Truth or Dare

by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

  Sheridan knew me well because that was exactly what I had done.

  “Ugh,” I groaned as I sat up. I couldn’t believe my vacation was being ruined by this foolishness. “Fine.”

  Kennedi sat up. “Where are you going?”

  I wrapped my skirt around my bottom. “I think Carson told me where he was staying so I’m gonna go talk to him.”

  “Well, good luck with that,” Kennedi said, lying back down.

  “Thanks a lot, friend,” I told her.

  Kennedi gave me a back-handed wave. “Anytime,” she said as she flipped over.

  “Come on,” I told Sheridan. “I’m going to go change and then we can go look for this girl. And when I find her, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind for messing up my vacation like this.”

  “If we find her,” Sheridan said.

  “Will you stop being so negative? We’re going to find her, and when we find her, I’m going to cuss her little slutty behind out.”

  I put my shades on and sashayed toward the elevator, hoping that this didn’t take too long so I could come back and relax by the pool.

  Chapter 9

  This was not the way I had planned to spend my day.

  “Which one is it?” Sheridan said.

  I could tell she was irritated, but shoot, so was I. “I don’t know,” I said, looking at the two hotels. “I just remember it’s one of these. I can’t remember the name, but he said he was staying at the hotel on the corner of Eldorado and Caprica. So we’ll just check both hotels.”

  “Like they’re really going to give you information on a hotel guest,” she said, jumping out of the way just as a bicyclist almost ran her over.

  “Girl, this is Cancun, they don’t have the same kind of regulations.”

  “This is ridiculous,” she muttered.

  “You’re the one that insisted we do this, so come on!” I said, pulling her toward the first hotel. We went inside and I marched straight up to the front desk. “Hi, I’m looking for a Carson Wells.”

  “Do you know what room he’s in?” the clerk asked, as she began tapping some keys on her computer.

  “No, I don’t,” I said. “Can you just look and see if you have a guest by that name?”

  The front desk clerk continued tapping away on the computer, and I gave Sheridan the eye to say, See, I told you.

  “I’m sorry, we don’t have a guest here by that name,” the clerk said.

  I frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive.”

  I hesitated, thinking, then said, “Okay, are the kids from Fulton County in Atlanta here?”

  “No, we don’t have any of the spring breakers here,” the woman said. “We were booked for a technology conference.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” I said, grabbing Sheridan’s hand and making my way back out. “Let’s go across the street and check out the other hotel. It has to be that one.”

  Sheridan reluctantly followed me and we repeated the scenario. I stood at the desk as the clerk tapped away. “Sorry, we don’t have a Carson Wells here.”

  “What?” I said. “No, but he has to be here. This has to be the hotel.” I looked around. “The one where he said he was staying. Is this where Fulton County students are, the kids from Atlanta?”

  The woman clicked again. “Yep.”

  “Well, then, there.” I tapped her computer. “Carson Wells, check again.”

  “I’m sorry, but we don’t have anybody here by that name.” She pointed to a tall, lanky man standing at the end of the counter. “Talk to that guy. He’s one of the chaperones for the trip for students from Fulton County.”

  “Thank you,” I said, quickly making my way down to the edge of the counter.

  I tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, sir.”

  “Yes, ma’am, how may I help you?” the man said, turning toward me.

  “Yeah, I’m trying to find one of your students. You are from Fulton County, aren’t you?”

  The man nodded. “Yes.”

  “Well, I need to get in touch with one of your students.”

  He let out a loud sigh. You could tell the students had been working his nerves. “Who is it, and what did they do now?”

  “Oh, no. It’s not that at all,” I said. “I just need to talk to him. It’s very important.”

  “Well, who is it?” he repeated.

  “Carson Wells,” I said.

  The man stopped and frowned. “Carson Wells? We don’t have a student named Carson Wells.”

  Both Sheridan and I stood frozen. Finally I said, “Excuse me? Yes, you do.”

