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“Where are you going?” Spike, who was watching me from his desk, asked as I gently grasped Charlotte’s flower vase and tucked it firmly around my arm and securely at my side.
He paused the footage he’d been watching on his computer and sat up straighter in his seat, scrutinizing me with his brows pinched painfully tight.
“Lab called. I’m going to get the DNA results, and then I’m going to see Charlotte.”
“I’m coming with you then.”
“No,” I sternly bellowed when he got up and began gathering his belongings, scoffing when he offered me a quizzical look. “The last thing I need is you fucking shit up more than you already have, so just stay here and find what you can on our perp.”
“I said I was sorry, Phoenix. I swear I can fix this if you’ll just let me explain.”
“We had a plan,” I spitefully reminded him. “One that would’ve worked perfectly if you hadn’t gone rogue and fucked it all up.”
“And what about Kendall?” the bastard just had to ask, quirking an amused brow at me. “Are you sure you’re truly ready to commit to Charlotte now that she’s back in the picture?”
“Kendall isn’t in the picture, Spike. She works at the lab and that’s it.” I clutched the vase harder to my side, struggling not to let his words rile me up. “Just stay here or go home. I don’t really care. Either way, don’t fuck this up for me. I’ll call you once shit’s sorted.”
I left him to it and stormed away, praying he’d listen and stay put.
Because if he didn’t—then so help me fucking God—I just might have to shoot him.
I was the only shot we had at reconciling everything Spike had possibly destroyed with Charlotte, and like fucking hell if I was about to let one of the best things to ever happen to me in a very long time, crumble all because of that cranky asshole.
I made it to the lab a few minutes later and walked inside to find most of the crew had departed for the evening, all except for Kendall Wilson, my old flame from my teenage years.
But that was a story for another day.
She’d just thrown her long blonde hair up in a ponytail and was fetching some paperwork from out the printer when I knocked twice on the door.
“Oh, hey,” she said, smiling when she spun on her heel and faced me. “You’re just in time. I just finished printing some extra copies of the DNA results for you and Hutch.”
“What’s the verdict?”
Kendall pursed her lips, saying nothing as she stepped forward and handed the pages over to me.
“Holy shit.”
I surveyed Delilah and Amber’s results, thoroughly scanning them over again, and again, my lips parting and eyes blown saucer wide.
“And you’re sure this is accurate?”
Kendall scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Phoenix, it’s accurate. I know how to do my job.”
I blew out a breath then and pulled out my phone and delivered the news to Spike.
“There’s more if you’d like to hear it.”
“Yeah.” I put my phone away and then gave Kendall my undivided attention, careful not to drop Charlotte’s vase. “Lay it on me.”
Kendall led me over to one of her computers and began typing away on the keyboard. In just moments she had CODIS pulled up, the software most—if not all police departments used to test the DNA of convicted criminals against ongoing cases.
“Unfortunately,” she continued, running another search just to sigh when the words, ‘No Match,’ popped up on the screen. “CODIS can’t find a match to your perp’s DNA, so it’s clear whoever you’re looking for doesn’t have a record.”
“What about blood and fingerprints?”
“That’s where it gets complicated. The blood samples we collected are a precise match to Daniel and Amber Strickland’s blood-types only, and it’s the same for prints, too. Hair samples will take more time to sort through.”
I nodded as I took it all in. It wasn’t much of shit to be honest, but it was the best we had to work with for now. Hopefully, Spike would have better luck with the security footage I made him confiscate from Felix. We had to catch this fucker before he decided to get cocky and hurt someone else.
