Page 32 of Misdirection

“I was able to pinpoint where some generic footage had been spliced in.”

She tapped her chopsticks on her lips. “Can you unsplice it to see what was deleted? Is that even possible?”

“It’s complicated, but that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ll keep working on recovering whatever was taken out.”

Olive ate one last noodle before putting the carton down and leaning back against the couch. Her mind never seemed to stop working, and that was the case right now. Everything she knew whirred through her brain as she processed all she’d learned and tried to make sense of it.

Tevin set his empty container on the coffee table also. “So what’s your plan for tomorrow?”

She didn’t have to think about that answer for long. “Now that Duncan has moved farther down on my list, I’d like to focus on Ryan Jones.”

“Why Ryan?”

“He has the clearance needed to find this information. A few months ago, he bought a new house well out of his price range.And, according to some of his coworkers, he’s been acting stressed on the job lately.”

Tevin tilted his head. “It sounds like he could be our guy.”

“I’ll need to examine my suspects one-by-one in order to find answers—unless we get another lead that shifts the balance.”

“You’ll figure this out, Olive,” Tevin assured her. “You always do.”

She appreciated his confidence in her.

But sometimes Olive feared she’d sold her very soul for this job.

Was that something she could live with?

CHAPTER 13

Olive arrived at the office early the next morning, just as she did every day.

This was the best time to not only clear her head but to do some snooping.

She’d already had a vitamin-infused smoothie—her coffee replacement most days—so her brain felt alert. On this job, she couldn’t afford to be sluggish. Being at her best at all times was required to both keep her cover and find answers.

She sat at her computer and wiggled the mouse, ready to pull up her emails and see if she’d missed anything.

After typing in her password, she stared at her screen and paused.

Something wasn’t right.

She squinted.

She couldn’t put her finger on exactly what, but she was sure something on her computer was different.

Someone had been on it, she realized.

She scanned the screen, trying to pinpoint exactly what had indicated to her subconscious that something was different.

That was when she realized what it was. When she’d left yesterday, she’d kept a document open—a document withquestions she’d written out as part of her security review process.

But right now, that document was closed.

Olive hadn’t closed it. She was certain of it.

Unease churned inside her.

As soon as her administrative assistant got into work, Olive hurried to ask her a question.

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