Page 24 of Deception

Olive’s heart beat harder. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. She was a wonderful woman. She didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“Did you hear anything else?”

“Some paint from the car was found on Maria’s purse. That’s how hard she was hit. Apparently, it was a dark-green vehicle that hit her.”

A dark-green vehicle? Just like the car Rebecca’s cousin had driven.

Wasn’t that interesting?

After Olive gave Nova the update, they checked Nova’s room—which adjoined Olive’s.

It was clear.

Motorcycle Man must have gone through all that trouble with the fire alarm simply to clear them from the room and try to get the USB drive back.

There was a good chance he’d try again, so they’d need to be careful.

Back in her room, Olive sat on the couch, mentally shuffling through everything that had happened since she’d arrived in town.

Being in Oasis again was weird—really weird.

Would she recognize anyone else from her brief stay here? Were all of Jason’s family members as forgiving as Chelsea? Or would they be hostile toward her?

She wasn’t sure.

Coming back to her former home turf was tougher than she’d imagined, nothing like the heartwarming movies on TV.

Olive’s cell rang, and she glanced at the screen.

Her breath caught when Jason’s name appeared.

Normally, she might consider whether or not she’d answer. When she was on other assignments, she usually didn’t. But hehadhired her to come here and investigate Rebecca, so sending him to voicemail felt unprofessional.

She swallowed hard before answering and putting the phone on speaker. “Hey, there.”

“Ollie . . . nowthere’sa voice I enjoy hearing.”

A flash of delight swept through her at his words.

She quickly swallowed the emotion and asked, “Rough day at work?”

Jason worked for tech giant Conglomerate as their head of security. Things had been stressful there as of late due to a scandal a few months ago at the company.

“Not really. It was pretty normal.” He paused. “My problem is I’ve been preoccupied with thoughts of you.”

Olive’s eyebrows shot up. He wasn’t usually so direct—but she kind of liked it. “With me?”

“With your case.”

Her expression softened, but her heart—if she were honest—dipped with disappointment. “Of course.”

“How’s it going so far?”

Olive leaned back on the couch and gave him a basic overview—leaving out the motorcycle incident, the photographer, and the fire alarm. It was best just to stick with the facts directly connected to this case.

She thought about mentioning Maria but changed her mind. She’d wait until she was sure of a connection.