Detective Vale finally had more information about the medicine.

The recovered bottle had originally contained a prescription sedating medication belonging to Curtis, dispensed months earlier after a short-term medical problem.

Pharmacy records and examination of the remaining tablets supported that identification.

Investigators were still assessing who administered the pills, how often, and under what circumstances.

When I heard the name, I remembered a bottle I’d seen in Curtis’s bedside drawer.

He had once said a doctor had given him something to help with sleep during a difficult period at work.