Page 9 of Fatal Attraction

“We believe you,” said the captain. “However, we’re going to need you to come down to the lab and submit a DNA test. Same with Peter. We’ll need his statement too.”

I started to ask why, then briefly clamped my mouth shut once the answer had all but struck me in the face, making my breath shudder as my chest squeezed excruciatingly tight. We still didn’t have all the facts. Blaire’s time of death and the cause hadn’t been determined yet. Until it was, and until Spike and Phoenix could dig deeper into the investigation, it was possible Peter and I were the last ones to see and speak with Blaire.

Oh my God…

Did we just become suspects in Blaire’s murder?

“I-I understand, Chief. I’ll phone Peter right now and have him meet us at the precinct.”

Six

Spike

Itore my gaze away from Blaire’s corpse, unable to watch as the small group of CSIs worked together to cut her down from the ceiling fan, coughing through their masks and desperately trying not to blow chunks all over the place. The coroner, Dr. Rayford, who stood beside Harley near one of the open windows and was clenching his own mask tighter over his nose and mouth, demanded in a muffled voice for them to begin gathering as many bugs as they could inside evidence jars.

“And would someonepleasecut off the god-forsaken heat,” Harley shouted, her eyes falling onto me and Phoenix. “It’s a fucking oven in here.”

“Already done,” Kendall Wilson replied as she stepped inside the room, maskless and breathing heavily through her mouth, her face scrunched in revulsion. She took another peek at Blaire’s body and then turned away fast. I was almost certain she vomited in her mouth, because she gulped loudly before she turned slightly to the side, refusing to look back, and said, “The thermostat was set to 85.”

“That explains it then,” Dr. Rayford spoke as Kendall skittered out the room. “The heat sped up the decomposition.”

“And with the windows left open,” I said next. “The smell is what led the bugs to her body.”

“Correct,” he agreed, looking over and nodding at me.

“Will you be able to determine the TOD?” asked Phoenix.

Dr. Rayford shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. Given the heat was left on, I won’t get an accurate temperature reading from her liver. That’s why I’m having the team collect the bugs. They should be able to help determine time of death. I won’t know more until I get her on the table and open her up, but judging by what I’ve seen so far, this isn’t a suicide. Someone wanted her to be found this way.”

“Charlotte told me Blaire’s husband, Carter, is coming home early from deployment,” said Harley. “He’s currently on a fourteen-hour flight and hasn’t been notified yet. I’d like the two of you to pick him up from the airport.”

Phoenix looked at me.

I bobbed my head, agreeing.

It was the least we could do, given we both knew he’d expect to find Blaire there, waiting for him. He’d have questions, and fourteen hours should be plenty of time for the coroner to complete Blaire’s autopsy and for my partner and I to dig in a little deeper on what Blaire had been up to these last few days.

“And her parents?” asked Phoenix.

“Blaire’s parents and grandparents have passed on, and she doesn’t have any siblings. Carter was all she—”

One of the CSIs gathering up the bugs vomited beside the body. He got up, apologizing just before he charged inside the master bathroom to spew his guts out in the toilet.

“We’ve got it from here, Detectives,” Harley said as she held her breath, making her way over to the bathroom to check on the guy. “Check in with Chief and Captain Burgess and then—”

“We know how to do our jobs, Harley,” I said in a polite, but heated tone. “We’ll update you once we know more.”

“Detective Hutch,” she snipped when I turned away, her voice vibrating with anger.

I stopped, then glared at her over my shoulder.

“You and I will have words later.”

I gave her a spiteful grin when her dark eyes narrowed at me. “Looking forward to it.”

Phoenix followed me out, remaining mute until we’d descended the staircase and casually strolled past Kendall and her team, who were all taking pictures and dusting for prints in the living room.

“Do I even want to know what that was about?”

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