Page 51 of Deception

How much did she tell him? For a moment, Olive wished she could pour everything out. But that wouldn’t be prudent.

After all, he’d hired her agency for this case, and she needed to remain professional.

Instead, she shared the most basic details of the case with him—nothing personal.

She told him about her interview with Rebecca, about finding the cameras, about following the IP address to that abandoned house. She told him about Mitzi’s work at the hospital, and what the gang would do next. She even told him about Motorcycle Man shooting at them.

At the end, she added, “And I ran into Sabrina.”

“Sabrina Novak? I haven’t seen her in years. But I did hear she was still in town.” Jason paused. “Did you have a nice time catching up?”

Olive remembered Sabrina saying how things changed so much after Olive left. About how Jason had changed. How he didn’t date anyone else and said he was going to go find Olive.

She swallowed hard, guilt swirling through her. “We had dinner together, and it was nice. I’m glad to hear she’s doing well.”

“I’m sure it’s weird being back in Oasis.”

Olive gripped the phone more tightly. “It is.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

“Listen,” Jason finally said. “I talked to Chelsea earlier. She was going to call you, but I told her I would pass along the message instead.”

She sat up straighter. “I’m curious now.”

“Chelsea was talking to a mutual friend—someone who used to live in Oasis but who moved to Galveston a year or so ago.” He drew in a breath. “Apparently, this friend, Diana, ran into Rebecca at the beach last year.”

“Okay . . .” He had her full attention now.

“I hate to gossip, but Rebecca was supposed to have this specialized cancer surgery. She raised a lot of money to go because this treatment wasn’t covered by insurance.”

“Keep going.”

“Here’s the weird thing. Diana’s friend had a similar surgery and wasn’t able to walk without assistance for a couple of weeks afterward. She was in too much pain, and sitting down was agony. Yet there Rebecca was, the day after her supposed surgery, going into the ocean. She even showed this friend a small bandage on her back and told her the surgery had gone amazingly well. There wasno wayRebecca would feel up to going into the water right after a surgery like that. It would also be an infection risk to get in the water so soon.”

Olive clamped her jaw shut.

The evidence was definitely stacking up against Rebecca.

But Olive needed to be able to prove it. The fact that Rebecca was convincing only made this harder.

How far did the woman plan on taking this?

CHAPTER 28

SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO

“Can we leave now?” Olive asked, looking up at her dad and pleading with him.

He squeezed her shoulder. “Yes, we can. You did good.”

She’d ended up going into six stores—her dad had broken his promise.

She’d collected ninety-six dollars and some change in the mason jar—but she didn’t want any of it.

That wouldn’t be a problem because her dad had taken the cash and pocketed it. She assumed he would use it to pay bills.

At least her sisters could now eat.