Page 12 of Spice's Halloween

“Is that the bad cop?”

“Yeah,” Spice drawled. His thumb continued to make circles on my hand. It was distracting.

“Spice, I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Miss Reynolds, you’ve been through a severe trauma. And viciously attacked. We want to get your attacker,” Ventor said.

“Do you? You automatically arrested Spice without reason, and what evidence you had was deleted. That would have meant my actual attacker would have got away with it, and you would have aided him in that,” I whispered. “In my eyes, that makes you the enemy.”

Tears clogged my throat.

“Lindy,” Spice murmured, and I clutched his hand.

“He was so close to raping me. He was pushing at my entrance. If Spice hadn’t arrived, he’d have raped me. You arrested the man who saved me because he wears a cut. How am I meant to trust you with anything?” I asked, breaking down into tears once more.

“Enough. Send a female or a different detective next time. You’re not to come near Lindy again. If you do, I’ll have Cassie on you,” Spice snapped angrily.

The bed dipped as Spice sat on it, and then I was hauled gently into his arms. “Cry it out, sweetheart, let it all go. That’s the only way to heal.”

“I see how it is,” Ventor sneered. “Miss Reynolds isn’t what we believed.”

“Don’t say anything else, Ventor. Your card is already marked. Get out and find someone else to interview Lindy. Because she ain’t gonna talk to you.”

As I cried, I clutched Spice’s top, and he held me tightly. The door opened and shut, and I sniffed as I wiped my tears away.

“It was David,” I whispered.

Spice stiffened, and I flinched but felt him force himself to relax.

“Asshole’s a dead man walking,” Spice promised.

I let myself sink into his hard, warm body. Spice offered me comfort, and I would take it.

Chapter Three.

Warden – Present day.

“What do you mean we buried the asshole, and he had a USB drive on him?” I demanded, staring at Spice in disbelief.

“How was I meant to know it was a data stick thing?” Spice retorted.

“How did this fuckin’ happen?” I asked, wondering if someone was playing a joke.

“We weren’t aware!” Spice shouted, and we all stared, astounded that such a mistake had been made.

“This is insane. What information was on it?” I inquired patiently, although I felt anything but.

“Info on the casino and smuggling, I believe,” Spice replied.

Seriously, I was going to throttle our former VP. “You think?”

“Look, I might be in error, Prez. The only reason I’m bringing this up is because I saw that thing in the porn shop, and I remembered Triple D had one similar. But I thought it was a necklace,” Spice muttered.

“Spice isn’t wrong; I’ve had a piece of jewellery brought in that has a hidden USB. If Triple D had one, what Spice is saying is possible. Triple D did have info on us and tried his hand at blackmail. That’s a fact that signed his death warrant,” Blister agreed.

Spice nodded at the pawn shop manager vigorously.

“See. And Blister wasn’t aware either until that smart-ass kid told him what the necklace was,” Spice said as if it offered a defence.

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