Smokescreen (Pros and Cons Mysteries #2)

Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

“ Y ou got her room number?” Reid stared at Olive as he stood outside his truck, looking truly impressed with his wide eyes and lilted voice.

“I sure did.” People really needed to learn not to underestimate her. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He gave her a side nod.

They headed across the gritty parking lot and climbed wooden stairs to the second floor, on the side facing the highway.

As Reid knocked on room 271, Olive planted herself out of sight. Just in case.

“Daphne?” Reid called. “Are you in there? It’s Reid.”

Olive had already instructed him to keep his voice light. There was a good chance Daphne might think her plan had worked and that Reid was coming here to declare his undying love for her. If she thought otherwise, she might not bother to answer.

A moment later, the door opened, and Olive heard, “Reid. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

Daphne sounded cheery, as if she had just been waiting for Reid to come running back to her.

Olive was going to have to end that illusion, however. Part of her didn’t even feel bad about it.

She pivoted until she was in front of the door and beside Reid.

Daphne’s smile instantly disappeared as she seemed to realize her plan hadn’t worked.

“What are you doing here?” Daphne directed the question at Olive.

“We need to talk to you,” Reid announced.

Then without invitation, Olive stepped inside the motel room.

Reid followed and closed the door.

“This isn’t a good time,” Daphne murmured, her arms raised as if to block them.

Good luck with that.

Olive scanned the room. Multiple suitcases were scattered about, piles of clothes were stretched across the bed, cosmetics lined the dresser, and a fancy gown hung from the sprinkler—a big no-no, but this didn’t seem like the time to mention it.

“We know you’ve been blackmailing Hannah,” Reid started. “I want to know why.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” For an actress, Daphne wasn’t that great at acting. Her cheeks turned red, and her gaze shifted—a sure sign she was lying.

Reid pulled up the security camera footage and showed Daphne the images of her buying the phone.

Daphne gawked. “How did you get that?”

“That’s not important,” Reid said. “What is important is finding out why you’re doing this. Because our next stop is the sheriff’s department.”

“Okay, okay, okay.” Daphne raised her hands. “You don’t need to get law enforcement involved.”

“We’ll be the judge of that.” Olive gave her a look.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Daphne insisted with a pouty frown. “I knew you started dating someone, Reid. I thought if I could send her home then maybe I’d have a chance with you.”

Reid shifted his weight. “How did you even know about Olive?”

Her cheeks turned even redder. “I stay in touch with a couple of the ranch hands. No big deal. They keep me abreast of what is going on.”

“Who?” Reid demanded.

She rattled off a couple of names Olive didn’t recognize—but not Cooper’s.

“Are you sure Cooper isn’t one of those people?” Olive added.

Daphne scowled. “Who told you that?”

“I have my sources.”

“That’s ridiculous.” A certain edge of defensiveness rose in her voice.

Reid grunted.

Olive knew he’d be having a talk with those guys as soon as he got back to the ranch—including Cooper. In fact, Cooper would probably be at the top of his list, despite what Daphne had said.

“So you decided to dig into Hannah’s background, find out a piece of information you knew she wouldn’t want revealed, and then manipulate her into doing your dirty work?” Reid continued to press, disgust in his tone.

Daphne sighed, her pert features now pouty. “When you say it that way . . .”

“Tell me exactly everything you’ve done,” Reid said. “We can only assume you’re the one who told Hannah to hang the doll up.”

Daphne scowled. “It was harmless. Besides, ever since you showed me your mom’s dolls I always thought they should be thrown in the trash. They’re downright creepy.”

Reid ignored her and asked, “How did you even know Olive was in the attic?”

“After you helped me with the shower, I thought I heard something. I ventured into the other wing and saw the attic stairs were down. Then I realized Olive was up there. I didn’t want to be caught locking the doors. So I had Hannah do it. It was kind of fun being there to see everything play out.” Some of Daphne’s embarrassment was replaced with a smirk.

A smirk Olive would like to smack right off her face if she were that kind of person, which she wasn’t.

“Did you cut the fence line so my cattle could get out?” Reid’s voice rose with irritation. “Are you the one who went after the surveyor I hired to do some drone footage?”

“What?” Daphne squinted and drew her chin back in surprise. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Did you hire Jon and Edgar to do your dirty work?”

Daphne’s eyes narrowed even more. “Who are Jon and Edgar?”

Olive watched Daphne’s expression. She believed the woman. Those things wouldn’t have driven Olive away, whereas the doll and being trapped in the attic might have.

What they were dealing with here were two separate issues.

One involving Daphne trying to get rid of Olive and the second involving someone else trying to ruin Reid’s property.

At least she and Reid had a few answers.

But they still needed a lot more.

“Should I call the sheriff’s office?” Reid asked once he and Olive were back in his truck.

He made no move to go anywhere yet, so Olive made sure to keep an eye on everything around them—just in case. She didn’t see any signs of trouble.

She shifted to face him. “That’s up to you. I’m not sure how much they’ll do. Although the fact that Daphne was blackmailing Hannah could land her in some serious trouble.”

“I’ll talk to Hannah about it. We can figure out what to do.”

“I’m glad to have a couple of answers,” Olive said. “But we still haven’t found the true culprit behind this.”

“I know. I’m beginning to think it’s someone close to me.”

Olive thought the same. But still, she asked, “Why do you think that?”

“Whoever it is seems to be monitoring my reactions to everything and knows he can strike soon after his original plan doesn’t work.” Reid rubbed his jaw. “This isn’t an unseen enemy. It’s someone who’s been watching all this take place and waiting for me to give up.”

“That makes sense. I’m inclined to agree.” An idea began to brew in Olive’s mind, an idea she really liked. She slowly nodded as she thought it through more. “Maybe we should try to smoke this person out.”

“What do you mean?”

Olive quickly calculated how they might enact her plan. She wished she had more time to think things over. But she shared the basics with Reid.

When she finished, Reid studied her face, a touch of hesitation in his expression. “Do you think we can really pull this off?”

“I think it’s worth a shot.”

He gave her an affirmative nod. “Then let’s do it.”

“Perfect.” Olive straightened, her thoughts still thrumming. “Our first step is calling Wayne and seeing if he can come out and talk to us.”

“I’ll get right on that.” Reid grabbed his phone and made the call.