Page 47 of Misdirection

“Of course.”

She hesitated, a question playing on the tip of her tongue. She’d contemplated whether to say anything all day.

But now she decided she should.

“I have a favor to ask of you, Tevin. A personal favor.”

His eyes wrinkled at the sides. “Okay. What do you need?”

“You can’t tell anybody about this.”

His brow furrowed in concern. “I think you know by now you can trust me.”

Olive nodded. She did know that. “I’m hoping you can look into someone for me. A man named Walter Wiggle.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Walter Wiggle? Are you serious?”

“I know it’s an interesting name. But finding out information about him is important.”

Tevin stared at her another moment, questions in his gaze. Then he nodded. “Of course. I’ll see what I can find out.”

It wasn’t that she doubted Tom. But she wanted more information.

Besides, all this time she’d thought she was following in her father’s footsteps by working covert operations for the government.

What if none of that was true? What if she’d been fed a carefully crafted narrative . . . by her own father? What if her dad was a con man, and his job wasn’t one of integrity but of selfishness and deception?

What would that make her? Was lying in her blood? Was she destined to turn out just like him?

Logically, she knew that answer. But emotionally, it was an entirely different story.

CHAPTER 19

Tevin dropped Olive at her car, and she drove back to her apartment.

She’d just put in a microwave dinner—not the best choice, but it was what was available—when a knock sounded at the door.

Why did people keep stopping by without an invitation? This wasnottypical of her life.

She pressed start on the microwave and listened to it hum before walking toward the door.

She peered through the peephole and sucked in a breath.

It was Jason, and he held something in his hands.

She opened the door and threw him a questioning look.

He held up the paper bag. “Chicken tenders and fries. Are they still your favorite?”

She didn’t want to smile, but she did anyway. She’d gone through a period where she was totally obsessed with chicken tenders and fries, especially with different dipping sauces. Her favorites had always been the honey barbecue and bang bang.

Olive led him inside and locked the door behind him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Jason went straight to her kitchen table and began to pull out the paper containers with the food inside. “I know.”

“I’m actually surprised you were able to leave Ryan’s place already.”

He shrugged. “There wasn’t much I could share with the police except that I went by to check on Ryan, only to find his house ransacked.”

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