“Oh God, Jesse, too? Tommy didn’t do drugs. There’s no way he would’ve taken those pills willingly.”

Sam decided to let her hold on to her illusions for as long as she could. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“What am I supposed to do now?”

“If you can give me your number, the medical examiner will be in touch after the autopsy is performed. She’ll want to know what funeral home you’d like to use.”

Cath’s friend kept her arms around her when her knees would’ve buckled as she recited the phone number that Sam wrote down.

“Here’s my card. My cell number is on there.”

“I’m surprised they send the first lady to do things like this,” the neighbor said.

“I’m not the first lady right now,” Sam said, annoyed by the comment when there were bigger concerns to be dealt with for her friend. “I’m the lieutenant who oversees the Homicide division for the MPD, and this is my job.” To Cath, she said, “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

“Thank you,” Cath said.

Having done what she could, Sam left to head to the Myer home, where she had to break the news all over again, this time to Jesse’s mother.

“I just called to report my son missing,” Mrs. Myer said when she saw Sam on her doorstep, immediately on the alert for impending disaster. “Why’d they send you?”

Sam had that effect on people. “May I come in for a moment?”

Hesitantly, she opened the door and stepped back to admit Sam.

“Tell me what’s going on.”

“Mrs. Myer, I’m very sorry to have to tell you that Jesse was found dead of a drug overdose this morning.”

The woman collapsed against Sam, who held her up as best she could while she wailed.

“There’s no way! He would never take drugs.”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you that’s what happened.”

“It can’t be. It simply cannot be.”

“Is there someone you could call to be with you?”

“My other son… He’ll come.”

“Could I call him for you?”

Sam helped her reach out to her other son, said the words for her when she couldn’t and was told he’d be there in fifteen minutes, so she waited until he arrived. “Can I get you a glass of water?” Sam asked.

She shook her head. “How could this have happened?”

Sam went through what they knew so far about what had transpired the night before. “Tommy is also dead, but Bryan survived. That’s how we know what happened.”

“Not Tommy, too. My God, they’ve been friends since elementary school. The three of them.”

When Mrs. Myer’s other son arrived, Sam took down a contact number, gave him her business card and notified him that the ME would be in touch after the autopsy was completed. Emerging from the stuffy house into the cool air was such a welcome relief.

“Worst fucking part of the job, hands down,” Sam said to Vernon as he held the door for her.