Page 20

CHAPTER 20

O live had just enough time to run by her old house before she met up with Sabrina. But as she drove, she kept her eyes peeled.

She hadn’t been imagining things when she thought she was being watched. But she hadn’t found the culprit either. Motorcycle Man could very easily be following her now—maybe even in a different vehicle, and she didn’t like that thought.

Her phone rang, and she saw it was Tevin. She answered, grateful for the opportunity to talk to him.

“Hey!” she started. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

“Bad time?”

“I’m just driving right now. What’s going on?”

“You asked me to look into those phone numbers,” he started. “Thankfully, I have a system for that.”

Tevin had systems and spreadsheets for everything. Olive found the quality endearing.

Her lungs tightened. Someone had sent her two different texts from two different numbers recently. The first she’d received in Chicago, and it had read: I know who killed your family.

The second, she’d received just this month while she was on assignment in Wyoming. It had read: I know who murdered your family, and you don’t. This has got to be killing you.

Clearly, the messages had been pertaining to her family’s deaths.

“That’s right.” Her throat ached as she said the words. “Did you find something?”

“As a matter of fact, I did. It’s nothing huge, but I think you’ll find the information interesting.”

“Please, don’t keep me in suspense.” She gripped the wheel more tightly.

“The numbers are both from burners, of course. I tried to trace the store or stores where the phones were purchased, but I didn’t have any luck. However . . . I can tell you the general region those texts were sent from.”

Her lungs froze. “Where?”

“Strangely enough, they came from Texas . . . the very area where you’re working this case, actually.”

Olive’s heart pounded in her ears. “Is that right?”

“I wanted to let you know.” He paused. “Are you in some kind of danger? Danger besides our normal danger?”

She considered how to answer before deciding on simply telling the truth. “I don’t know, Tevin. I really don’t know.”

Tevin’s words continued to play in Olive’s mind as she headed down the road.

Those texts had been sent from this area? What sense did that make?

She wasn’t sure.

But maybe going to her old house was a good idea. Maybe there were answers there or memories waiting to be unlocked.

If nothing else, maybe seeing her old place might bring some closure.

As she pulled through a traffic light—she was the last one through—she saw no other cars behind her. Her shoulders relaxed slightly.

If someone had been following her, maybe she’d lost him.

Still, she wouldn’t let her guard down.

Olive slowed as she pulled into her old neighborhood, and memories hit her.

For the longest time, Olive had actually hoped her family might stay here in Oasis.

Then there had been the night she’d heard her dad arguing with two men downstairs. The next morning, he’d had a cut on his forehead.

He had denied the argument and that it had gotten physical, of course. He’d said he was watching TV and that was what Olive had overheard, not an argument. The cut on his forehead had been because he tripped.

Olive hadn’t believed a word he said.

Not long after that, they’d moved.

When Olive had run into Jason several months ago, she’d found out her dad had blackmailed Jason’s mom out of twenty thousand dollars. Her dad told Jason’s mom Olive was pregnant and that if Mrs. Stewart didn’t pay up that Jason would have to forfeit college in order to support his family.

But Olive had never been pregnant. She’d had no idea her father used such a terrible ruse. It had been a shock to her four months ago when Jason told her.

The manipulation made her sick to her stomach.

At first, Olive hadn’t known why her dad would lie about something like that. Had it only been about the money? She still didn’t know the answer.

However, it had since come to light that her dad wasn’t really a secret government agent doing covert operations. He was more likely a con man.

How did a person even recover from news like that?

Olive wasn’t sure . . . but she was leaning toward the idea that she couldn’t recover.