Page 109 of Deception

“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.”