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“We were just talking about how to plan for your kids’ future, how much to put away for college, the estimated costs,” recalled one of Baillie’s friends. “She wanted her daughter to have a better life.”

And so Baillie got a “second job,” the friend said.

Baillie never said outright what that other job was and the friend never asked, but she says she didn’t really have to. The friend saw how much time Baillie spent with Edward Downey, who Baillie had once said was involved in the sex trade.

This week, a law enforcement source confirmed the friend’s suspicions that Baillie worked as an escort. With the revelation came a possible motive as to why Baillie, 34, and her daughter were slain last month — Baillie’s body was found July 11 in the basement suite she shared with Taliyah in the tony Panorama Hills neighbourhood in the city’s northwest; Taliyah’s remains were found a few days later on a rural property east of the city.

CTV News, citing multiple police sources, reported that investigators believe Baillie was killed over a “debt.” Downey, 46, is the prime suspect in the slayings.

Downey’s lawyer, Gavin Wolch, said he had not yet received disclosures of evidence in the case and was unable to comment further. A court appearance that had been scheduled for this week was put over until Aug. 24. First-degree murder charges against Downey remain unproven.

Downey’s criminal history stretches back to 1989 and includes convictions for drug and weapons offences and living off the avails of prostitution, according to parole records. He once had a 19-year-old girlfriend work as a prostitute, a 2008 parole decision states.