Misdirection (Pros and Cons Mysteries #1)

Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

A s soon as Olive got back into her office, she closed the door and told Bree she didn’t want to be disturbed.

Then she went to her desk and checked the security camera footage from her office to make sure no one had been inside while she was gone. She needed to be very careful with these things.

When she confirmed nothing had been tampered with, she called Rex.

He answered on the first ring. “What’s going on? You have an update for me?”

Olive gave him the rundown on her conversation with Bennett.

Rex muttered a string of profanities beneath his breath. “The US Attorney General? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s like one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing.”

Olive couldn’t deny his words. He was absolutely right. The different branches of the government didn’t talk to each other. That created problems.

“I want to confirm this,” he told her. “We can’t blindly believe what this man is telling us.”

“I understand. I’ll talk to Tevin and see if he’ll look into Claudine’s background. She wasn’t on our radar, but maybe she should be.”

“Good idea. I also have an update for you.”

Olive sat up straighter. She hadn’t expected that. “What did you find out?”

“I talked to Mitzi today. As I’m sure Tevin told you, we had her cozy up to Beau’s roommate, a man named Nick Dennis, to see what she could find out about Beau. Though we believe Beau was just a victim of circumstance, we wanted to be sure that was accurate.”

“And?”

“And apparently Beau’s roommate gets very chatty, especially after he has some alcohol in his system. He told Mitzi that Beau had just recently begun to date someone.”

Olive licked her lips, anxious to hear what Rex would say. Was it Claudine? Had Claudine also shown an interest in Beau?

“I’m going to send you a picture of this woman. Mitzi took the photo herself from Beau’s personal computer.”

“You’re keeping me in suspense. What does she look like?”

“You’re going to want to have this on file anyway. I’ll send it now.”

Olive logged into a private account she had for Aegis.

A moment later, a picture popped up on her screen.

As Olive stared at the woman smiling at her, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Adriana.

Adriana’s smiling face stared back at Olive.

Jason’s Adriana.

In the photo, her face was pressed up against Beau’s and the lights of Chicago’s skyline stretched behind them. They were both dressed to the nines as if they’d just gone out to a fancy dinner.

They both looked happy . . . and definitely like more than just friends.

“Are you still there?” Rex asked.

Olive swallowed hard as she continued to stare at the photo. “I am. That woman’s name is Adriana.”

“That’s correct.” Surprise lined his voice. “Adriana Peters. How did you know?”

She considered what to say. Did she want to throw Jason under the bus by bringing him into this? Of course, he was already a part of this, thanks to that security footage Tevin had uncovered.

This news, however, would take that suspicion to a new level. If Jason became a top suspect to Rex, then Olive wouldn’t be able to protect him.

To protect him? That was the first time she realized she even had that desire.

What was she thinking? She needed to remain objective. She couldn’t properly investigate otherwise.

Despite that realization Olive found herself saying, “She’s a friend of a friend.”

Rex grunted. “That’s definitely a connection you’ll want to look into.”

She stared at the smiling face of the woman, an angry pulse of heat flowing through her veins. This was definitely the same woman Olive had seen in the photo that popped up on Jason’s phone when Adriana had called him.

“Oh, believe me, I will.”

She thanked Rex and then ended the call.

As she placed her phone back on her desk, she continued to stare at Adriana’s smiling face.

Then she remembered Jason’s image in the security footage. Images that showed him in the SCI corridor right before Beau was murdered.

Were Jason and Adriana in on this together? Had Adriana gotten close to Beau in order to find out certain information? Beau was the Head of Development for the company. He knew things other people didn’t.

Right now, it was the only thing that made sense.

Had Jason been tricking her with his gallant act this whole time?

Olive wasn’t sure. But as anger coursed through her, one thing was certain: She needed to know the truth. She couldn’t wait any longer.

She needed to talk to Jason.

Wasting no more time, she grabbed her purse and hurried downstairs. Jason’s office was located on the first floor, near the metal detectors.

But as she knocked on his door, there was no answer.

“Jason left,” Sonny called from near the front door.

Olive paced toward the security guard. “What? I just talked to him not long ago.”

Sonny shrugged. “He’s my boss so I don’t ask questions. I try to stay in my lane. But he told me an emergency popped up and he needed to head home.”

That sounded suspicious.

What if the truth was that Jason needed to leave because of the information Bennett had just shared? Maybe he needed to act on it. Maybe he even needed to silence Bennett because he knew too much.

Olive wasn’t sure, but she needed to figure this out.

If Jason was up to something, she needed to stop him . . . for more than one reason.