Page 4 of Fatal Attraction

And it also didn’t help that he was my girlfriend’s ex-husband.

“However,” Harley continued, ensuring to keep eye contact as she gaped between us. “Given the bull mask and Delilah’s mask were found in his apartment,myboss wants me to move forward with pressing charges for both rapes. The lab found hair follicles on both masks and the DNA came back early this morning. They belong to both Karl and Delilah Fields.”

“What?” Phoenix asked, blinking at her in troublesome disbelief. “How can you charge him with both rapes? Karl didn’t rape Delilah, and you just said it yourself that—”

“I know what I said, Detective Rhodes, but given what the evidence says, what do you suppose I do? I can agree that itlookslike Karl is being framed, but at the same time, we all know how misleading evidence can be. As it stands, the evidence points to two perps, Karl, and an unknown male. Now, this can go one out of two ways. Either Karl really is innocent, or he acted as an accomplice. If you two truly believe he’s being framed, then I’m going to need more proof than phone and GPS records. Ineedyou to bring in the second perp.”

My mouth opened, just to quickly snap shut once I’d realized the horrible mistake I was about to make. I’d almost slipped and told her about what Karl revealed to Charlotte. About the death threats he and his mistress hadbeen receiving. Charlotte had asked us to keep it quiet until she could do some more digging and discover whether Karl’s outcry was credible. Once Charlotte was done visiting Karl, I’d imagine that was the next step on her to-do list.

“Did you want to say something, Detective Hutch?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head. “I’m good.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find the guy, Harley,” said Phoenix. “How much time do we have?”

“Not much,” she answered honestly. “My boss wants me to take this to trial, but out of respect for Charlotte, I’m going to try and offer Karl a plea deal. I don’t want to put her through that embarrassment but if Karl refuses the deal, then I won’t have a choice. I can try to buy you boys some time—a week, possibly two—but that’s the best I can do.”

“Thank you, Harley.” Phoenix rose to his feet and extended his hand. Harley got up and graciously returned the gesture by shaking his hand. “We appreciate it.”

Three

Charlotte

Iwaited impatiently at the table, my leg bouncing. I’d been sitting in this room surrounded by convicts for the last ten minutes and the longer I was forced to wait, the more worried I’d become.

Please, God, let Karl be okay.

At the sound of a buzzer, I looked up, and with a sigh of relief, jumped to my feet, scowling at the guard when he hastily reminded me that physical contact wasn’t allowed.

“I’m surprised you came back.” Karl sat down, smiling hopefully at me. He still looked like shit, but it appeared as if the nurses at the infirmary had been taking great care of his wounds. His busted lip was starting to scab, and some of the bruises on his face were yellowing. “Did you talk to Kate’s parents?”

“Not yet, no,” I replied. “That’s actually why I’m here. I can’t exactly talk to them when I don’t know their names or where they live.”

“Grace Seigler is her mom and Frank is her dad.”

I pulled the pad and pen I’d brought with me from my purse and jotted the names down as Karl blurted out the address. Once I had what I needed, I put the pad away and gingerly rose to my feet.

“Wait.” Karl’s brows crumpled. “You’re leaving?”

“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”

Karl frowned and shook his head. “No. I guess not.”

“Then yes, I’m leaving. You said you needed my help, and I can’t do that by sitting in here.”

My phone started ringing then, and I sighed as I quickly fished it out of my purse, gawking down at it in confusion. It was a number I didn’t recognize, so I opted not to answer it and just dropped the device back in my bag.

“I’ll be back whenever I have more info. Have you talked to Ben?”

“I saw him yesterday. He said he’d be dropping back in today to let me know the DNA results on the masks they found in my apartment.”

“It’ll be okay, Karl.” I turned away from him, trying not to get emotional as tears began filling his battered eyes. “I’m going to do everything I can to help you. I promise.”

I told the guard I was ready to leave and when he escorted me out, I’d barely made it to the exit when my ringtone began echoing through the building.

It wasn’t until I was out the door when I’d retrieved it and was glaring dumbfoundedly at the unknown number.

“Uh, hello?”

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