Page 59 of Coming Up Aces

“Yes.”

“Why?”

When Seth hesitated, Rayna raised her eyebrows. “Because Hanson made a deal with the GIA. Spencer was undercover, and they needed their agent back to put Grissom away.”

“So you lied to me from the very beginning?”

“It was to protect you,” he pleaded.

Rayna hummed. “Spencer was undercover with The Ministry, so how was he supposed to help with Grissom?”

“He was allowed to come and go as he pleased. He had an apartment where he was set up to work away from the GIA office.”

“What was Grissom doing that the GIA wanted him taken down?”

Seth reached for his mug and took a sip. “By the numbers on those accounts, it wasn’t anything good.”

Rayna tapped her short nails on the table. There were so many questions she needed answered, but she went with, “Why did you tell me Grissom was responsible for Spencer being released?”

“I didn’t want you involved in any of this, Ray. It’s why I convinced Hanson to leave you at Haven.” Seth’s shoulders sagged, then he looked at her. “When I arrested Spencer, he was adamant he was innocent of everything except kidnapping his daughter. He admitted taking her to keep her safe from her thug boyfriend. His words, not mine. He admitted to being undercover for the GIA, but since I wasn’t high enough in the chain of command, he wouldn’t say more than that. Whenhe convinced Hanson to speak to his boss, they came to an agreement on getting Spencer released. It was Spencer who suggested sending you to Haven to get you out of the way, and Hanson agreed. And before you ask, Hanson told me all this.”

“Why leave me there? If Hanson was going to release Spencer, I would have gone onto another case.”

“Maybe, but you also sat in on the interrogations and asked all the right questions. The deal between Hanson and the GIA happened before you went to Haven, and Spencer didn’t want you getting caught in the mess with Grissom. He knew going up against Grissom would be dangerous for those of us who worked under him. Spencer admired you, Ray. He even told Hanson he was going to have his boss try and recruit you to the GIA but not before Grissom was taken down.”

“I find that hard to believe. You and I both know how convincing Spencer is. I think I was too close to finding out that he was playing both sides, and he wanted me out of the way. Those bank accounts with Grissom’s name on them? The money came from Spencer.”

“No, Grissom was being paid off by Yesu Chin.”

“The mafia don?”

“Yes. It’s the reason Chin never went to jail.”

“Who told you that, Spencer?”

Seth flopped back against his chair, squeezing his eyes closed, and Rayna had her answer. “Like I said, he’s very convincing. Why did Grissom toss you in Ray Brook?”

“I assume it was because Hanson couldn’t handle being tortured and gave me up. He knew Spencer had evidence of what Grissom was up to. He gave one copy to his boss, and I had the other one.”

“The one you buried in my backyard?”

“How the hell did you find it? Spencer made sure the cameras were turned off at your house.”

“She has her own computer specialist,” Lucy lied before Rayna could come up with a plausible tale.

Seth frowned at Rayna, but she moved on before he could ask who. “Why did you bury the evidence instead of passing it on to Milsap?”

A fine sheen dotted Seth’s forehead and upper lip. “As insurance. Spencer said he sent one copy to his boss, but he wanted another copy hidden in case things didn’t go according to plan.”

“It seems like you and Spencer worked closely together. How did you get away with that when you should have been working on other cases?”

“Hanson approved it. He made sure I didn’t have any other cases. It wasn’t easy for Hanson to go about his days as though we weren’t aware that our boss was a criminal.”

“And Spencer didn’t help with that if he told you Grissom was covering for Chin. So when you told me you tried to look at the files on Spencer but they were locked down, that was also a lie?”

“I’m sorry, Ray. I truly thought it was best you didn’t know what was going on.”

Rayna didn’t believe him, even though Tamian had voiced him, and that sucked. “Who took those photos?”

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