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“Yeah, man, I’m fine. Sorry I’m being so quiet. I’m just thinking.”
“Well, good. Keep doing it for the both of us. I’m so goddamn tired I’m surprised I haven’t dropped dead and wrecked the car yet.”
That summoned a slight chuckle out of him.
“I think the attack was premeditated.”
He drew in another deep breath and released it. “I do too.”
“So what about what Delilah said about her attacker? Do you believe he’d mistaken her for someone else?”
I glanced over to find him lost in thought, his forehead puckered. “That’s where it gets a little tricky for me, bud. It’s possible he did, but aside from Delilah’s word, we have absolutely nothing evidence wise to back it up. Any of it. And with no visual evidence or precise timestamp of when the bastard arrived, it only makes it all the more difficult to prove he was there, not unless we can find a match to the DNA.”
Fuck. He wasn’t wrong there.
“Are you saying you don’t believe—”
“That’s not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is that the situation with the cameras isn’t a coincidence. It can’t be. This guy knew what he was doing, which means he had to have been in there countless times in order to become so adequately familiar with how Felix runs the place—not to mention knowing where each and every security camera is located. Neither of us really know if Delilah was his real target or not, but one thing we can both agree on is that this guy snuck inside the sanctum that night with intentions of hurting somebody. The main questions now are: Was Delilah chosen by random draw? Or is she really telling the truth this time around and this asshole really did brutalize the wrong woman?”
“I think she’s telling the truth. The things she claims he said to her… Those aren’t words you just come up and say to some random stranger, not unless you’re confident you know who they are. I saw the look on her face, Spike. I don’t think she knows the guy, and I highly doubt she just erratically produced all of that shit off the top of her head.” I shook my head. “No, she’s telling the truth. She has to be. And hey, man, there’s something Felix said that’s really been bugging me.”
“What’s that?”
I took a sip of coffee, having decided it had cooled down enough not to inflict third-degree burns to my mouth, and winced, though I couldn’t help but groan in pleasure at its heavenly taste. It wasn’t melt the skin off the roof of my mouth hot, but it was warm enough for me to still feel the furious sting leftover from the wound the earlier morning’s batch inflicted.
“He said he locks the back door from 10pm ‘til midnight. We didn’t leave until after midnight that night, and if I remember correctly, I don’t recall seeing anyone, male or female, leaving for quite some time after Delilah ran out the front door when we were reviewing those tapes. Obviously, our rapist didn’t depart through the front door, so that means he was still inside the sanctum with us long after Delilah left.”
“God fucking damn it.” Spike twisted in his seat to face me, and I turned my head, blinking in utter surprise when I realized he’d never linked the connection between the timeframes. “You’re right. But…” He froze, and then his eyes went distant like he was taking a moment to do a mental surf through his memories. “Phoenix, we were all over that fucking place before we left. I think I’d remember seeing some random weirdo prancing around half-naked in a fucking bull mask.”
“Exactly,” I agreed, nodding and focusing back on the road so we wouldn’t wreck. We’d be arriving at the precinct soon. “I don’t remember seeing anyone wearing anything like that either, which is strange given that most of the rush clears out just about a quarter before midnight. Unless… I mean, it’s a long shot, but just hear me out, okay?”
“Okay,” Spike said, tilting his head at me. “I’m listening.”
“What if he had two masks with him? Maybe Bull Mask really is on those tapes somewhere and the reason why we can’t find him is because he was wearing a different mask. I mean, I doubt he hid in the bathroom or was camped out in the Red Room getting sucked off while rubbing peanut butter all over his nipples like that one guy did a few weeks ago, so he had to have gone somewhere else to lay low until midnight, right?”
“Fucking hell.” Spike leaned back in his seat and rubbed his fingertips so hard and deep into his eyeballs, I was worried he’d puncture them and send nasty eyeball jelly splattering all over me. “I love you but I fucking hate you, man. That’s smart thinking and I can’t believe I hadn’t considered any of that first.”
“Hence why you have a partner,” I reminded him by flashing him a toothy grin. “You can’t save the world by yourself, man.”
twelve
Charlotte
“I’m so happy you let me in and let me hang out for a while,” Blaire said later that night, giggling on my couch as she brought what had to be her twentieth glass of wine in the last three hours up to her mouth and sucked it down.
“You’re welcome,” I said sweetly, giving her a smile that didn’t quite reach my slowly tightening eyes.
Jesus, fuck.
Blaire was so trashed; she was seconds away from shattering the wine glass just by simply trying to put it on my center table.
“I’m happy to have you. Would you—uh, like some water, Blaire?”
Finally, she got the glass on the table, and then offered me a shy, embarrassed frown as she tilted back and sank sideways onto the corner cushion.
“I’m sorry. It’s just been so long since we’ve got to hang out outside of work, and you know, with Karl’s arraignment, I figured you could use a little emotional support.”
“You’re not bothering me, Blaire. I was only asking because you still have to drive home tonight and you just said it yourself, you are hitting the booze pretty hard.”
