Page 68 of Stone
Philly rolled his eyes. “Yourgirl got it, Stone.”
He wondered if Juliana would object to being called “his,” but to his surprise, she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Woman, you two. I am a woman, not a girl,” she said, not objecting at all to what he thought she might.
He grinned. “For which I am eternally grateful.”
“Can we get back to Officer Garcia?” Agent Parks asked.
“Not much more to get back to,” Philly said. “We’ve established that she, too, lives outside the means of her income.”
“Inheritance? Trust fund?” Agent Parks pressed.
“Her parents are still alive, and both emigrated from Mexico as day laborers. I haven’t confirmed there’s no trust, but I doubt it,” Philly answered, still without looking at the woman.
“Even without backgrounds on the other officers, these two definitely raise flags,” Juliana said. “But who pays them? Polinsky or the drug dealers?”
“Or Gregor,” Parks said.
“One more question to chase down,” Viper said, and everyone in the room nodded.
Philly closed the laptop harder than necessary, startling Sherman, who jumped up. “Sorry, Shermy,” he said, leaningunder the table. Sherman’s tail wagged, and he inched under the tabletop and buried his head against Philly’s knees as he rubbed the dog’s ears.
“So what now?” Juliana asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, Dottie is on her way to tell us lunch is ready,” Philly said.
Sure enough, three seconds later, they heard footsteps, and five seconds after that, a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in,” Stone called out.
Dottie opened the door, her gaze sweeping the room. It snagged on Griswold, and a frown tugged at the corners. Before coming into their lives, Dottie had lived with an abusive man for decades. She was now at ease with all the Falcons, but it hadn’t occurred to Stone that she still might be uncomfortable around men she didn’t know—especially one the size of Griswold.
Her lips tightened, then she shot Juliana a smile. “Who all is staying for lunch? Mantis is grilling burgers and brats, and we have watermelon and pasta salad.”
33
“Not me,” Agent Parks said, rising from her seat. Juliana thought she did a good job of not bolting, something she’d clearly wanted to do the second Philly walked in the door. “I’m going to head back to Sacramento to look into a few things,” she added as she collected her belongings.
“We can email you what we have,” Simon offered.
She pulled a card from her bag and handed it to him. “Thank you, I’d appreciate that. We’ll be in touch,” she said, directing the comment to her and Simon.
“Aww, you’re not going to call me, too?” Philly said.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out the two had emotional baggage, although Juliana was clueless as to what it could be. Not a surprise since she’d only known the man a few days, but judging by the way Simon, Monk, and Viper watched Philly, she’d wager they didn’t know either. Andthatwas interesting.
Not acknowledging the taunt, Agent Parks graced Philly with a dismissive nod. “Gabriel,” she said. Juliana hadn’t even known that was his given name. “I’m sorry about Matthew,” she added. And with that, she slung her bag over her shoulder and walkedout of the room, thanking Dottie for the offer of lunch as she passed.
“Who are you?” Professor Griswold asked Dottie. Despite the tension between Parks and Philly, Juliana hadn’t missed the way the older man studied the Falcons’ matriarch.
When a beat passed and none of the men rose to do the introductions, Juliana sighed. “Dottie, this is Professor Archibald Griswold,” she said, rising and walking to the woman’s side. “He worked with the guys while they were in the military. Professor Griswold, this is Dottie, she’s…”
“The house mom,” Dottie said when Juliana paused to figure out the best way to describe her.
“To them?” Griswold asked, sweeping his finger around the room and encompassing the three men.
“To all fifteen of them,” Dottie replied.
Griswold frowned. “I’m sorry,” he said with no hint of sarcasm.
