Page 98 of Fatal Attraction

“Do you want me to stick around?” my mother muttered for only me to hear, a frown on her face.

“You can stay. Just give me the time I need with them.”

Mom beamed, then leveled her spine, grabbing her purse and rising to her feet. Before leaving, she pressed a gentle kiss against my forehead and whispered how sorry she was again in my ear. Spike closed the door while Phoenix came over and pressed a fierce kiss against my lips.

“How are you doing, baby?” he asked as he sat down in Mom’s former chair.

“I-uh… I don’t know really. What… What happened at the precinct with Perry?”

“He’s done for,” Spike said with a grin, casually strolling close and spinning a chair the opposite way, plopping it down beside Phoenix and straddling it with his arms draped over the top. “It’ll take a day or so for the DNA results, but we pretty much have his admission. And then there’s Peter and—”

He stopped himself then, cursing under his breath as I squeezed my eyes closed and turned my head away.

“Shit,”he whispered, and his voice broke. “I’m so sorry, Charlotte…”

“It’s fine,” my shaky voice lied. “It’s fine.”

“Maybe this is a bad idea,” said Phoenix. “She’s going through a lot right now. We shouldn’t make it worse.”

“Is,” I started, swallowing hard as I struggled containing the water works. “Is his body here?”

They both nodded when I looked at them.

“I want to see him.”

“Charlotte—”

“He found me,” I said, which had both of their eyes widening in disbelief. “He was there with me, tied to a chair while I was clamped to a fucking bed.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“But how did he—”

“He told me he was at the precinct to file a MP report on Felix. He also told me about you two showing up with Karl. Anyway, when you mentioned the perp wearing a deer mask smothered in gold, Peter figured it out.” I paused, reaching my free hand up to wipe under my eyes. “He told me when their grandparents died, they left Perry a trunk full of old costumes and masks, and that he knew Perry had a mask fitting that same description. He didn’t say anything because he wanted to be my knight in shining armor. He wanted me to love him and thought saving me would make me fall in love with him.”

They both shared a frown, but it did nothing to stop the anger scorching through their green eyes, revealing everything I truly doubted they had the balls to say to me given what I was going through. That Peter was stupid. Fucking foolish. That if Peter hadn’t gone rogue and had just told them the truth the instant he’d figured it out, then he would still be alive.

It hurt like hell admitting it, but I didn’t disagree.

“I know what you’re thinking. Peter was smart, so fucking smart, and he knew better than to take matters into his own hands. Regardless of his stupidity, he was still my best friend. I want to see his body so I can give him a proper goodbye.”

“Babe, I don’t think that’s possible.” The tightness in Phoenix’s eyes softened as his frown deepened.

“Thenmakeit possible.” I stared between them, my wet eyes pleading. “Aside from Perry, I was the last person to see and speak with Peter while he was still alive. His parents are gone and so are his grandparents. He was an only child and with Perry locked up, there’s no other immediate family that can come in and identify his body.”

“There’s no need for anyone to identify his body,” said Spike. “They found his ID in his pocket, and just about everyone on the force knows who he is and—”

“We can’t make any promises,” Phoenix said with the support of his raised hand, cutting Spike off when he saw I was getting extremely upset. “But we will speak with the coroner and see if he’ll make an exception.”

“Thank you. All I ask is that you try.”

It fell silent for a beat.

“I know how you feel,” Phoenix whispered after a moment. “I lost someone today, too. Someone I was very close with when I was younger.”

“You-you did?” I blinked up at him. “Who?”

“Crow.”

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