At that, Cooper softened ever so slightly. “That’s my goal, too.”

“Good, then we’re on the same page.”

“I, uh, I heard about your brother-in-law. I’m sorry.”

Sam had so much she’d like to say to him about that, but recalling Malone’s warning, she simply said, “Thank you.”

“We’ve been after Lawton a long time,” Cooper said as Gonzo and O’Brien joined them in the conference room.

“Tell me more.”

Cooper took a seat across the conference room table from her. “He’s a kingpin. We’ve had eyes on him for years, but he’s slick, surrounded by top-level security. Impenetrable.”

“Did you know he regularly eats at Zénitude in Georgetown?”

Cooper seemed surprised by that. “No, we didn’t.”

“If you’ve had eyes on him for years, how is it possible you don’t know that?”

He sighed. “Like I said. He’s slick. We can’t afford twenty-four-hour surveillance, and he knows that. His security knows when we’re watching and when we aren’t.”

“What’s his drug of choice?”

“Heroin, but he dabbles in many other varieties, not that we’ve been able to pin any of it on him. We’ve arrested a few lower-level lieutenants, but they won’t turn on him, even when they’re looking at decades in prison.”

“So, he’s threatened to kill them if they talk and has the reach, inside and out, to get to them.”

“That’s our theory.”

“What do you suppose the odds are that he had something to do with two employees at Zénitude overdosing during the same week?”

“The odds are high that even if he didn’t personally provide the product, it was tied in some way to his operation.”

“Why would he sell laced pills, knowing that’s going to bring even more scrutiny down on him?”

“That’s a good question. My only guess is he didn’t know it was laced, which means someone double-crossed him.”

“Do you have a phone number for Lawton?”

“It changes all the time, but I can give you the most recent numbers we have for him.”

“That would help.” While he used his phone to gather that information, Sam called Gonzo into the room. “Cooper has some numbers for Lawton. Can you check them against the dumps of the victims’ phones?”

“Yep.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Cooper said. “You won’t find Lawton’s numbers on your vics’ phones. It’d be one of his people using a burner. That’s why it’s so hard to find them. They’re mostly off the grid.”

“Let’s check anyway,” Sam said to Gonzo, who nodded and took the list of numbers from Cooper.

A handsome dark-haired officer appeared at the conference room door.

Cooper waved him in. “Sergeant Merrick heads up our fentanyl task force. I asked him to come in and brief you on the particulars.”

“It’s good to meet you all,” Merrick said as he took a seat at the table. “I’m sure you guys have questions, and I’m happy to answer them, but a few things to start with. First, it’s a misconception that you can die from touching fentanyl or fentanyl-laced pills. That said, we still take full precautions when we think there’s fentanyl on a scene. For the most part, it’s replaced heroin as the street drug of choice.”