Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

14. Fourteen

Fourteen

Spike

W hen we arrived at the precinct after lunch, we were greeted again by Captain Burgess, who instructed us to head to the conference room, stating we had to go over what he, Chief, Harley, and Kendall found while we were gone. Phoenix began mentioning the tip we received from Felix, just to get shut down as Cap told us whatever it was would have to wait. Phoenix was still high and mighty on the Peter train and wanted answers, and although I wasn’t one hundred percent in agreement, there was a small chance Phoenix may have been right. He made plenty of reasonable points about our perp—and yes, I did agree Peter fit the part. But when it came down to the facts, there was one crucial thing I’d learned since I became a cop. It wasn’t common for the guilty to willingly submit their DNA in any case, especially if they knew it would connect them to other crimes they committed in the past.

It turned out I was right.

When Kendall gave us the news that Peter’s DNA didn’t match with the fetus or in Delilah or Amber’s cases, Phoenix was left stunned, and I knew just from the look in his eyes he was offensive. Then to make matters worse, Cap and Chief had tackled all of Blaire’s financials dated four months back, while Harley worked on Blaire’s calls and texts. They double checked. Fucking triple checked. Hell, Cap and Chief had gone to all of the cafes and coffee shops listed on Blaire’s bank statements, and all of the employees who knew Blaire claimed she always came in alone and never recalled seeing her meet with anyone. Harley checked for calls Blaire may have made to nearby clinics, hospitals, etcetera, praying Blaire knew she was pregnant and was seeing a doctor, and there was nothing.

Absolutely fucking nothing to help us find this bastard.

“And you’re without a speckle of doubt certain Peter isn’t our guy?” Phoenix challenged, still clearly in denial.

“I’m sorry, Phoenix,” Kendall replied, expelling a long breath as she fetched some documents from a manila folder. “I ran the DNA three times and checked into his financials for purchases at all of the local flower shops like you suggested. There’s nothing there.”

“That’s bullshit,” he hollered. “It has to be him. Wh-what about his phone records?”

“DNA doesn’t lie,” I reminded Phoenix, which had him baring his teeth at me out of anger. “There’s no need for us to look any further.”

“Have either of you heard from Charlotte since this morning?” asked Harley.

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “As far as we know, she’s with Carter.” I hated that I couldn’t stay with her after the funeral, and to be really fucking frank, I wasn’t very smitten over Charlotte being alone with Carter, not after learning about his constant battles with PTSD. He was a combat soldier though, and I trust Carter’s time in the Army had unmistakably blessed him with a unique set of survival skills far better than what Phoenix and I had acquired throughout our years as cops. It fucking sucked, but I loved Charlotte, and she needed protection. If there was anyone I trusted to keep her safe when we weren’t around, it was Carter.

“We think it may be time to bring her back in,” said Captain Burgess.

“What do you mean?”

“Charlotte is the key to finding this guy,” Chief finally spoke, his eyes tracing over Amber, Delilah, and Blaire’s picture taped to the board. “We’re running out of options and like it or not, we need her help. ”

“We have to find some way to draw this guy out,” said Kendall, who sighed as she crossed her arms tightly against her chest. “Piss him off enough to where he’s left with only two options.”

“What are the options?” I wondered, genuinely curious about where she was going with this.

“It’s simple, really. Option one: he takes a shot at one of you,” she said, pointing between Phoenix and me. “Or option two: he goes after the one thing he truly desires, which would be Charlotte.”

“You want us to use ourselves as bait?” my partner questioned.

“I’m not fond of the idea either,” Cap said with a sad shake of his head. “But it’s like Chief said—we’re running out of options. It may be the best shot we have at catching this son of a bitch.”

Phoenix tensed beside me, shoulders stiff and coiled, but neither of us dared to refute because deep down, I think we both knew this had to happen. It made me think back to the conversation Phoenix and I had the other day, and it was then I’d come to realize Phoenix had to have been right about the perp knowing who we really are behind our masks. In order to get to Charlotte, he had to go through us first, and albeit this fucker had yet to make a move against us, it didn’t imply he wouldn’t eventually try something .

