Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

31. Thirty One

Thirty One

Charlotte

“ P eter,” I rasped, my voice insanely weak and my breathing ragged. “Please wake up.” He was tied down in the chair beside me, still KO’d thanks to Perry hitting him with my gun. “Peter!”

He jumped then, swearing loudly as he shook his head, groaning. He tried moving his arms, but they were pinned against the back of the chair, same with his legs.

“You-you’re pale,” he whispered, tears dotting over his eyes as they swept over all the blood drenched into my borrowed T-shirt. He lost it then, wailing Perry’s name at the top of his goddamn lungs.

“He’s not here,” I whispered, my head falling to rest against my forearm. “I don’t know where he went.” My eyes fluttered shut for a moment, but Peter screaming at me to stay awake had me widening them as much as I could. “Peter… I’m sorry. I—”

“Don’t you fucking dare do that,” he hissed, using his body weight to scoot the chair as close to me as possible, halting his movement once he reached the bed. “This is not goodbye. I know you’re tired, but you have to stay up. Talk to me.”

I weakly nodded. “How did you find me?”

“It was the detectives,” he said softly but sourly. “Felix is missing. Today is the anniversary of his sister’s death and we made plans to get flowers and go out to her grave.”

“Perry… He-he did something to him. ”

“I know,” he fired back at me, wincing as he apologized for getting snippy. “I know he did.” He paused, swallowing hard as he stared helplessly at me. “Carter woke up last night. Both Detectives’ Hutch and Rhodes showed up at the precinct when I was filing a Missing Person report on Felix.” He froze again and then leaned in as close as he could, speaking, “Karl was with them,” in a soft whisper.

Maybe it was the blood loss and the dizziness in my head affecting me, but I couldn’t have heard him correctly. “What did you just say?”

“Karl was there,” he repeated sternly. “He left WITSEC.”

“Wh-what happened? Why did he leave?” My heart hammered harder as I cut my sight over to the closed door. “Does Perry know?”

Peter tried lifting his shoulders and failed. “He claims the agents in charge of him haven’t checked on him in days. As far as my cousin is concerned, I frankly don’t know.”

I nodded to that, albeit that still didn’t answer my question, and I said so.

Peter sighed. “I don’t have the full story, but I guess when Carter woke up from the coma, he remembered what happened the night you were taken. Detective Rhodes and Hutch said your perp was wearing an antlered deer mask smothered in gold. I figured it out almost immediately.”

“Then why aren’t they with you?” I challenged, my chest hurting from how hard I was struggling to catch my breath. “Did you tell them it was Perry?”

“I… I tried.” Tears fell down his face. “I tried, but Captain Burgess shut me down.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, his words not making a lick of fucking sense. “Is the Captain involved too?”

“God, no,” he gasped, shaking his head.

“Peter…” My breath fell short, and it was becoming harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I fought the urge to close them because I needed to know the truth. “What happened? ”

“Before Perry transferred to Harley’s firm a few years ago, he’d worked with me and Detective Gibbs and Hammet in Narcotics. Perry used to do drugs but had been clean for years. He was doing so good and then suddenly, he got busted in an undercover operation. For months now there have been some hardcore drugs making its way into the Pines. Gibbs and Hammett busted Perry for purchasing weed and pills from this thug who called himself Rio. When that happened, Perry was drug tested. He came back clean and the drugs he’d bought were confiscated. I pulled some strings with our boss and instead of firing him, I recommended Perry be transferred to another firm outside of Narcotics, so he wouldn’t be tempted like that again.”

Even though there was more than the information that had my head spinning, it was all starting to make sense.

That’s how Perry had gotten ahold of the Rohypnol. He had connections with street thugs. “But why did Captain Burgess forbid you from speaking about it?” I tiredly rasped.

“Because everything Narcotics has going is considered Classified. Unless Gibbs, Hammett, or Captain Keeton says it’s okay, we are forbidden to speak about it with anyone . Our grandparents… When they died, they left a bunch of stuff to me and Perry in their will. They gave me all of their old expensive heirlooms and antiques but had gifted Perry with this valueless trunk filled with all sorts of old costumes and masks from their youth. Perry and I went through everything together, and I remember seeing a golden deer mask amongst the pile.”

“So why didn’t you just pull one of them to the side after the fact and tell them?” I had to ask.

His lips trembled, more tears spilling down his cheeks. “I’ve been so scared, so worried about you and fearing the worst.”

“Peter,” I blandly hissed.

“I wanted to be the one to save you. I wanted to be your knight in shining armor. Not them. That’s why I kept my mouth shut. I… I thought I could save you. I wanted you to love me like you do them. I know it’s a shitty excuse but—”

His words faltered at my whimper, and my eyes fluttered.

“Charlotte?” The legs on the chair tittered as he fought against the binds. “Open your eyes!”

“Pe-Peter,” I murmured, the world around me falling into black. “I-I need help… I need…”

“CHARLOTTE!”