Page 19 of Obscurity
Jason nodded, already settling onto his bedroll. “Yeah. Long day tomorrow.”
She changed in the bathroom, emerging in pajama pants and an oversized T-shirt that suddenly felt inadequate given their sleeping arrangements. Jason had turned off the main lights, leaving only the small bedside lamp casting warm shadows across the room.
Before climbing into bed, she cracked the second-story window just an inch. It had cooled off outside, and some fresh air sounded nice.
“Good night,” she said softly.
“Good night, Olive.”
She slid under the covers, hyperaware of every sound Jason made as he settled on the hardwood floor. The rustle of blankets, the quiet sigh as he found a comfortable position, the steady rhythm of his breathing that gradually slowed as he drifted toward sleep.
This was ridiculous. She was a trained investigator who had faced down armed criminals and international conspiracies. She should be able to handle sharing a room with a colleague without her heart racing like a lovesick teenager’s.
But lying there in the darkness, listening to Jason breathe just feet away from her, all she could think about was the kiss they’d shared. The way his hands had felt in her hair, the warmth of his body pressed against hers, the moment when she’d felt sixteen and in love again.
She’d been so sure that night that they were moving toward something real, something worth the risk. She’d kept herself at a distance from people—from romance—for so long. But Jason had reawakened something in her. Made her wonder if being alone wasn’t her only option.
Then she’d discovered the connection between his father and her family’s house, and everything had become complicated again. Apparently, a shell company now owned her old home in Oasis, Texas. With the help of Tevin, Olive had done some digging and discovered that Lloyd Stewart—Jason’s father—was a part of that very shell company.
What if Jason is innocent?The thought whispered through her mind like a prayer.What if his father’s business dealings had nothing to do with what happened to my family?
But what if they did?
Olive certainly didn’t want people judging her for her father’s actions. So was it really fair that she was doing it to Jason?
No, it wasn’t.
However, a lot was at stake here, and she had to be careful. She needed to find some answers before she made any decisions.
She couldn’t handle being conned by anyone—especially not someone she cared about. It would devastate her.
A sound outside made her freeze. Muffled but agitated voices came from the woods behind the lodge.
Olive quietly slipped from the bed and padded to the window. The moon provided just enough light to make out shapes moving in the shadows at the edge of the forest.
Two figures stood about fifty yards from the lodge. One she recognized immediately as Elias Mercer. His posture appeared rigid with anger or maybe frustration.
The other was harder to make out. He was shorter, scrawnier. Leif maybe.
Their voices carried on the still night air, though most of the words were lost.
But then Elias’s voice rose, clear and sharp with panic. “Some things are out of my control. You’re asking too much!”
Olive remained at the window, her breath fogging the glass as she strained to see into the darkness.
Elias and the other man had walked toward the maintenance shed behind the lodge and vanished.
The part of their conversation she’d overheard played on repeat in her mind—the urgency in Elias’s voice, the way he’d said “some things are out of my control” like he was announcing the arrival of some dreaded inevitability.
What kind of place is this?
She remembered what Elias had said about the waterfalls and caves in this area. There appeared to be innumerous places for crimes to happen.
For bodies to be hidden.
Olive had investigated many things, but something about this case felt different. More personal. More dangerous in ways she couldn’t articulate.
She was about to step away from the window when more movement in her peripheral vision made her freeze.
