Read Shades of Gray for Free Online Page B

she in on the smuggling operation?” Danny stiffened next to him, throwing his cigarette down and 34 | Brooke McKinley
    grinding it under his heel. “We’re not talking about Amanda. She’s not part of this.”
    Miller’s radar went up at Danny’s choice of words. “You mean she’s not part of the drug business or you’re not willing to talk about her part in it?”
    “Take your pick,” Danny retorted. “She’s fucking off limits.”
    “Danny, if she’s involved—”
    “She stays out of it,” Danny demanded. “I swear to God, I’ll walk, right now, if you can’t promise me that.”
    “Why are you so protective of her?”
    “She was my wife. Even if it didn’t work out, that counts for something.” Danny sighed. “Look, this is off the record, okay?” Miller nodded. Now wasn’t the time to mention that as far as he was concerned nothing was off the record if it got him closer to Hinestroza.
    “Any involvement Amanda has in this, it’s because of me. She shouldn’t have to suffer because she married the wrong guy.”
    “Yeah, but you didn’t force her to participate, did you?”
    “No,” Danny acknowledged. “Nobody forces Amanda to do much of anything. But I don’t want her dragged into this.” As a novice, Miller had assumed criminals were different in all ways from the average law-abiding citizen. But over time he had come to realize that drug dealers, murderers, and gang leaders all had people they loved, people they would do almost anything to protect, the same way the successful business man or suburban mom next door looked after their own. Involvement in the criminal world didn’t necessarily erase those basic emotions of loyalty and love. It sometimes made Miller uneasy, the knowledge that in fundamental ways men like Danny were more similar to him than they were different. For Miller, life worked better when the lines didn’t blur.
    “What happened between you and her?” he asked.
    Danny gave him a thoughtful look, cupping his hand to light Shades of Gray | 35
    another cigarette. “I’m not the man she thought I was,” he said, choosing his words with care.
    “What’s that supposed to mean? Are you talking about the drugs?”
    Danny shifted on the bench, shoving his cigarettes back into his pocket. “I have to get going. I have a meeting with one of the dealers. I can’t miss it or it will throw up red flags.” But Miller wasn’t quite done yet. “How did you get involved with Hinestroza anyway? How does he recruit people?”
    “That,” Danny said with a grim smile, “is a story for another day.” He started to rise, his feet setting free the loamy scent of freshly turned earth. The smell brought to Miller’s mind his childhood days: running free on the farm, the late-setting sun, his mother hollering him home for bed, dirt warm and loose under his feet.
    “I’m from western Kansas too,” he blurted out. Where the hell did that come from? Next you’ll be giving him your address and social security number.
    “Yeah?” Danny sat back down, raising an eyebrow. “Where?”
    “Fowler, in Meade County.”
    “Atwood,” Danny responded. “Up north.”
    “Yeah,” Miller said with a small smile. “I know.” Danny shook his head. “Keep forgetting you’re my own personal stalker.” He glanced at Miller. “Did your parents have a farm or were you a townie?”
    “Farm. Nothing huge. Wheat and soybeans, mainly.”
    “My dad quit farming about the time I started kindergarten.
    Couldn’t make a living at it anymore. He got a job in town, but we kept the house and a few acres. I always wished we’d sold the whole thing and moved.” Danny scuffed his boot against the edge of the sidewalk.
    “Giving up his land made my dad even meaner than before.” A harried woman walked past pushing two screaming kids in a stroller, the boy in front turning around to pop his brother in the face 36 | Brooke McKinley
    with a sippy cup.
    “You miss it?” Miller asked when