Fatal Attraction (Love Kills Duet #2)

34. Thirty Four

Thirty Four

Phoenix

I rushed inside the hospital, flashing the nurse my badge at the front desk, demanding Felix’s room number.

Right away, the pretty brunette got up and scanned her ID against the black box outside the double doors. As they opened, I rushed inside, hollering, “Thank you,” as I dashed down to room C7. I found Spike already there and waiting outside on the bench beside the door, his leg anxiously bouncing.

Chief was nowhere in sight.

“Is he okay?” I asked, which had Spike’s head jerking up and his emerald eyes locking with mine.

“I-I don’t know,” he said as he rose to his feet, hugging me as he sniffled. “Doc and nurses have been in there with him since we got here about ten minutes ago.” He paused, pulling away with tears sliding down his cheeks. “He died on me, Phoenix. He-he stopped breathing. I had to give him CPR to bring him back. I…” He swallowed, his throat bobbing. “I don’t know if it was enough.”

“Did he say anything? Anything at all?”

He nodded. “Percious. I don’t know what it means.”

“Percious?” I repeated, my brows crumpled. “That has to be a person, right?”

Spike shrugged before reaching up to wipe under his eyes. “I-I don’t know, Phoenix. I—” His words faltered as my phone began ringing, and I annoyingly scowled down at the display, rolling my eyes in utter frustration as I brought the device to my ear.

“Who is it?” Spike whispered.

Crow, I mouthed out, which made Spike widen his eyes, his mouth dropping.

“Yeah?”

“I have the time and location.”

I raised two fingers at Spike, urging him forward. He stuck his head as close to mine as he could as I asked, “When?”

“Sunset. Meet us at Daggers. We’ll have a bike and jacket for you and Spike.”

“The plan?” Spike asked thickly.

“Ah, Spike.” Crow’s grin was heard in his tone. “I figured you were listening in.” He let out a deep laugh and I could literally imagine him shaking his head over the phone. “You’ll get all of the dirty details tonight. I can’t take the risk of exposing my plans just for the two of you to go behind my back and arrest me after the fact.”

“Crow,” I growled.

“Tootles.” He hung up.

“I really don’t like him,” Spike muttered under his breath.

“Welcome to the fucking club.”

An ear-ringing alarm wailed throughout the hospital then, and a females’ voice declaring a CODE BLUE blared through the intercom. My heart jumped to my throat when the words, “ROOM C7,” came next, and I instantly swiveled, tears rushing to my eyes as a group of doctors and nurses began rushing past us and inside Felix’s room.

“WAIT,” Spike shouted, grabbing ahold of a random doctor. “WHAT’S GOING ON?”

“There’s no time,” the dark-haired man urgently replied, tugging his arm away. “Just wait out here and you’ll know something soon. ”

“Come on,” I said as I grabbed his arm and tugged him away from the door. Spike fought against me, adamant on entering the room. “There’s nothing we can do, Spike. Let’s go check on Carter while we wait. As much as it hurts, they won’t let us in there. We have to let them do their jobs.”

“They have to save him,” he rasped, tears still falling down his face. “They have to. We-we need him to help us find Charlotte!”

“I know that Spike, but we’re not healthcare professionals. We have to let them do their jobs.”

“I was so mean to him, Phoenix, so atrocious and hateful. I have to apologize to him. To tell him that I forgive him for what happened between us all those months ago.”

“You will,” I said with what I’d hoped wasn’t a false promise, holding my brother tight as my heart began to swell. “You will.”

“If we lose him,” he said as he shook against me, losing it. “We lose Charlotte.”

“I know.” I held him tight, fucking praying our journey to finding Charlotte didn’t end here with Felix.

“I know.”

“You sexy sons’ of bitches,” Carter said merrily as we entered his room, finding him sitting up in bed in an ugly white gown, jubilantly shaking his body side to side with his arms outstretched wide like he hadn’t been beaten to a bloody pulp.

He winced with a grin on his unbearably bruised face.

“Did you miss me?”

“You cocky fucker,” Spike said lightly, cracking what he could of a smile as he approached Carter and offered him a gentle hug .

“Are you okay?” I asked as I swooped in, claiming my hug when they parted. Damn, it was so good to see him and hear his voice.

