“We were shocked to hear of his death,” Leslie said. “He’d been buying product from us for years. He knew what he was doing and how to stay safe. And then it happened again—twice in a week with two employees of Riggs’s favorite restaurant.”

“Where’d they get the pills?”

“Through the general manager, Richard. He’s one of our dealers.”

Bam, Sam thought as the puzzle pieces started to come together. She’d be taking steps to have his probation revoked as soon as she could. “Who’s Craig?”

“Craig who?”

“I don’t know his last name.” Sam showed her the photo of the man named Craig from the W security system.

“That’s Matthias Foster.”

Sam glanced at Gonzo. “Get the name to Malone, will you?”

“Yep.” Since they were using his phone to record the interview, he went to find Freddie.

“We’ve got him in custody. He was a friend of my brother-in-law’s, which is where Spencer got the pills, right?”

“Probably,” Leslie said with another sigh. “Please try to understand. We prided ourselves on running a clean operation. Someone did this to us.”

“You’ll have to excuse my lack of empathy for you.”

“I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Try me.”

“Once they get addicted, people are desperate for Oxy and heroin. Have you ever been so desperate you thought you might die if you didn’t get what you need?”

“No,” Sam said.

“Yes,” Gonzo said when he returned. “I have.”

“Then you know,” Leslie said to him. “After a while, it wasn’t even about the money for us. It was about helping people get what they needed to stay alive. Riggs believed that one of our rivals was trying to run us out of the business by funneling laced pills into our operation. If word got out that our product was laced, we’d be finished. That was their goal.”

“Who would’ve done that?”

“The only one we think would’ve had motive and capability is Sal Vincent.”

Sam’s backbone buzzed with sensation. “Who is he?”

“He runs an operation like ours, and he’s been trying for years to buy us out, to make us go away, but we don’t trust him, so we’ve refused numerous offers. About six months ago, Riggs stopped taking his calls. We heard some chatter about how we’re going to be sorry we dissed him. We blew it off as nonsense until people started dying.”

“And what was your plan when you realized what was happening?”

“Riggs recalled all our product, but not everyone heeded the call.”

“How does Matthias figure into it?”

“He was one who hadn’t returned the product yet. We think it’s possible he’s been working for Vincent, too, and maybe Richard as well as a couple of others that Vincent convinced to double-cross us. Riggs was trying to figure out what was going on when he was arrested.”

“Why would Riggs take his own life rather than own up to what was going on?”

“He’d rather be dead than in prison.”

“Did you know he’d take his own life if he was arrested?”