Page 31 of Exposé

"Drug dealers don’t typically deal one drug. Most of the time, they have a plethora. But these guys, they’ve been dealing with the same one."

"Sourced the same?"

"No clue, but the suspects have the same theory we do—”

“Someone’s trying to weed out the competition?”

"Yep."

"Is anyone looking into this new drug?"

My mind flashed with Whitney's face filled with disdain as the words left my mouth.

Liam shook his head. "Higher-ups haven't ordered one yet."

"Why not?"

"Not important enough, I guess."

That night at the raid rushed to my mind, the man handcuffed on the front lawn had my brows together. "Do you think you could ask your detainee from that night?"

He cocked his head to the side. "I'll ask around, but I doubt I'll find anything useful. He's already in lockup."

"Great. Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet." A warm smile crossed his face as he peered at me. "Look." He paused at a bench, and sat. "I'm not crazy about you getting involved in the drug world—"

"Liam, I can—"

He rolled his eyes. "I know. You can handle yourself just fine."

I sat beside him and crossed my leg over my knee.

"All I'm saying is…this is more dangerous than finding a corrupt dentist or exposing fraud. I want you to be careful. You don't know the types of people you'd be pissing off by getting involved."

Frowning, I nodded. "I understand. Trust me, I do. But this is what I am good at. Finding a story where people don't want to go. People like comfortability in their circle, but they also want to know the devil is lurking in the shadows and what he's been up to."

Liam slipped his hand into mine, dangling off my leg. "I've seen what lives there, Ava. Just be sure not to venture too deep."

I gave him a squeeze. "I promise."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." I snickered.

"God, you're such a pain in the ass sometimes." His smile broadened as he released my hand, and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "If you're wanting to find more information on the drug, start with its users. You'll find a lot of them in the prison system. They seem to have a higher reoffending rate than any other drug user."

The jail is full of them?

"That's a start, but if they don't know anything about it, then how do they have statistics on this already?"

"It's conjecture at this point."

"Makes sense."

If the men and women were arrested, their information would be on the county site.

It's a smörgåsbord of potential leads.

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