“Well,” he said, releasing a deep chuckle as he stared between us, his dark eyes glossy. “I’m higher than a goddamn kite right now, so yeah, I’m swell.”

“When did you wake up?” asked Spike.

He offered us a shrug, the movement making him hiss a little. “I haven’t really been keeping track of the time. All I really know is that I woke up stoned and happy.” He paused then, his lips dipping down into a slender frown. “A nurse told me she was going to fetch me some food, but she hasn’t come back yet. Everyone that comes in here acts like they’re terrified to come near me.”

I opened my mouth, then clamped it shut, keeping my lips sealed tighter than a zip-lock. Carter was awake, functional, and in a prominently good mood. It wouldn’t be wise to spoil it by telling him he’d attacked multiple people.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said after a beat of silence.

Spike and I shared a look. “You remember?” Spike asked him.

“Unfortunately, I do.”

Shit.

Well, so much for that.

“I’ve apologized countless times to the nurses and Dr. Giles. He doesn’t seem to be as iffy around me, but the nurses keep staring at me like I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster, Carter.” I gripped his hand, squeezing it. “Don’t even worry or think about any of that right now. The most important thing is that you’re alive. We’ll figure out what to do about the PTSD later.”

He nodded, but it didn’t fix the sadness flashing through his glassy gaze. “Dr. Giles filled me in on what happened. I’m so sorry. For everything.”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.”

“But it is,” he said a bit tightly, a muscle feathering along his bruised jaw. He sat up a bit straighter then and blew out a sharp, painful breath. “The perp never would’ve gotten inside the house if I hadn’t forgotten to lock the front door and set the alarm.”

“What else do you remember about that night?” I asked.

“ Everything ,” was his profound response. “Where do you want to start?”

“From the beginning,” said Spike. “What happened when you got back to Charlotte’s house?”

“I scoped the place out first thing. The outside cameras were working when I got there, and the front and back were clear. I went in, shut the door, then gathered up some fresh clothes so I could take a shower. I heard the front door open from upstairs. I assumed it was Charlotte, but when I called her name, she didn’t answer. I thought that was kind of odd, so when I went downstairs to check, the front door was wide open.”

“And then what happened?” my partner asked.

“I went to shut it, then the next thing I knew, I was tackled. It was like the fucker had magically appeared out of thin air. We fought for a while, and that bastard grabbed anything and everything he could get his hands on to knock me out. I won’t lie… To be so much shorter and smaller than me, he was remarkably strong. Anyway, he caught me off guard and bashed me in the side of my head with something metal—a picture frame, I think—and then ran upstairs to Charlotte’s bedroom. By the time I made it up there, he already had Charlotte’s gun. I ran inside the room just to be struck upside the head with it. Long story short, he tied me up, gagged me, and then beat the shit out of me until Charlotte got there and found me.”

He paused then, and bit by bit, the frown on his face morphed into a wide, proud smile.

“That’s not the best part though. He was wearing the deer mask when he showed up. When we were fighting, I managed to get a nice blow in, good enough to knock that mask straight off the fucker’s face.”

Spike and I shared a look, our lips parted .

“You-you mean—”

“That’s right,” Carter said with a fierce nod. “I know exactly what he looks like. He was at Blaire’s funeral.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

Our attention immediately snapped over to the doorway then, where we found Chief standing there looking sharp in his best suit and tie, holding what looked like a stack of photos in his hand.

Spike’s eyes tightened into a lethal glare. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I know I’m late,” he said, straightening his spine and offering us a weak smile. “I’m sorry. I had to go back to the precinct and print out all the photos I could find of everyone who attended Blaire’s funeral. It took far longer than I intended.”

“Let me see those,” Carter demanded, outstretching his hand before Chief could ever take his first step. “Please.”

Chief came forward and handed them over. It grew quiet for a long moment as Carter inspected each of them. Finally, he tapped his busted knuckles against the photo of a guy with black hair, thin cheeks, and blue eyes.

“This is him. I’m certain.”

“Damnit,” Chief muttered under his breath.

“What?” I asked. “What is it?”

“That’s Peter’s cousin. Percious Welch. Everyone who knows him calls him Perry for short.”

