Page 94 of Deception

CHAPTER 49

The three of them stopped for lunch at the Rusty Lantern. It would be a good opportunity to talk through things.

The place looked just like it had last time Olive was here—warm and cozy with the tantalizing scent of freshly baked breads and homemade soup. Half the tables were already taken, full of people chatting and enjoying good food.

This time Olive ordered some lemon orzo soup and limeade.

Before their food arrived, Tevin called, and Olive excused herself to answer.

She paced toward the front of the restaurant. “Tevin . . . what’s going on?”

“I’ve been looking into that thing you asked me about,” Tevin started. “The old address where you used to live.”

Olive shifted as she stared outside. “And?”

“It’s a little weird, but it looks like no one has actually lived in that house since your family left.”

She squinted. “Really? Why? It wasn’t listed in my parents’ financial records after they died.”

“Actually, someone else owns it. They just don’t live there.”

Her breath caught. “Why would someone buy a house and let it just sit there? Who owns it?”

“It’s pretty interesting,” Tevin said. “It turns out a shell company owns it.”

“Is that right? Why would a shell company buy it?” Olive hadn’t been expecting to hear that news.

“Beats me. I tried to find more information on this company, but there’s not much out there. I’ll keep searching, of course.”

“Thanks for looking into this for me. It’s very helpful.” Olive ended the call and joined Jason and Nova back at the table.

But Olive planned on looking into that shell company the first chance she had.

“Everything okay?” Nova stared at Olive, questions in her gaze.

Nova didn’t know everything that had happened. Truthfully, Olive wasn’t sure she wanted her colleague to know all the details. Not until she could figure her out a little more.

In the time since Olive started talking to Tevin, their food had been delivered to the table. Olive got settled and lifted a spoonful of soup.

Finally, Olive said, “I asked Tevin to look into a personal matter.”

Nova stared at her as if waiting for more. Olive didn’t offer. Instead, she took a sip of her soup.

Then she said, “So let’s talk about what we know.”

With their stomachs full, Olive, Jason, and Nova headed out from the café. They’d talked through everything and made a list of what they needed to do next.

They were creeping closer to answers, but they weren’t quite where they wanted to be yet either.

Nova wanted to return to the hotel to work on some things, so they’d head there now to drop her off.

Olive reminded herself that the fundraiser was tomorrow. If they didn’t find answers before that event, Rebecca could take all that money and spend it—or maybe even hide it somewhere—before people ever had a chance to get their funds back if she wasn’t legit.

The time element pressed heavy on Olive’s conscience. She didn’t want to see all those people cheated out of their hard-earned money.

That meant they couldn’t afford to waste a single minute today.

She snapped her seatbelt in place, her ribs still aching.