Page 3 of Hacker Salvation

The deputy narrowed his eyes at me. “Your fiancé might be dead, and you want to put off making your statement?”

“Fine. Can we leave now?”

He radioed the men upstairs. “Taking Ms. Harper to the station for her official report.”

* * *

For the fifth time,I glanced at the clock in the Los Angeles sheriff’s office. Sheriff Clark wanted to speak with me. I had given my statement an hour ago, but I sat in the sheriff’s office, waiting for him to show up. Pictures of awards and medals covered the wall. On his desk sat a photo of him with the governor of California.

The deputy had taken my phone when we’d left my house, so I hadn’t called or talked to anyone. Daisy would be worried when I didn’t show up. We had talked at lunch, and I’d told her about my plan to run home before I went to the shelter. I hoped the tabloids wouldn’t get the scent of the scandal before I could speak with her.

The door to the office opened, and a man who looked to be in his late sixties walked in and sat down on the leather high-back chair. He crossed his arms and leaned back. “Your alibi for today checks out, but the judge still thinks you had something to do with Nate missing.” I couldn’t help but grind my teeth. Nate’s dad was throwing his money around to get his way. “The judge has decided to pull your passport until we get more information on Nate’s whereabouts.”

“I don’t have my passport on me. The deputy made me leave everything at home.”

“You have forty-eight hours to bring your passport back here.” The sheriff sat back in his chair, watching my every move. I felt like he was waiting for me to make a move or confess to the murder.

“Can the deputy grab my passport when he takes me home? I don’t want to come back to the police station. The media is going to have a field day with this.”

The sound of him tapping his pencil on the desk echoed through the small office. “First off, we aren’t giving you a ride home. Secondly, you should’ve thought about the consequences when you killed Nate.”

I ground my teeth together. “I didn’t kill Nate. How am I supposed to get home? I don’t have my cell phone or purse.”

Sheriff Clark shrugged. “I will let you use my phone to call someone.”

Nate had changed his will two days prior to his disappearance, and because of that, the police thought I was the main suspect. He’d done it without telling his family. From what I’d overheard the deputies saying, his dad had seen the paperwork for the will earlier in the day then went looking for his son. When he couldn’t find him, he called the police.

Luckily, I found someone to come get me. “Can I go?”

Sheriff Clark studied me for a moment. “For now. Nevertheless, don’t go far and make sure you have your passport here within forty-eight hours, or we will issue a warrant for your arrest. We might have more questions.”

2

John

Igroaned as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I considered ignoring the call, but I had already dismissed the last few calls. I knew my sister would show up outside my hotel room in Los Angeles if I didn’t answer soon. Last night, I’d slipped and said that Annabella Harper would be at Daisy’s grand opening. Normally, I would’ve done anything to make my baby sister happy, but I froze every time Annabella walked into the room. She was breathtaking. Luckily for me, she hadn’t shown up yet, so I wouldn’t have to approach her.

“Is she there?”

“Hey, pip-squeak. No, she is not here yet.”

Addie huffed on the other end of the phone. “I’m thirty-five years old. Stop calling me pip-squeak.”

“You are my baby sister and will always be a pip-squeak.”

“By two minutes. Two minutes doesn’t really count. I still think the doctor lied on who was born first.”

“The doctor didn’t lie.” I grabbed another balloon and filled it with helium. “I thought you were meeting a new client today.”

“I took the case, but I ended up interviewing him over the phone.” Addie owned a PI firm in Boston. A few weeks ago, a little girl had gone missing in the Boston area, and her dad had recently scheduled an appointment with Addie. We’d discussed the case last night when I called to tell her I was in Los Angeles for the grand opening of Daisy’s women’s shelter.

No matter how hard I tried to get Addie to change careers, she wouldn’t. When we were younger, our mother disappeared. We still didn’t know what had happened to her. Now my sister spent her time taking cases that required her to look for missing people. She used those cases to fund her search for our mother. No matter how many times I asked, she wouldn’t stop searching.

Our dad had turned to drugs and alcohol when our mom went missing. Addie and I had ended up raising ourselves. I’d gone into the military the day I turned eighteen so I could send Addie to college. I couldn’t be prouder of my sister, who had double majored in criminal justice and cybersecurity.

A few years ago, I worked an op, and an IUD exploded next to me. I reached up and ran my hand along the scar on my face. It wasn’t the only reminder of the day one of my men had betrayed me. My leg ached where the navy doctors had pulled out the shrapnel. The navy had discharged me when I lost part of the feeling in my leg. I joined Blackwood Security in Ft. Lauderdale after I received my discharge papers. I’d asked Addie to come work for Brock, but she wouldn’t leave Boston. She said she would move once she found out what had happened to our mom.

I missed being around my sister. “Are you still sure you won’t move to Ft. Lauderdale? I know Brock would love to have you.”

---