Page 20 of Hacker Salvation

“I figured you have things to do, as I do,” Neal said. “It seems this department is concentrating more on just proving Annabella is the killer instead of finding the body.”

The sheriff shifted in his seat. “Evidence points to Annabella.”

Neal tapped a couple of times on his tablet then turned it so the sheriff could see. “To me, it sounds more like you’re trying to do whatever Nate’s dad says. So my question is, what does he have on you?”

An email between Nate’s dad and the sheriff was displayed on the tablet. The email wasn’t sent to the sheriff’s office work email—it was his Gmail account. Neal clicked next and went to another email. “Do you want to see more, or do you get the picture?” Neal asked the sheriff.

“How did you get those? I could have you arrested.”

“Fine. Have me arrested, and these will be put into evidence along with the other emails in that account. You’re up for election this year. I don’t think the voters will like how their sheriff is taking bribes.”

Sheriff Clark’s face took on a deep shade of red. His jaw twitched. “I can’t stop the investigation. What do you want?”

“We never said to stop the investigation. Annabella didn’t do anything. Do your job and find the person behind this.” Neal stood and walked toward the door.

I couldn’t believe the Los Angeles County Sheriff was doing what Nate’s father wanted. I leaned across his desk. “If I find out you aren’t trying to find Nate and continue down the path of Annabella, those emails will be the least of your worries.”

Neal was exiting the building when I caught up. The flashes from the paparazzi were worse the second time. More media must’ve gotten wind we’d come down to the station. Annabella had been seen with Daisy and her men many times. The reporters yelled question after question, asking if Annabella really killed her fiancé. They followed us to the car, blocking us in.

“God, I hate the paparazzi,” I growled.

“Slowly back up,” Neal said. “They’ll move.”

I shifted the car into reverse and slowly backed up. It took a few moments, but the reporters eventually moved away from the vehicle. As soon as it was clear, we sped down the road and headed back to Daisy’s house.

I shot a glance at Neal. “You didn’t think to tell me he was working with Nate’s dad?”

Neal looked up from his tablet. “I found it on our way in. I’ve been digging for it for the last twelve hours. It seemed strange that the sheriff came out saying Annabella was still under suspicion. Normally, they wouldn’t give a lead up like that. The media wasn’t even asking for a press conference, but he scheduled one and came out with the data.”

I turned down the last road toward Daisy’s. We were only a mile away from Daisy’s house. We’d just come to the top of a hill when a deer darted out from the side of the road. I slammed on the brakes, but nothing happened. I swerved to miss the deer and continued to press down on the pedal, but nothing happened.

“Slow down,” Neal barked next to me.

“Trying.” I reached for the emergency brake and pulled. The car just continued to gain speed as we drove down the hill.

“Someone cut the brakes,” I ground out.

With each second, we raced down the hill toward a sharp corner. I gripped the steering wheel, hoping we wouldn’t flip as we went around the corner.

Neal gripped the dashboard as the car screeched around the corner. I felt the side of the car lift as we went. Our speed was up to seventy-five miles an hour. In about a half mile, there was another hill. I hoped we could make it there because we would lose speed as the car tried to climb.

Just then, the gas started to accelerate even without my foot on the pedal. “Neal, please tell me you hacked the car. And if not, can you?”

Neal shook his head and reached for his tablet. “It’s not me, and it will take me a few minutes to hack into the car if they didn’t put up any block.”

We were coming close to another car in front of us. I swerved into the other lane to pass when a semi came around the corner. There wasn’t enough room to go back into my lane. I pointed the car toward the ditch.

But it wasn’t a ditch. Daisy’s car flew over the embankment and dropped ten feet before the wheels hit the ground. The vehicle bounced as it drove through the dense grass. I tried to turn, but the steering wheel was locked. The car hit a tree head-on. My head hit the side window, and everything went black.

9

Annabella

“Red or black?” Daisy asked as she held up two different boxes of hair dye.

I reached past her and grabbed the blue dye off the shelf. John would be mad when he got back to the house and found out Daisy and I had snuck out to the store. We were being careful, though. I had my hair up under a hat, and I was wearing a massive pair of sunglasses.

The convenience store was only a few miles from the house. Even though I had just been kept inside for a day, I wanted out. And I wanted to change my hair because everyone had my picture plastered across the internet.

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