Smokescreen (Pros and Cons Mysteries #2)

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

O live and Reid pulled back up to the ranch, more battered and bruised—both mentally and physically—than they’d been when they’d left.

They hadn’t stuck around waiting for the sheriff to arrive. They also still didn’t have any answers, nor did they know who Jon and Edgar were working for.

Had the men been at the motel to meet Daphne and just happened upon Olive and Reid?

It was a possibility. Or they could have seen Olive and begun to follow her.

Reid stepped out of his truck and met Olive as she climbed out, a little stiffer than she’d like to admit. The mid-afternoon wind—which once felt abrasive—now felt welcome.

“I need to go check in with Cooper,” Reid told her. “I’ll be inside in a moment.”

“Sounds good.” Olive climbed the steps and slipped inside the house.

As she started toward the stairs, something stopped her.

Movement in Reid’s office.

Someone—not Reid—was inside that room.

She paused and slowly crept closer. The door was barely cracked open—just enough that Olive could see movement on the other side.

She peered inside.

A knot formed between Olive’s eyes.

It was . . . Hannah.

What was she doing in Reid’s office? Cleaning it?

Based on the way the woman stared at something on his desk, Olive doubted it.

Time was running out, and Olive was tired of skirting around the truth. She would need to be more direct, even if that meant breaking her cover again.

She pushed the door open. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Hannah startled and jumped away from the desk.

“Olive . . .” Her hand went over her heart. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Clearly.” Olive narrowed her eyes to show she wasn’t playing. “So what are you doing?”

“I’m . . . cleaning, of course.” Her voice wavered as she said the words.

“I think you’re doing a little more than that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hannah shook her head, but her jumpy actions showed she was nervous.

The front door opened, and Reid appeared in the office a moment later. Wrinkles of confusion lined his forehead. “What’s going on here?”

Hannah’s cheeks reddened. “Nothing, sir.”

“I caught her in here looking at some papers on your desk,” Olive said.

Reid’s gaze narrowed. “Hannah? You care to explain yourself?”

Tears began pouring from the woman’s eyes. “It’s not what you think. I’m not trying to do anything wrong.”

“Then what are you doing?” Olive asked.

She waited for the woman to answer.

“Why don’t you sit down, Hannah?” Reid pointed to a chair in front of his desk.

Hannah practically collapsed there.

Olive watched the woman carefully, determined to discover the truth. Hannah was clearly nervous—her limbs shook, her gaze wavered, and sweat covered her forehead.

“I didn’t want to do any of it!” Hannah buried her face in her hands. “You’ve got to believe me.”

Reid leaned against his desk in front of her, his arms crossed. “Do any of what?”

She sniffled, tears and snot pouring down her face.

Olive grabbed a box of tissues from Reid’s desk and handed them to Hannah.

She blew her nose, then wiped her eyes. Then she started the process again.

The woman was basically a blubbering mess. Olive honestly felt a little bad for her.

“After I worked at Yellowstone and before I came here, I took a job with a ranch in Montana,” she started. “The owner there accused me of stealing some of his wife’s jewelry.”

“Did you?” Reid asked.

“No! I would never.” Hannah shook her head. “But his wife never liked me, and I knew she wanted to get rid of me and hire someone older and more matronly, for lack of a better term.”

In other words, the wife had been jealous of Hannah or afraid her husband might be attracted to her.

“Go on,” Reid said.

“The owner was between a rock and a hard place, as the saying goes,” Hannah said. “I think he knew his wife was lying, but he couldn’t tell her that. So in order to keep the peace, he fired me.”

“I guess that didn’t make it on your résumé?” Olive asked dryly.

“Of course not.” Hannah squeezed the skin between her eyes. “There’s a three-month gap in my employment record, and I told any potential employers that I’d been looking for another job during that time. No one thought anything of it.”

“Keep going,” Reid said.

Hannah sniffled. “Then I got a text message, and it became clear that someone did know about it. They threatened to tell you I was a thief unless I did exactly what they said.”

Blackmail 101, Olive mused.

“And what exactly did they say?” Reid readjusted the position of his crossed arms.

Hannah drew in a shaky breath. “The sender told me to hang one of the dolls in Olive’s room and to lock her in the attic.”

That meant the sender knew about the dolls in the attic. The sender also knew when Olive had gone into the attic.

If what Hannah was saying was true, that meant the sender was close—that he probably even worked here on the ranch. That narrowed things down quite a bit.

“So why were you in the office just now?” Olive asked.

“They wanted me to leave this.” Hannah held up an envelope.

Reid bristled. “What’s inside that envelope?”

Hannah pulled out the paper and showed it to them, reading the words there:

Olive isn’t who you think she is. She’s nothing but trouble.

Whoever sent that message didn’t know Reid was already aware of Olive’s true identity. She counted that as a plus. This person wouldn’t be able to hold that fact over Reid’s head, and it still left Olive with the upper hand.

“Do you have any idea who’s responsible for these threats?” Olive asked.

“I have no idea.” Hannah turned to Reid. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to do any of this. You’ve got to believe me. I love my job here. Are you going to fire me?”

“I need to think this through,” Reid told Hannah. “For now, take the rest of the day off.”

She nodded, more moisture flowing down her face. She pressed another tissue over her eyes.

“You’re dismissed,” he finished.

Hannah stood and fled from the room.

When she was gone, Olive and Reid exchanged a glance.

“So someone has been manipulating Hannah,” Reid muttered. “She was the one responsible for the doll and for locking you in the attic.”

Olive nodded as she let that thought settle. “The question is who? Who’s behind this, and why? It has to be someone here at the ranch. Nothing else makes sense.”

“I agree.” Reid rubbed his jaw. “But I don’t like that thought—not at all.”