  “No,” he said slowly, his eyes going up in his head like he was thinking. “I’m sure we don’t have any student by the name of Carson Wells.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “He said that he was part of the Atlanta Fulton County High group.”

  The man said, “I’m the lead chaperone and we brought a small group. I can assure you we don’t have a Carson Wells.”

  Now that was strange. Maybe I had gotten his school mixed up. Or maybe even his name. Maybe it was Larson or something like that. No, I wasn’t crazy. He’d said his name was Carson.

  “Sheridan, do you have that picture you took of us at the beach yesterday?”

  Sheridan fumbled in her purse, which was strapped around her body. “Yeah.” She took her phone out and began thumbing through her pictures.

  “Here,” she said, handing me the picture that Carson and I had taken last night.

  “Yeah, right here,” I said, showing the picture to the man. “That’s Carson. He’s a student at Fulton County High.”

  The man leaned in and peered at the screen. “Mmm, nope.”

  “What do you mean, nope?”

  “Just what I said. That’s not one of our kids.” He actually seemed relieved.

  I stood with my mouth gaped open. “Are you freaking kidding me?”

  “Nope. I know all our kids and that’s not one of them.”

  “Then who is this?” I said.

  He shrugged like he couldn’t be of any assistance to me.

  I turned to Sheridan, who was standing there, just as shocked. “They don’t have a Carson. And now, I’m starting to think maybe Carson Wells doesn’t even exist.”

  Carson wasn’t who he’d said he was. Evian was missing. If I wasn’t worried before, I definitely was now. And I had no idea what kind of game Carson was running, but my gut told me it wasn’t good. And now, I not only wanted to find Evian, I felt like I had to find her!

  Chapter 10

  I took a deep breath, dialed three numbers, then quickly hung up the phone. It was taking everything in my power to make this phone call. I knew that I needed to stop putting it off, but more than anything I was wondering why in the world I was scared of Tamara Collins. Yes, she was my boss, but I was the star of Rumor Central. So why was I scared to call and tell her this?

  I’d wanted to go straight to Shay’s room and tell her about Carson, but Tamara had been blowing up my phone and I needed to check in with her first.

  Just dial the number, I told myself as I punched in the number to Tamara’s cell. When I’d added international calling to my cell phone, I’d had no idea that I would be using it for this.

  “Hey, lady—what’s going on,” Tamara said, answering on the second ring.

  “Yeah, nothing much,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I’m just in Cancun.”

  She laughed. “Umm, yeah, I know. I’m sure you’re having a blast, but I also hope you’ve got some good stories.” Tamara knew I had been uneasy about bringing the camera along, but I also knew how this game was played. At the end of the day, that’s all that she was really worried about. I decided to stop trying to put it off and just come clean.

  “No major dirt yet, but ah, it looks like we may have a little dilemma here,” I began.

  She stopped laughing and I could only imagine her sitting straight up in her high-back leather chair. “What kind of dilemma?�
�� she asked.

  “Well, Evian is missing.” I rushed the words out.

  “Evian? Former Miami Diva, Evian?”

  “Yep.”

  “What do you mean she’s missing?”

  I sighed. This is not what I was supposed to be doing. I was supposed to playing in the ocean with my friends. “We were playing a little game of truth or dare and um, she kind of was dared to go pick up a strange guy.”

  Tamara hesitated, then said, “Okay. Hate to hear that, but what does that have to do with us because I’m assuming it does since you said we have a problem?”

  “Well, I had Marcus, our undercover photographer, follow her, but he said she was boring, so he dumped out for the night and we haven’t seen her since.”

  “What? Maybe she clicked with the guy and they just went off together.”

  “Well, that’s what I initially thought,” I replied. “But when she didn’t check in and nobody has seen or heard from her, everybody started getting worried.”

  “Wow, that is scary. I hope you guys find her, but I’m not understanding how this is your problem.”

