Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

4. Four

Four

Phoenix

S pike and I finally made it back to the precinct, exiting through the elevator and stopping dead in our tracks by Captain Burgess, who’d just come storming out of his office, shouting our names.

He dashed right over to us, his chest heaving like he was out of breath.

“Cap?” I said worriedly, not liking how his eyes were glazed over with tears. “Is something wrong?”

We wordlessly listened as Cap went into thorough detail about Charlotte and how she’d called Harley and was screaming her head off, stating her coworker, Blaire, was dead, and that it was Charlotte who discovered the body. My heart sank, and before Cap could finish explaining, I was already gone, racing back to the elevator. It had enclosed me in before Spike could make it, but that was fine—he’d catch up.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed Charlotte. She answered when the elevator opened.

“She’s dead,” she cried to me, sobbing so hard that it was painfully difficult to make out the rest of what she was saying.

“Charlotte, baby. I can’t understand you. I need you to calm down—”

“ She’s fucking dead! ” She sobbed harder, her screams tearing my heart in half.

“We’re on the way, baby. We’re coming.”

She hung up the phone before I could tell her how sorry I was, but luckily, by the time I made it to my car, Spike had raced past me and was demanding me to hurry up and get in the fucking car already .

“Fucking step on it,” he commanded, lifting up to pull a piece of paper out of his pocket.

“What’s that?”

“Blaire’s address.”

He showed it to me, and I nodded, knowing exactly where to go. But thanks to fucking traffic, it had taken us about fifteen minutes to get there.

As we pulled up, Harley was already here, standing beside her car. She was holding Charlotte tightly as she sobbed against Harley’s chest.

Harley’s face was swollen, saturated in her own tears as she gaped heartbrokenly up at Blaire’s house.

“No,” Harley shouted, turning to us and shaking her head in refusal when we got out the car and tried to approach. “You two can’t talk to her right now. Go inside and start processing the scene. Forensics, EMTs, and the coroner are on the way, same with Chief and Captain Burgess.”

“Charlotte,” Spike called out.

“Are you fucking deaf?” the DA snapped at him, her dark, wet eyes narrowing into vengeful slits. “Go process the fucking scene!”

Spike cursed, calling Harley a bitch under his breath as he stormed toward the open front door.

“I have to warn you,” she yelled again, her voice cracking as Spike veered several giant steps back from the door, his hands pressed firmly over his mouth. “It’s not pretty.”

“Where’s the body?” I asked, trying desperately hard not to break and rush over to Charlotte when she let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Upstairs in the master bedroom.”

I approached the house, watching as Spike breathed in several hard times through his mouth, and passed by him, forcing myself not to gag when the stench and massive wave of heat radiating out of the residence hit me full force. After sucking in one hardy breath, I moved fast through the living room and up the staircase, immediately making a mental note that everything was clean, and nothing had appeared to be vandalized. When I reached what obviously had to be the master bedroom—the only door out of three that was open—I had to pause and will myself to breathe in through my mouth and not my nose. The stench oozing out of it had me woozy and on the verge of spewing the breakfast Spike made all over the carpet.

I stepped in, damn near falling on my knees as I took in the scene. Blaire was fully bare, drenched in blood, hanging from the ceiling fan. Insects covered her body damn near head to toe, and both windows in the room were open, a clear indication of where the bugs had come from.

“My fucking GOD!” Spike screeched, and I abruptly spun around, finding him behind me with his hands still clasped against his mouth, his eyes wide in disbelief.

“We-we have to get her down—”

“We can’t,” my broken voice rasped out, wishing we could do that exact thing. “We have to wait for the team.”

I couldn’t look at Blaire again, so I didn’t, opting to breathe in through my mouth and survey the rest of the room.

The bed was made.

Blaire was covered in blood, but yet there wasn’t any splatter along the walls or in any part of the bedroom.

She wasn’t killed here.

No. She couldn’t have been.

This was staged.

“Can we at least close the windows?” he asked.

I regretfully shook my head. “No, we can’t. We have to leave everything as is until the forensic squad gets here. You know that Spike.”

He didn’t refute because he knew I was right. Once I’d reached the master bathroom, I turned my head and found him staring at the carpet, tears snaking down his cheeks.

“This,” he started, his voice cracking. “This could’ve been Charlotte. ”

I stalked toward him and pulled him close to me, holding on tight. “We’ll find him. God damnit, I swear we’ll find him.”

He didn’t reply. He just broke away from me and ran out the door. I didn’t bother stopping or trying to call him back, because I knew it was pointless.

I knew exactly where he was going.

Straight into Charlotte’s arms.