Page 16 of Not This Place

“Can’t tell. You find anything?”

She removed her gaze from the lens for a brief moment—the first time she’d done so in hours.

She glanced over at her partner.

Ethan's fingers flew across the keyboard, the faint clicking sound punctuating the silence that filled the car. His eyes darted across the laptop screen, a digital ledger sprawling before him like a maze of numbers and dates. He was searching for a thread to pull, something that would unravel Jasper Hargreaves' financial record.

Rachel shifted in her seat, the leather creaking under her weight. Her gaze lingered on Ethan, watching his every move with the intensity of a hawk. The air inside the vehicle felt thick, charged with the electricity of imminent revelation.

"Anything?" Her voice cut through the quiet. Sharp. Expectant.

Ethan didn't look up. "Digging through layers. Transactions buried deep." His words were terse, mirroring the seriousness of their task.

The glow from the laptop cast stark shadows over his puppy-dog eyes under his sandy crop of hair. Rachel's hands clenched and unclenched, the only sign of her growing impatience.

"Need a hit soon," she said, her tone steady.

She’d learned to keep her patience with Ethan. Not so much because he would hold it against her, but because she found he worked better when she was gentle.

It wasn’t a natural language to her. Gentleness was for indoor animals. She was an outdoor huntress, and in the forests and mountains, aggression was often the name of the game.

"Got something." Ethan's voice was low, almost lost in the hum of the idling engine. But Rachel heard it, loud as a gunshot in her ears.

"Tell me."

"Large payment. Last week. Oh… oh, holy shit." Quickly, her religious partner added, “Sorry, God. Holy sheeeets.”

“What is it?”

"Jasper Hargreaves transferred a large sum of money..." Ethan's voice trailed off, his eyes wide in the dim light. "To Cheryl Danvers."

Rachel's heart pounded in her chest, the rhythm echoing in her ears. She turned back to the scope, focusing on the mansion. Nothing. Still nothing. Her gaze snapped back to Ethan, seeking confirmation.

"Are you sure?" Her voice was a whisper, as if speaking any louder might shatter the fragile thread of revelation they were pulling on.

"I've checked it thrice." Ethan's tone was certain now, the initial shock giving way to the cool professionalism Rachel had come to rely on. "Cheryl received a hefty amount from Jasper Hargreaves' personal account."

Rachel sat back in her seat, her mind whirring like the engine of their vehicle. A lump sum payment. The night before, Cheryl had been murdered. It didn't add up unless... She felt bile rise in her throat at the thought.

"We need to bring him in." The words sliced through the charged silence with an air of finality.

Ethan nodded, closing his laptop with a soft click that seemed to echo in the confines of their car. "Agreed."

“Why would Jasper pay Cheryl, his ex-fiance?

“I don’t know.”

“How much?”

Ethan tilted the laptop screen again, and his fingers danced over the keys, the pale blue light of the screen illuminating his furrowed brow. "Half a million dollars."

Her blood ran cold at the figure, a chill creeping up her spine despite the humid Texas night.

“Bribe?”

“Hush money?” he shot back.

“Or… something else?” Rachel asked.

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