Page 23 of Deception

“True.” Olive plunged her chopsticks into her moo goo gai pan. “That’s the tricky part. How do you prove someone doesn’t have cancer? Especially with all the HIPAA laws in place.”

“We look for any inconsistencies in Rebecca’s story, research to see if she hops from one medical facility to another, pay attention to any resistance she has to sharing details or contacts, and watch for suspicious changes in behavior when certain subjects are brought up.”

That about covered it.

A recorded confession would be ideal, but Olive knew Rebecca was too smart for that. She’d potentially carried on this scam for the past three years without raising many eyebrows. Eventually, however, she would get sloppy and mess up.

If only there was a way to look at her financials. A way to see her medical records.

But even if they managed to do that, they couldn’t use that information to prove Rebecca was a fraud. The info would have been illegally obtained.

Olive was also curious about Rebecca’s husband and daughter. Was Matthew in on this with her? Certainly, she couldn’t fool him also, not when he was there at her appointments with her.

She still had so many questions.

Hopefully, Mitzi could find some information for them while working at the hospital. The woman was good at what she did.

Take tonight for example. Mitzi was the type who could make friends quickly wherever she went. So even though it was her first day on the job at the hospital, she and a couple of the nurses were going to dinner together.

All Mitzi needed to do was to find a nurse with loose lips who might share something about Rebecca.

It wouldn’t happen instantaneously. Building that kind of trust would take time. But if anyone could do it, Mitzi could.

Their colleague would also monitor everything at the hospital and let them know when Rebecca came and went.

Olive continued to think through things as she and Nova ate dinner.

When Olive finished her food, she set her container on the table beside her.

“You done with that?” Nova raised her eyebrows and nodded toward the container.

“Help yourself.”

For a tiny woman, Nova was like a garbage disposal. Shelovedeating.

“But you still owe me some of that lumpia and pancit when we’re back home,” Olive reminded her.

“It’s a deal.”

The woman really did make the best lumpia ever. Olive actually found herself craving it.

As Nova grabbed her leftover food, Olive stared at her computer, at those pictures Motorcycle Man had taken.

Again, she wondered if he’d been the one to pull the fire alarm and, if so, why.

They would need to check Nova’s room also, just to make sure there were no surprises there.

“One more thing to add to our list is him.” Olive nodded to the pictures. “We need to figure out who this guy is and what exactly he’s up to. The last thing I want is for him to blow our whole operation.”

Her muscles hardened at the thought.

He wouldnotblow their operation. Olive would make sure of that.

Her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. It was Chelsea.

She quickly answered. “Hey, there.”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt you,” she started. “I wanted to let you know what I just heard. Maria is dead.”