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I scoffed at him, so furious I wanted to come across the table and deck him across his thick ass jaw.

“That is completely beside the point here, Peter, and you know it. Instead of allowing me—a thirty-three-year-old woman, to think and act for myself, you went behind my back and selected to take those decisions away from me. You had no fucking right, Peter. You may be my lawyer, but let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. You do not control me or any of the decisions that I may or may not opt to pursue. Am I making myself clear?”

“You’re my friend, Charlotte.” He released the chair and tried to move closer to me.

I raised my palm and shook my head, refusing his advance.

“I care about you and I’m worried—”

“I asked you a question, Peter. All I want from you now is a simple yes or no response.”

It was evident by the way he gripped his hair and feverishly ran his hands down his face that he was getting frustrated with me, but I frankly didn’t care. Peter’s intentions may have been pure, but his actions were inexcusable and had almost cost me the opportunity of a lifetime. He crossed a line he had no goddamn right to cross, and I wasn’t going to just sit back and pretend it never happened.

“Yes, Charlotte. I hear you loud and clear.”

“Good. Now if that’s all, you can go now. I have work to do.”

Peter scuffled his fingers through his dark hair and sighed. “Chief called and told me Karl is in lockup. They’re holding him overnight and he needs to know if you’re still pressing charges.”

I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes.

Great. Just fucking great.

“I’ll sleep on it,” was all I could tell him. “You’ll have my answer in the morning.”

He opened his mouth and then closed it, rethinking whatever he was about to say. “Okay, Charlotte, that’s fine. Call or text me with your answer and then we’ll go from there.”

He spun on his heel, and I showed him out the door, locking and securing the house for what was hopefully the last time tonight.

eight

Charlotte

It was all I could do to get out of bed this morning. Between watching the security tape at least a thousand times, going over my notes, and taking new ones, I’d completely lost track of time. I’d barely gotten three hours of sleep and to make matters worse, I was running late. The detectives were waiting for me at the hospital. There were two texts from Peter I hadn’t gotten around to reading yet and a missed call from Chief. I still hadn’t figured out how I wanted to handle things with Karl.

When I was finally ready and in the car, I let it idle for a few minutes so I could grab my phone and pull up the texts.

Peter: Good morning.

Peter: Chief needs your answer soon or else Karl goes free.

I sighed and leaned back in my seat, forcing myself not to cry and ruin my makeup. Why did it have to come to this? He was the one who cheated and was responsible for his mistress's death. Hell, I never would’ve learned about the affair if Karl hadn’t sped through a red light and T-Boned another car. I understood his animosity, but none of this shit was my fault, and I was fed up with him treating me like this and accusing me of ruining his life. Peter was right, Karl was escalating. Not once in our ten years together has Karl ever hit me and ever since he did, I couldn’t help but think about what would’ve happened if Rhodes and Hutch hadn’t been there to stop him. I had to decide, and I had to do it now.

I took a deep breath and typed my response.

After taking a detour long enough to grab a large coffee from Starbucks, I finally made it to the hospital and found Detective Rhodes and Hutch sitting in the lobby, flipping through healthcare magazines.

“Hey,” I said, rushing over to them. "Sorry I'm late."

They both dropped the magazines on the table by their chairs and rose to their feet. Detective Rhodes offered me a gentle smile while Detective Hutch silently excused himself and walked over to the desk to speak with a nurse.

“Rough night?”

“You could say that, yeah. So, what’s the verdict?”

“Justin’s clear. He’s not our guy. Did you review the footage I sent you?”

“About a zillion times,” I shamelessly admitted. “I don’t mean to pry or step on any toes here, but would it be okay if I could maybe take the lead on this?”