Page 17 of Smokescreen

She ran her finger down the edge of the bathtub. She could get used to living like this.

Except she couldn’t.

She couldn’t get used to anything. That was the truth. One day she could be enjoying luxurious accommodations, the next she could be staying in the shady part of some obscure town. It was the nature of her job, and she’d learned to live with it.

She didn’t get used to places. She didn’t get used to people.

Jason’s image flashed into her mind again. She was doing everything she could to get the man out of her thoughts. But it wasn’t working.

There was no future for them together. There was no need to pretend like there was.

She’d been taught to be mentally stronger than her emotions. To disassociate.

She’d had to use all her training tenfold since running into Jason.

Letting out a burdened sigh, Olive paced back into the bedroom and to one of the windows. A glorious display of the mountains stood in the distance, just like she’d envisioned.

Back when her dad had been a preacher—which he’d been for less than a year—he might have called this God’s country. Right now, Olive was inclined to agree.

As she pulled her gaze away from the mountains, she glanced below and saw two people talking in a nearby pasture.

She squinted. Was that Reid?

She stepped back from the window, not wanting to be seen.

Then she peered out again, careful to remain out of sight.

Yes, that was definitely Reid. He was talking with a man she hadn’t met yet. He wore typical ranch clothing—jeans and a cowboy hat. Olive couldn’t see his face very well, but she’d guess him to be older—the skin around his jowls seemed loose.

Whatever their conversation was about, it appeared heated. They both stood close and gestured wildly.

She narrowed her eyes as she watched, curiosity growing inside her.

There was definitely more to Reid Harrison than he’d let on.

Olive planned on uncovering all those secrets.

CHAPTER 7

Olive sat down on her bed and grabbed her backpack.

She unlocked it and pulled out her computer. She needed to be in contact with Trick. Texting and emailing would be the best way to communicate with him since talking to each other in person might look suspicious.

She opened her laptop and scanned her emails. Tevin was looking into several things for her, including any possible mineral resources on this property. He would also send up a drone to look for anything suspicious happening on Reid’s land. The acreage was so large and so much of it was hard to access that additional footage could tell them a lot.

He’d come into town for this assignment, staying at the closest motel, which happened to be twenty minutes down the road. His cover was that he’d been hired by Reid to do a geological survey of Reid’s property.

Olive thought about calling him but decided not to. She could too easily envision Hannah lingering outside her door and listening for anything that might be said. Olive couldn’t risk that.

Instead, she began to put together a report on this case. Rex, her boss at Aegis, would want to stay updated on the situation as well, so this would make it easier.

“Possible suspects,” she typed. “Lucy Bondurant.”

She would get Tevin to check Lucy out.

Olive really wanted to see those legal documents Lucy had given Reid. She thought Reid would show her, but right now wasn’t the right time to ask.

There were also the four new employees who’d been recently hired. Once she had those names, she’d need to do a deep dive into their backgrounds. Then she’d move on to the employees who’d been here longer. No one could be ruled out.