“We’ll do it. But we have to talk to Charlotte. She has to agree or else this isn’t going to work.”

“Do whatever you have to do to convince her,” said Chief, his eyes still glued to the board, scanning over the case notes. “Just get it done. Soon .”

Harley insisted she walk us out, and I knew by the way her dark eyes sharply snapped toward the door that there was something she needed to speak with us about and had preferred to do it privately.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked when she shut the door and guided us down the hall, halting midway and gaping between us.

“We don’t have a choice,” Phoenix exclaimed before I could get a word out. “They’re right. This may be the only way. ”

“I didn’t want to bring this up in front of the others, but Ben called me. He told me Charlotte came to see him after the funeral and was asking questions about the death threats. And Ben, knowing absolutely nothing about Charlotte’s suspension, gave her the name and address of Kate’s younger sister, Angel Seigler. You two,” she angrily bit out, “told me you were unable to check into the threats due to being behind. You never mentioned anything about Charlotte pursuing this lead herself.”

“We’re sorry, Harley,” said Phoenix. “We didn’t know she was going to speak with Ben.”

“Oh?” she snipped with a crude smirk. “But I bet you knew she was still working the cases regardless of her suspension.”

“Yes,” I freely admitted, not caring how much it pissed her off. “We knew, and the only reason we kept quiet is because she asked us to. For Charlotte, this is personal. She wanted to know if Karl was blowing smoke up her ass. Surely, you can understand that.”

“Of course I do. I’m not heartless, Detective Hutch. But what you’re failing to understand is that with her being Karl’s ex-wife, her involvement alone is a huge conflict of interest, which is precisely why I had to suspend her in the first place. Any physical evidence she may acquire from this point on will be considered inadmissible in court.”

Oh, fuck.

Harley was right. That was a damning fact I couldn’t fucking believe we’d disregarded.

“Does Charlotte know that?”

“She does,” Harley declared with a serious one and done nod. “Or at least, she should . Charlotte’s always been one of my favorites, and between the three of us, before all of this shit happened, I was making the preparations to promote her as my new ADA. I understand she wants to help, but she’s doing more harm than good, Detectives. At this point, the only thing that’ll save Karl is if the jury finds him innocent. The death threats won’t matter. ”

“Why not?” Phoenix asked at the same time I spoke, “But what if Angel does have proof?”

“What I mean,” she said, responding to my partner’s question first, “is that either way, it still won’t be enough to free Karl, not with the evidence stacked against him.” To me, she stated, “ If Angel has proof, then hopefully Charlotte was smart enough to convince her to come forward and speak with Ben. The problem, however, is that Kate died almost a year ago, and we have nothing concrete that connects Karl and Kate’s relationship, or her death with our other cases. Plus, Kate’s death wasn’t documented as a homicide.”

“It’s considered irrelevant,” Phoenix murmured, cursing as he scrubbed his hands down his face. “Which means Angel doesn’t have to come forward if she doesn’t want to.”

Harley did not hesitate to nod. “That would be correct, Detective Rhodes. Now, I’m not saying Angel’s testimony won’t help, because it will. Depending on what she knows and what proof she may or may not have in her possession, Ben can use it to help sway the jury. But it has to be Angel’s choice and it has to come from her mouth only . She cannot be forced into it.”

Great.

Just fucking GREAT.

“I expect you’ll want a full update once we’ve spoken with Charlotte?”

Harley smirked, her brows pinched tight. “You seriously had to ask?”

“We’ll be seeing her soon,” Phoenix promised. “As soon as we know, you’ll know.”

Harley thanked us and strode back to the conference room. As we turned and headed for the elevators, Phoenix asked if going down to Narcotics and speaking with Gibbs and Hammett was even worth the damn hassle now that Peter had been cleared .

“Oh, we’re talking to them. Just because Peter isn’t our guy doesn’t mean a damn thing. It just means there’s more pieces to the puzzle we need to gather.”

He nodded, his throat bobbing. “I… I don’t want to do this, Spike. I’d be fine if it was just us, but I don’t want to use Charlotte as bait.”

“Neither do I, bud.” I swallowed hard, unsure how the hell we were going to pull this off. “Neither do I.”