Page 10 of Spice's Halloween

“Is that so? No evidence? Can you tell me why I have one of three copies of that non-existent footage from tonight? And additional duplicates are being made as we speak. Apparently, your officers don’t understand how to download footage without corrupting or deleting it. Your little uniformed minion is in for a world of pain,” Cassie said sweetly.

“What footage? There was none; my uniform checked thoroughly,” Ventor replied smugly.

“Did you not understand me? Mr Fowler made three copies before you all arrived. It seemed he and Spice feared that once the police examined the recording, it might disappear. And lo and behold, it did.

“Thanks to Mr Fowler’s diligence, we can prove events happened as Spice says, and you can also get an image of the real culprit. Meanwhile, you will release my client and apologise, and then we’ll be filing a wrongful arrest suit. Because what you, Detective Webb, and your uniformed minion missed was the camera pointed at the keyboard. We have clear evidence of you hitting delete,” Cassie stated and sent them her cute as fuck smile again.

A man opened the door. “Ventor, Webb, the captain wants you both in his office. Mr Spice, you’re free to go with our apologies.”

Yawning, I stood up and stretched. “I’ll take that apology in writing. We frame them at the clubhouse. A delight as always, Cassie,” I said, bending to kiss her cheek.

“Take yourself off, Spice, and stay out of trouble. I’ll deal with shit here,” Cassie ordered as I was uncuffed.

Cheerfully, I sent the two detectives a smirk, knowing I’d made an enemy of Ventor at least today, and left. There was only one place I was heading.

Lindy – The past.

Terrified, I jerked awake as someone touched me and released a scream.

“It’s okay, Miss Reynolds, I’m a nurse. My name is Julie. You’re in the hospital and are safe,” a female voice soothed.

I could barely make out a figure.

“What happened? Why can’t I see?” I asked, panicked.

“Miss Reynolds, you were the victim of a vicious assault. I’m sorry, but you were brutally beaten in the face, and your eyes are very swollen. You also have bruises elsewhere on your body and…” Julie’s voice trailed off as my memory snapped into place.

I recalled the rain of blows that hit me, the pipe hurting my arm. I peered and saw it was in a cast. The blow had broken it then. I remembered blacking out and coming to with someone on top, trying to rape me. I remembered fighting and the loud sound of a bike. The attacker had muttered something in my ear and then ran as a bright light came into the car park.

As he fled, he had kicked me in the head, and I remembered nothing else.

“Was I raped?” I croaked.

“The doctor…”

“Tell me.”

“There is bruising on your inner thighs, but no inside trauma and no fluids were found. We believe it was a close call, but you fought him off,” Julie answered calmly.

“He was trying to get inside,” I muttered, beginning to shake. Horrified, I could remember his penis at my entrance.

“We did a rape check, Miss Reynolds, and they have your attacker in jail already. He was a member of an MC,” Julie said, and I heard the disgust in her voice.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, the rumours are saying it was a Royal Bastard. Someone called Spike,” Julie gossiped, stroking my arm.

Spike? Did Julie mean Spice? No, it hadn’t been Spice. Because I knew who it was, and it wasn’t Spice.

“Get the police. They have the wrong man,” I gasped.

“What? No, sweetie, they found him next to you,” Julie explained.

“No. It wasn’t Spice.”

“Oh honey, did you know him? I’m sorry, you can never trust a member of a gang like that. They’re not honourable men,” Julie patronised as she re-arranged my pillows.

“Watch what bullshit you’re spreading, especially when it concerns an innocent man,” a voice said, and Julie hissed.

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