Killer Encore (Stella Knox FBI Mystery Series Book 7) by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

23

Lisa Kerne’s rendition of Ravel circled in Hagen’s head as they drove back from Kentwood. He couldn’t quite remember the tune Boris Kerne had played during the hostage situation, but the constant tinkling of keys brought him back to that moment. He stood before the piano. His gun raised.

Boris Kerne’s face morphed in his imagination, transforming to the faceless man who shot his own father.

Hagen remembered the small resistance of the trigger under his finger. It had pulled back so smoothly.

Boris had fallen before him.

The same way his father’s murderer would fall before him.

He mentally shook his head, trying to push the tune out of his mind. With Stella sitting right beside him, he didn’t want to dwell on these thoughts. She might pick up on something…off.

Hagen shifted through radio stations. Country, classic rock, even some far-too-lively Mexican flashed across the airwaves but didn’t match either his or Stella’s mood.

Eventually, he gave up and turned to his classic piano Spotify list. The gentle sound of Satie tinkled under the roar of the SUV’s engine.

“Damn. Never took you for the quiet piano bar type.”

“You never took me at all.” His cheeks warmed as he added hastily, softening the comment, “Not to a piano bar or anywhere else.”

“We were supposed to do Korean once, remember? Maybe next time.”

Next time.

That sounded good to Hagen.

In Atlanta, they’d planned to eat in a Korean restaurant near the hotel. If Stella was talking about visiting that restaurant, they were going back to Atlanta. They’d hunt down Joel Ramirez.

Together.

“Sounds good. Bibimbap’s on me.”

As they pulled into the parking garage at the Resident Agency, the music changed. Satie fell away to be replaced by the repeated, catchy bom-ba-da-da-da of Ravel’s Boléro. Hagen rolled his eyes. “I am never getting Ravel out of my head.”

They climbed out and headed toward the building.

“You know what could help you?” Stella held the door open for him.

“With this damn earworm? What’s that?”

“Listening to something else.”

“You think that will get this noise out of my head?”

Stella let the door close behind her and overtook him on the way to the conference room. “It might. Less empty space, less echo.”

Slade slipped past them, appearing from nowhere. Sometimes, the SSA was like a ghost. “All right, you two. Good to see you’re bonding so well. Take your seats. Day’s coming to an end, and we’ve still got a lot to do.”

Hagen took a quick head count as he sat down. “Ander not back yet?”

Slade pushed a notepad onto the table. “He’s staying at Martin’s. Digging into Jane’s background. Maybe there was something in her New York life that could have made her a target. That message to the Feds could have concerned a case she worked on rather than us.”

Hagen’s eyebrows rose. “You think so?”

“No. But we needed to check every possibility. Ander’s talked to New York. Most of Jane’s clients were smalltime, petty criminals with no underworld connections. Frankly, her clients were the kind of people who struggled to get out of their own neighborhoods, let alone come all the way down here to avenge a six-month suspended sentence.

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