Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
“ W hat do you think?”
Olive blinked and snapped from her thoughts.
When she looked up from her desk, she realized Bree was standing at the door speaking to her.
Olive had been preoccupied all morning after the bombshell Tevin had dropped last night. Could Jason really be behind this? She’d never heard an update on his out-of-town trip, and he did drive a luxurious Range Rover.
“Ms. Whiten?” Bree murmured.
Olive shook her head as she turned her focus on her assistant. “I’m sorry—say that again.”
“I just need your lunch order for the board meeting next week.”
Lunch? She had much bigger worries. “You pick for me. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Bree stared at her another moment before nodding. “Caesar salad with grilled chicken it is then.”
As her assistant scurried from her office, Olive leaned back in her chair.
Her thoughts again went back to Jason.
It had been a long time since she and Jason had truly known each other. But she didn’t think Jason had it in him to murder someone.
However, he had been a Ranger. Certainly, he’d taken lives on the battlefield.
Maybe he’d changed in the years since they’d been friends. Maybe he truly was someone Olive didn’t know at all.
She needed to be objective about this.
If it had been anyone other than Jason on that video, that person would automatically be number one on her suspect list.
Olive had known from the moment she’d run into Jason that he harbored secrets. She could see them in his eyes.
Yet she had trouble picturing Jason as a self-motivated killer. She didn’t get the sense from him that he’d done something wrong or that he was motivated by money.
Maybe there was a good explanation for this. Maybe he was investigating something himself and was unable to share details. Olive knew better than anyone what that was like.
What Olive was sure about was that she still needed to keep an eye on Bennett. Ryan hadn’t come into work today, and his absence was the scuttlebutt around the office.
Some people thought he’d had a mental breakdown. Others thought he’d left for a spontaneous getaway to a tropical island to unwind from the tension of the job. Still others simply thought he’d taken a sick day.
One thing was for sure. Olive wouldn’t find any answers by sitting in her office. She needed to get out there. To listen to some other theories. Maybe even to see what Bennett was up to right now.
With that thought in mind, she rose.
It was time to stop thinking about the fact Jason was on that video and time to get busy.
Just as Olive stepped into the hallway, she spotted Bennett disappearing around the corner.
She hadn’t intended on following him, but now that the opportunity had presented itself . . .
Keeping her steps steady as to not draw attention, she headed after him.
As she did, her phone buzzed.
Jason. But she couldn’t answer right now. She didn’t want Bennett to hear her behind him.
Besides, she wasn’t sure exactly what she’d say to Jason yet. She needed to figure that out before speaking with him.
Bennett skipped the elevator and went to the stairway instead. Olive hesitated before stepping through the door behind him.
She paused, waiting a moment.
Then she slowly opened the door, thankful the hinges weren’t squeaky.
Footsteps echoed through the chamber as someone headed downstairs.
Drawing in a quick breath, she stepped into the stairwell and quietly let the door close behind her.
As she did, her phone buzzed again in her pocket.
She grabbed it and glared at the screen. Jason was trying to call her for the second time.
What was so urgent?
It didn’t matter. She couldn’t talk to him right now. Not when she was following Bennett.
Whatever he had to say, it would have to wait.
Olive slipped her heels off, knowing they’d be too noisy and give away her presence. Then she began to pad down the stairway.
She resisted the urge to peek over the railing and see exactly where he was.
She couldn’t be caught, and taking the stairs at the same time as him might look suspicious.
Her heart pounded harder. If Bennett spotted her . . . any excuse she might try to sell him would be hard to believe.
That meant she couldn’t be caught.
A door opened in the distance and then slammed.
Bennett must have exited.
Based on the number of footfalls she’d counted, he was two floors below her.
But that would mean . . . he was on the second floor. The floor where the SCI corridor was located.
Why would he go down there? Most execs didn’t search for records themselves.
The company had something called burn bags. Whenever someone at the company requested confidential information, an employee with special clearance printed the needed documents from a secure network only accessible through computers in the SCI corridor.
The clerk then personally delivered the information to the exec. When the executive was finished with the information, they placed the documents in a bag that was then picked up by the same employee.
The information was then destroyed in a special shredder to ensure no one could piece the documents back together. If the information wasn’t returned, an investigation was launched, and that executive would either be fired or face other consequences.
So there was no reason for an executive like Bennett to go into the SCI corridor.
Unless he wanted to do something without being seen.
Olive’s heart pounded harder as she considered all the possibilities.
She paused at the doorway, allowing ample time to pass. Then she cracked the door open and peered out.
Bennett stood near the door leading to the locked classified files. The desk where Alex Kellogg, the record’s clerk, usually sat was empty. Only Bennett was in here.
He had his name badge raised to scan.
Before Olive could figure out what to do next, her phone buzzed again.
Irritation clawed at her. Was this Jason again?
But when she looked at the screen, she saw it was Duncan. She couldn’t very well ignore a call from her boss.
Instead, she let the door close behind her as she stepped back into the stairwell. Then she cleared her throat and answered. “This is Olive.”
“Olive . . . I need you in the conference room,” Duncan stated. “Now.”
Her heart leapt into her throat. Whatever he wanted to talk to her about, it sounded serious.
Had something else happened? Had someone discovered her real purpose here?
Olive didn’t know. But a tremor captured her muscles as she considered the possibilities of what this meeting might mean.