Flawless Danger (The Spencer & Sione #1) (28 page)

“No, if Spencer had drugged Ben, then he would have been passed out when Tommy Fong broke into the townhouse,” Shady said. “And Tommy Fong might have hurt Spencer!”

“Are the two of you forgetting the damn interior surveillance in Ben’s closet?” Spencer asked. “Even if I had drugged Ben and even if Tommy Fong hadn’t broken into the townhouse, the fact remains that Ben would still have a video of me taking money and watches from his closet!”

“You know what,” Rae said. “You’re really in this mess because you “dated” Ben when you know you really didn’t want to. You “dated” him because you didn’t want to deal with your feelings for him.”

Incensed and insulted, Spencer jumped up. “I’m in this mess because I let you talk me into “dating” in the first damn place!” Spencer hissed. “I’m in this mess because I was stupid enough to believe I could get away with stealing! I should have listened to Shady!”

Tense silence ensued. Spencer could hear the anger and frustration in the words her sisters weren’t saying, the words they couldn’t speak. Always one to avoid awkward confrontations, Shady was probably cringing and praying for a response to soothe the hurt feelings. Beyond livid, Rae was most likely taking a moment to catch her breath before she said something she might regret.

“I have to go,” Spencer snapped and then tossed the cell phone onto the coffee table. Lightheaded, she stumbled to the couch and plopped down onto the cushions, pissed that the conversation with her sisters had turned venomous and accusatory.

Spencer sighed, wiping tears from her cheeks. She shouldn’t have been so hateful and spiteful. The choice she’d made to start “dating” had been hers alone. She shouldn’t have insinuated that she’d been tricked, or forced, into drugging men. She was a grown-ass woman, responsible for her own actions, good or bad. She’d have to call her sisters back and apologize. And she had to start with Rae, who needed to know that Spencer didn’t really think she’d been coerced into “dating.”

The cell phone rang. Her stomach jerked as she reached for it and decided she would answer with the apology she knew her sisters deserved. When she checked the caller ID, her heart sank a bit. It was her cousin Rusty, who she was usually happy to talk to, but she was anxious to make things right with her sisters. Still, Spencer answered the call.

“Spencer? Girl, where are you?” Rusty asked. “I’ve been calling and calling. Your phone keeps going to voice mail.”

“Really?” Spencer said, realizing she probably hadn’t been diligent about keeping her cell phone charged or about checking the messages. “Um, I’m in Belize.”

“Belize?” Rusty sounded surprised. “What are you doing in Belize?”

“Vacation,” Spencer lied. “What’s going on?”

“First of all, don’t panic because nobody is dead, hurt, or in the hospital.”

“Okay, what happened?” Spencer asked, her pulse racing. “Was it something bad?
 

“Nana’s house was broken into last night.”

“Oh my God! Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine,” Rusty said. “She wasn’t even there when it happened. She was at Bible study.”

“Oh, thank God,” Spencer said, breathing a bit easier.

“Girl, you know she’s not afraid of anything,” Rusty said. “She said she hopes the cops find them so she can pray for them. She told me they just need Jesus, that’s all.”

That didn’t surprise Spencer. Her grandmother was very faithful and believed God’s mercy and forgiveness was for everyone.

“The cops think it was some kids who thought it might be fun to vandalize a house.”

“Stupid little assholes,” Spencer said, shaking her head.

“Anyway, I was calling because me and Jennifer are going over there this weekend to help clean everything up, and I wanted to see if you could come help us,” Rusty said. “But I didn’t know you were on vacay.”

“I wish I was in town so I could help y’all.”

“Me too. Girl, they tore the damn house up,” Rusty said. “Didn’t take nothing, just broke a lot of dishes and lamps and vases. Anything made of glass, they smashed it. And they wrote a bunch of crazy shit all over the walls. Something like, the dragon will get you with fire, or some crap, I can’t remember, but—”

Spencer was no longer listening. Trembling, she jumped up. Her cousin’s words echoed in her head as the drawing on Ben’s bedroom ceiling flashed before her eyes.

The tiger will strike with claws … but the dragon will consume with fire.

“Hey, Rusty, I need to call you back.”

