“When?”

“Right now.”

He dropped his head into his hands.

“Is there somewhere you could go while we do the search?”

“My parents live nearby. They’ve got my kids.”

“Could we have your permission to conduct a search? I’ll make sure our people are respectful of your home and privacy.”

“And if you find something? Will it be blasted all over the news that my wife acquired illegal drugs that led to her death?”

“That won’t come from us.”

He broke down into heartbroken sobs. “How can this be happening? How can she be gone? She was just here.”

“We’re so sorry you and your family are going through such an awful tragedy. But if she died because of laced pills, we need to move fast to figure out where they came from so we can stop this from happening to others.”

He lifted his head from his hands. “Didn’t you just lose your brother-in-law suddenly?”

“I did, and the circumstances are similar. We haven’t released this to the public, but his autopsy showed morphine in his brain that could only have come from opioids.”

“Oh God,” he whispered. “You think Mary Alice died from the same thing as your brother-in-law?”

“We believe it’s possible their deaths could be connected, but we won’t know anything for certain until after we search your house, examine her phone and complete the autopsy. Do you give us permission to review her phone and to search your home?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you please ask the others to vacate immediately and keep the details of our investigation private? If word gets out what we’re looking for, the people dealing these drugs will be long gone.”

“I get it. No one will hear that from me. I want to protect her.”

Sam slid her notebook across the table. “Write down your full name, the address where you’ll be staying and your phone number.”

He did as she asked and pushed the pad back to her.

Sam turned the page to write I, Brad Albright, give the Metropolitan Police Department permission to search my home and the phone of my deceased wife, Mary Alice Albright, as part of an investigation. “Will you please sign this and get her phone for me?”

He read the statement and signed it. Then he got up and left the room.

Chapter Twelve

“Brutal,” Neveah said.

“Always is.”

“Watching you work, though…”

“Knock it off.”

“Just sayin’.”

“Make yourself useful and go outside to contact Lieutenant Haggerty with Crime Scene. Ask him to get his team over here ASAP.”

She got up to see to Sam’s order, seeming relieved to have a reason to exit Brad Albright’s nightmare.

Brad returned with Mary Alice’s phone, which he handed to Sam. “There’re photos and videos on there that’re even more precious to me now.”

“None of that will be disturbed, but is it backed up to the cloud, just in case?”

“I believe so.”

“I’ll ask our people to make sure of that. What’s the passcode?”