Page 72 of The Spy Ring

Evaleen must have told Edgar about her new job. No wonder he’s acting extra icy toward me.

“What?” Henrik tilted his head trying to make sense of his friend.

“Nothing.” Edgar glared at me before turning back toward Henrik. “Did you order the drinks?”

“Crap, I forgot,” Henrik said.

“That’s okay, it’s your night. I’ll go order.” Edgar almost jumped off the stool and made his way to the bar.

“Hey, Jagger. Glad you could join us.” Alex gave me a smile.

I liked Alex. He may have more money than I could possibly imagine and appeared to be a cross between a bear and an ancient god, but he was the most down-to-earth guy I knew.

“Aria told me she ran into you a couple of times. I don’t know if she thanked you, but we are very grateful for you helping us,” Alex said as I took Edgar’s vacant stool.

“I’m sorry I had to take down your mom, Alex.” I was unsure how he was handling that.

Emma Hawthorne was an evil and cunning person, but she was still his mom.

“I’m not.” He shook his head. “She was worse than I ever imagined. All those years I thought she was just trying to control my life and then to find out she wanted to control everyone else’s lives too. She was like some villain in a movie, but she was the woman who raised me.”

We were all silent for a moment.

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore. She’s on tape admitting everything. There isn’t a judge in this country that would let her get off.” I slapped his back.

Edgar arrived with a tray filled with a pitcher of beer and three glasses.

“Help yourselves, gentlemen. Except for you, Jagger. I assumed you had your own drink.” Edgar stared at my almost empty tumbler.

I stood and grabbed my glass. “You’re right, Edgar. I’ll go grab a refill and then we can all get to know each other a little better. Maybe talk about how we all met.”

The color drained from Edgar’s face and he was about to say something when Henrik spoke up, “Sounds like a great idea. I’d love to hear how everyone met Jagger.”

With a chuckle still on my lips, I moved toward the bar. As I waited for the bartender to finish with someone else, I felt a vibration on my ass. Reaching back, I pulled my phone out of my back pocket.

“Hello?”

“Jagger, it’s Tenn.”

I put the glass down on the bar. I was surprised to hear from him since I was no longer an agent. Then I remembered asking him to look into that guy Tiffany was in that picture with.

“Did you find out about the man in the photo?” I asked.

“What? Oh, not yet. Other things have come up so I haven’t had time to look him up.”

How quickly Tenn forgot I worked with him for two years. His “too busy at work” excuse was code for not going to happen. Any belief that Tenn might have my back was gone. I was nobody to him now.

“Then why are you calling? I’ve got things to do,” I said as I tried to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

“It’s the Jewel.”

“What about Emma Hawthorne?” I said before sighing.

I guess I’m not such a nobody now that he needed some questions answered about the case. Tenn went on and on this past month about how ready he was to head a big case and now that he’s in charge, who does he call? Me, that’s who. The nobody.

“She’s escaped. We have no idea where she is,” Tenn said right as the bartender appeared.

“Another whiskey sour?” the bartender asked, but I waved him away and turned my back.

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