Bucked (The Invincibles 6)

“She and my aunt were friends,” said Stella.

“Turns out she wasn’t investigating drug gangs as was reported at the time. She was part of a task force working on exposing corruption within Irish Military Intelligence. The rest of the members of the unit, save three, were killed within a week of her death.”

“What happened to the other three?”

“Irish?” said Decker.

“Special Agents Pierre Martin, Leon Schmidt, and Alan Perry.”

I wasn’t the least bit surprised Irish recalled the names of the agents murdered in La Chapelle-Saint-Maurice.

“The father of the agent I mentioned the other day, Siren Gallagher, was one of the men from the task force who was murdered. Byrne kept track of her all these years, thinking she might have evidence related to the crimes. Turns out, her mother, who passed away a few years ago, had it in a box that was supposed to be given to Siren but wasn’t located until after Byrne’s death.”

Decker continued. “Stella, my contact in the Hays County Coroner’s Office said the DC medical examiner is getting ready to release the death certificate. As soon as that happens, I think you should press to get a meeting scheduled with the attorney.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Deck, Stella received something in the mail that was forwarded to her. It was a note from her aunt, sent the day Stella found her.”

“What’s in it?”

“We haven’t been able to decipher its meaning.”

“Send it to me. It’ll give me something to do on the flight back.”

“Roger that.”

“Anything else I need to know before I get in the air?” Deck asked.

When no one spoke up, he ended the call.

“Can I see the note?” asked Irish.

I picked it up from the table and handed it to him.

“What’s at 610 Fifth Avenue?”

I pulled out my phone. “Tiffany’s flagship store.”

“Right,” he mumbled, continuing to stare at the note. He set it down and took a photo of it with his phone. “I’ll send it to Deck.”

When Irish left, saying he’d come back later, Cope and Ali said goodnight and left too.

“I’m sorry about dinner.”

“Don’t be.”

“Are you hungry?”

I smiled. “Are you?”

“Starving.”

“You said that earlier, didn’t you? Let me see what I can rustle up.” I got up to go to the kitchen and heard another knock. When I opened the door, all four of my siblings stood on the porch. “What are you doing here?”

“We brought food,” said Flynn, pushing past me.

“You might want to ask if this is a good time,” said Porter, walking in behind her.