Smokescreen (Pros and Cons Mysteries #2)

Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

“ Y ou guys,” Olive murmured as she stiffly turned to face the woods.

“I heard it too,” Trick said.

He joined her, and they stared at the forest around them, preparing themselves for whatever might happen next.

But there was nothing. No more noises. No more sticks cracking under unseen weight.

“Someone want to tell me what’s going on?” Reid asked.

“I heard a noise,” Olive said quietly, her gaze still searching between the trees. “Someone could be out here with us.”

“You go left, I’ll go right,” Trick murmured to Olive. Then he glanced at Reid and Tevin. “You two stay here.”

“But—” Reid started.

“It’s nonnegotiable,” Trick said. “We can’t have our client getting hurt.”

Olive didn’t look back to see Reid’s expression, though she imagined he wasn’t happy. But Trick was right. His safety was their priority.

She drew the gun from her holster and crept into the woods. She kept her eyes wide open for any signs of danger—be it man or moose.

When she was three feet in, a figure darted out in a mad dash to get away.

“Hey!” Olive shouted before taking off after the man.

But the man had a head start, and he was fast.

She hadn’t even gotten a good look at him.

Trick joined her, but even the two of them together couldn’t stop this guy.

The man finally reached a side-by-side that had been left on a narrow foot path and hopped on.

He was gone before they reached the area where he’d parked.

Olive sucked in a deep breath, trying to get control of her breathing as she paused and watched the man escape.

She shook her head, mad at herself that she hadn’t been faster. “Who was that?”

“Good question.” Trick’s hands went to his hips as he stared in the same direction. “He didn’t want to be seen, whoever he was.”

Had he come here to watch them? Or to clean up more from Andy’s murder?

They might not ever know.

She scowled again before saying, “We should get back to Reid and Tevin.”

Trick nodded. “Let’s go.”

But the questions remained in her mind. Who had that man been? And what was he doing out here?

If only Olive had gotten a better look . . . but she hadn’t.

The gang went back to the Homestead. Their trip hadn’t been futile—they had found that casing, and they knew someone had been in the woods watching them.

But Olive couldn’t deny that she wanted more answers. Mostly what they seemed to be finding were more questions.

Trick headed out to help with the livestock, while Tevin grabbed his computer. He’d found something he wanted to show Olive. Reid had explained to everyone on his staff that Tevin had been hired to do some work for him but had been injured on the job. That was all people needed to know.

With no one looking, Olive slipped into Tevin’s room to hear what he had to say.

“Hey,” she murmured as she quietly closed the door. “I only have about five minutes before Reid and I have to go into town.”

“That’s all this should take.” Tevin sat on his bed with papers spread out around him. He grabbed his laptop and opened it. “I found this from my footage. I wanted to show you first before I mentioned it to Reid.”

“What is it?” She sat beside him on the bed so she could see the screen.

“The time stamp on this footage shows that these images were recorded about thirty minutes before those men found me and took me to that cabin.” Tevin hit another key with extra gusto. “Watch this.”

Olive leaned closer, not wanting to miss anything. A second later, she watched on the screen as a car pulled to a stop near a service road. Two men stepped out.

“Jon and Edgar?” she blurted.

“Probably,” Tevin confirmed. “But there’s more.”

A few seconds later, a black truck—one she didn’t recognize—pulled up beside the other vehicle, and a man wearing a cowboy hat stepped out.

With the overhead angle of the drone, it was impossible to see his face with that hat.

The man talked to the men Olive assumed were Jon and Edgar for almost a full minute. Then he climbed back into his truck and left in the direction he came from. Again, because of the angle of the camera, they couldn’t see the man’s face or license plate number—which felt unfortunate, to say the least.

“Then look what happens next . . .” Tevin angled the computer to her.

Olive watched as one of the men looked up, and his features came into view. “That’s definitely Edgar.”

He spotted the drone, pulled his gun and fired.

A second later, the footage went black.

Olive sighed and leaned back against the headboard. “We need to figure out who the man in the black truck is.”

“Yes, we do. But that will be easier said than done.”

A few minutes later, Olive and Reid headed to Vulture Gulch to meet with Wayne.

Hopefully, the lawyer had reviewed the will and was ready to share his conclusions.

Olive knew Reid was apprehensive about the meeting. He was quiet, his muscles hard with tension as he drove. She wanted to reassure him, but she wasn’t sure how. He stood to lose property that was important to him, and she didn’t want to placate him.

Her gut told her Reid truly hadn’t been aware of the other will. Olive didn’t want to believe the legal document might be real. But she needed to keep an open mind.

Plus, she really wanted to talk to Lucy and get more details about how she’d just so happened to stumble upon this copy of the will. Why had her mom even had it in her possession? And if she and her mom were estranged, what was Lucy doing looking for a car title at her house?

Something wasn’t making sense.

Finally, they pulled up in front of Barrington and Associates.

Before Reid opened his truck door, Olive rested her hand on his forearm. “It’s going to be okay.”

She’d just vowed not to placate him, yet she’d done it anyway. He just looked like he needed some encouragement, someone to be in his corner.

In some ways he was like her. He had no family left. Olive knew how hard that could be.

He stared at her, something heavy in his gaze.

Then instead of saying whatever was on his mind, he nodded. “Thanks for your confidence. But I’m really not sure how this is going to turn out. Someone is desperate to ruin me, and they’re doing a pretty good job.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re getting closer to answers. I can feel it.”

“I hope you’re right.” Reid gave her one last look before climbing from his truck.

Olive followed behind him, and they stepped toward Wayne’s law office. A strong wind gust blew over them just as they reached the door.

She looked at the mountains, the direction the wind had come from.

“A front is supposed to come through later,” Reid explained. “We could get more rain. For now, we deal with the wind.”

But to Olive, the wind almost felt like an ominous warning of what was to come.

They stepped into the law office, and a secretary directed them into Wayne’s office.

When they entered the room, Wayne sat at his desk, reading glasses perched on his nose as he reviewed some papers.

“Reid and Olive.” Wayne took his glasses off as he looked up at them with a smile. “Thanks for coming by. Please, shut the door behind you.”

Reid did just that, and they sat in the chairs in front of the desk.

Tension crackled in the air. If Olive were in Reid’s shoes, she’d probably feel the same way: anxious. Like his future and legacy hung in the balance. Like everything his family had worked toward was now on the line.

“By the way, guess who I ran into?” Wayne stared at them as if he wanted them to guess. When they didn’t respond, he said, “Although I assume you’re not surprised because you’ve already seen her.”

Reid twisted his neck. “Who would that be?”

“Daphne. I remember meeting her when she was in town filming that show of yours.”

“She showed up for a surprise visit this week.” Reid’s voice held a touch of irritation.

“That woman never struck me as the outdoorsy type.” Wayne gave Reid a look.

“She’s not.”

“When did you run into her?” Olive asked out of curiosity.

“This morning. She was grabbing some coffee at my favorite spot down the street.” Wayne raised his paper coffee cup in the air.

Olive’s lungs tightened. Why in the world would Daphne still be in town?