Page 57

CHAPTER 57

“ T hat was revealing,” Olive said when she and Jason climbed back into his Range Rover after dinner.

“The beach house and the motorcycle, huh? That could be some decent evidence, for sure.” Jason started the engine but didn’t put the vehicle in Drive. “It was good to see Sabrina and Ellis. They seem to be doing well for themselves.”

“Yes, they do.” Olive blew out a breath. “We should go check in with Nova. Then I want to go back to that shack and see what we can find out.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

If Olive were being honest with herself, she’d admit she was glad Jason was here. She didn’t want to bring Nova with her and put her in potential danger. But having backup was always nice.

They reached the hotel and went to Nova’s room, where they filled her in on their dinner meeting.

“I’m going to call you guys Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” Nova murmured as she sat on the couch with her legs crossed beneath her and her computer on her lap. “I found something also. That car we were following—the one Rebecca’s cousin drove? It’s strange, but the vehicle is actually owned by a company.”

Olive sucked in a breath. “What company?”

“That’s the thing—it’s like a shell corporation. I can’t find any information on it. Weird, huh?”

Another shell corporation? Olive mused. That had to be a coincidence. Her dad couldn’t be connected with this case.

However, the commonality bothered her.

“That’s too bad,” Olive murmured.

“Also, I managed to get some financial records,” Nova continued. “The problem is there could be other accounts that I’m unaware of. I’m still working on that.”

“Did you see anything in the bank statements you found?”

“A few things were interesting. There have definitely been some large payments going out. But it’s weird because the funds have been transferred to an overseas account labeled ‘Medical Bills.’ However, just because that’s the way it’s labeled doesn’t mean that’s actually what it is.”

“So Rebecca and Matt set up a Swiss bank account or something?” Olive clarified.

“That’s the harder part to uncover. I’m trying to find a name linked with the account. But whoever owns it knows how to bury their information. I’m still working on it, however.”

Olive pictured Rebecca and Matt setting up a secret overseas account and putting the money people gave them into it. They could say they were paying medical bills from it, but they were secretly pocketing that cash.

“I’m going to keep looking into it.” Nova raised her chin. “I’m sure I’ll discover something.”

“I hope you do. Look into that beach house down in Galveston also. I want to know if they really own a vacation property.”

More questions filled her mind.

Were Rebecca and Matt conniving enough to set up a shell account for themselves? Did they secretly own that green Mercedes? Were they planning a getaway once people caught on to what they were doing? Did they have another scheme up their sleeve for when this was done?

Olive needed those answers.

She glanced at Jason. “We need to get ready for tonight’s excursion.”

“Be safe, y’all.” Nova threw them a look. “I’m trying to sound like I’m from Texas.”

Olive hid her smile.

“No, but really—be careful.” Nova’s voice turned more serious. “If you need anything, call me—I probably can’t help you. But I’ll call Rex, and he can.”

Rex was a very resourceful man.

Olive and Jason went to their respective rooms to change into more casual, dark-colored clothing. They’d head back to the shack and see what was happening there. Under the cover of darkness, maybe they could find some answers.

Before leaving her room, Olive checked her gun to make sure it was loaded and ready. She hoped she wouldn’t need to use it. But she needed to have it just in case.

She still wasn’t sure what they were up against right now or why the IP address from those cameras would lead back to that shack. It made no sense. Even if the IP address truly was headquartered at that property, why would someone choose that location?

Then again, this whole case had been perplexing.

A woman with cancer with hidden cameras in her house. A man this woman claimed was her cousin, who seemed threatening. A man on a motorcycle, who was taking pictures and shooting at Olive.

Somehow, she needed to figure out how the pieces fit.

There came a point in every case where Olive questioned if things would come together.

They usually did—eventually.

But this assignment felt more important than many she’d done. More personal. She’d worked other cases where the scope was much more far-reaching—or there was a higher chance of a negative outcome, of impacting more people. Bombs. Weapons. Murder plots.

Her urgency now was because of her childhood. Olive often thought about when her dad had made her go into town and ask innocent people for money, even though she wasn’t really sick. She’d come to despise people who preyed on the innocent.

People like Rebecca.

Olive took one more glance at herself in the mirror and nodded with resigned approval. She’d pulled her hair into a bun to get it out of her face. Had donned black clothing. Had taken off all her jewelry.

This would have to do. It was time to go meet Jason.

She really hoped things went well tonight.

Just as before, Jason and Olive stashed the Range Rover away out of sight behind some trees, just in case anyone else came down this lane.

On one hand, the possibility seemed unlikely. The shack had definitely been deserted.

On the other hand, Motorcycle Man had found them here. Rebecca’s supposed cousin had also come out here.

There was clearly more going on at this shack than met the eye.

Jason turned to her as they sat in his vehicle. “You ready for this?”

“More than ready.”

They climbed from his Range Rover and headed toward the edge of the trees again.

Pausing there, they observed the house. In the darkness, it was hard to see much. There were definitely no lights on or any other evidence indicating someone was there.

In fact, everything looked so normal. Eerily normal.

“I think we should walk the perimeter of the woods before we venture closer,” Jason suggested. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“That seems like a good idea.”

Woods only surrounded about half of the property. After that, it was a stretch of open field eventually leading to the rolling mountains in the background.

The less they were exposed, the better.

They watched their steps as they walked in the darkness, not turning on a flashlight in order not to be spotted. Slowly, they made their way through the woods, the only sounds that of their footsteps hitting the ground or the swish of their clothes.

Jason suddenly stopped in front of her. “Look at that.”

“Look at what?” Olive peered over his shoulder.

Her eyes widened when she saw a dark-green sedan parked within the trees.

There was a small pull-out, big enough for maybe two vehicles to be stashed out of sight.

Even when Olive had walked the property before, she hadn’t seen this area. The position of the trees blocked any vehicles from sight.

She and Jason exchanged a look.

Then a voice rang out.

Jason pulled Olive behind a tree.

As he did, she glanced toward the voice.

Her eyes widened when she saw a horizontal door lift from the ground and then close again as a man stepped out with a cell phone to his ear.

Her heart pounded harder. A storm shelter.

She should have known.

Rebecca’s cousin—or whoever the man actually was—had been underground.

“I’m doing everything you told me,” the man growled into the phone. “I need you to stay off my case. I don’t know why the cameras keep going down. I’m still trying to figure that out. The good news is that they’re up now.”

Olive’s breath caught. Was he talking about when Nova had taken the cameras offline at Rebecca and Matt’s house?

It seemed like a good bet.

Was this the smoking gun Olive had been looking for?

“I’ve got to do a few more things, then I’ll be back,” the man continued. “I’ll be careful. Yes, I’ve seen the woman snooping around. I won’t let her find out anything. If she gets too close to the truth, I know what to do.”

Olive’s heart pounded harder. He was talking about her, wasn’t he?

The man climbed into his car and slammed the door. Olive couldn’t hear any more of that conversation, but maybe she’d heard enough.

Part of her wanted to follow this guy. But the other part wanted even more to see what was inside that bunker.

She watched as the man drove away. No other cars were here. Based on the conversation they’d overheard, no one was inside either.

If she and Jason were going to strike, now seemed to be the time.

Jason turned toward her. “Shall we?”

Olive didn’t have to think about her answer. “Let’s go.”