“Hello, Ruby.”
She walked up the stairs with confidence, a laptop bag overher shoulder.Within minutes she was set up.
Garrett looked at the woman sitting across from him.RubyLockwood was roughly thirty years old, with naturally curly hair and a sternexpression that did nothing to lessen her beauty.She was lovely and exuded anair of competence that put him at ease.He’d worked with private investigatorsbefore, and he knew the look of a good one.
“What has you driving out here so early in the morning?”Garrett asked.“And can it wait until Olivia and Keane get back?They had tomake a run into town for some errands.”
“After what happened last night, I thought this was bestdone in person.I think it’s time to consider moving Olivia to a securelocation until we can catch this guy.”
“Guy?Are you talking about Scott?”He’d thought a lot aboutthe man who’d been following Olivia around.He turned up wherever they happenedto be.He’d tried to make himself cozy in this very office.Actually, it wassurprising he wasn’t already here.They were supposed to meet again today tofinish up all the details on the new deal, which had been surprisingly fair.Suspiciously fair.He had to wonder if Scott was doing it to get Olivia’sattention.Which made him wonder what else the man was doing to get herattention.
Ruby pulled open her laptop.“I managed to find some footageon social media early this morning.It’s from an Amy Lincoln, who was havingher birthday party last night at The Barn.The security camera footage didn’tgive me much except proof that Olivia’s drink wasn’t ready when Keane was atthe bar.It exonerates him entirely.He doesn’t come anywhere close to thatdrink.But watch this.”
She pressed a key and turned the laptop his way.
He recognized the room, and even thought he’d seen the youngwoman in the video.She wore a tight T-shirt and jean shorts with boots.Shelooked straight at the camera and smiled.
“Welcome to my twenty-first birthday!”
There was a bunch of whoops and yells and fist pumping asAmy continued to talk about everything she planned on drinking that evening.Itappeared she had not, in fact, waited until she was legal since she had a vastknowledge of mixed drinks.
Then the camera pulled back to show the whole table of hersmiling friends.
“There,” Ruby said, pointing to the top left of the screen.
Garrett stopped the footage.He stared at where she pointed.“Is that Miranda?”
Ruby nodded.“She’s coming from the bar and walking towardthe table Olivia was at.Do you see the drink in her hand?”
Miranda carried two margarita glasses.There was no way tomiss the blue and green umbrella in one of the drinks.
“That’s Olivia’s drink.”She’d only had two that night, andboth had come with the umbrella to differentiate it from the regularmargaritas.
“Yes.I found the footage where Miranda returns to the bar.The bartender hands it straight to her, so unless we believe Miranda suddenlydecided to drug one of her best friends and have her kidnapped, we have toassume it happened between the bar and the table.”
“You think someone passing by managed to get those drugs inthe drink?”Miranda had carried it, and then it was close to Olivia.He thoughtit would be hard to slip it in unless she was completely distracted.
“Watch.”Ruby started the video again.
Amy was partying with her friends, but a woman rushed infront of Miranda and dropped her bag, spilling the items all over the floor.Itwas precarious because there were a lot of people walking around.Mirandaimmediately put down her drinks on the nearest table and helped the brunettewearing jeans and a Western-style shirt, her hair in a high ponytail.They wereout of sight for a moment but then the brunette stood and while Miranda wasstill picking up her things, the brunette’s hand moved over the margaritaglass.It was quick.It would have been easy to miss if Ruby hadn’t enhanced thefootage and managed to zoom in.He’d heard she was excellent with tech, butthis proved it.She’d found a video with hidden evidence and made it clear.
“She drugged the drink.”He didn’t recognize the woman.Shelooked to be around Olivia’s age, maybe slightly younger.How did this womanknow Olivia?“I’ve never seen her before.Why would some random woman drugOlivia’s drink?She wasn’t the one who was trying to take her out of thebuilding.I was there.It was one man.He was short and skinny and had a cowboyhat on.I wish I’d gotten a better look at him.”
“I think they were working together.”Ruby’s hands movedacross the keys of the laptop.“Whoever he is, he made a point to avoid thecameras.I pulled everything I could, and I can’t get a good view of his face.I have him walking out, dragging Olivia along.They need to have a talk withtheir bouncers because no one helped her.They thought she was drunk andbelieved this guy when he said he was her boyfriend, trying to get her home.”
“Everyone knows Olivia.”
“And everyone knows she has a new boyfriend, but they don’tknow you two.From what I can tell there are rumors flying around town aboutLivie and her new guys.I don’t think the bouncers meant to let her go intodanger, but they should have asked a few more questions,” Ruby pointed out.“You two need to meet more people in this town so they know who you are.”
“So we have no idea who this person is?”Garrett stared atthe shot, trying to find anything about the man he could recognize, but he’ddone a great job of making himself a ghost.Everything he wore was nondescript,from his cowboy hat to the boots on his feet.“We have to find someone whotalked to him.Or the woman who dropped her bag.Surely we can ID her.We havea clear picture of her face.”
“Which is why I know she is Jessica Fellows,” Rubyannounced.“Apparently she knew Olivia a few years ago.I looked into herbackground.She’s from Willow Fork, though I don’t think she and Olivia ran inthe same circles until she was hired on at Barnes-Fleetwood.”
He felt his stomach drop.“She was the one who claimed shesaw Keane drug the drink.I didn’t see her, but I read the files and talked toone of the detectives.She was their eyewitness.”
“Well, she’s a lying liar,” Ruby quipped, “who should havepaid more attention to what was going on around her.She did a good job ofavoiding security cams, but social media is forever.I don’t have the wholestory, but it seems like she worked at the Dallas office for a time and thenshe quit suddenly.”
He knew the story.It was good to know Ruby didn’t knoweverything.“She left when Scott Whittiker quit.They had been having anaffair.”
