Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

24. Twenty Four

Twenty Four

Spike

T his was fucking BULLSHIT.

Nobody, not the two detectives in the lounge; Kendall, who had been posted outside the Red Room checking tickets, and not even Captain and Chief, who’d been guarding the back door, had anything valuable to report.

And to make matters worse, Felix failed to do the one main job we’d given him tonight, which was to have each member who’d purchased a ticket sign their names on a separate sign-in sheet.

“YOU HAD ONE JOB,” I hollered, so enraged my entire body shook from how unstably hard I was tussling to restrain myself from snatching his ass up and ripping his head clean off his shoulders. “One fucking job, Felix!”

“I’m sorry,” he pathetically grumbled as he shriveled down in his office chair, scraping his hands down his face. “This is the busiest the club has been in weeks. I… I got distracted and—”

A poisonous growl tore from my throat. Phoenix cursed and luckily for Felix, successfully tugged me away before my fist could make contact with his ugly as fuck face.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!” My chest brutally heaved the longer I glowered at Felix, whose crestfallen gaze was rooted to the floor. “We were counting on you! This was the best and only shot we had at finding this fucker!”

I wanted to kill him .

No—scratch that, I was going to kill him.

But as I broke away from Phoenix, ready to pummel Felix into a bloody puddle, Captain Burgess’ gruff voice demanding me to calm the fuck down, sang through my ears. I bristled, and as I slowly spun on my heels, the threat of suspension or worse, termination was written all along every wrinkled crevasse on his face, so I backed off, ignoring Phoenix when he commanded me to go outside and get some air.

“I really am sorry.” Felix lifted his head, his teary eyes darting between the three of us. “I didn’t mean to ruin the investigation. I just—” He paused and gushed out a broken sigh, his shoulders slumping low in defeat. “Nothing I can say will fix this. I don’t expect nor do I deserve your forgiveness.”

“We’ll need the security feed,” said Phoenix. “Are you willing to comply, or are you going to be a pain in the ass and force us to get a warrant?”

“Take whatever you need,” he hoarsely whispered. “I won’t fight you over it.”

“Good,” said Captain Burgess. “We’ll need everything from the time the sanctum opened and after the show ended.”

Felix sadly nodded and then spun around in his chair, facing his computer desk. “It’ll take some time.”

“How long?”

“An hour.”

“Fine,” Cap nodded. “Just get it done.” To my partner and I, he said, “Check in with Charlotte and Carter. Make sure they made it back safely. Go home after that. Just in case tonight isn’t a complete bust, multiple units have been assigned to keep watch over the four of you. If the bastard tries anything, we’ll get ‘em.”

“Heard, Cap,” Phoenix said before I could dare get a word out. “What will you do?”

“I’ll stay here and make sure Felix cooperates. Kendall, Chief, and the other detectives have gone home for the evening. We’ll start pilfering through the footage tomorrow morning. Get some rest and be at the precinct by 9am sharp.”

Charlotte wouldn’t answer the phone. This was my fourth time trying to reach her since we left ten minutes ago, and she should’ve called back by now.

Maybe she fell asleep?

No, she couldn’t have. She left the sanctum barely an hour ago and knew we’d be dropping by.

Unless she was in the shower?

Yeah. That had to be it. She was probably shampooing her hair and washing away all traces of the hot and wild sex we just had.

“She’s probably in the shower,” Phoenix said thoughtfully, having somehow read my mind. “Do you have Carter’s number?”

“Yeah,” I quickly answered, feeling like an idiot for not remembering that sooner. “I’ll call and tell him we’re on the way.”

I waited and waited and then waited some more, but like with Charlotte, Carter wouldn’t answer. My brows furrowed when I tried a second and third time just for the line to instantly dispatch to his voicemail.

“Cap didn’t mention which officers were patrolling Charlotte’s house, did he?”

Phoenix shook his head, his eyes padlocked on the road. “He didn’t. Why? Is Carter not answering?”

“No, he isn’t. Which is weird because Carter left before the rest of us did.”

A look that matched the tightness in my chest crossed my best friends’ face. Peering away from the road long enough to retrieve his phone out of the small console below the dash, he tapped a few buttons and placed the device to his ear.

“Who are you calling?”

“Captain Burgess.”

Phoenix put the device on speakerphone, sharing my sigh of relief when Cap’s voice greeted us after the third ring. Phoenix explained the situation, and after requesting Cap reach out to our coworkers and have them check in on Charlotte and Carter, he agreed, telling us to sit tight for a minute or two.

