Page 13

CHAPTER 13

N ova let out a breath before grabbing her fried rice. “Well, that’s that. I’m not sure how else we can figure out who this guy is. He’ll mess up sometime, right?”

Olive nodded slowly and leaned back on the couch. “Most likely.”

Nova shoved her chopsticks full of fried rice into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “All the equipment is ready to go for tomorrow. We’ll find the best place to set up inside Rebecca’s house, and you can interview her. This should go off without a hitch.”

If only things were as simple as they sounded . . .

Olive blew out a breath. “As long as Rebecca believes we’re on her side . . .”

“The key here will be finding the evidence we need to prove this.” Nova cast Olive a knowing look.

“True.” Olive plunged her chopsticks into her moo goo gai pan. “That’s the tricky part. How do you prove someone doesn’t have cancer? Especially with all the HIPAA laws in place.”

“We look for any inconsistencies in Rebecca’s story, research to see if she hops from one medical facility to another, pay attention to any resistance she has to sharing details or contacts, and watch for suspicious changes in behavior when certain subjects are brought up.”

That about covered it.

A recorded confession would be ideal, but Olive knew Rebecca was too smart for that. She’d potentially carried on this scam for the past three years without raising many eyebrows. Eventually, however, she would get sloppy and mess up.

If only there was a way to look at her financials. A way to see her medical records.

But even if they managed to do that, they couldn’t use that information to prove Rebecca was a fraud. The info would have been illegally obtained.

Olive was also curious about Rebecca’s husband and daughter. Was Matthew in on this with her? Certainly, she couldn’t fool him also, not when he was there at her appointments with her.

She still had so many questions.

Hopefully, Mitzi could find some information for them while working at the hospital. The woman was good at what she did.

Take tonight for example. Mitzi was the type who could make friends quickly wherever she went. So even though it was her first day on the job at the hospital, she and a couple of the nurses were going to dinner together.

All Mitzi needed to do was to find a nurse with loose lips who might share something about Rebecca.

It wouldn’t happen instantaneously. Building that kind of trust would take time. But if anyone could do it, Mitzi could.

Their colleague would also monitor everything at the hospital and let them know when Rebecca came and went.

Olive continued to think through things as she and Nova ate dinner.

When Olive finished her food, she set her container on the table beside her.

“You done with that?” Nova raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the container.

“Help yourself.”

For a tiny woman, Nova was like a garbage disposal. She loved eating.

“But you still owe me some of that lumpia and pancit when we’re back home,” Olive reminded her.

“It’s a deal.”

The woman really did make the best lumpia ever. Olive actually found herself craving it.

As Nova grabbed her leftover food, Olive stared at her computer, at those pictures Motorcycle Man had taken.

Again, she wondered if he’d been the one to pull the fire alarm and, if so, why.

They would need to check Nova’s room also, just to make sure there were no surprises there.

“One more thing to add to our list is him.” Olive nodded to the pictures. “We need to figure out who this guy is and what exactly he’s up to. The last thing I want is for him to blow our whole operation.”

Her muscles hardened at the thought.

He would not blow their operation. Olive would make sure of that.

Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. It was Chelsea.

She quickly answered. “Hey, there.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt you,” she started. “I wanted to let you know what I just heard. Maria is dead.”

Olive’s heart beat harder. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. She was a wonderful woman. She didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“Did you hear anything else?”

“Some paint from the car was found on Maria’s purse. That’s how hard she was hit. Apparently, it was a dark-green vehicle that hit her.”

A dark-green vehicle? Just like the car Rebecca’s cousin had driven.

Wasn’t that interesting?

After Olive gave Nova the update, they checked Nova’s room—which adjoined Olive’s.

It was clear.

Motorcycle Man must have gone through all that trouble with the fire alarm simply to clear them from the room and try to get the USB drive back.

There was a good chance he’d try again, so they’d need to be careful.

