Page 30 of Exposé

Do I?

"Of course you do." We paused in the middle of the walkway and he turned to face me. "When you started last time, do you know what you told me?"

I shook my head.

"You said you weren't good enough to find a crime even if it were right under your nose." He cocked his head to the side. "Do you remember what I said?"

"No." My gaze dropped to the ground.

"You're an amazing journalist who should have been a detective." His hands landed on my shoulders and pulled me in against him. "You're incredible at what you do, but the beginning is always slow as you try to put the pieces together. You need to remember that."

I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in his musky cologne. "Thanks, Liam."

"Anytime." He released me, and we continued our walk. "Now, why don't you tell me what this is about, and I'll see if I can help…off the record."

"It's always off the record with you, Liam."

"I know, but I feel like I need to reiterate that sometimes."

I smiled and tucked my hands into the cream-colored pockets of my dress pants. "Probably a good habit to get into when talking to the press."

"Is this about the raid last week?"

Puffing out a breath through pursed lips, I nodded. "You said there were three last week, right?"

"Four. We had another one right after it."

"You didn't say anything about that."

He shrugged. "We didn't know. The paperwork dropped the next morning and we jumped on it."

"Hmm."I wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. "How many tips are you working on right now?"

"Me personally? None."

"So if you're not getting the tips, then who is?"

"Vice gets them. Or if it's big enough we hand it over to the DEA. But we've only had to do that once."

A drug bust so big the DEA needed involvement?

"How did they keep that so quiet?"

He shrugged. "They have their own way of doing things. We're just along for the ride."

"Jeez." I swiped the hair out of my face, my reflection widened in his dark sunglasses. "Does anyone know who’s providing the tips?"

"No." He shrugged. "There are some theories—"

"Like?"

"What if the person is undercover and feeding us information?"

"Is there a pattern? Such as the same drug, a connection to the same crime family or drug dealer?"

"Didn't you write this down the last time we talked?" He shook his head.

"Yes, but sometimes new information comes about."

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