  “I’m not understanding either.” I let out a long sigh. “It really isn’t my problem if you ask me. But some people think that I may be to blame and Rumor Central may be liable because I’m the one that dared her.”

  Tamara was quiet at that admission. “Please tell me that’s not true.”

  “You’re the one that wanted some good footage so I dared her and had Marcus follow her. No drama was popping off so I was hoping to get some good dirt or gossip or maybe even some video of her making out.” Even saying it now, the idea sounded stupid, like anyone even cared who Evian Javid was getting with.

  “Oh my God,” Tamara said.

  “We’re looking for her,” I said, trying to ease Tamara’s concerns. I even lied and told Tamara the police were involved. I hadn’t dared call the police for real because naturally, the first call they would make would be to Evian’s people. “So don’t worry about it. We’ve got it handled. I just wanted to keep you updated.”

  “What if this is another Natalee Holloway case?” she said, her voice filled with concern.

  “Why does everybody keep talking about Natalee Holloway?”

  “That case got worldwide attention.” I could hear her up and pacing. “Where’s Marcus now?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “You need to get with him. You said you guys were looking for Evian?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Okay, call Quincy, too. He needs to follow you everywhere you go. Not only for liability reasons, but who knows what you will turn up? If you get something good, it could bring in some awesome numbers.”

  I was a little shocked, although I don’t know why. “So, you’re concerned about ratings?” I asked.

  “I’m always concerned about ratings,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  “Do you know what kind of powerhouse story we’d have if we broke up an American kidnapping ring in Cancun? Oh, I can see the headlines now.”

  Tamara was going off on a tangent, and I could tell there was nothing I could say to change her mind.

  But still I had to try. “Tamara, this is serious. I don’t think we need to be trying to think about ratings.”

  “Sweetheart, don’t be mistaken. We always think about ratings,” Tamara said. “Now find Quincy. I’ll get in touch with him as well and I want him rolling on every single thing you do.”

  “All right, talk to you later. Check back in soon.” She hung up the phone before I could say another word. In fact, I sat there staring at my phone.

  No, she didn’t just hang up in my face. Not only was I caught up in the middle of some drama in Evian’s disappearance, but now I was expected to film the whole thing for ratings? As much as I loved my job, sometimes things like this made me hate it.

  Chapter 11

  I knew one thing; I was tired as all get out. This was not my idea of fun in the sun and right about now, I wished that I had never met Evian Javid. The last thing I wanted to do was spend my time racing around this island trying to find her. Shay had seemed just as shocked when I’d told her Carson was a phony and that had only made us all worry more. So, we’d spent the last three hours combing every hotel looking for her, Carson, or any information.

  “I think we’ve done all we can do,” I finally told Shay. The sun was setting and we had literally lost a whole day behind this mess. “Let’s just head back to the hotel.”

  Shay looked defeated but didn’t fight me, thank goodness.

  “I’m especially worried because we were supposed to take our spring break senior picture at the breakfast this morning and she didn’t show up. Evian wouldn’t miss that picture,” Shay said as she, Sheridan, and I made our way back to our hotel. Quincy was lurking in the background. He really was good at his job because I’d almost forgotten that he’d been trailing us. Suddenly, I remembered that I’d missed the picture, too, which only made me more aggravated.

  But on top of my anger, I was actually getting a little nervous now, too, but what could we do?

  “I’m going to go back to my room,” Shay said. “Maybe Evian left a message or something.”

  I didn’t know what to say so I just followed her inside. I was going to go to my room and change. I felt all sticky and nasty now that I had been traipsing all over looking for Evian.

  We had just stepped on the elevator when Shay’s phone beeped, signaling an incoming text. “Maybe that’s Evian,” she said, scrambling to get the purse out of her back pocket.

  Her mouth dropped open in horror as she read.

  “What? What does it say?” Sheridan asked.

