Page 6 of Enigma

Things had ended with uncertainty between them and still weren’t resolved. She’d been relieved when Jason had been assigned another case because she knew that would give her time to think.

But now this . . .

With a deep breath, she pressed his number.

The phone rang once. Twice.

On the third ring, Jason’s familiar voice came through, warm and relaxed. “Olive? What a nice surprise. How’s your time off going? I wasn’t sure when I’d hear from you again.”

The casual affection in his voice made her chest tighten with guilt.

“Jason.” Her voice came out smaller than she’d intended. “I’m in Florida.”

A pause. “Florida? What are you doing in Florida?”

She closed her eyes. “I came here to see your father. And Jason . . . I don’t know how to tell you this. But I found him on the floor of his home. He’s on his way to the hospital.”

The silence on the other end of the phone stretched so long that Olive wondered if the call had dropped. She heard Jason breathing, could almost feel him processing her words.

“What do you mean you found him on the floor of his home?” His voice had changed completely—gone cold and flat in a way that made her stomach clench.

“I found him unconscious in his house.” Olive spoke faster now, as if getting the words out quickly would somehow make them less devastating. “Someone drugged him, Jason. I think this drug was intended to make it look like he had a heart attack. If I hadn’t found him when I did . . .”

More silence stretched as he clearly tried to let that sink in.

“How is he now?” he finally asked.

“He’s alive, but . . . that’s all I know. I’m not family, so of course they won’t tell me much.”

“We’re going to need to continue this talk.” His voice remained hard—hurt. “But right now, I’m heading down there. Which hospital did they take him to?”

“Clearwater General.”

“I should be there in about six hours.”

“Jason—”

But the line had already gone dead.

Olive stared at her phone. Then she let her head fall back against the car’s headrest. Through the windshield, she saw a neighbor peering out from behind curtains, probably wondering about all the emergency vehicles that had been at Lloyd’s house.

Olive had come to Florida looking for answers about her father’s past. Instead, she might have just destroyed her future.

CHAPTER 4

Olive sat in her rental car in the hospital parking lot, staring at her phone for the third time in ten minutes. The air conditioning blasted her face and arms.

If only it could help with the knot of dread in her stomach.

She scrolled to Tevin McIntyre’s contact information and hesitated again, her thumb hovering over the call button.

Four days ago, her world had been turned upside down by his confession, and she still didn’t know how to process what he’d said to her.

“Don’t choose him. Pick me, Olive. I’ve loved you since the day we met. I’ve been too afraid of ruining our friendship to tell you. If I didn’t tell you this now, then I knew I would always regret it. But Olive, the two of us are perfect together. You and I both know it. I’d make you happier than he would. So pick me.”

She’d stood there in Grayfall, completely blindsided by his words, by the raw emotion in his voice, by the way her heart had lurched in a direction she’d never allowed herself to consider.

Tevin had been like a brother to her since she’d started working at the agency. He was brilliant, funny, protective, and one of the few people in the world she trusted completely.