The Perfect Murder
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K.D. Richards
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15,6K
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32
Chapter One
He’d worried for years waiting for Franklin Brooks to exhaust all of his appeals. And now the last appeal was over, and he should be able to relax, confident that another man would be paying for the crime he’d committed. But he couldn’t relax. Because Chelsea just wouldn’t let it go.
He couldn’t believe Chelsea Harper, a third-grade teacher, had the skills to hack into the LAPD’s computer system, but whoever she’d gotten to do it had been good. If he hadn’t had the foresight to flag Lily Wong’s case file, he would have never known it had been accessed and downloaded remotely. The hacker hadn’t left a trail, either. Thank goodness he’d been notified the moment the file was accessed. Knowing about the hack while it was happening was the only reason he’d been able to follow it back to its source. After that it had been easy to search through the hacker’s computer and find out who’d hired him to steal Lily’s file.
He hadn’t meant to kill her. His precious Lily. He’d tried to make her understand they were meant to be together. She wouldn’t listen.
Killing her had been an accident. His rage had exploded, and before he realized it, she was dead.
Franklin getting blamed for it had been a fluke. A convenient fluke.
He hadn’t had to run. He hadn’t had to leave his life.
But if Chelsea Harper succeeded in her quest to clear her father’s name, he might have to now.
No. No, he wouldn’t let her destroy his life.
He finished his breakfast, loading his dishes into the dishwasher and straightening the kitchen before he prepared to leave for work. Years of monotonous, solitary drudgery among boxes and in dark rooms had given him a superpower. Invisibility. It would come in handy. He’d need to keep an eye on Chelsea. And, if he had to, deal with her the same way he’d dealt with Lily.
