Page 39 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

O live continued to watch Jason, trying to read his expression.

It was no use.

She had no idea what he was thinking.

Finally, Jason shook his head. “We can’t keep doing this, Olive. The secrets, the half-truths, the way you make decisions that affect both of us without including me.”

“I know.”

“Do you? Because this pattern . . .” He gestured between them. “It’s exhausting. I never know what other piece of crucial information you’re going to reveal when it’s convenient.”

The criticism stung because it was accurate. Olive had been keeping Simon’s existence to herself, just like she’d kept her suspicions about Lloyd to herself. The justifications felt weaker each time she tried to use them.

“What about your mom?” Jason’s tone shifted to something gentler. “What do you think about all of this? I can only assume from your reaction that you had no idea.”

She heard the subtle doubt in his voice. Lie to me about one thing, then you could be lying to me about anything.

Olive sank back onto the bed, the weight of Simon’s revelation settling over her like a heavy blanket. “I have no idea what to think.”

The honesty felt strange after so many careful omissions and strategic silences.

“That photograph . . .” She shook her head. “It looks so much like her. But everything else Simon said goes against everything I remember about her.”

“Memories can be complicated,” Jason said. “Especially childhood memories of traumatic situations.”

“You think he’s right? That she was the one running everything?”

Jason moved to sit beside her on the bed, close enough that she could feel his warmth but not quite touching. “I think there are pieces of your childhood that you might have interpreted differently because you were a kid who loved her mother.”

“She taught me how to manipulate people,” Olive said. “I thought she was teaching me life skills, but she was actually training me to be like her. I just didn’t realize it until now.”

“Or she was teaching you how to survive in a dangerous world,” Jason offered. “Parents in difficult situations sometimes prepare their children for realities they hope they’ll never face.”

“But if she’s alive, Jason . . .” Olive’s voice cracked slightly. “If she’s been alive this whole time, running this organization, orchestrating everything that’s happened . . . then she let me believe I was an orphan for eight years. She let me grieve for her.”

“That would be unforgivable,” Jason agreed.

“And if she’s the one who has your father . . .” Olive couldn’t finish the thought.

Olive and Jason sat in silence for several minutes, both processing the implications of what they’d learned.

Outside their window, the Texas night was quiet except for the distant sound of highway traffic.

“What do we do now?” Olive asked finally.

“We follow the leads we have,” Jason said. “We talk to Chief Patterson in the morning. We see what else we can learn from the evidence we found in Dad’s safe. And we try to figure out if Simon is telling us the truth or if he has his own agenda.”

“You don’t trust him.”

“I don’t trust anyone right now,” Jason said. “Including you, if I’m being completely honest.”

The words hit harder than Olive had expected, but she couldn’t argue with them. She’d given Jason plenty of reasons not to trust her completely.

“I understand,” she said.

“I can’t keep wondering if you’re going to disappear or keep secrets or make decisions that affect my family without including me.”

Olive looked at him, seeing the vulnerability he was trying to hide behind his practical questions. “I don’t know if I know how to do this differently.”

“Then we figure it out,” Jason said. “Together. No more secrets, no more protecting each other from difficult truths.”

“No more secrets,” Olive agreed, though she wondered if either of them would be able to keep that promise when the pressure mounted again.

As they prepared to sleep in their separate beds, Olive found herself staring at the ceiling and thinking about her mother. If Margot Sterling was alive, if she’d been orchestrating everything from behind the scenes, then Olive’s entire understanding of her life had been built on lies.

I should have seen it. She squeezed her eyes shut. I should have seen it.