Page 2 of Hacker Salvation

By the time we reached the entryway, my new housekeeper, Ms. Orchard, was sobbing into a handkerchief. She looked up at me, hatred showing in her eyes. The older lady blinked the emotion away so fast, I almost thought for a second that she wasn’t up to something.

“I can’t believe you killed Nate.”

I held up my bloody hands. “Wait one second. Why are you accusing me of killing my fiancé and best friend. And why does everyone think he’s dead?”

Ms. Orchard’s lips turned into a nasty grin. “I saw you guys fight last night and turned over the video to the police. How convenient he changed his will early this week and you get everything. Two days later, he dies. Don’t try to hide the fact that you murdered your fiancé. I already gave the police the video.”

One of the deputies I hadn’t met yet shifted to his other foot. “Ms. Harper, where have you been all day?”

I took a deep breath. “I was at work. You can call the director ofLast Loveor ask anyone on set. I was at work all day.”

The front doors opened, and three men in CSI jackets walked in. Deputy Charles led the group of men up the staircase.

“Can you guys just walk in and take over?” I asked.

When the deputy shifted, I could see his last name printed on his shirt. Deputy Judges eyed the group as they disappeared down the upstairs hallway. “Nate’s dad called the sheriff this morning to report his son didn’t show up to work. He said that was unusual.”

I wanted to scream that was a lie. Nate was notorious for missing work. Something strange was happening.

The deputy continued. “Nate’s dad supports the sheriff’s department and donates money each year to our causes. So we decided to check it out. When we were on our way, Ms. Orchard called to tell us she saw you with Nate’s blood on your hands.”

“I can tell you for sure she never saw me with blood on my hands. The videotape should’ve shown you that as well. I was in the bathroom for only a minute before you showed up. Hell, look at the footage. I was only home a few minutes before you guys came busting into my house, uninvited. Check the house video cameras.”

The deputy crossed his arms over his chest. “Someone deleted all the camera footage from your house.”

“Then how is there video from mine and Nate’s fight last night?”

Ms. Orchard pulled out her phone. “I forgot something at the house, and when I came back, I saw the two of you fighting, and you were so mad. You seemed like you would hurt him, so I took video.”

Every staff member signed a nondisclosure agreement and a contract. She was in breach of contract for filming anything that happened inside our house. Tabloids paid big money for the scoops on celebrities’ homes, and Nate had reassured me Ms. Orchard would be clear. If that video got out, it would destroy Nate more than me.

“Okay, Deputy Judges, if you saw the video, I would be cleared. Why aren’t you looking for the person who gave Nate the black eye and asking about the reason we fought?” I turned toward Ms. Orchard. “You are fired and need to get off my property immediately. If the police need to talk to you, they can take you out of here. As of this second, you are no longer under my employment or Nate’s.”

Ms. Orchard stuck her hands on her hips. “You can’t fire me. I’m to take care of this house and make sure everything runs for Nate. If you didn’t kill him and he’s coming back, I need to make sure he has everything.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, you called the cops and said I killed him. So you must think he’s dead. If you read your contract correctly, you would know I can fire you. And you are going to be receiving a lawsuit for filming our private moments, because I can tell you one thing—I’m innocent and won’t stop until I find Nate. Now get out.”

When she didn’t move, I looked at the deputy and raised my brow. He motioned for his partner, who escorted the ex-employee out.

“Now, can you tell me what’s next?” I asked. “I haven’t seen Nate since last night. Why does his dad think he’s missing? Nate is known for going off on vacation without telling his dad. And will someone please let me change and wash my hands?”

“It would be easier to do this at the station. After we process you, we can ask a few more questions.”

I looked back up the stairs, where the CSI unit was. “Why can’t they do my process?”

The deputy let out an aggravated sigh before speaking into his hand radio. “Jake, I need you to send a tech down to process Ms. Harper’s clothing.” A few seconds later one of the CSI men came downstairs and processed me. He scraped under my nails and swabbed my hands. I asked if I could grab different clothes from upstairs, but they wouldn’t let me go back up. The tech called down to process my clothing pulled out a pair of blue scrubs from his bag. The scrubs were in a clear plastic bag. I went into the bathroom, changed, and gave my white dress to one of the CSI guys.

My head started to pound from the stress, and my stomach growled. I hadn’t eaten all day. We had been trying to finish up a scene onLast Loveand had all agreed to work through lunch. I’d planned to rush home then head over to Daisy’s grand opening.

Daisy’s open house for her women’s shelter was today. Thinking of what my friend had overcome brought a smile to my face. Fifteen years ago, she was kidnapped and held captive for ten years. Daisy had come back to California for the first time since her rescue five years ago after she’d started dating Neal and Aaron. They’d wanted her to come out to California for a trip. When she and her men came, people from her past had come back and wanted her again, and some crazy people had kidnapped her. Not all the men from her original kidnapping had been put away ten years ago. Now she and her two men, Aaron and Neal, were opening a women’s shelter to help women who were down on their luck. Even though I hadn’t talked to Daisy over the last fifteen years, I still considered her one of my girlfriends. So when she’d come out to Los Angeles a few months ago, we caught up, and our friendship picked up from where it had left off fifteen years ago. After living in Hollywood for so long, I was used to people wanting something from me or being my friend until they reached a goal. But Daisy wasn’t like that. She only wanted to help people.

One of her future husband’s Aaron and I had appeared together in the movieRunning from Justice. I still couldn’t believe he had decided to leave the movie industry. Aaron, Neal, and Daisy were going to live their lives mostly in Ft. Lauderdale. They still planned to come to California and work at the shelter. The new shelter in Los Angeles would be a sister shelter to the Ross Women’s Outreach Center in Ft. Lauderdale. The Ross family had opened the outreach center in Ft. Lauderdale ten years ago. Kat, Aaron’s sister in-law had taken over running the outreach center for the family.

I couldn’t help but glance at the clock on the far wall. The grand opening of Daisy’s shelter had started twenty minutes ago. “What is the next step, and when are you going to look for Nate?”

“We need you to come down to the station and make an official statement,” the deputy said.

“Can I do it tomorrow? I have somewhere to be.” Neal and Aaron both had connections and would be able to help me figure out what the hell was going on.

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