About five minutes passed by before he called back and urgently informed us that neither officer were answering their phones.

“Call Chief and Harley and get the team out to Charlotte’s house NOW!” Phoenix hung up and then activated the hazards, his grip tightening knuckle white against the wheel. He stomped the gas and as he flew straight through a red light, my heart dropped like a stone in my stomach at the SUV speeding across the intersection. We’d crash if Phoenix nor the other driver didn’t swerve out of the way and fast.

“PHOENIX!” I dropped the phone in my lap and grabbed the Oh Shit handle with both hands, bracing for impact.

But by the grace of a fucking miracle, Phoenix slung the wheel hard and managed to dodge T-boning the other car. The tires violently screeched against the pavement as the vehicle spun in an ugly circle behind us.

Jesus, fuck, that was close!

“My gun is in the glove compartment. There should be some ammo in there too. Check my rounds and top off the clip. Same with yours if you need it.”

He slammed the pedal so hard the engine frantically roared in response.

“ Phoenix —”

“Something is wrong , Spike.” His green eyes darkened when they fastened on me. “Tell me you don’t feel the same. ”

Of course, I fucking felt the same. The prospect had been eating me alive ever since Carter failed to answer the phone. We would’ve heard something by now if that weren’t the case. But we also wouldn’t be any use to anybody if Phoenix fucked around and got us killed before we could ever get there.

“I agree with—” The rest of my retort was silenced by his phone ringing. It was Captain Burgess again.

“How far?” he asked, panting hard like he was in the middle of running a marathon.

“Less than ten minutes,” Phoenix replied.

“Chief is on the way, so is Harley and Kendall. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Officer Brown and Stewart still aren’t answering their phones.”

Phoenix flashed me a look, and as much as I didn’t approve for the sake of our lives, I nodded, knowing exactly what was at stake if he didn’t do it.

“Fucking stomp on it.”

“CHARLOTTE,” I screamed, stumbling back when I found every inch of her living room obliterated. “Oh GOD!”

Phoenix and I found Officer Brown and Stewart minutes ago. They were parked across the street, both suffering gunshot wounds. Stewart was dead, but thankfully Officer Brown had survived, for now, anyway. The paramedics were on their way and Phoenix had stayed behind to help keep pressure against Officer Brown’s wound.

I raced inside the house and ran through the mess until I reached the kitchen where I’d spotted Charlotte’s purse on the island. Her phone was beside it and on the display were all of my missed calls, plus three more from Harley.

Fuck.

“ Charlotte! ”

I bolted, kicking shit out of my way until I was racing up the staircase, tripping over my feet and landing hard on my forehead once I’d reached the top, the impact knocking the wind out of me.

“Fuck,” I wheezed as I struggled to get up, the pain so intense it was all I could do to suck in a decent breath. I eventually picked my feet up and got my arms level, pushing myself until I was standing. It still hurt like fucking hell to breathe, but I had to keep going. I had to get to Charlotte.

Her bedroom was a few feet away, and I tried calling her name again, falling to my knees when I crossed the threshold and found Carter instead, unconscious and in the middle of the carpet, saturated in blood. More of it stained the carpet in a thick puddle, and tears burned my eyes as I forced my limbs to move. A moment later I was hovering over him, checking his pulse.

My eyes widened as I felt faint little thumps beating weakly against my fingertips.

“ Carter!” I frantically shook him and wiped away the blood from his face, gently slapping his cheeks. “Wake up. Come on, man, please wake up. ”

It was no use though. No matter how hard I shook him or wailed his name, he wouldn’t open his eyes.

“Don’t you fucking dare die on me!” I pressed my forehead against his, chest heaving as I rushed to fish my phone from my pocket, dialing 911. “This is Detective Spike Hutcheson.” I fired off my badge number and location. “I need additional paramedics and all available units ASAP. We have a civilian in critical condition and a potential…” My voice cracked as I fumbled getting the last words out.

“Sir? Are you still there?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and said, “We have a potential kidnapping on our hands. Charlotte Greene. Age 33. Dark brown hair, blue eyes, and approximately five-foot-four. She works for Harley Ford. Her information and picture should already be in the system. ”

I didn’t want to leave Carter’s side, but my job wasn’t done yet. I still had to clear the rest of the house, and the dread of knowing we’d gotten here far too late imbedded itself deep in my gut as I checked room after room, a frightened sob slipping past my lips.