Page 43 of Obscurity
He turned back to Olive, but the openness was gone from his face. “Nice talking to you, Mrs. Jones. Enjoy the rest of the festival.”
As he walked toward Brad, frustration built in Olive’s chest.
Connor knew something—something about what had made Chloe angry enough to leave the promotional shoot. Something that might explain what she’d discovered about Grayfall.
And now Olive needed to figure out where Connor was storing all that extra footage.
Because if Chloe had seen something that revealed the truth about this place, it might be the key to understanding what had really happened to her.
The question was how to get access to hours of video footage without blowing her cover or ending up like the people in Elias’s incident reports—another missing person case with no satisfactory resolution.
CHAPTER 26
As Olive and Jason found each other near the stage, ready to discuss what Connor had revealed, a bright voice interrupted them. “Oh my goodness, you two are so cute!”
Maya appeared beside them, swaying slightly as she held her phone with one hand and a plastic cup with the other. Her once perfectly applied makeup was now smudged around her eyes, and her words carried the telltale slur of someone who’d been drinking to forget their problems.
“I’m sorry, what?” Olive asked, momentarily thrown off by the interruption and by the change in Maya’s demeanor.
“You guys! The way you’re looking at each other—it’s like, relationship goals, you know?” Maya giggled, the sound slightly too loud and too long. “I have to get this for my story. My followers are going to die for some authentic couple content.”
How much alcohol had Maya consumed? They’d only started serving it fifteen minutes ago. Could she already be inebriated?
Olive saw festival staff still moving between groups of disgruntled attendees, still offering plastic cups filled with what appeared to be beer and mixed drinks.
Free alcohol, apparently, to help people forget about the missing headliners, terrible accommodations, and general disaster the festival had become.
“I see they’re giving out free drinks.” Jason kept his voice neutral.
“Yeah!” Maya waved her cup enthusiastically, sloshing liquid over the rim. “Brad said it was their way of apologizing for the ‘logistical challenges.’ Super generous, right? I got the good stuff—moonshine!”
Olive and Jason exchanged a look. Getting a crowd of angry, disappointed people drunk seemed like the opposite of a good idea. Unless, of course, you wanted people to be less capable of clear thinking and coordinated action.
And this moonshine must be really strong.
“That’s . . . thoughtful of them.” Olive swallowed hard, everything inside her rebelling against what was happening here.
“Right? Anyway, can I please film you guys being adorable? I need some positive content after everything that’s happened today.” Maya held up her phone, already switching it to video mode. “Just act natural and cute together. My audience loves authentic relationship moments.”
Olive’s pulse spiked. Being filmed was the last thing she wanted right now, but refusing might look suspicious. And Maya was clearly intoxicated enough that arguing with her might create more of a scene.
“I guess that would be okay.” Olive forced a smile.
“Perfect!” She held her phone higher. “Just pretend I’m not here and be yourselves.”
Pretendingnotto be herself was what Olive did best.
Jason stepped closer, and Olive wrapped her arms around his waist.
The moment their bodies touched, warmth flooded through her system. Even through the stress of their investigation, even with all the unresolved tension between them, her body still responded to his nearness like they were teenagers again.
She wanted to melt into him, to forget about missing persons and fake festivals and all the reasons she’d been keeping him at arm’s length. The familiar scent of his woodsy cologne, the solid warmth of his chest against her cheek, the way his arms came up to circle her shoulders—it all felt like coming home.
But she couldn’t let herself go there. Not now. Not when so much was at stake.
“You’re so beautiful,” Jason murmured.
The soft undertone of his words made Olive’s pulse flutter.