“Percious?” Spike and I repeated as one solid voice.

“That’s the name Felix kept repeating when I found him,” said Spike.

“What?” Carter said, his brows crumpling as he gaped between the three of us. “Did something happen to Felix?”

“Our perp was on camera speaking with him that night at the sanctum,” Spike said before I could get a word out. “They know each other and according to the footage, they seem to be close. Peter came in earlier this morning and filed a Missing Person report on Felix. I found him at the sanctum, trapped in the beer cooler. He’s here now, but they called a Code Blue on him, and we haven’t heard anything else.”

“Oh my God.” Carter stared between me and Spike before his sight settled back on Chief, who wore an unbearably sad frown on his face. “Is Felix okay?”

“Anything you need to tell us can be said in front of Carter,” Spike’s voice shook.

Chief remained quiet for far too long.

The tears were instantaneous, plummeting hard and fast down my face as I grabbed ahold of Spike as he said, “I’m sorry. He’s gone. The doctors did everything they could.”

Spike stumbled back and would’ve hit the floor if it wasn’t for me catching him.

“No…” He desperately shook his head, his voice trembling. “No!”

“It’s not your fault,” I said as my fingers firmly wrapped around Spike’s head, forcing him to look at me as he began breaking down. His emerald eyes were wide, pupils dilated and saturated in unshed tears. “It’s. Not. Your. Fault! I know what you’re thinking, but don’t do it. Fucking don’t. I need you tonight.”

“We need to get an APB out on Perry now ,” Chief commanded. “Call Kendall and have her run a full report on Percious Welch. Get his address, secondary address, everything on file ASAP. Wherever he is, is possibly where Charlotte is.”

“Wait,” I said as Spike began to move, making a choking noise and grasping his throat when I yanked him by the collar and vehemently snatched him back. “Peter told us there was something going on in Narcotics that may be related to our cases. It involved Rohypnol. But—”

“Come with me,” Chief insisted before he turned and apologized to Carter when he began demanding an explanation. “This is Classified and cannot be spoken in the presence of a civilian.”

“Seriously?” Carter complained .

“For now,” Chief said sadly as he turned back to him. “Yes. I’m sorry, but—”

“Do whatever you have to do,” he proclaimed with a frustrated sigh, lying back in bed. “I’ll be here.”

Carter was so disappointed, aggravated, but I told him we’d be back soon and then followed behind my partner and boss, walking a quarter way down the hall before Chief spun around and said, “I’m aware you two spoke with Gibbs and Hammett before things had gotten this far out of control, and before either of you say anything, I dropped by Narcotics and had a lovely little chat with Captain Keeton. That’s why it took me so long getting back here.”

“What did he say?” I asked.

Chief nodded down to Percious Welch’s picture. “Gibbs and Hammett have been working undercover for quite some time now investigating all of the illegal street drugs that’s been making its way through the Pines.”

“Okay?” Spike tiffed. “What does that have to do with Percious Welch?”

“A little over two years ago, Percious was one of the lawyers working alongside Peter in those investigations. Apparently, Percious had a bad history with drugs but had been clean for quite some time, that was until Gibbs and Hammett busted him for buying drugs from a street thug named Rio Sanchez, the same man who was responsible for Fiona McMann’s death.”

Spike and I shared a surprised look, our brows raised high up to our hairlines.

“This was before he was transferred to Harley’s firm though,” Chief continued. “Peter pulled some strings to get Percious away from Narcotics and had convinced Harley to hire him. That information alone and given that both Amber and Daniel Strickland were drugged with Rohypnol is all we need to arrest Percious. But first, we have to find—”

His words were cut off by his cell ringing, and he sighed, rolling his eyes when he glanced down at the display .

“What is it? I’m talking to Spike and—Are you fucking serious?—Oh my God!” Chief glanced between us then, his eyes widening in both relief and horror. “We’ll be right there.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked when he hung up and demanded we follow him, refusing to breathe another word about it.

“Chief,” Spike growled. “What the fuck is going on?”

“It’s Charlotte,” he snapped, cursing as he burst into a jog, insisting we follow. “She’s here!”

He ran faster toward the doors.

“SHE’S BEEN SHOT!”