Loyalty Read Online Free PDF Page A

closed. When in the presence of the cops, shut up, shut up, shut up.
    Pitney folded the gum wrappers and tucked them into her pocket. She looked at Fina and beamed. “I’m not going to have any trouble with you, right?”
    “No more than you usually do, Lieutenant.”
    “And I know that you and Menendez have a special relationship, but there’d better not be any pillow talk,” Pitney said, gesturing toward Cristian, who was talking to Bob outside the dockmaster’s office. She leaned toward Fina. “Believe me, I get it. He’s smoking hot.”
    “Isn’t that sexual harassment?”
    Pitney threw back her head and laughed. “Probably. I’m sure you can recommend a good attorney if he wants to sue.”

Fina hightailed it over to Ludlow and Associates and paced outside her brother Scotty’s office. Boisterous laughter was emanating from the room, and after a few minutes, four men exited the office, each looking identical to the one before.
    “Come on in,” Scotty said to Fina. “Michelle, can you tell everybody that we’re ready?” he asked his assistant.
    Scotty’s office had the usual accoutrements of a successful litigator—glass desk, leather sofa, flat-screen TV, private bathroom—but it also boasted more personal touches, like a pinball machine. The lights on the Magic Genie were flashing, but the sound had been muted.
    Scotty gave Fina a kiss on the cheek and directed her to the couch and chairs clustered around a coffee table. She sat down, leaned back against the couch cushions, put her feet up on the table, and looked at him. All of Fina’s brothers were handsome, and each of them looked slightly different from the others, like variations on a theme. Scotty was about five feet ten, with thick hair that was straighter and lighter than Rand’s. He had a broad smile that lit up his face and a goofy laugh that Fina never tired of hearing. He looked like a brighter, happier version of Rand. And whereas Rand looked a couple of years older than his forty-three years, Scotty could easily pass for a couple of years younger than thirty-nine.
    “What’s up?” Scotty asked.
    “I’d rather wait until everyone is here.”
    “Fine.” He tossed a legal pad onto the coffee table and took a long drink from a mug. “You going to the Sox game on Wednesday?”
    Fina stared at him. “You know, that kind of depends on whether or not our sister-in-law is still missing.”
    Scotty looked sheepish. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but the kids are excited, and I want to keep things as normal as possible for them.”
    Fina pulled out her phone and made a quick call to Mark Lamont. When the standard investigative channels don’t net results, you have to dig deeper into the swamp of questionable activity. A lunch meeting with Mark was a good entrée to that world.
    Carl walked into the room and took a seat behind Scotty’s desk. Any office that Carl strode into was his. He was followed by Rand and Fina’s other lawyer brother, Matthew. He looked like Rand and Scotty, but he was the most handsome of the Ludlow brothers. His wavy hair was a deep brown color, and when he smiled, a dimple emerged on his right cheek. At the age of thirty-six, he still looked boyish, and people sometimes thought he was younger than thirty-four-year-old Fina. This misperception never failed to annoy her.
    Scotty grabbed a baseball off a credenza and began to toss it into the air. Matthew sat down on the couch next to Fina, and Rand leaned against the corner of the desk.
    “Talk, Fina,” Carl instructed.
    “I haven’t found any trace of Melanie, but the cops are at the marina executing a search warrant on
Guilty Pleasure
.” None of the men looked surprised. “I had a quick look around before they showed up, and a couple of things are off.”
    Carl sat forward and laced his fingers together on the desktop.
    Fina looked at Rand. “Where’s the cooler that Bob saw you bring on the boat the other day? I searched the boat and didn’t