Not A Small-Town Girl
Chapter 33-1

Chapter 33

Interrogation Room.

The room was dead silent as Danielle sat across from Jack. The faint sound of her fingers tapping rhythmically on the table echoed in the stillness. Her piercing gaze never left him, the tapping almost hypnotic.

"Jack," she began, her voice icy, "you were diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer a few months ago. Someone reached out and offered you money to stage an accident. They wanted you to crash into me, didn’t they?"

Jack’s head wobbled as he tried to focus on her. His eyes widened in shock as he registered her presence. ’She’s alive? She’s supposed to be... A visible shiver ran through him like an electric shock.

"I was drunk!" he suddenly shouted, his voice breaking into sobs. "I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! I swear it was an accident!" His eyes were clouded with confusion and pain as if all hope had left him. Tears streamed down his face, mingling with sweat, and dripping onto the ground below.

Danielle’s lips curled into a cold smile. "You knew you had no chance of surviving your cancer.

Someone offered you money-enough to leave for your family after you’re gone. You took it and caused this crash."

"No! That’s not it!" Jack screamed, his bloodshot eyes filling with desperation.

Danielle tapped her fingers on the table once more before snapping her fingers sharply. Her voice was calm yet commanding. "Jack, who contacted you?"

Jack’s expression shifted, his eyes turning vacant as though he’d been unplugged from reality. "A man."

"Did you meet him?" Danielle asked.

"No. He called me," Jack replied mechanically.

"What did he tell you to do?" Jack said, "Two days ago, a guy contacted me, offering three hundred thousand dollars to cause a car accident. I didn’t believe him at first, but the money appeared in my account. Then he sent a photo and a map. I waited on the road and drove into the car when I saw it."

Danielle snapped her fingers again, breaking the trance. Jack blinked, his awareness returning. He looked around, confused, oblivious to what he’d just revealed.

Ben sat off to the side, watching Danielle. ’If I’m not mistaken, did Miss Darling just hypnotize the suspect? Can she really interrogate like this?’

Danielle noticed his gaze and calmly said, "Can I see Jack’s phone?"

"Sure." Ben handed it over. They had checked it before, but everything had been deleted, and nothing had stood out.

As Danielle searched through the phone, it was clear everything had been erased. But that didn’t matter to her-deletions could be undone. After a few moves, she found a virus planted in the phone. It wasn’t Jack who deleted the files, but the mastermind behind it all.

Danielle cracked the virus, discovered the contact info, and dialed the number. It was a disconnected line. This person was not only good at counter- surveillance but also skilled in hacking.

Danielle paused, thinking over everything. First, her grandparents had trouble at the hospital. Then, while visiting them, her car crashed on the way back. The target was clearly her.

The person knew the hospital had increased security, so they poisoned her grandparents, knowing the guards would reach out to her. The plan was to lure her to the hospital, while the truck lay in wait on her route home. The mastermind had been watching everything closely.

Her eyes flashed with cold determination. ’I will find this person.’

"Ben, the phone’s yours," Danielle spoke slowly and turned to leave the interrogation room.