It was experimental, restricted, handled under tight controls, produced by only a very small number of licensed facilities in the entire state.

I will not detail the specifics of how it is regulated or sourced, because those specifics are exactly the kind of information that should not be spelled out; it is enough to say that the number of people in Minnesota who could plausibly have gotten their hands on it was very, very small — and that when we looked at who had a financial connection to the handful of facilities authorized to handle it, one name appeared.

“Luca Vance,” I said.

“Four months ago, he quietly acquired an equity stake in the parent company that controls one of those facilities.” Detective Vance was already dialing her precinct.