Page 31 of Deception

“He probably would be.” Rebecca paused as if in thought. “Let me talk to him. I know he’s trying to squeeze in some work now while he can. He can’t afford to get behind on things.”

“That makes sense. Just let me know.” Olive glanced at the pad of paper in her hands where she’d scribbled various notes during the interview. “And I’d love a list of other people I can talk to as well—people who’ve really stood beside you and supported you throughout this journey. I’d like to get a slice of different areas of your life, from church to school to neighbors.”

“I’ll make some phone calls before I give out any contact information. But I can definitely get that to y’all.”

“Perfect. If you could send the list to Nova, she’ll organize everything from there.” They’d given Rebecca their contact information earlier. Olive rose. “Now, we’ll get our things and let you rest.”

“I appreciate that. I sure do miss having my old energy.” Rebecca watched as Nova packed up the camera. “Can I help with anything?”

“We can handle this.” Nova stood. “You just take it easy.”

Part of Olive couldn’t wait to get out of here.

She needed to talk to Nova . . . she wanted to know if her colleague had noticed the same detail she had about Rebecca’s story.

“Look what I got.” Nova held up something between her fingers as soon as they got in the Jeep.

Olive’s eyes widened. “Is that . . . ?”

Nova grinned and nodded. “One of the cameras we saw in Rebecca’s place? Yes. I want to see what I can find out about it.”

A new thought hit Olive with startling force. “Is it recording our conversation now and sending it to a server?”

“No, I already disabled it, which was just as simple as taking the battery out.”

“You’re sure Rebecca didn’t see you take it?”

Nova gave her a look. “Who do you think I am? A rookie?”

A smile cracked Olive’s face. “Of course not. It’s just at the first sign we’re fakes, Rebecca will clam up and not talk to us anymore.”

“I know. That’s why I swiped it when I went to the bathroom on one of our breaks. I’m sure Rebecca didn’t see. She was too busy telling you about how great all her doctors are.”

Olive nodded in admiration of her colleague. “Perfect. I can’t wait to see what you find out. Good job.”

Nova narrowed her eyes. “It’s so weird. If Rebecca set up the cameras, why would she want to record everything going on at her house? But if someone else left the cameras there, then why? There’s clearly more that’s going on here. Even if this whole cancer story is legitimate, something doesn’t smell right.”

“I agree.” Olive put the Jeep in Reverse and started back toward the hotel, not wanting to look suspicious by staying in the driveway too long. “And did you pick up on what Rebecca said?”

“I think I heard everything she said, but I’m clearly not picking up on what you picked up on.” Nova narrowed her eyes and frowned. “Can I pretend I did and say yes, but you share your version anyway?”

If there was one thing nice about Nova it was the fact she had a decent although cranky sense of humor about these things. That could go a long way during tense investigations.

“During the interview, Rebecca mentioned she needed another bone marrow transplant,” Olive said.

Nova squinted. “And that’s a problem? Don’t people need more than one sometimes?”

“I was looking at the timeline,” Olive said. “And Rebecca had her first bone marrow transplant less than a year ago.”

“Okay . . . I’m going to need you to spell this out for me a little more.”

“People can only have bone marrow transplants every one to two years. Yet she’s saying she needs this one next month. It’s only been nine months since her first one.”

Nova’s eyes widened. “Brilliant. How do you even know that?”

“Unfortunately, facts—especially facts involving numbers—get stuck in my head. Then I can’t get them out. I remember things a little too easily.”

Olive didn’t want to love numbers, but she did. Her brain latched onto them like they were life rafts on a sinking Titanic.

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