Page 42

CHAPTER 42

N ova joined Olive and Jason a few minutes later in Olive’s hotel room. Her gaze volleyed back and forth between Olive and Jason with curiosity.

Thankfully, she didn’t ask any of the questions lingering in her eyes.

“I’m glad you asked me to come over because I have an update for you.” Nova pulled up an armchair in front of them and sat cross-legged with her laptop on her legs.

“An update sounds good.” Olive curled her legs beneath her. “What did you find out?”

“In the time since we’ve talked last, one of Rebecca’s old friends from high school called me back. She was pretty insightful. She said Rebecca always liked to make up stories.”

“What kind of stories?” Jason squinted.

“The kind that got attention. Apparently, Rebecca loved it when all eyes were on her.”

Olive knew the type—she usually stayed away from them, however.

“Do you think she’s doing this cancer scheme just for attention?” Jason asked. “Not for money?”

The theory shouldn’t surprise Olive, but for some reason it did. Money was usually a much bigger motivator than getting noticed. But it was a possibility.

“It’s a definite maybe. Rebecca told people in high school that she met Tom Holland when her family took a trip to New York, and he asked for her number.” Nova rolled her eyes.

“Unlikely . . .” Olive murmured.

“She also told them her great-grandfather was actually royalty somewhere in Europe, but he’d fled the country in order to get married. Those were the biggest stories. They went on from there.”

“Maybe she has histrionic personality disorder,” Olive suggested.

“Maybe. It could even be Munchausen’s. You’ve heard of that, right?”

“Yes. Gypsy Rose’s mother had Munchausen’s by Proxy. People with the disorder fake being sick.”

“That’s definitely a possibility. But I saved the most interesting thing I learned for last.” Nova’s eyes still sparkled.

Olive twisted her head in curiosity. “Please, don’t keep us in suspense.”

“I also got in touch with someone that Rebecca and Matt went to college with. These two aren’t as innocent as they portray themselves.” The sparkle in Nova’s eyes grew even brighter.

“What do you mean?” Jason shifted forward on the couch.

“I mean that when Rebecca met Matt, Matt wasn’t just a student at the school. He was a graduate assistant. So the two of them dating was a no-no.”

Olive sucked in a breath. She hadn’t expected that.

“But there’s more.” Nova paused before announcing, “The other thing is . . . when Matt and Rebecca met, he was also married to someone else.”

Olive certainly hadn’t expected to hear the news that Matt had been previously married.

Had Rebecca seduced him, the handsome graduate assistant? Or had they both pursued each other?

She remembered Matt telling them his story earlier. About how he’d been afraid to talk to Rebecca and had thought she was out of his league. How they’d been put together in a study group where she’d ultimately made the first move.

There were definitely questionable parts to his story. Maybe he’d stuck with the basics, but the rest he’d glossed over the truth.

If he’d lied about that, then Olive felt as if he would lie about other things also.

After Nova finished sharing her updates, she stood. “I have some things I need to work on now, so I’ll let you two finish catching up. But tomorrow we have an interview lined up with Rebecca’s neighbor Georgina. We’ll need to check on Rebecca also, of course.”

That was right. Nova had lined up that interview in advance. Olive hoped she’d be feeling better by then. She wanted to keep that appointment so she could hear what the woman had to say.

“Hopefully, Mitzi will have an update for us also.” Olive turned to Jason. “She’s going on a date with a doctor tonight, and we think it’s the same doctor who’s treating Rebecca.”

Jason raised his brow. “That would be providential.”

“I think so too.” Olive copied his expression. “With any luck, maybe she’ll even call tonight.”

“That would be helpful,” Jason said.

Nova excused herself and left through the adjoining door, closing it tight. But Olive wasn’t ready to jump back into talking about anything personal.

In fact, maybe she really just wanted to delay any heart-to-heart talks.

Instead, she grabbed her phone. “I need to call Tevin real quick, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Jason said.

After Olive said the “if you don’t mind” part, she realized how silly the words were. She was working on a case he’d hired her to do. He should want Olive to do everything in her power to get these answers. She had to get a grip.

She dialed Tevin’s number, and his voice came across the line a moment later. “Hey, hey, hey.”

Olive turned on the phone speaker. “Hey, Tevin. It’s Olive. I’m here with Jason.”

Tevin paused. “Jason? I didn’t know he was in Texas.”

Olive hadn’t expected to hear the strange edge to his voice. “I didn’t either.”

“I decided to come out and see if there was anything I could do to help,” Jason explained.

“I see,” Tevin muttered. “Well, it’s always good to have backup around.”

But Tevin knew better than anyone that Jason was more than just backup.

Tevin had been there when Olive had first run into Jason while on assignment in Chicago. He knew more of the details of their past than anyone else. He’d seen the two of them interact.

“What’s going on?” Tevin sounded much more professional now than he probably would if Jason wasn’t present.

“I’m going to send you an address, and I’d love if you could look into who’s owned the place for the past eight or nine years.”

“That sounds easy enough.”

“I’m hoping it will be,” Olive said. “To be up front, this is personal and not connected with Rebecca’s case.”

“I kind of figured. I’ll see what I can find out.” Tevin paused. “I also have an update for you.”

Olive leaned back. “I could use an update.”

“It’s about those cameras that were planted in Rebecca’s house.”

She sat up straighter, any relaxed muscles tightening. “Did you find out something about them? Because we went to the location where the IP address was apparently pinging, but it looked absolutely abandoned, like it hadn’t been touched in years.”

“I’m not sure why that happened. Without being there, it’s way more complicated to try to figure out. However, the interesting thing is that I figured out a way to hack into these cameras at Rebecca’s house.”

Her eyebrows flew up. “You did? That doesn’t feel quite ethical.”

“No, it doesn’t, does it? I realize that, which is why I haven’t turned the cameras on to watch anything. I wasn’t sure what you wanted me to do.”

That was a good question. What did she want?

Olive thought about that question, not wanting to rush her answer.