Page 70 of Obscurity (Pros and Cons Mysteries #5)

A cross the campsite, Chloe Kingston sat wrapped in a blanket beside Tristan Pembroke, who looked like he’d aged five years in the past twenty-four hours. He’d told them her father was sending a helicopter for her.

Maya Riggs was, predictably, documenting everything for her social media followers, though her tone had shifted from influencer enthusiasm to genuine journalism.

“This is probably the most insane story I’ll ever tell,” she’d said while setting up her camera.

“My followers are not going to believe this.”

Dr. Z—whose real name turned out to be Dr. Martin Zimmerman—sat on the curb with a calculator, apparently trying to figure out how much money he’d lost.

The local sheriff, a weathered man in his sixties named Patterson, was clearly in over his head trying to coordinate the evacuation of several hundred disappointed festivalgoers while federal agents processed a major crime scene around them.

“Most folks just want to get home and pretend this never happened,” he’d told Olive. “Can’t say I blame them.”

Neither could she.

She glanced at the woods above the town.

She no longer saw the Dark Watchers there.

Maybe they really were townspeople trying to protect this place but feeling voiceless.

When Chloe said, “The trees are watching,” she must have meant the people in the woods.

The forest did feel like it had its eyes on everything.

Perhaps that was what had happened to those missing hikers as well. They’d stumbled somewhere they hadn’t been welcomed. They’d paid the price with their lives.

Their bodies had been found buried in the woods close to the migrant camp.

Just then, someone else caught Olive’s eye.

Someone she really wanted to speak with.

She excused herself and headed across the grounds.

Elias Mercer stood near the food tent, speaking with a federal investigator who took detailed notes. The lodge owner looked like a man who’d been carrying a terrible burden and was finally able to set it down.

“I agreed to help host people and get them to Grayfall,” she heard him saying as she approached. “They said it was just a music festival, maybe a little unconventional, but legitimate. I had no idea all of this was going on.”

“But you suspected something,” the investigator pressed.

“Toward the end, yes. The organizer was very pushy, very controlling. When I tried to back out of the arrangement, things at the lodge would get sabotaged. Equipment would break, supplies would go missing. The message was clear—cooperate or suffer the consequences.”

“And Connor Walsh was your primary contact?”

“Him and a few others. But Connor was the one who made it clear what would happen if I didn’t cooperate.” Elias’s voice carried genuine regret. “I should have called the authorities, but they made it seem like I was already too deep in to get out clean.”

The investigator made a few more notes, then moved away to interview other witnesses. Olive approached Elias, who looked up at her with the weary recognition of someone who’d been expecting this conversation.

“Could I have a moment alone with you?” Olive asked.

The investigator nodded, and Olive sat beside Elias.

“You were at the lodge twenty years ago,” Olive said without preamble. “There’s a photograph in your main room showing a corporate retreat. Northwoods Investment Group.”

Elias’s expression grew guarded. “That was a long time ago.”

“My father was in that photograph. James Sterling. Do you remember him?”

Recognition immediately crossed Elias’s face, along with other more complicated emotions—surprise, wariness, and maybe even sadness.

“James Sterling,” he said. “Yes, I remember him. Brilliant man. Charming, knowledgeable.”

“What was the Northwoods Investment Group?”

He shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I wasn’t privy to that information, and they were so secretive about things.”

“You really had no idea?”

“I had the impression they were some kind of development group. But everyone involved seemed successful and like good businessmen. They met here every year for three years. Then I never heard from them again.”

“Do you remember who any of the other men were?”

“Some of them. Businessmen, investors. One was named Henderson. He was about your father’s age. Very well-dressed, seemed to be in charge.” Elias’s expression darkened. “And now I understand why they were so interested in this area.”

Olive nodded, pieces of the puzzle finally beginning to form a coherent picture.

But how did her father fit into this?

And what did this mean about the shell company that now owned her family’s house, about Jason’s father’s possible connections to the conspiracy, about all the secrets that were still buried beneath decades of careful planning?

As Obscurity launched into their first song in the background—a perfectly executed performance for an audience that was mostly federal agents and crime scene technicians—Olive realized that solving the mystery of Chloe Kingston’s disappearance had only opened the door to much larger questions about her own family’s fate.

Questions that someone had been willing to kill to keep buried.

And now that person knew she was still alive, still asking questions, still searching for the truth.

The real investigation was just beginning. Maybe it was time she used some of her personal leave to find the answers that had been just out of reach for so long.

She looked over at Jason as he talked to one of the cops. His gaze met hers, and her cheeks flushed as she remembered the conversations they’d had this week.

Soon, she would have to decide. She couldn’t keep him hanging for too long.

She took a step toward him when someone called her name.

She turned and saw Tevin standing there, an odd look on his face.

“Are you okay?” She stepped closer, concern filling her.

Usually, they had more opportunities to chat and catch up while working these cases. She’d missed having that time with him on this case, but it just hadn’t been possible.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets, appearing strangely nervous. “Don’t choose him.”

She blinked, uncertain she’d understood him correctly. “What?”

“Jason.” He nodded at Jason. “Don’t pick him.”

Her heart beat harder. “What do you mean?”

Tevin reached forward and touched her arm. “Pick me, Olive. I’ve loved you since the day we met. I’ve just been too afraid of ruining our friendship to tell you.”

She opened her mouth then closed it again. “I don’t understand.”

He came closer. “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.”

He stared at her with such sincerity in his gaze.

This wasn’t a joke. Tevin meant the words.

He loved her.

Maybe she should have seen it. Seen it in the lingering looks he’d given her. The way he was always available. The way all his other relationships only lasted a few dates.

She’d thought of him like a brother, someone she could tell her secrets to and kick back to relax with. He was one of her best friends.

She loved his obsession with all things dill-pickle-flavored. How he called his mom almost every day. How he was both a computer nerd and an athlete.

But . . . could there be more between them? She’d never even considered the idea.

Olive glanced at Jason again. Then at Tevin.

She licked her lips as she tried to figure out what to say.

~~~

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Coming next: Enigma .