Page 88 of Stone
Gregor paled, then turned a little green.
“What’s going on?” Juliana whispered in his ear. Stone shook his head. He recognized the names—a couple of Russian oligarchs who moved between legal and illegal enterprises like water through a sieve—but he didn’t know what they had to do with anything.
“Mikhelson’s still looking for that three million you stole from him,” Griswold added.
Stone fought a lip twitch. He didn’t have the whole picture, but he did know that stealing from people like Vitaly Mikhelson wasn’t a good idea.
“It was part of the deal,” Gregor spat back. Then seemed to catch himself and snapped his mouth closed.
“Good old Brian assumed a different name, Gregory Lanscomb, and became a trusted broker to several oligarchs looking to use real estate in the US to park their questionably attained millions,” Griswold explained.
Stone glanced at Polinsky and Lowery. Judging by Lowery’s grayish skin tone and Polinsky’s look of terror, neither had known.
“And I bet he received a nice commission for his efforts,” Juliana said, her voice laced with disgust. “Do you have any idea how much that kind of foreign ‘investment’ has impacted the housing prices for those of us who live and work here?”
Griswold cocked his head and Stone thought he might have seen a glimmer of a smile, but then he raised an eyebrow.
Juliana cleared her throat. “Right, that probably wasn’t top of mind whenyou helped criminals launder their money!”
Stone fought his own smile. If they ever decided to have kids, he had a pretty good idea of what she’d sound like as a disciplinarian.
“That explains where the money came from for his first investment property in San Francisco,” Stone said.
“And why he came in the first place,” Lowery added, glaring at Gregor. “Three million dollars is pocket change for someone like Mikhelson, but he wouldn’t let the slight to his ego go. You needed somewhere to hide in plain sight, and a relatively small investment opportunity in distant San Francisco gave you that place,” Lowery said, directing that last comment to Gregor.
“Mikhelson’s bitch of a daughter was turning him against me,” Gregor snapped.
“Smart woman,” Juliana muttered.
“She somehow figured out that Gregory Lanscomb wasn’t my real name. Why it mattered, who the hell knows?—”
“Because if you lie about one thing, most people will wonder what else you’re lying about,” Polinsky said, his voice laced with disbelief.
“I closed every deal the way they wanted and earned my cut of each fair and square,” Gregor retorted, glaring at him.
“Until you stole three million dollars,” Lowery said.
Gregor’s eyes narrowed. “Like you said, chump change. Not even a rounding error.”
Stone caught Griswold’s eye and gave a tiny nod. Now they had solid incriminating evidence against Gregor as well as Polinsky. Only Lowery remained.
“I’m curious, Supervisor,” Juliana said. “When Brian came back to town, was it good to see an old friend? Or were you nervous he’d bring the past back with him?”
“Neither,” Lowery answered without hesitation. Interesting.
“You never liked him, did you? Seemed shifty from the start? But what happened in Iraq tied you to him. And when he calledand asked you out for a beer, or maybe dinner, you couldn’t say no because you didn’t want to risk pissing him off,” Juliana continued. Griswold shifted, giving Stone a small nod. Both men stayed silent, letting Juliana take the lead.
Lowery inclined his head. “I always thought he was off, you know, a little not right in the head. He has dead eyes?—”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Gregor interjected.
“Off enough to make you nervous,” Juliana continued, ignoring Gregor. “So, did he lull you into a sense of comfort first? Spend a few months chatting about his project or his move? Asked a few questions about your work?” She paused, then stepped to Stone’s side. He tried to move in front of her, keep himself between her and the guns, but the look she slid him had him stepping back.
“Or did he jump right in?” she asked. “That first time you met? Maybe he had a permit up for review he wanted help with?”
“A harmless request,” Lowery said. His voice taking on the quality of a man remembering the past. Juliana had been right to take this tactic.
“He asked me to ‘look into it’ for him,” Lowery said, then paused. To Stone’s right, Gregor shifted. All three guns now pointed at the floor rather than them, but none of the men looked as if they’d forgotten they held them.
