Page 43 of Obscurity (Pros and Cons Mysteries #5)

O live’s heart hammered so loudly in her ears she was certain whoever was approaching would hear it through the door.

She heard the soft sound of a hand touching the door handle.

Her mind raced. She frantically glanced around.

That was when she saw a closet door, partially obscured by a fake tree.

She darted toward it, slipping inside just as the office door opened. The closet was deeper than she’d expected, and she pressed herself behind some hanging coats and jackets.

Through the slightly opened closet door, she watched as someone entered the office.

Elias Mercer.

The lodge owner looked nothing like the cheerful host he played for the festival guests. His face was drawn with stress, his usually perfect appearance disheveled, and his hands shook as he pulled out his phone.

What’s he doing here? Olive wondered.

She’d assumed this was Brad’s private residence, but Elias clearly had access and familiarity with the space.

Plus, how had he gotten here? Had he hiked in?

She hadn’t seen or heard any helicopters recently.

Elias paced to the desk, his phone pressed to his ear as he waited for someone to answer. When the call connected, his voice was strained with barely controlled panic.

“Listen, we need to talk,” he said without preamble. “This whole thing is spiraling out of control. Now that journalist girl is missing?—”

A voice erupted from the phone, loud enough that Olive could hear the anger even if she couldn’t make out specific words.

Elias held the device away from his ear, wincing at the volume.

“I know what the plan was,” Elias said when the shouting subsided. “But it’s not working. Nothing is going according to schedule.”

More angry words from the other end. Elias’s face grew paler with each exchange.

“I can’t do this anymore.” His voice cracked. “We need to pull the plug. End it now before someone gets seriously hurt. Or before law enforcement shows up asking questions we can’t answer.”

Olive’s throat tightened.

What in the world was he talking about?

From her hiding spot, Olive watched as Elias stepped back from the phone as if the person on the other end could reach through and strike him.

“I understand the financial implications,” Elias said. “But if this goes wrong—if people start dying?—”

The voice cut him off with what sounded like threats, and Elias’s face went from pale to gray.

“Fine,” he finally said. “Fine. But I want it on record that I advised against continuing. When this blows up, I don’t want to be the only one taking the fall.”

He ended the call and stood there for a moment, staring at his phone with the expression of a man who’d just signed his own death warrant. Then he pocketed the device and left the office, his footsteps heavy with defeat.

Olive remained hidden until she was certain he was gone.

Her mind raced with what she’d overheard.

Just as she suspected, Elias wasn’t just the lodge owner—he was somehow involved in whatever was happening here.

And he was getting cold feet about something that involved people potentially dying.

She didn’t like the sound of that.