Page 51

CHAPTER 51

O live and Jason hunched low and hurried toward the house.

Last time she was here, it had been getting dark.

Right now, the sun bore down on them. Even though it was only April, it was at least eighty degrees out—if not hotter. Olive was wearing a turtleneck, mostly to conceal her neck.

Now, as sweat dripped down her spine, the clothing choice seemed like a terrible idea.

She and Jason reached the side of the house and stayed beside each other. There, Olive raised a finger over her lips, motioning for Jason to remain still. Yet he already seemed to read her mind, to be operating in sync with her as he nodded.

Then they listened. Olive hoped to hear an engine or voices or the hum of electronics.

She heard nothing.

How strange.

She nodded, indicating to Jason to follow her.

They headed to the other side of the house. At the corner, she paused and peered around the edge.

“Anything?” Jason whispered.

Her jaw tightened as she said, “There’s no car here.”

“That’s weird.”

Her thoughts exactly. “I’m going to walk the rest of the perimeter, just to be certain.”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

The two of them continued around the house, each step taken with caution—just to be safe.

But there was nothing to indicate someone had been here.

Something was going on at this shack. Olive just wasn’t sure what. But she needed to figure it out.

They paused in front of the house, and Jason asked, “Should we go inside?”

Olive remembered when she’d gone inside earlier. She’d been thorough and didn’t feel the need to look further.

“I’ve already been inside, and I didn’t see anything.” She paused. “Plus, the floor isn’t stable. I may or may not have fallen through.”

“Ouch.”

She rubbed her rib where the boards had scraped her. “Tell me about it.”

Jason blew out a breath. “If the inside is clear, then I have no idea what could be going on here.”

Olive frowned and glanced around one more time. “Me neither.”

Back in the car, Olive settled into the front seat as they gave Nova the update.

She looked just as perplexed as they did. “This case just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”

“You can say that again.” Olive frowned as the words left her lips.

Nova’s phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. Her voice rose with excitement as she said, “It’s Miranda, Matt’s first wife. I left her a message, and she’s actually calling me back.”

Olive’s breath caught. “Answer and put it on speaker.”

Nova hit a button and held the phone out between the three of them. “This is Nova. Is this Miranda?”

There was a pause before a soft voice said, “Yes, you left me a message. Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should call you back. But I finally decided I would. I’m still hoping I don’t regret this.”

“I appreciate the callback. I’ve been hired as a private investigator to look into your ex-husband, and I’m trying to put together some information about him and his background.”

“Who hired you?” Miranda asked.

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“What exactly are you investigating?”

Nova’s gaze flicked up to Olive’s. “The person who hired me believes Matt might be guilty of fraud.”

“Fraud?” Miranda’s voice lilted with interest. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“I was hoping to ask you a few questions . . .” Nova said.

Another pause lingered. Then Miranda said, “I can’t promise to answer all of them. But you can try me.”

Olive gave Nova an encouraging nod.

Nova leaned closer to the phone. “We heard you were married to Matt Hansen when he met Rebecca. Is that true?”

More silence. Then, “Everything I say is off-record. Do you understand?”

“Of course.”

“Yes, Matt and I were married. We’d only been married about eight months at the time he met Rebecca. And our marriage had been rocky.”

“He claims he didn’t cheat on you, that he didn’t start actually dating Rebecca until you were divorced,” Nova said. “Is that the case?”

“No, that’s not the way it went down.” Miranda released a bitter laugh. “He started working all these extra hours at the college. Claimed it was because he had so much work to do. But it was really because he was seeing Rebecca. Now, if you want proof, that will be hard to find. But it’s the truth.”

“Did you ever meet Rebecca? Were you a student there also, by chance?”

“I wasn’t a student there,” she said. “I was working as a waitress at a local steakhouse to help pay Matt’s way through school. However, a couple of the girls I worked with were students.”

“Did they know Rebecca?” Nova asked.

“They didn’t seem to actually know her. But they knew of her. She made quite the name for herself on campus.”

Olive’s heart pounded harder. This was exactly the kind of information they were looking for.

Despite the riveting conversation, she scanned the trees around her again, careful not to let down her guard. Last time she had done that here, that motorcycle man had appeared out of nowhere and shot at them.

“How did she make a name for herself?” Nova asked.

“It turns out she was telling everybody a sob story about how her dad was dying of heart failure. No one could see through her lies. I couldn’t believe it.”

“How did you know it wasn’t true?” Nova asked.

“Once I found out that Matt was seeing Rebecca, I decided to do some research into this ‘dream girl’ of his.”

“What did this research show you?” Nova asked.

“That research showed that Rebecca’s father was alive and well. Not a hint of sickness in the present or in the past.”

“So she definitely lied?” Nova asked.

“Yes, she did. And I heard she has cancer now. But I don’t believe it for a second.”