San Ignacio, Belize

Belizean Banyan Resort - Honeymoon Casita

“You sonofabitch!” Spencer screamed into the burner phone when Ben answered. “You had someone break into my grandmother’s house!”

“Relax, sweet girl, she wasn’t hurt.”

“How could you do that!” she yelled, stomping across the master suite, pacing back and forth. “Why would you do that! She is an old woman who lives alone—”

“She wasn’t even at home. I never planned for her to be there when the vandals broke in. She was at church, hopefully praying for her wayward, wicked granddaughter, who seems to think she can escape the consequences of her mistakes.”

Dizzy from frustration and rage, Spencer sank back down on the edge of the bed. “I am not trying to escape the consequences for my mistakes!”

“Then why don’t I have that envelope?”

Spencer took a deep breath. “I am still looking for it.”

“No, you’re playing house with Sione Tuiali’i and giving me excuses, telling me what you won’t do.”

“I will find the envelope,” she said, clutching the burner phone so tight, she thought she might crack it.

“Have you searched the entire casita?”

“Not yet, but—”

“Did you use the GHB?”

“I told you, I’m not going to—”

“You are going to do exactly what I tell you,” he said. “Go back to his casita. Use the GHB. Once Sione Tuiali’i is unconscious, you need to search every inch of his casita. Do not stop until you find that damn envelope.”

“What if the envelope is not in his casita?”

“It has to be there,” Ben said, after a slight hesitation, one she almost didn’t catch. “The envelope is in that casita. Find it. Don’t disappoint me. You have until the end of the week.”

“The end of the week?” Panicked, Spencer stood again. “Today is Friday!”

“Then maybe you should hurry up and start looking.”

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll find it in two days!” she said. “You have to give me more time!”

“Well, sweet girl, let me tell you what I can’t guarantee,” he said. “I can’t guarantee that I won’t burn your grandmother’s house to the ground, and I can’t guarantee that she won’t be at home when I strike the match.”

His threat hit her like a sledgehammer and took all the breath from her body, leaving her trembling and gasping. “No ...” She dropped to the floor, struggling to speak. “Please ... don’t ... hurt—”

The cell phone slipped from Spencer’s hand, banged against the hardwood floor, and skittered toward the settee at the foot of the bed. A hot mass formed in her throat, and as she struggled to swallow it, Spencer stared at the phone until it started to blur. A tear slid down her cheek and then another, salty trickles dripping from her chin.

San Ignacio, Belize

Belizean Banyan Resort - Honeymoon Casita

Staring at her reflection in the framed mirror above the dresser, Spencer took several deep breaths and tried to calm down. Since her conversation with Ben yesterday afternoon, she’d been consumed with how she would accomplish
Step Three
. So far, the GHB seemed to be her best option.

Spencer didn’t want to use the GHB.

But she had to.

Because of that damn blue file with the photos John had taken of her.

John’s suspicions might hinder her search for the envelope Ben wanted. The only way to remove those hindrances would be to drug John. Spencer glanced at the vial of GHB and then at her reflection, hating herself for what she was going to do, but she didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t find that damn envelope, then—

I can’t guarantee that I won’t burn your grandmother’s house to the ground, and I can’t guarantee that she won’t be at home when I strike the match.

She had to use the GHB, or Ben would hurt her grandmother. Taking a deep breath, Spencer tried to calm down, but it wasn’t working. Nothing would stop her heart from slamming. Not when she couldn’t stop thinking about
Step Three
.

I want you to pour him a glass of wine, and then pour the contents of the vial I sent you into the wine. Once he has passed out, find the envelope, and then call me. I’ll tell you what to do next when I hear from you. I know you can do it, so don’t disappoint me. I’m not asking you to do anything that you haven’t done before.

Ben was right. She had drugged men before. Today, she would have to do it again. Spencer knew she could, but it wouldn’t be easy. It never was.

Unlike Rae, Spencer had never mastered the art of remaining calm while watching a man drain a glass of drugged wine. She usually had to force herself to go through with it, but it was always damn near impossible to convince herself that she could actually unscrew the top off the vial and pour the liquid into the glass of wine.

