“That would help. Thanks.”

“I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Great, thanks. We need to pick up the pace on this investigation.”

“We’ll get back on it in the AM.”

“See you then.”

Sam slapped her phone closed and was lost in thought when it rang with a call from Farnsworth. Surprised to see his name on her caller ID after hours, she took the call. “Is this my chief or my uncle?”

“It’s both.”

“Uh-oh.”

“I know we already talked about this, but do I need to be concerned about you investigating Spencer’s death?”

Goddamned Avery Hill. “Not at all. I may be on the trail of a dealer who’s selling laced drugs. So far, I’m aware of four suspicious local deaths in the last two weeks, including Spence, and I expect to possibly uncover more by tomorrow.”

“I spoke with Cooper in Narcotics and asked why an alert hadn’t been made with an increase in OD deaths. He said they were a couple of weeks behind on gathering reports from local hospitals due to being short-staffed. He’s had two officers out on leave. One had surgery, and the other took a few weeks off after having his first baby.”

Sam took a second to process that information. “So you’re telling me that one of the most important jobs they have—to notify the public if there’s an increase in overdoses—wasn’t done because they were shorthanded? Why didn’t they ask for help?”

“I raised that question with Cooper, and he said everyone is overworked and understaffed.”

“That alert might’ve saved Spencer. It might’ve saved Mary Alice Albright and who knows how many others?” Sam’s heart broke all over again to know that the tragedy of Spencer’s death might’ve been prevented if her own colleagues had done their jobs. “We need to issue that alert now. We’ve got at least two people who’ve died from laced pills.” That might make finding the dealer or dealers harder, but it could also save some lives.

“I’ll get Public Affairs on that now and have them take care of it.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry if we let you and your family down—again.”

“It’s very upsetting to me to know this might’ve been prevented.”

“It is to me as well, and I told Cooper not to let that happen again or else.”

“I feel like I might be sick.”

“Why don’t you take some time off, Sam? Be with your sister and the kids. Take care of yourself and your family.”

“I’d rather be hunting the person who killed Spence. And that’s what Ang would want me to do, too.”

“The offer of time off is on the table if you need it.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re on a slippery slope here, Lieutenant.”

“When am I not on a slippery slope, sir?”

“All kidding aside, this one is slipperier than usual due to your personal connection to one of the victims.”

“I understand your concern, but you should know… As devastated as I am for Ang and her kids, I didn’t feel particularly close to Spencer. Not like I am to Mike, who’s always been like a big brother to me. I never reached that level with Spence. My relationship with him was based solely around my sister and their children, so I feel confident that I can maintain a professional distance in this case. If I didn’t, I’d turn it over to someone else.”