Page 67 of Stone
Stone exchanged a look with his brothers, Philly’s expression making it clear that he suspected that the situation wasn’t copacetic. The percentage of families of police officers who experienced domestic violence was multiple times higher than the general population. They weren’t the only profession with noticeably higher rates, but they were the highest.
“I see,” Stone said. Juliana cocked her head. No doubt she knew all the same studies he did and understood as well.
“So he’s living above his means,” Juliana said, gently shifting the topic away from Handly’s wife.
Philly nodded. “And interestingly, about four months after the most recent project in his precinct finished, he bought himself a brand-new pickup truck. I don’t know what he paid, but I can tell you it wasn’t less than fifty grand.”
“Right, so that’s sus,” Juliana muttered. “We’ve established that, at the very least, he’s sketchy as hell. What about the other one?”
Philly flashed her a grin and a wink. Agent Parks’s jaw twitched.
“She sounds like a woman who’s a good time. If you can overlook the fact that she’s probably a corrupt cop,” Philly answered.
“Not much of a recommendation. You need to raise your bar, Philly,” Juliana pointed out.
“You only live once,” he shot back before projecting another photo.
Even Griswold grunted at the image.
“Wow,” Juliana said.
“I know, right?” Philly replied. “Officer Eva Garcia.”
Stone studied the woman. She was stunning in that high-maintenance way. Even in her professional photo, her makeup was done to the nines—fake lashes and enhanced lips, her olive skin tone highlighted in all the right places. Her expression was neither serious nor playful. She had the look that he’d seen on a number of beautiful people—men and women alike. An expression that let everyone know thattheyknew you wanted to fuck them. Stone very muchdidn’t—and not just because of Juliana. That kind of person had never been one he’d been drawn to. And he doubted any of his brothers would go for it, either. Not even Philly, who wasn’t as much of a manwhore as heand Juliana joked. He might have been a decade ago, but those days were far behind him—behind all of them.
“What’s her story?” Juliana asked, staring at the picture. “And are those lips real?”
“No!” everyone at the table, including Griswold, answered at the same time.
Juliana laughed. “Okay, then. Back to my first question. What’s her story?”
“Lives like a cop should,” Philly said. “Small apartment but in a decent area. Doesn’t spend outside her means in her day-to-day life.”
“She a gambler?” Griswold asked.
Philly shook his head. “She’s a traveler.” Everyone looked at him. “When she travels, she goes all out. I’m talking flying business class everywhere, private tours, skiing in Aspen and the Alps, safaris in Africa—three of them so far—diving in the Caymans while staying at the Ritz. She probably spends more on travel in a year than most people pay for their mortgage. We’re talking a couple hundred grand a year.”
Stone’s mind went blank at the thought. “She only has, what? Three weeks of vacation a year? How does she spend that much money?”
“She has six,” Philly said. “And when you do things like book four-thousand-dollar-a-night villas in Greece and pay for your six closest friends to join you, it adds up.”
Monk let out a low whistle.
“Internal Affairs should be flagging that,” Agent Parks said.
“If they knew, they probably would. Eva has no social media presence, but her sister does. She—and I’m sure it was accidental—posted a comment thanking her sister for the amazing bridal shower at a private spa in Costa Rica. From there, I followed the trail of friends. None of their posts have any pictures of her or name her. More than a few refer to a mysterious ‘E.’”
Juliana snorted. “Nice reference there, Philly,” she said. He smiled and leaned over with his fist out.
“What?” Stone asked when Juliana bumped it.
“Scooby-Doo reference,” Juliana replied. “The new series, not the original.”
“Still don’t get it,” he said.
“Mr. E is the evil villain the group is constantly after. They solve mysteries and they are after a villain named Mr. E,” Philly answered. “Mysterious E wasn’t quite as good, but my girl got it,” Philly said, with a wink at Juliana.
Stone cleared his throat. He was in no way threatened by Philly, but some lines needed to be drawn.
