Page 47 of Stone
A pause followed, then Juliana answered. “Follow the money.”
“Exactly,” Philly replied.
“We don’t have the capabilities to do that,” Viper said.
“But Leo does,” Stone said.
Philly nodded. “He came through this morning.”
“And?” Juliana asked, leaning forward in her seat.
Philly grinned. “When Lowery discharged from the army, he didn’t take loans or use the GI Bill to pay for college. He paid cash for a little apartment and paid all his tuition each year the same way.”
“So somehow, between entering the army and leaving, he came into money,” Stone said more to himself than the group.
“To be fair, he saved during his time in,” Viper interjected.
“But no way in hell did he make enough to buy an apartment and cover tuition,” Stone said.
“That would also be fair to say,” Viper said.
“So definitely suspicious,” Juliana said before taking a sip of her lemonade. He reached for the pitcher and refilled her glass as she asked, “What about Polinsky?”
“He rented a place while in the academy, but when he graduated, he, too, bought a home,” Viper replied. “In cash. Nothing extravagant, but a nice three-bedroom place in one of the up-and-coming neighborhoods that’s now filled with million-dollar homes.”
“Okay, that is sketchy,” Juliana admitted. “But gold? Where did that possibility come from?”
“Leo traced some of Lowery’s activities after he discharged,” Philly replied. “Believe it or not, he sold small amounts of gold through the internet. Nothing that called too much attention to himself, but in total, Leo identified forty-two transactions that amounted to just over $82,000 in cash.”
“Not enough to buy an apartment and pay tuition,” Stone said.
“No, but he also sold several bullions to dealers around the world. In total, he netted $402,345 US dollars. At the time, more than enough money to do both those things,” Viper said.
“That’s…” Juliana’s eyes traveled up, then a beat later dropped. “Rough calculations, that’s about seventy-five pounds of gold. Based on the price per ounce in 1992,” she added.
Philly and Viper blinked in surprise. Stone grinned.
She gave a sheepish shrug. “The price of an ounce of gold hovered between two hundred and four hundred dollars for a few decades. It wasn’t until around 2005 that it started increasing to what we see today. Today, we’d only need about eighteen pounds of gold to hit $400,000. Then again, $400,000 doesn’t buy as much as it did in the early nineties. That’s a lot of gold to carry,” she added.
Both Philly and Viper stared for another beat, then shook their heads. “It’s not a lot when you’re a soldier,” Viper said. “Our packs regularly weighed more than that.”
Juliana’s lips thinned, and her eyes narrowed. Then on a sigh, she said, “It’s a miracle any of you get out without wrecking your bodies, let alone your minds. You train for it, sure, and I’m grateful there are people willing to do it—although don’t get me started on the recruiting practices used that target poor and underserved communities—but a body is not meant to carry that much weight for any length of time.” She paused, then let out a huff. “Anyway, we digress.”
Philly and Viper grinned. Stone dropped a kiss on the inside of her wrist.
“What about Polinsky? Did Leo find anything on him?” Juliana asked.
“He’s working on that now,” Philly replied.
“You said you brought in ‘friends.’ Who else other than Leo?” Stone asked.
“Griswold,” Viper said.
Stone drew back. “You talked to him? Or, I should ask, he agreed to talk toyou?”
“Who’s Griswold?” Juliana asked.
“An anathema,” Philly muttered.
