Page 13 of Fatal Attraction

“We won’t know until the lab reaches out. It’ll be a few days before the results are in but we’re trying to remain optimistic.”

“I… I just can’t believe she was pregnant.” I leaned back and rubbed the heels of my palms against my eyes and blew out a hoarse breath. “Blaire never told me she was seeing anyone outside of Carter.”

Just thinking about it made my heartache worsen. Carter and Blaire had been married just over six years, and although I really didn’t know much about their relationship, what I did know was that Carter was gone all the time, shipped off from one deployment after another. I couldn’t exactly recall his MOS—Blaire never really talked about Carter’s job with me—but if it required having to stay gone all the damn time, then yeah, I suppose it made sense why she’d fallen into another lover’s arms. That still didn’t make it right though, and I frankly couldn’t believe she hadn’t told me about the affair.

Then again,I thought quickly.Why would she?

After what Karl did to me, Blaire knew exactly how I’d have reacted.

“Yeah, well, that’s the least of our problems at the moment,” said Spike.

“What do you mean?”

“We spent hours going through Blaire’s calls, texts, and bank statements. There’s nothing. No evidence of the affair or anything that validates she’d been talking to someone.”

“Which leads us to believe Blaire may have had another phone,” muttered Phoenix.

“You mean like a burner?” I asked dumbly. Obviously, it had to be a burner. What else could it have been?

Phoenix nodded, his frown deepening. “Problem is, the CSU never found any additional devices in the house, just the one in her purse.”

“It’s just a theory,” Spike quickly pitched in. “Without proof, we have no real way of knowing if she did, but it’s the best guess we could think of that would explain why Blaire was so careful with hiding the affair.”

“Well, what did Harley have to say about it?” I asked.

Spike angrily scoffed and shook his head. “It’s like Phoenix said, with Blaire popping up pregnant, Harley, Cap, and Chief are convinced this is a separate case with an entirely different perp.”

“They think the father of the baby killed her,” I muttered, my eyes widening once I realized they may have been right about Blaire and the phone thing.

The more I thought about it, the more it began making sense. If Blaire had a second phone, then it was possible her new lover had gotten it for her. Hell, he very well could have murdered Blaire and had taken the phone with him to cover his tracks.

But the baby…

My heart sank, hating myself for even considering it.

This guy wouldn’t have murdered Blaire because she was pregnant…

Would he?

“Yes,” Spike answered. “Unless proven otherwise, that is their beliefs.”

“What bugs me is the scene.” Phoenix took another swig of booze before he leaned over and passed the bottle back to Spike. “It was too clean. Blaire was covered in blood, and yet there was no splatter or droplets found anywhere throughout the whole house.”

“And since there were no signs of a break-in,” added Spike.

“Then that means Blaire was killed somewhere else,” I finished. “And the guy had access to her house. But then again, he did have Blaire, so that would also mean he had access to her keys.”

I paused then, cursing heavily as I rushed to my feet, my eyes wide.

“Carter!Oh, fuck. What time is it? He’s on a plane back home and his flight shouldbe—”

“Spike and I are picking him up from the airport. His plane lands in two hours.”

“Then I’m coming with you. If anyone should break the news to him, it should be me.”

“Charlotte, you can’t. Harley will—”

“Donotfucking argue with me, Phoenix. Like it or not, I’m coming. I don’t give a flying fuck what Harley has to say about it.”

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