Page 10

CHAPTER 10

O live cautiously stepped into the room and scanned everything around her.

She swung her gun toward the bathroom on her left. Flipping the lights on, she surveyed the small space.

No one was there.

She stepped back into the small entry and carefully paced forward.

Olive paused at the corner, and her gaze swept over the king-sized bed. The couch. The small desk and dresser combo.

No one still.

Just to be sure, she peered on the other side of the bed, her gun still raised and ready.

No one crouched there, ready to pounce.

With a relieved sigh, she shoved her gun into her purse.

Then she examined her room more closely.

Her suitcase’s contents had been strewn, and her clothes now lay scattered on the floor, bed, and couch. The extra blanket from the dresser was half inside the open drawer and half on the floor. The pictures on the wall were crooked. One of the pillows had even been split open and now looked as if it had been disemboweled.

It all seemed like overkill.

Someone had either come here looking for something or to send a message. Olive would guess it was to send a message. Or Motorcycle Man could have realized she had the USB drive and had come looking for it.

The gutted pillow? Maybe someone had just done that out of spite.

Did someone know her true identity? Did Rebecca suspect Olive wasn’t here with pure intentions, and had Rebecca sent someone to scare Olive off to protect her image?

Olive had no idea.

But she didn’t like this.

She glanced at the door to her room. Should she tell the front desk clerk? Ask for security footage? Call Monty?

No, she decided. Doing so would only draw more attention to her and complicate matters. She’d stay quiet about this for a while longer.

Right now, she needed to straighten up so she could get to work.

But this wasn’t the start to this assignment Olive had wanted.

Olive had straightened her room and ordered Chinese food when a knock sounded at her door.

Nova.

Olive checked through the peephole to be sure.

She quickly ushered the woman inside and then locked the door behind them.

Nova froze near the entry and cast Olive a confused look. “Jumpy much?”

“Someone broke into my room.” Olive strode back toward the couch.

“What?” Her voice lilted with surprise.

“And someone nearly ran me over with his motorcycle earlier.”

Nova eased farther into the room and paused. “And you’re just now mentioning this to me?”

Olive grabbed her computer and sat back down with it. “I had other things to worry about first.”

“If your cover is already blown, then I’d say that’s a pretty big worry.” Nova gave Olive a sideways glance as she sat beside her on the couch.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out now.” She grabbed the jump drive. “The photographer dropped this USB drive when he nearly ran me over with his motorcycle.”

“Whoa. That’s next-level.”

“At least, I think it belonged to him.” Olive handed the device to Nova. “I know you probably want to check this before I put it in my computer.”

“People say you’re smart for a good reason.” She grabbed her bag, pulled out a laptop, and inserted the USB drive. “This computer isn’t connected to any network and has no information on it—just in case.”

“Smart thinking.”

Sometimes there were bugs planted on these devices, so while people thought they were getting information, someone was actually either hacking into their system or destroying it. It was always best to use devices with certain parameters in place for these moments.

Olive watched the screen. “Now let’s see what’s on this memory stick.”

A moment later, pictures appeared.

Olive expected to see photos of herself in town. Or maybe photos of her in Indiana, where Aegis was based.

But that wasn’t what she saw.

Photos of Rebecca had filled the screen.

Olive blinked as she stared at the images.

Only one thought came to mind: Was someone else investigating Rebecca also?

“What . . . ?” Nova murmured. “There’s gotta be more to this story.”

“You’re right. There has to be.” Olive stared at the photos.

There were pictures of Rebecca walking around town. Pictures of her at church. Going into her house. Walking into the local hospital.

“Someone has been stalking Rebecca.” Nova shook her head in disbelief. “This guy probably heard you were coming to town to do this documentary, so he took pictures of you also.”

“So maybe my cover isn’t blown.” Olive leaned back and let that thought settle.

“Who else might suspect Rebecca has been lying, and what do they plan on doing about it? Exposing her? Or worse?”

Olive continued to stare at the photos. “That’s an excellent question. Maybe it’s someone she’s scammed. If she’s taken a lot of money from them, it would give them reason to be angry. Maybe really angry.”

“It’s definitely something to consider.” Nova shrugged slowly.

Olive told her about the argument she saw Rebecca having with the man in the parking lot. Then she shared the details of her conversation with Chelsea. She ended with the update on Maria.

“I gotta admit—I wasn’t excited about being assigned to this case. But it’s getting more interesting. Maybe it won’t be that bad after all.” Nova pulled her legs beneath her on the couch as the two of them settled in for their conversation.

Olive’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. “Our food is here. Let me grab it. Then we can talk through the rest of our plan.”

Just as Olive rose, an alarm sounded, and lights flashed above her.

“The fire alarm?” she muttered.

Olive and Nova glanced at each other.

“Maybe it’s a false alarm,” Nova suggested.

“Maybe—but we can’t stay here, just in case it’s real.”

She sighed. “Figured you say that.”

They quickly packed up their gear, not leaving anything with confidential information on it. Then they headed out.

This wasn’t a complication she wanted tonight—especially not considering there were so many other things she needed to work on.

But safety first . . . unless someone had pulled the alarm to lure them outside.