Page 81 of Fatal Attraction

“That’s right,” Carter said with a fierce nod. “I know exactly what he looks like. He was at Blaire’s funeral.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

Our attention immediately snapped over to the doorway then, where we found Chief standing there looking sharp in his best suit and tie, holding what looked like a stack of photos in his hand.

Spike’s eyes tightened into a lethal glare. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I know I’m late,” he said, straightening his spine and offering us a weak smile. “I’m sorry. I had to go back to the precinct and print out all the photos I could find of everyone who attended Blaire’s funeral. It took far longer than I intended.”

“Let me see those,” Carter demanded, outstretching his hand before Chief could ever take his first step. “Please.”

Chief came forward and handed them over. It grew quiet for a long moment as Carter inspected each of them. Finally, he tapped his busted knuckles against the photo of a guy with black hair, thin cheeks, and blue eyes.

“This is him. I’m certain.”

“Damnit,” Chief muttered under his breath.

“What?” I asked. “What is it?”

“That’s Peter’s cousin. Percious Welch. Everyone who knows him calls him Perry for short.”

“Percious?” Spike and I repeated as one solid voice.

“That’s the name Felix kept repeating when I found him,” said Spike.

“What?” Carter said, his brows crumpling as he gaped between the three of us. “Did something happen to Felix?”

“Our perp was on camera speaking with him that night at the sanctum,” Spike said before I could get a word out. “They know each other and according to the footage, they seem to be close. Peter came in earlier this morning and filed a Missing Person report on Felix. I found him at thesanctum, trapped in the beer cooler. He’s here now, but they called a Code Blue on him, and we haven’t heard anything else.”

“Oh my God.” Carter stared between me and Spike before his sight settled back on Chief, who wore an unbearably sad frown on his face. “Is Felix okay?”

“Anything you need to tell us can be said in front of Carter,” Spike’s voice shook.

Chief remained quiet for far too long.

The tears were instantaneous, plummeting hard and fast down my face as I grabbed ahold of Spike as he said, “I’m sorry. He’s gone. The doctors did everything they could.”

Spike stumbled back and would’ve hit the floor if it wasn’t for me catching him.

“No…” He desperately shook his head, his voice trembling. “No!”

“It’s not your fault,” I said as my fingers firmly wrapped around Spike’s head, forcing him to look at me as he began breaking down. His emerald eyes were wide, pupils dilated and saturated in unshed tears. “It’s. Not. Your. Fault! I know what you’re thinking, but don’t do it. Fucking don’t. Ineedyou tonight.”

“We need to get an APB out on Perrynow,” Chief commanded. “Call Kendall and have her run a full report on Percious Welch. Get his address, secondary address, everything on file ASAP. Wherever he is, is possibly where Charlotte is.”

“Wait,” I said as Spike began to move, making a choking noise and grasping his throat when I yanked him by the collar and vehemently snatched him back. “Peter told us there was something going on in Narcotics that may be related to our cases. It involved Rohypnol. But—”

“Come with me,” Chief insisted before he turned and apologized to Carter when he began demanding an explanation. “This is Classified and cannot be spoken in the presence of a civilian.”

“Seriously?” Carter complained.

“For now,” Chief said sadly as he turned back to him. “Yes. I’m sorry, but—”

“Do whatever you have to do,” he proclaimed with a frustrated sigh, lying back in bed. “I’ll be here.”

Carter was so disappointed, aggravated, but I told him we’d be back soon and then followed behind my partner and boss, walking a quarter way down the hall before Chief spun around and said, “I’m aware you two spoke with Gibbs and Hammett before things had gotten this far out of control, and before either of you say anything, I dropped by Narcotics and had a lovely little chat with Captain Keeton. That’s why it took me so long getting back here.”

“What did he say?” I asked.

---