Page 24 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

A s Olive and Jason continued down the road, Olive found herself looking over her shoulder, wondering if they were being followed.

She saw no one. Yet she still couldn’t relax.

Too much was on the line.

“What next?” Jason asked. “To the police station?”

“I think we should see if they have any updates.”

“Agreed.”

The Clearwater Police station was a low, concrete building that looked like it had been designed more for functionality than comfort. Detective Santos led Olive and Jason to a small conference room.

“We found your father’s phone last night.” Detective Santos placed a clear evidence bag on the table between them. “It was in the parking garage, level three, wedged under a car.”

Olive stared at the phone through the plastic bag, trying to picture everything playing out. Had the person who’d taken Lloyd left it there? Or had Lloyd managed to slip it there, hoping someone would find it?

Even more so, what was on that cell phone? Anything that would give them answers?

“We’ll need to send it to our tech unit for a full forensic analysis. But first, we were able to pull the recent call log.” Santos slid a printed sheet across the table. “These are all the incoming and outgoing calls from the forty-eight hours before your father disappeared.”

Jason picked up the list, and Olive leaned over to read it with him. Most of the numbers were familiar—the hospital, Jason’s cell phone, a few local businesses.

But several calls stood out.

“This person called him four times yesterday.” Olive pointed to a line on the printout. “The last call was about forty minutes before I found him in his house.”

“We ran that number.” Detective Santos nodded, a slow gait to the motion. “It traces to a burner phone purchased with cash three days ago from a convenience store in Tampa. There was no security footage or way to identify the buyer.”

“It sounds like someone was coordinating with him,” Jason said with a grimace.

“That’s our theory too.” Detective Santos pointed to another entry on the call log. “But here’s the interesting part. Your father made two outgoing calls yesterday that don’t match any of the incoming numbers.”

Olive found the entries Santos was referring to. Both calls had been made in the morning before Olive had found him in his house.

“Do you know who these numbers belong to?” Jason squinted as he studied them.

“They were both burner phones.” Detective Santos consulted his notes. “We couldn’t trace the numbers, but we were able to pinpoint the location.”

“And where were these callers located?”

“A town in Texas.” He flipped the page and squinted as he read the name. “It’s a small one. Oasis.”

Olive’s breath caught. Oasis?

“I understand from looking into your father’s past that your family used to live there,” Santos continued.

Jason nodded slowly. “That’s correct.”

“Any idea who he might be calling?”

Jason pressed his lips together before shaking his head. “We still have family in Oasis. Dad has friends there too. But family and friends using burner phones? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“I agree.” Santos nodded slowly again.

An officer knocked at the door, and Santos excused himself.

Olive was grateful for the interruption so she could have a moment to speak with Jason alone.

As soon as the door closed, she whispered, “Why Oasis?”

Jason shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“Jason . . .” she said. “What if the person who took your father isn’t trying to hide from us? What if they want us to follow this trail?”

“Why would they want that?”

“Because maybe Lloyd isn’t the real target.” A chill ran down Olive’s spine. “Maybe we are.”

Santos came back into the room and excused himself, saying he had a matter he needed to attend to.

A few minutes later, she and Jason left the station and headed back to Jason’s vehicle. Olive’s mind whirred with possibilities.

“Jason.” Olive paused near the car.

“Yes?” Jason looked around the parking lot, suddenly seeming to see potential threats in every shadow also.

“Where do we go from here?” She had her own ideas, but she wanted to hear his thoughts also.

“That’s a great question. At this point, I’m unsure if my dad is even still in this area.”

“Where else would he be?”

“I’m not sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say Texas. Oasis, to be more specific.”

She narrowed her eyes as she studied him, not wanting to assume anything. “Are you saying that’s where we need to go?”

His head bobbed up and down, the action becoming faster as the decision seemed to solidify in his mind. “Yes, I think I am.”