Page 30 of Shadow

The way his jaw clenched when he talked about the kids.

He cared.

Either genuine or the best actor she’d ever met.

“Who runs local operations now?”

“Draven.”

“I thought he was the top dog in Denver.”

“He was certainly higher in the ranks, but no, not the top dog. That’s why it feels like there might be, I don’t know, someone else at the helm.”

“So the syndicate is growing.”

“Yeah. We need to cut off the head of the snake. After Roger was arrested, Draven moved in. Operations continued. Same distribution patterns. Same trafficking routes.”

“And no arrests?”

“A few. We’re taking down insiders. But…”

“But you still can’t connect everything to Draven.”

“No. Draven is always one step ahead.”

“Which means he has someone on the inside. Someone embedded locally.”

“Right. Someone with access. Authority. Ability to move without suspicion.”

“Law enforcement?”

“Probably.” Asher met her eyes. “Or federal. Or both.”

The mole.

The person who’d gotten Martha Lintz killed.

The person who might be sitting across from her right now.

Except.

His expression was open. Direct. No defensiveness.

He took a sip of coffee. “You think I’m the mole.” Not a question.

Daphne didn’t answer.

“I would too.” He leaned back. Ran a hand through his hair. “Except I tried to intervene.”

“Martha died anyway.”

His jaw tightened. “Are you saying I didn’t try hard enough?”

“I’m just wondering why you didn’t pull your gun on him.”

“I should have. There were bystanders—I didn’t want a gun battle.”

She considered him. He seemed honest.