Free The White Angel Murder by Victor Methos Page A

Everyone else on this team was chosen for the application process and then went through three interviews and a screening before being selected. The rumor is he just recruited you personally.”
    “ Mike and I were detectives in narcotics for a brief time. We hit it off and have stayed friends. Some people can do that. Make a quick connection that never breaks. I trust him.”
    “ I wish I had that; someone to trust. So far, I haven’t seen anyone worthy of absolute trust.”
    “ Maybe you’re searching the wrong places.”
    She attempted to answer when Stanton’s phone buzzed. He checked it and a text had been received. It said: money in ur acct good luck-Tom
    “ Who is it?”
    “ Tommy. He came through on something for me I wasn’t sure he could come through on.”
    She absent-mindedly played with the food on her plate awhile and then said, “So this Mormon thing. I have a few questions and then I won’t ask about it again.”
    “ No worries. Ask away.”
    “ I’ve heard you guys think the Garden of Eden is in Missouri?”
    “ True.”
    “ Isn’t that kinda, silly?”
    “ Why? Do you think having it in Africa or Jerusalem is somehow more serious?”
    “ Well, no, I guess not. But it seems weird that America would play such a big role in the Bible.”
    “ Generation after generation has been taught that the most important religious events have happened in the Middle East and that is what everyone has accepted. Doesn’t make it true.”
    “ Guess not. Okay, how about multiple wives?”
    “ I’m all for it.”
    She smiled and said, “No, be serious.”
    “ Abandoned that practice a long time ago.”
    “ Everyone?”
    “ Everyone that’s a true Church member, yeah. So I’d like to ask you something now.”
    “ Okay.”
    “ I noticed you only wear one earring. I thought you’d forgotten or lost the other one but then I saw that you did it every day.”
    She looked down to her plate. “My sister and I would share earrings when we were kids. When I used to visit her, toward the end of her life, we started doing it again. I put one of all of my earrings in a little box that was buried with her. Now I just wear one.”
    This time her phone interrupted them and she checked the ID.
    “ Sorry, have to take this. It’s the sitter.”
    “ No problem.”
    As she rose and answered her phone, walking out to the front entrance to talk, he texted Hunter: Deal’s on. 5 is the highest I can go .
    Ten seconds later, he replied: no need got it for 2 .
     

19
     
    It was nearly eleven o’clock when Stanton dropped Jessica off at her apartment and made his way to Rancho Santa Fe to meet Hunter at his place.
    Rancho Santa Fe was easily the most affluent area of the city and in the top three most affluent places in America. The median household income was right under $200,000 and for a small cottage with no yard someone could expect to pay over a million dollars. It was predominantly white and in every driveway was a Mercedes or BMW or Cadillac or Lincoln. The usual marks of life indicating that people lived in a neighborhood were not present here; there were no toys left out on lawns, no neighbors barbequing together. Whenever Stanton came through this area it gave him a heavy gray feeling in his gut. Becoming successful enough to live in Rancho Santa Fe was the goal of most people in the city, but the top was as hollow as the bottom. Meaning came from somewhere else.
    He pulled into a quiet street in a cul-de-sac and parked on the curb. The home was square with a well manicured lawn and trimmed hedges. A neon sign hung above the door:
     
    ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE
     
    Stanton walked up the driveway past a 7-Series BMW and knocked on the door. No one came. He knocked again and rang the doorbell. He tried the door; it was open.
    The house was immaculately clean and a small note with a mint was on a table by the door, indicating that a maid had come through recently. Art hung on all the walls. It was