Page 53 of Deception

She was quiet for the ride home, vowing she’d never forget this day for as long as she lived. Dad had lied to her again, making her worst day ever even worse.

If he didn’t have to tell the truth, then why should she?

CHAPTER 29

TODAY

Olive and Nova had an interview lined up today with Rebecca’s husband, Matt.

In the meantime, they had a lot of small details to look into.

Nova was working on finding information on Rebecca’s financials. It was complicated, given the fact Rebecca wouldn’t just hand over her bank statements. Though Nova was an expert at hacking into systems and websites, financial systems were always more difficult.

First of all, she had to figure out what banks they had their money in, which was tricky. They needed to get a good look at the family’s mail. If they could even find out the names of their financial institutions, they would at least have an idea of where to look for this information.

While she did that, Olive started to work on getting her Jeep windows repaired. But she discovered when she called the rental agency that Rex had already taken care of everything, and keys for her new vehicle were waiting for her at the front desk.

She’d sent her boss a text last night to let him know what happened. She hadn’t expected him to step in like that, however.

Technically, they should have filed a police report. But Olive hadn’t wanted the extra attention or the hassle. Rex must have made up an excuse and agreed to pay for the damage. Either way, she was glad not to have to worry about it.

Instead, she worked on putting all the details of the case into a dossier—Rex preferred to stay in the loop, and this was one way to do that.

She added more details to the timeline, including Rebecca’s trip to Galveston.

Then she made a list of all the extra expenses and the gifts Rebecca had received—things Olive and Nova would cross-reference. The list included her new car, her mortgage being paid off, her trip to Disney World, and now this trip to the beach.

Olive stared at what she’d written and leaned back.

These donations could be financing a real nice life for Rebecca, full of things she might not be able to afford otherwise.

If this was all fake, then Rebecca was an expert at manipulating people.

At eleven, Olive and Nova packed up and headed to the workplace of Matt Hansen.

They’d both been doing their own research and updated each other as they headed toward Matt’s office.

Nova had found some old classmates of Rebecca’s and sent emails. She’d also emailed Jason’s friend from Galveston to get more information.

Olive had looked into the owner of the property where the IP address had pinged. She hadn’t had any luck finding out that information, though.

Matt only had an hour to give them, but his boss had agreed to let Olive and Nova set up in his office during Matt’s lunch break.

Olive was anxious to meet the man.

They pulled to a stop in front of Goodmen Marketing and grabbed their gear.

Matt met them at the door.

The man was handsome in a very ordinary way—tall and fit with thick, light-brown hair and nicely balanced features. He looked like the kind of guy you’d want to throw around a football with or have over for a barbecue.

“Thanks for letting us come,” Olive started as he led them down the hallway.

“Of course. Whatever I can do to help get Rebecca’s story out there.” His voice sounded grim as he said the words.

Now that Olive got a closer look at him, she noticed the circles beneath his eyes. Things had taken a toll on him—things being either Rebecca’s sickness or her fraud.

Olive really wanted to know if he was aware of her fraud or if she’d tricked him also, though Olive didn’t see how he could be that naive if that was the case. He’d gone to her doctor appointments. He should have heard her diagnosis, seen her being treated.

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