What drug dealer picks you up, and drops you off though?
Plus, who gets in a car with their drug dealer?
And why didn’t she just make the transaction and leave in the Lyft?
That’s not holding water for me.
MOO, but the only way I see drugs *maybe* coming into play here is casually, not in a dealer/junkie type of relationship.
This is just speculation and conjecture but, iirc, we know that LE said the person ML texted from the airport was cooperating. (And we've never heard any more about that AFAIK.)
Given she was coming off a really tough weekend and headed into exams, I think she may have texted a friend looking for some “study aids” for the cramming session she knew was in her future. It’s not uncommon these days.
That person may have said, I know this guy AA. (pidgeon?) Hit him up on kik (or something). He can probably help you. She did and they agreed to meet at the park, after which he would give her a ride home.
But we know it didn’t go the way she expected.
What might have normally set off her hinky-alarm didn’t this time — either because they shared a mutual friend, she was already acquainted with AA, or both.
LE gets the low-down from the person they identified texting but s/he doesn’t know AA’s address. But that’s ok because between the texter and ML’s phone data, LE now has enough info to locate his device and, therefore, him.
Or something like that. I think a scenario similar to this one could explain a lot.