Page 73 of Hiding Hollywood

She looked at herself in the vanity mirror. The soft glow of the early moon came in through the one small window in the bathroom. She didn’t mind him feeling overprotective of her. The way he worried and cared for everyone in their entire town made him perfect to be Sheriff.

But she couldn’t stop simply because he didn’t like it. She’d done her job withWhite Rabbitfor years. She knew the risks. She took care of herself. She swallowed over the lump in her throat and blinked back tears. Being with him shouldn’t be based on ultimatums.

In the other room, her laptop booted up with its usual melody.

“Cameron, I need to go.”

“But—”

“No. I’m not going to talk about it. I appreciate you allowing me to use your house until I leave, but I have a job I need to do. And you do, too.”

She hung up, staring at the screen of her cellphone until it turned black. Hell. She wiped away the tears that fell and walked back into his bedroom. She didn’t want to cry over him. Why couldn’t she be a sophisticated woman who could have a wild, two-week fling with a hot guy and walk away?

The answer was easy. She was in love with Cameron.

Concentrating on her real job would give her a chance to be productive for the first time in a while. She blocked her signal three different ways before opening her browser and program. Two of the other three goons had emailed her back as well. One told her in very colorful language that she should mind her own business since he’d caught his girlfriend messing around on him.

Maybe if he learned to use another descriptive word other than one that began with the letter “F” she might have stayed around.

The second one seemed interested in the high-end perfume discount.

The IP address of all three went to one server location.

Bingo!

She rubbed her hands together. She’d read an article recently that said almost seventy-percent of all systems were vulnerable to attacks. Mostly, people didn’t realize how many digital footprints they left and, like playing hopscotch, she could skip her way back to the source.

She hummedPainting the Roses Redas she connected the dots. After jumping through a few hoops, she pinpointed the server’s location. An address in Modesto, California.

In a quick message, she sent that off toMiss Alice. Again, as usual, the response came back in real-time.

Finally. I’ll pass it along. Get the contacts, suppliers, employees…

Good thing they had the internet between them. She wouldn’t want to meetMiss Alicein person. She was probably the size of an Amazon with the voice of a general. She owed her so much, trusting her right out of college. Showing her how to get better, faster at her job. Honing her talents. IfMiss Aliceever needed her, she’d drop everything to be there. ButMiss Alicewas invincible.

She pushed through another barrier and made her laptop screen mirror the desktop of a superuser, someone in their system with every permission possible. It should give her access to everything.

There was no way to tell who the user was, though. The username Giant Chocolate Sprinkles could remain a mystery as far as she was concerned. The other names were just as impressive. Mighty Cobra Foot. Hairy Lightening Claw. Awesome Screaming Bee.

In another three hours, she pulled off the files she needed, rearranged the startup of the computer she’d infiltrated, so it played the theme song toGolden Girlsfor two minutes straight before a picture of a dog dressed up as Harry Potter appeared as the wallpaper.

Stretching her arms and tossing her glasses onto the desk, she glanced around his room. She’d gotten used to getting regular sleep at night like most of the human race. Now, almost midnight, and she was exhausted.

Addie walked Lacy one last time before letting her curl up at the foot of the bed, despite the nice dog bed in the corner or the roomy crate in the living room. She needed the contact. Working forMiss Alicedidn’t feel as satisfying as it once had.

She rested her hand on the pillow next to her. She was down to two days after tonight. Two days until the first man she’d ever loved was out of her life.

Cameron stoppedhis car at the end of his driveway. He wanted to drive down, check things out and make sure Addie was locked up tight, beg her to see reason. Ever since meeting with Dexter, Cameron had an uneasy feeling about the guy. His grandmother, Ms. Ruth, had vowed Dexter had stayed with her each night. Ms. Ruth might not have even known he’d left.

His mom had told him Addie had driven his truck. Unless the thief knew he worked tonight, which most of their town could figure out the schedule with one or two phone calls, they wouldn’t break-in his house knowing someone was there.

Lacy should be a little bit of a deterrent. At least wake-up Addie if the situation arose.

He shook his head and drove on. This would be how it was every night he worked if she lived with him. He’d wonder if her job caught up with her. Thugs coming to Statem to find her or the police coming to arrest her.

And if she left for California?

He pulled back into the Sheriff's Office’s parking lot. His dad leaned against the hood of his patrol car, scanning through his phone.

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