he took the edge off his hunger. He put down the half-eaten sandwich and wiped the sauce from his mouth. “Sure you don’t want some? Best rib sandwich in town.”
“No, really, I’m fine. But about the drugs?”
“Are you going to tell me why you want to know?”
“We’ll see,” she hedged. Not if she didn’t have to.
He shrugged, and in between bites, he began to talk about the articles. “First heard about Fantasy when this woman called me at work. About five months ago. Her son OD’d. He’d flunked out of college and brought the stuff home with him. She thought The Clarion should be warning other parents. I was curious, so I asked around. The drug had been in Riverdale two months and already caused three overdoses. That’s when I started writing the series.”
“Where’s the drug coming from?”
“Both coasts, and now here in the Midwest. Her son was in a small college in Alabama.”
“So, everywhere,” she said. “New York, LA, Timbuktu. What about local distributers?”
He scratched his chin and eyed her. “Got some ideas. Maybe Otherworlders. No proof yet. Maybe you know something.” He paused, as if inviting a comment, then continued. “I had an informant. Good connections, but her boyfriend killed her before we got that far.”
“What?” Ari straightened in her seat and stared at him. “What informant?” Riverdale didn’t have that many murders. Not the kind the public and press knew about. “Are you talking about Angela Raymond?” Ari scooted forward on the bench. “She was working for you, wasn’t she? Why didn’t you come forward and tell the police after she died?”
“Hey, calm down. Why do you care if she was working for me?”
“You’re the source of the cash,” Ari continued unabated. “You did pay her in cash, didn’t you? Hundred dollar bills?”
“Yeah, I did.” His brows drew into a deep frown. “Is that significant?”
“Don’t you get it?” Ari stopped. She needed to be careful what she said to the press. “Everything about a victim is important,” she finished, keeping it vague.
Eddie’d already caught the implication. He shook his head vigorously. “No, uh-uh. If you think she was killed because of her undercover work, you’re wrong. It was the boyfriend. Some domestic thing. I talked with neighbors the night she died. And the PD didn’t deny it when I asked for an official comment. I didn’t mention she was a source, because…well, it’s confidential. And it didn’t seem to matter.” His jaw set in a stubborn line, but his voice had lost confidence. “Nobody knew she worked for me. I swear. Nobody. I never mentioned her name. Not even to my editor.”
“Let’s back up a minute,” Ari said. She’d rather have him helping the investigation than wallowing in unproductive guilt. “We’re still investigating. No one’s under arrest, but maybe you’re right about the boyfriend. Everything we know about Angela will help us nail the right killer.”
“Wow, I can’t believe it.” Eddie propped his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. “I sure hope the boyfriend did it. But I can tell you don’t think so.”
When he looked at Ari, she saw the doubt on his face. She was tempted to say something, maybe even something reassuring, but he’d already begun to talk again.
“Angie saw the first article I wrote on Fantasy. She called me, wanting to know how much I’d pay for inside information. She promised details. Users, dealers. I asked how she knew this stuff, and that’s when she got really vague. Said she hung around the Olde Town bars and heard stuff. But her timing couldn’t have been better. I’d used all my data on the one article, and my editor was salivating for more. Suddenly I had visions of an award-winning series.”
“So you said you were interested.” Ari tried to hurry the story along.
He gave her a rueful look. “You bet I was interested. Especially if she could lead me to the suppliers. Front page stuff. And the Otherworld connection was major headlines. Told her I’d pay $500 a pop for anything she got. And I did.” Eddie signaled the waitress and had his Coke refilled.
“Frankly, Angie was a gold mine,” he continued. “She provided the info I used in the rest of the series, from the street price on Fantasy to its availability in the local bars. Her interviews with users were priceless. Great descriptions of how the drug affected each of them.” He glanced at Ari. “Your greatest dreams in a capsule. That’s what they said. Angie was good at