Chapter 46
CHAPTER 46
EIGHT YEARS AGO
“ I can see it in your eyes, Olive.”
She looked up at Tom as she did her math homework at the dining room table and squinted. “See what in my eyes?”
He sat across from her, still in his suit and tie after work, studying her. “You’ve got all the right traits to be an investigator.”
She scoffed. That had been the last thing she expected him to tell her. “Why would you say that?”
“You show good attention to detail—when you wash dishes, I always know they’re done right. You’re great at researching—I’ve seen you looking into colleges and checking out what each of them has to offer. You’re patient—you literally listened to our neighbor talk about daffodils for an hour. You’re smart—that goes without saying. And maybe most importantly, you can read people.”
She couldn’t argue with anything he said, yet she couldn’t help but feel like a twist was coming. “Are you going to tell me I shouldn’t pursue it?”
Tom shook his head, the circles beneath his eyes appearing especially deep today. “No, that’s the last thing I’m going to do. But if you decide to choose that career path then I want to teach you the basics.”
“Really?” Surprise rang through her voice.
“Really.” Tom told her. “There are some tricks to the trade I’ve learned over the years.”
For the next hour, as Jill cooked dinner and the savory scent of lasagna wafted through the house, Tom talked to Olive about tips he’d discovered over the years.
None of his real kids had gone into law enforcement. One was a homemaker, another an engineer, the third a physical therapist, and the youngest a teacher.
Tom told her about the importance of documenting everything.
He told her about gathering multiple sources of information. About mastering the art of blending in. About building reliable networks. About reading body language.
Nearly everything he told her contrasted sharply to what her dad had unofficially taught her.
Olive remembered that one time her dad had showed her a magic trick.
The key to perfecting a sleight of hand trick is to make sure to make people look in one direction so they don’t see what’s happening in the other direction.
He then demonstrated by taking the wedding ring off his hand. He placed it under one of three cups. Told Olive to keep her eye on the ring.
So she had.
She’d thought.
But after he’d shuffled them and when she pointed to the middle cup, the ring wasn’t there. Instead, it was in his hand.
Her dad had told her he never put the ring under the cup. He’d only acted as if he had.
That’s the key, he’d said . People instinctively follow where others are looking, so when you’re pulling off a trick, never underestimate the power of your gaze.
Misdirection, she mused. He’d also taught her about looking natural, about muscle memory, about building trust and rapport.
She could see where her father’s advice could be valuable also—though in a different way.
But she understood what Tom was saying also. There were certain rules investigators needed to play by in order to keep their integrity.
After their talk, Olive felt something growing inside her.
The desire to follow in her dad’s footsteps. Or maybe in Tom’s footsteps.
Or were their paths one and the same?
She honestly wasn’t sure.
And that was something she needed to figure out.