Page 13 of Enigma

“Complicate things.” He repeated the phrase slowly, as if tasting something bitter. “Right. Because caring about my father’s reputation, or his health, or maybe wanting to be there when someone accused him of being involved in your family’s murder—that would just complicate things for you.”

Olive closed her eyes, the weight of her mistake pressing on her. “I know how this looks?—”

“Do you? Do you really?” For the first time, Jason’s voice rose slightly, a crack in his controlled facade. “Because it looks like you don’t trust me. It looks like after everything we’ve been through, after all the times I’ve had your back, you still treat me like the enemy, and I have no idea why.”

“You’re not the enemy.” Olive’s words came out barely above a whisper.

Jason stared at her, not backing down. “Then why didn’t you tell me you were going to see him? Why didn’t you give me the chance to be part of this conversation?”

Olive glanced at the parking lot in the distance as she tried to find words that would explain the tangle of emotions and fears that had driven her to make this decision.

How could she tell Jason that she’d been afraid of seeing him choose his father over her? That she’d been terrified of what she might discover and how it would change the way he looked at her?

“I thought . . . I thought if I could just talk to him alone and get the truth without putting you in the middle?—”

“But Iamin the middle, Olive. You can’t protect me from this, and you definitely can’t make decisions about my family without including me.”

He was right, and they both knew it.

Tears pricked Olive’s eyes . . . though whether they were from guilt or frustration or fear, she couldn’t say.

But sometimes she was certain that something inside her was permanently broken and she was meant to do life all alone.

CHAPTER 8

Olive and Jason stood in uncomfortable silence, the sounds of the outdoors filling the space between them—the hum of cars, the wail of a distant ambulance, the murmur of a family walking toward the doors.

“Did you hear from Nancy?” Jason finally asked.

“Nancy?” Who was he talking about?

He narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t trust Olive’s response. “My father’s girlfriend.”

Her breath caught. “Oh,thatNancy. No, I honestly forgot about her.”

Which was unlike Olive. But she’d had other things on her mind, she supposed. Still, she was usually sharper than this.

“I’ll need to call her.” He sighed and finally turned his glaring gaze away from Olive. “But first I should check in and see if I can talk to the doctor.”

“Of course.” Olive watched as Jason walked back inside and toward the receptionist, noting the tension in his shoulders.

She followed behind him.

When he spoke to the staff, his voice was polite but strained, and she saw him struggling to maintain his composure.

A moment later, he wandered back over to Olive. Before he could say anything, a middle-aged woman in a white coat approached them and introduced herself as Dr. Berry. A compact woman, she wore her graying auburn hair pulled back in a practical ponytail and had the slightly harried expression of someone who’d been working since dawn.

“Your father is doing much better,” Dr. Berry told Jason. “We’ve identified the drug someone used on him. It’s a sophisticated compound that’s not commonly available, but it can mimic a heart attack.”

“Can I see him?” Urgency stretched through Jason’s voice.

“He’s awake but still groggy. The police just finished talking to him, but he’s been asking for you. We just admitted him for observation.” Dr. Berry glanced at Olive. “Are you family as well?”

“She’s—” Jason paused.

Olive held her breath, wondering how he’d finish that sentence.

“She’s the one who found him,” Jason finally said. “She saved his life.”