Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
S omeone was going to die tonight. The rage that flowed through my veins was insatiable. Someone not only touched what was mine, but they inflicted pain. I kept a calm demeanor in front of Maci in order to get her home, but my blood had been continuously boiling since the moment I found her. Maci liked to think that I was in the dark about her stalker. She might not use that verbiage per se, but that’s exactly what this was. Her telling me about the late-night ding-dong ditching and notes left behind wasn’t a surprise. The second Maci got a Ring doorbell, I hacked it. There was a reason she bought one, and one night of footage told me why. Maci didn’t like to ask for help. It’s half the reason blackmailed her initially. She needed me, whether she knew it or not.
Whoever touched her crossed a line, and they were going to pay for it as soon as I found them. Maci slept curled into my side with one arm thrown over my chest. Feeling her body felt like magic. She lightly snored, and her face scrunched up in the cutest way when she dreamed. I slipped my arm out from underneath Maci’s sleeping form slowly, careful not to disturb her. Leaving was hard, but necessary. Quietl y, I padded through her apartment. The clock on the stove told me it was just after midnight. This only gave me a few hours to accomplish my goal.
The library stairwells were notorious for not having cameras. It’s why students frequented them. Plus, any student knew to avoid them at all costs unless you wanted a free peep show. It made it the perfect place to corner someone unexpectedly. Thankfully, Maci only suffered a few bruises, but it could have been so much worse. I had an inkling about who was behind all of this. Back when I pulled the police report for Maci’s accident, I discovered there was a survivor from the other car involved. My Spidey-senses tingled at the thought. It was time to dig into this person’s background.
Jogging down to my truck, I drove back to Hockey House. Luckily, the house was quiet tonight. There’s an away game tomorrow, so the guys had an early night. I ran up the stairs and unlocked the deadbolt on my door. Each of us had one on our doors. With the amount of parties we threw, it was necessary to keep people out. It increased my privacy, which was a plus. Usually, our doors were unlocked if it was just us at home. I locked mine whenever I left. The last thing I wanted was someone to stumble across something they shouldn’t.
My computer was one of my prides and joy. I built the entire thing from scratch, outfitting it with the best processor and equipment possible. To an outsider, it looked like a gaming P.C. The actual intent of the computer was hacking. I started getting into computers when I was in junior high. I had a friend growing up who was insanely good at building computers and coding. We teamed up, and it turned into a weekly competition to see who could hack into the harder database. We shut our activities down, though, when he tried to hack into an FBI server. The authorities showed up on his doorstep and confiscated his entire setup. My mom never let me hang out with him again, but the damage was done. I was hooked .
From then on, I got smarter with how I did things. It wasn’t long before I had surpassed my friend in skill level. By the time I graduated from high school, I could get into a basic server in less than five minutes. The amount of companies who use basic technology packages is shocking. It’s no wonder so many large corporations experience data leaks…it was a cakewalk to do. I used my powers for good instead of evil, if good is considered my obsession with Maci Rae.
I pulled up the background check website, punching in the name ingrained in my brain from the police report—Reid Hardwick. Thank fuck, the name wasn’t super common. If this guy would’ve had the last name Smith, I’d be here all night, which wasn’t possible tonight. His information was easy to find. Reid was twenty years old and a resident of Bloomington. He didn’t have a criminal record and attended classes at the local community college. By all standards, he was squeaky clean. I rubbed my chin, staring at his driver's license photo. It was from when he was 16. His face had a smattering of acne, and his brown hair flopped into his eyes. You could see the excitement of his accomplishment in his wide smile and happy brown eyes.
I pulled up a new window and started a search on his name. I wanted to find the obituary for his mom, who passed away in the accident. The parallels between Reid and Maci’s situations were eerie. For his sake, I hoped he wasn’t the guy responsible for all of this. It would be a shame to watch his body disintegrate from Lyme in a barrel somewhere.
The obituary was basic, with a lack of information:
‘Maria Hardwick passed away Friday evening. She leaves behind her son, Reid. Maria has reunited with her husband Harold, and will be laid to rest Sunday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. In place of flowers, the family asks that you donate in her name to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. ’
Shit. The guy was an orphan now. That smelled like a motive. I pulled up his Instagram account. Luckily, it wasn’t private, saving me time. All of his posts were normal: hanging out with friends at the beach, a few photos with his arms wrapped around a blond girl, and pictures of his skateboard and dogs. My eyebrows met my hairline. Reid hadn’t posted on social media since the night before the accident. There wasn’t even a tribute post to his mom.
I scrubbed my hand over my face. My gut said this was my guy, but there was no tangible proof. For all I knew, he took off after his mom died in one of those vans turned mobile homes. He seemed like the type who enjoyed going off-grid and camping out in the middle of the desert. I jotted his last address down in my phone and made a note to check it out. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time tonight. My sleuthing took longer than planned. It was now almost four in the morning. Fuck. I needed to get back to Maci’s before she realized I was gone.
She wasn’t the girl to get upset about waking up alone. She’d chalk it up to me, wanting to be fresh for the game. That wasn’t me, though. If I had it my way, I’d wake up with Maci in my bed for the rest of my life. Powering down my computer, I returned to her apartment. When I slipped back inside, I smiled at her sleeping form. She hadn’t moved an inch. Without disturbing her, I maneuvered myself back into the bed. She snuggled back into my chest with a contented sigh. Yeah, there was no way I was letting anyone take this away from me—ever.