“I’ll take it from here,” Malone said, signaling to his wife that it was time to go.

“Thanks for coming.” Sam desperately wanted to go with him to see this through to completion, but she couldn’t leave Angela. “Let me know.”

“I will. Good grab.”

“Thanks.” Sam returned to her place in the line and glanced at Angela. “Sorry about that.”

“Who was that?”

“The guy from the photo I showed you.”

“So he was someone Spence knew? Who is he?”

“I don’t know anything yet. I recognized him from the picture.”

“Go find out,” Angela said fiercely. “If he had something to do with Spencer’s death, I want to know.”

“I need to be here with you.”

“Go,” Angela said with more fire in her eyes than Sam had seen since disaster struck. “And if it was him pretending to be Spencer’s friend while giving him poison? Nail his ass.”

Sam glanced at Nick. “Do you mind if I go?”

“Not at all. Just be careful.”

“I will.” She hugged Angela, Tracy and Mike and kissed Nick. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“Do what you’ve got to do, babe.”

She took a minute to speak with her mother, Eli, Scotty and Celia to update them before she left.

“You think it might be him, and he came here?” Scotty asked, wide-eyed. “That takes balls.”

“Indeed.” Sam knew she should tell him not to be vulgar, but how could she when she agreed with him?

“Are you leaving?” Freddie and Gonzo asked in unison.

“I am. Ang wants me to find out who this guy is and if he’s responsible for Spencer’s death.”

“Can we come with you?” Gonzo asked.

“I wish you would.”

When they were loaded into the Secret Service SUV with Vernon and Jimmy, she called Malone. “I’m on my way in with Cruz and Gonzo. Angela told me to go work the case, so that’s what I’m doing.”

“I’m almost there and will get him booked.”

“Talk to the USA’s office, but this should be two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He intentionally gave three men a lethal dose of fentanyl, and we’ve got a witness who can prove it was him. We’ll have to get Bryan Smith to do a photo ID.”

“I’ll have someone take care of that to close the loop,” Malone said. “Can you believe the audacity of him showing up at the wake knowing you’d be there along with other cops?”

“He came because he was sure we had nothing on him, which means he doesn’t know that Smith survived. Let’s keep that info in our back pocket and see how we might use it.”

“Good plan.”

“I also heard that Leslie Lawton is in the business up to her eyeballs. That’s how it was described to me, so I’ll be having another chat with her.”

“This is all good news. See you in a few.”

Sam closed the phone and looked out the window as the city whizzed by, thinking about her approach.