Meet me by the gazebo in Point Pleasant Park at 3 a.m. I will transfer Bitcoin then. Then he added: I want the laptop. He needed to give his blackmailer a reason for them to meet in person, even though he knew that getting possession of the laptop was no guarantee of ending the torment from his blackmailer. But he’d let his blackmailer think that Harry was stupid enough to believe that he couldn’t be exploited if he gained possession of the hacked files.

Three a.m. was the dead of night. No one should be in the park.

Statistically, it was also the hour when the highest rate of deaths occurred.

He would love nothing more than to make his blackmailer another statistic. Just another number. Just another fucking digit in a computer file.

But first, he had to figure out how to get away with murder.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

10:18 p.m.

“My parents said the police are looking for me.”

There was no mistaking the panic in Joey’s gaze. His mother had sent him at least five frantic texts. So far, he hadn’t responded.

Matt stared at the kid. He knew he shouldn’t have asked him to take Leah’s laptop. It was wrong to ask him to do it. He’d been so freaked out over Leah’s situation that he hadn’t thought it through.

He had potentially screwed this kid’s future. And Leah would never forgive him.

Just like he’d never forgive himself.

“Listen, I’m sorry I got you mixed up in this, bro. I really am.” Joey was a wreck: his left index finger sported a hangnail turned bloody from anxious teeth, his hair hung in scraggly strands around his face. If Matt had met Joey before he had asked him to take Leah’s laptop, he never would have asked him to take it. Or would he? “But we can help Leah. Her lawyer said that she will get immunity if we can crack Aiden’s identity and deliver the laptop.”

Joey threw him a wary look. That look alone told Matt that Joey’s trust in him was rapidly disintegrating. If he didn’t convince Leah’s little brother to stay on board, everyone would be sunk: Leah, Joey, the Forum, him.

“He called me earlier,” Joey said slowly. “Can we trace his number?”

Relief surged through Matt. Joey was not going to abandon him. Yet. He leaned toward him. “Better than that—you said that he wanted to meet with me. I’m going to text him and set up something.”

“Tonight?” Joey gripped the laptop even harder.

Matt swallowed his impatience. Convincing Joey was akin to luring a frightened deer to take a carrot. One step forward, half a step back. But the carrot was one none of them could afford to lose: the immunity deal.