Page 69 of Fatal Attraction

Phoenix

“No fucking way,” Karl exclaimed in the backseat, his eyes bugging wider as they scanned over one of the pages in the case file. “Whoever framed me is the same man who fathered Blaire’s baby?”

“That would be correct, Karl.”

I sighed my frustration and steered my attention to my phone in my lap, rubbing my temples and wishing I’d taken the Ibuprofen bottle with me. It was bad enough we were stuck with this shit-stain, but now I had Crow and his bullshit to deal with too.

Crow: Change of plans. Leo says the shipment has been moved up.

I blew out a shaky breath and typed in my reply.

When?

Crow: Tonight.

“But this doesn’t make any sense,” Karl carried on. “There’s nothing in her phone records or bank statements showing she was having an affair with this guy.”

“We think Blaire may have had a second phone,” Spike said as he continued to drive, activating the blinker. “She and Carter were on the same phone plan and shared the bank account.”

I ground my teeth and sent the next message.

Time and location?

“I’m not seeing any major withdrawals either.” He shut up long enough to flip through a few more pages. “Matter of fact… Did anyone bother to check if Blaire may have had a second bank account?”

“We did,” Spike answered when Crow’s reply came in. “Why do you ask?”

Crow: You’ll know when I know.

“Aside from Carter’s Army checks, Blaire’s paychecks haven’t been deposited for the last five months.”

Spike slammed on the brakes, sending my phone flying out of my lap and onto the floorboard as my body lunged forward, causing me to smack my head hard against the dash.

Jesus fucking Christ that hurt!

“Let me see that,” my partner demanded, ignoring my groan as he unbuckled his seatbelt and twisted around to grab the file.

It fell silent as I rubbed my poor, aching head while Spike pilfered through the evidence.

“He’s right, Phoenix.”

“Which means if Blaire didn’t have a second bank account,” Karl continued, “then she’d switched to receiving a check. She could’ve used anybank or check-cashing spot and had all of her money distributed in cash. It would explain the second phone and why there’s no evidence of the affair.”

“You know what.” Spike eyed Karl with his lips slightly pursed. “I may despise you, but it turns out you might be useful after all.”

Spike got out of the car, taking the file with him. As Karl followed, my brows crumpled in confusion as I gazed out the windshield, blinking dumbly at the precinct. Maybe it was the hangover affecting my thought-process, but I could’ve sworn we were going to the sanctum to speak with Felix.

“Hey,” boomed Spike’s muffled voice as he knocked three times against the driver’s side window, ducking his head to look at me with the file tucked securely under his right armpit. “Come on, man. We need to fill Cap in and get Felix’s address.”

I scowled, feeling like a fucking idiot.Of course, that’s why he’d brought us here. Between fretting over Charlotte and my eagerness to get to Felix, I hadn’t taken the time to consider that our acquaintance with him never extended outside the sanctum. We’d need his actual address just in case Felix wasn’t there when we dropped by. I really had to take it easy with the drinking. It was screwing up my mojo and worst of all, my sanity.

I told Spike I was coming and then leaned down to fetch my phone, frowning at the display which still had Crow’s message on it. I had to tell Spike about it, that shit was going down tonight, but with Karl hovering over us, wires were getting crossed, and I couldn’t dare let this information slip out to the wrong people.

Fuck, this was a mess.

My feet met the pavement, and after gingerly shutting the door, I burst into a light jog, catching up to them in a matter of seconds. Right away I’d noticed something that looked a lot like fear blossoming across Karl’s face the closer we reached the building.

“They don’t know you left WITSEC… Do they?” I asked him.

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