Most times, she’d have to trick herself into drugging the guy and pretend she was acting in some movie. Still, she was always tense and nauseous, waiting for the man to succumb to the effects of the drug and slump over, unconscious.

She stared at the vial of GHB.

I’m not asking you to do anything that you haven’t done before …

Spencer took another long, deep breath. No more hesitating, it was time to—

No, she couldn’t do it, not this time.

She couldn’t drug John. Cursing, Spencer grabbed the vial, glaring at it. The GHB seemed to stare back at her, mocking her, warning her, congratulating her.

You can’t do it, you dumb bitch. You’ve gotten too close; you’ve fallen in love with him and for what? So he can break your heart when he finds out you’re a lying, thieving bitch?

You have to do it, or you’ll never find the envelope, and Ben will kill your grandmother, the woman who loved you when your own mother abandoned you! Her death will be your fault!

You can’t drug John. It isn’t right. You can’t keep making bad decisions and stupid mistakes. You do have a choice. You don’t have to steal or lie!

The thoughts played over and over in her mind.

Finally, no longer able to stand the horrible, dizzying mantra, Spencer hurled the vial against the wall.

San Ignacio, Belize

Belizean Banyan Resort - Owner’s Casita

Sione opened the door and found himself a bit speechless.

Ms. Edwards stood on the porch outside his casita, at a little past two in the afternoon, wearing the pink sarong she’d bought on their trip to San Pedro. He remembered her having problems figuring out how to tie it, but she seemed to have done a fairly decent job by herself and had somehow managed to showcase her cleavage. She looked beautiful, just like he remembered. Not that he’d forgotten or could ever forget.

“Hi.” She smiled a little.

“Hi.” He smiled back, just a little, no more than she did. He didn’t want her to think he was happy to see her, or anything, even though he might have been glad she was at his door. He was a bit upset about her disappearing act yesterday morning. Ms. Edwards had left the kitchen when D.J. arrived, claiming she was going off to take a shower.

After what D.J. had told him about the Xanax box he’d found in Maxine Porter’s closet, Sione had toyed with the idea of questioning Ms. Edwards about the fake passports and money she’d delivered to Carla Garcia, Karen Nelson, and Maxine Porter. By the time his cousin had left, Ms. Edwards was gone.

“Don’t mean to bother you,” Spencer said. “But I think I left my earrings in the guest room when I stayed here last night.”

Sione nodded, thinking it might be a good time to find out what Ms. Edwards had to say about the money and fake passports. He wasn’t sure he wanted to interrogate her right this moment. He wasn’t sure how to pose the questions he needed answers to.

“My grandmother gave me those earrings. They’re really special to me.” Ms. Edwards looked a bit irritated as a jungle breeze blew a strand of hair across her face. “Would it be okay if I looked for them?”

Sione stepped back, allowing her to enter. “Sure, no problem.”

As she walked into the foyer, he tried to remind himself that she wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted to get involved with, no matter how beautiful she was. If Ms. Edwards was mixed up with fake passports and illicit money, it would be best to stay away from her. The problem was, Sione didn’t want to stay away. He actually wanted to get a bit closer.

San Ignacio, Belize

Belizean Banyan Resort - Owner’s Casita

Spencer slipped into John’s master bedroom and then closed the doors behind her.

Taking a deep breath, she stood still, waiting for her blood pressure to lower, praying she wouldn’t have a stroke. It was probably crazy to be in his bedroom, without his permission, when he could walk in at any time. But she had to look for the envelope. She had to find the envelope.

Showing up on his doorstep today had been a gamble. Spencer half-expected he would deny her access, but he’d allowed her entry, and she had to make the most of it, especially since he was still in the casita, alert and conscious, not slumped over somewhere, suffering the effects of GHB.

She’d been determined not to drug John, despite Ben’s orders, even though it might have made things easier for her.

The lie she’d told John about missing earrings had taken a toll—emotionally and physically. She was literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but she couldn’t fall apart.

In addition to John’s bedroom, Spencer had only two more to search. Hopefully, she would find the envelope.
Step Three
would be done, she could give the envelope to Ben, he would give her the video, and she could leave Belize and never look back.