Page 18 of Deception

Nova froze near the entry and cast Olive a confused look. “Jumpy much?”

“Someone broke into my room.” Olive strode back toward the couch.

“What?” Her voice lilted with surprise.

“And someone nearly ran me over with his motorcycle earlier.”

Nova eased farther into the room and paused. “And you’re just now mentioning this to me?”

Olive grabbed her computer and sat back down with it. “I had other things to worry about first.”

“If your cover is already blown, then I’d say that’s a pretty big worry.” Nova gave Olive a sideways glance as she sat beside her on the couch.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out now.” She grabbed the jump drive. “The photographer dropped this USB drive when he nearly ran me over with his motorcycle.”

“Whoa. That’s next-level.”

“At least, I think it belonged to him.” Olive handed the device to Nova. “I know you probably want to check this before I put it in my computer.”

“People say you’re smart for a good reason.” She grabbed her bag, pulled out a laptop, and inserted the USB drive. “This computer isn’t connected to any network and has no information on it—just in case.”

“Smart thinking.”

Sometimes there were bugs planted on these devices, so while people thought they were getting information, someone was actually either hacking into their system or destroying it. It was always best to use devices with certain parameters in place for these moments.

Olive watched the screen. “Now let’s see what’s on this memory stick.”

A moment later, pictures appeared.

Olive expected to see photos of herself in town. Or maybe photos of her in Indiana, where Aegis was based.

But that wasn’t what she saw.

Photos of Rebecca had filled the screen.

Olive blinked as she stared at the images.

Only one thought came to mind: Was someone else investigating Rebecca also?

“What . . . ?” Nova murmured. “There’s gotta be more to this story.”

“You’re right. There has to be.” Olive stared at the photos.

There were pictures of Rebecca walking around town. Pictures of her at church. Going into her house. Walking into the local hospital.

“Someone has been stalking Rebecca.” Nova shook her head in disbelief. “This guy probably heard you were coming to town to do this documentary, so he took pictures of you also.”

“So maybe my cover isn’t blown.” Olive leaned back and let that thought settle.

“Who else might suspect Rebecca has been lying, and what do they plan on doing about it? Exposing her? Or worse?”

Olive continued to stare at the photos. “That’s an excellent question. Maybe it’s someone she’s scammed. If she’s taken a lot of money from them, it would give them reason to be angry. Maybe really angry.”

“It’s definitely something to consider.” Nova shrugged slowly.

Olive told her about the argument she saw Rebecca having with the man in the parking lot. Then she shared the details of her conversation with Chelsea. She ended with the update on Maria.

“I gotta admit—I wasn’t excited about being assigned to this case. But it’s getting more interesting. Maybe it won’t be that bad after all.” Nova pulled her legs beneath her on the couch as the two of them settled in for their conversation.

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