Back in her room, Olive sat on the couch, mentally shuffling through everything that had happened since she’d arrived in town.

Being in Oasis again was weird—really weird.

Would she recognize anyone else from her brief stay here? Were all of Jason’s family members as forgiving as Chelsea? Or would they be hostile toward her?

She wasn’t sure.

Coming back to her former home turf was tougher than she’d imagined, nothing like the heartwarming movies on TV.

Olive’s cell rang, and she glanced at the screen.

Her breath caught when Jason’s name appeared.

Normally, she might consider whether or not she’d answer. When she was on other assignments, she usually didn’t. But he had hired her to come here and investigate Rebecca, so sending him to voicemail felt unprofessional.

She swallowed hard before answering and putting the phone on speaker. “Hey, there.”

“Ollie . . . now there’s a voice I enjoy hearing.”

A flash of delight swept through her at his words.

She quickly swallowed the emotion and asked, “Rough day at work?”

Jason worked for tech giant Conglomerate as their head of security. Things had been stressful there as of late due to a scandal a few months ago at the company.

“Not really. It was pretty normal.” He paused. “My problem is I’ve been preoccupied with thoughts of you.”

Olive’s eyebrows shot up. He wasn’t usually so direct—but she kind of liked it. “With me?”

“With your case.”

Her expression softened, but her heart—if she were honest—dipped with disappointment. “Of course.”

“How’s it going so far?”

Olive leaned back on the couch and gave him a basic overview—leaving out the motorcycle incident, the photographer, and the fire alarm. It was best just to stick with the facts directly connected to this case.

She thought about mentioning Maria but changed her mind. She’d wait until she was sure of a connection.

“Things went okay with Chelsea?” Hesitation marred his voice.

“She was great. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her. Henry was adorable.”

“He’s a fun kid. Being an uncle is the best.”

His words caused a strange emotion to lodge in Olive’s throat.

She imagined Jason as a dad one day. He would be great—stern but fun, protective but loving, gruff but authentic.

At one time, Olive had dreamed about the two of them having kids together. Now that dream was dead. She needed to be careful not to resurrect it.

“I appreciate you going to bat to take this case,” Jason said a moment later.

“Of course.” She paused. “I actually met with Rebecca earlier. She seems . . . charming, and her story is remarkable.”

“And false.”

“Maybe.” Olive was trying to be open-minded.

“Chelsea and her husband work hard for their money. It wasn’t easy to sacrifice their savings for Rebecca. To think they may have lost part of their retirement all so this woman could buy a new car and go to Disney? It makes me sick to my stomach.”

Olive understood the sentiment. “One way or another, I’ll get to the bottom of this. I promise you that.”

“I know you will.” He paused. “So, what’s it like being back in Oasis?”

It’s felt like someone wants to kill me . . .

She didn’t dare say that out loud.

Her lips twisted into a frown as she contemplated her response. “It’s been strange. This place has grown a lot since I was here last, and I doubt I even know many people anymore.”

“You might be surprised.”

She nestled back into the couch cushions. “How often do you make it back?”

“I try to come home at least once or twice a year—usually for holidays or birthdays.”

“That’s nice.” Olive tried to imagine what it would be like to have family to come home to.

Then she quickly put that idea out of her mind. Feeling sorry for herself would get her nowhere.

It would never happen. Her family was gone. They had been for 2,986 days.

She was solo on her journey called life.

She thought she’d accepted that idea. But lately, it felt harder than usual—probably ever since she’d run into Jason, if she were honest with herself.

Olive needed to keep up her walls—they were the only thing protecting her from crumbling.

Letting them down would only mean defeat.

As she and Jason continued to catch up, Olive stood and paced to the window, curious if all the fire trucks were gone.

She didn’t see them.

Her breath caught.

Because she did see a dark-green Mercedes pull out of the parking lot. It was too dark to see any details, but it looked an awful lot like the vehicle Rebecca’s cousin had driven.