“That made it a substantial concern to the department I was working in, and when we dug deeper and did a search for other cases like this, we began to get an idea of how big the syndicate was. We’re not talking twenty cases, we’re talking all across the country and internationally. They were everywhere.”
“Jesus Christ, whatever happened to working hard and honestly?” I growled. “Why do they have to go online and do shit like that? I mean, do you have any idea how many emails I get a week telling me that someone’s aunt or husband has died overseas and they’re bequeathing me millions of dollars?”
It was a rhetorical question seeing as how everyone’s junk mail was filled with them, but I felt it was pertinent to the topic of conversation.
“I win a lifetime’s supply of Viagra every month, too.” I threw my hands up in the air, narrowly missing his jaw.
“I’ve never tried to claim it because I don’t have a penis. Although Jacinda keeps telling me we should and that we should try it ourselves to see what it does to our—” I snapped my mouth shut and just knew my face would match a strawberry at that moment. “Anyway, you were saying?”
Alex’s eyes had widened during my Viagra rant, and when he saw how red I was, he burst out laughing and leaned down to rest his forehead against my collarbone.
“Fuck me, baby. I’ve been living bitter about this case and what they were doing and my involvement in it for years. But there you go, ranting about lifetime supplies of Viagra and trying them with your friend, and it’s like I can breathe again.”
Sifting my fingers through the soft hair on the top of his head, I thought about my response. I didn’t want to touch the subject of the lifetime supply of Viagra’s effect on my clitoris again, but I’d be lying if I didn’t like that I could lift some of the weight he’d been living under for so long.
I just wanted to clarify something to him, though. “Just to say, I have no idea what Viagra does for women if they take it, and as far as I know, neither does Jacinda.” As soon as I said it, I winced. “At least, not that I’m aware of. She’s weird on a whole new scale that one.”
His upper body shook, taking mine with it. “No shit.”
Giving him a moment to enjoy his ‘breathing,’ I sat quietly, using the tips of my fingers to work out some of the tension in the muscles at the back of his neck.
“If I don’t say this now, it’s going to create a wedge between us, so I’m just going to get it all out. We ended up joining with police departments all over the world to try to stop the group.
“Come to find out had lists of targets, their jobs, income, divorce settlements, life insurance settlements, things to blackmail them with, and the information they’d be useful for. You name it.”
The way Alex sounded as he listed it made my heart sink.
“You were on the list, weren’t you?”
“Yeah,” he sighed, lifting his head back up again. “Lisa had a life insurance policy that I’d split between me and DB. Neither of us had touched it in all of those years, so the money was there gathering interest. I was also targeted because of my job.
“At Luli’s trial, she claimed they wanted to get information out of me about potential targets and whether their group was on our radar or not.”
“Wow. I always thought criminals like that were pitiful little weasels who sent out emails or just worked on their phones. These guys were like the mob.”
“A lot of organized crime groups are. I can’t say much about what went down, but I was approached and asked to stage a guys’ weekend in Vegas with some other officers where I’d bump into her. They planned out everything for me, including a drunken wedding in one of the chapels.”
The words popped out before I even knew they existed. “Was it a nice wedding? Did you have a cake?”
The Vegas weddings had always intrigued me. Did they make cakes as part of the package? Everyone knew it was one of the biggest parts of the day, so was it like when I went to Walmart and there was a row of cakes or I could place an order and collect it?
Man, I loved Walmart cakes. And Costco ones. And—
“I’ve lost you,” he noted. “Was it the cake?”
“Sorry,” I winced. “I was just thinking about eating one and where the best ones were from.”
Chuckling, he shook his head slowly. “You’re like the freshest air in the world for me.”
In theory, those words would never make it onto a Valentine’s or Hallmark card, but for me, they were some of the most beautiful ones I’d ever heard.