  “ ‘We have your girl,’ ” Shay read. “ ‘We will call in one hour for further instructions. No cops.’ ”

  “OMG,” Sheridan said. “Is that a ransom text?”

  “That’s what it looks like,” Shay replied. She was shaking like she was terrified. “Evian must’ve given them my number.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t believe this.

  “Oh my God.” Shay fell back against the wall of the elevator. “So somebody does have her.”

  “Maybe somebody’s just playing a joke.” That’s the only thing I could think to say.

  Shay shook the phone at me. “Does this look like a joke to you?” she said.

  “Okay,” Sheridan added. “I’m getting a little nervous myself.”

  I know I probably should’ve been the one trying to calm them down, but I needed someone to calm me down.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Sheridan asked. I still couldn’t figure out how this had become a we project.

  “We’re all going to go to my room and wait on that phone call,” Shay said. “The good news is if she gave them my number, that means she’s still alive.”

  “See, all this talk about ransom and dead or alive is way above my pay grade,” I said, repeating something I’d heard someone on TV once say. “We need to call the police.”

  “No!” Shay said, pointing the phone at me. “You see they said no cops.”

  “Can’t you just call us and tell us what they say?” I replied. I didn’t scare easy, but this was definitely making me uneasy.

  “No, we’re all in this together,” Shay snapped.

  I really wanted to remind her that Evian wasn’t my friend anymore. That was her girl. Therefore, this was her problem.

  But if I was being truthful, I knew that the only reason she had taken the dare was because of me, and the last thing I wanted was to have to explain to her family what role I’d played in her disappearance. No, we just needed to find her.

  “Fine,” I said, motioning for Shay to get off the elevator when the doors opened on her floor. “We’ll go to your room and wait on the call.”

  Sheridan looked like she wanted to protest, but she followed anyway. Inside, Shay’s room was eerily quiet as we waited for the phone to ring.

  After about fifty minutes, Shay
stood. “We got ten minutes. I’m gonna use the restroom real quick.”

  None of us said a word as she dashed off. I just wanted this all to be over.

  Not two minutes after the bathroom door closed, her cell phone rang.

  “Shay!” I yelled.

  “I’m coming! Answer it!” I heard the toilet flush.

  I pressed the button for the speaker phone.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Are these the rich girl’s friends?” the voice said.

  “Yes,” I replied, willing Shay to hurry up and get her butt out here. I felt a sigh of relief as the door opened and Shay came running out.

  “I’m gonna need five hundred thousand dollars if you wanna see your girl alive again,” the raspy voice said.

  Five hundred thousand dollars? Was he crazy? I didn’t need to see Evian alive again.

  “Here, it’s for you,” I told Shay as I handed her the phone. She looked confused as she held the phone.

  “Yeah,” Shay began.

  “Did you hear what I said?” the man repeated.

  “Yeah, but um, where are we supposed to get that kind of money from?”

  Sheridan stood and watched in shock. Me, I was easing toward the door.

  “Find a way,” the man said. “Or find your friend’s body. I’ll be in touch in twenty-four hours.”

  The line went dead with Shay standing there, holding the phone. Finally, she looked at me and Sheridan and said, “We have to come up with five hundred thousand dollars.”

  “We don’t have to do anything,” I said.

  “You know what? I’m tired of doing this with you,” Shay said. She picked up the hotel phone, pressed zero, and then said, “Yes, I’d like to place a collect call to Miami, Florida.”

  “Who are you calling?” I asked.

  “I’m calling Evian’s brother,” Shay said. “What’s his name? Clinton? I’m sure him and his mafia friends can get over here and help us.”

  Sheridan raced over to the phone, then put her hand on the button to hang the phone up. “But I thought you said they were going to blame us,” she said, panicked.

  “They’re not going to blame us,” Shay replied, motioning between her and Sheridan. “They’re going to blame her.” She pointed at me. “She’s the one that dared Evian to go with that guy. She’s the one that introduced everyone to Carson.”