Gigi eyed him warily. “I guess we’ll see.”

“Where to?” Vernon asked when Sam got back in the SUV with Captain Malone. She gave him the Shaw address for Riggs Lawton.

“What’s in Shaw?” Malone asked.

“An alleged drug dealer named Riggs Lawton.”

Malone startled as he looked over at her. “How does he factor into this?”

“Richard Kent, the manager at the restaurant where two of my victims worked, told me I should talk to him.”

“He’s setting you up, Sam. No one gets near that guy. Narcotics has been after him for years.”

“Kent told me he’s a regular at the restaurant where he worked until recently and where two of our victims worked.”

“Is that so?” Malone thought about it for a minute and then made a call. “This is Malone. Put me through to Cooper.”

“No,” Sam hissed. “Don’t involve him.”

Malone held up his hand. “I’ve got a lead on Lawton. Meet me at the Homicide conference room in fifteen minutes.” He listened for a minute. “You’ll need to cancel your plans.” He ended the call in a huff. “What’s with people telling me they’ve got plans when I’m handing them a guy they’ve been after for years?”

“Am I expected to answer that? Because if I was, I’d say it’s because he’s a slacker. And why am I being forced to deal with him?”

“Because the two of you are on the same side and you both want Riggs. Let’s make that happen together.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Your objection has been noted.”

“Back to HQ, then?” Vernon asked.

“Yes,” Malone said. “Do you have the contact info for the owner of the restaurant?”

Sam nodded even as she fumed.

“Call him and tell him we want him to invite his buddy Lawton to come in, and we’ll nab him.”

“What if Lawton has heard that Kent got arrested?”

“He doesn’t know him as Kent, right?”

“No, but…”

“Let’s try it. Or better yet, ask the owner if he knows Lawton and if he’d be willing to help us get him to come in for some reason.”

Sam reluctantly made the call to Kyle Atkins. “This is Lieutenant Holland with the MPD.”

“Did you find Richard?”

“We did, and he mentioned a frequent customer of yours that we’re very interested in speaking to.”

“Which one?”

“Riggs Lawton. Would you be able to invite him to come in so we could speak to him?”

“What’s going to happen to me when he finds out I invited him to an ambush?”

“Are you aware of Mr. Lawton’s line of business?”

“I’m not, but if I invite him to my place and he’s surrounded by cops, that’s not going to be good for me or my business.”

“If you don’t help us with this, I’m sure we can find another reason to shut you down, such as two of your employees dying suddenly under mysterious circumstances and the only thing they had in common was your restaurant.”

“Are you blackmailing me, Lieutenant?”