, but we found pills in his home. Crime Scene is headed to the home of Cory White, whose parents also declined the autopsy. If we can find pills that came from the same batch as the others, we can make some conclusions without autopsies for Diaz and White.”