Page 49 of Smokescreen

She skimmed the words.

This wasn’t the copy Reid had. This looked like the one Lucy had shown them.

Olive’s thoughts continued to race.

What if Lucy hadn’t been lying after all? Or had she somehow managed to come up into the attic and plant this copy? Could she have done that without being caught?

Olive wasn’t sure, but she had a lot to think about.

Olive put the will back in the envelope, put the envelope back in the box, and then stood.

Finding that document had been unexpected, and she still wasn’t sure what to think.

What if Reid . . . what if he wasn’t as innocent as Olive had assumed?

But what sense did that make? He’d hired her. Why would he do that if he was somehow involved in this?

Still, something was going on here, and most likely these events all connected. Olive just had to figure out how.

She wanted to chew on those thoughts first before making any moves.

She wandered deeper into the attic, tugging on another light as she slipped farther from the area she’d entered. Finally, her gaze stopped on a box labeled “Dolls.”

Just what she was looking for.

Olive pulled the box down and then knelt beside it as she opened the folds.

A set of eyes stared back at her.

She sucked in a breath.

It’s just a porcelain doll, she reminded herself.Nothing to be scared over.

Just then, something crashed in the distance.

Olive jumped, her hand flying over her heart. What was that?

She scanned the space for any signs of movement, any signs of what had happened.

Everything looked the same. No boxes had been turned over or furniture moved.

The storm must have blown something loose, she decided. Maybe a branch from a nearby tree had slammed into the roof.

She laughed at herself. She wasn’t usually this jumpy. Maybe it was just something about attics.

Drawing in a deep breath, Olive turned back to the box. She pulled out a doll wearing a violet dress and bonnet.

The doll looked ordinary to Olive. But considering it had belonged to Reid’s mom, she had to wonder if this doll was worth a lot of money.

If that was the case, then the doll that had been destroyed could have also been a financial loss. But Reid hadn’t mentioned that. Maybe when someone had his kind of money things like that didn’t matter. She wasn’t sure.

She continued digging through the box.

There were four dolls in total.

But Reid had said his mom had five—the Jackson Five.

So someone had known about these dolls. They’d gotten one, blacked the doll’s eyes out, and hung it in Olive’s room to send her a message.