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“I want to talk to you about Karl. Just how serious is this shit?”

“Pretty serious,” he replied, rolling his eyes like he was annoyed with the topic alone.

He began preparing Charlotte’s coffee and tiredly shook his head.

“I was around when she and Karl first got together over ten years ago, back when we were in college working on getting our degrees. The guy’s fucking psycho.”

“Has he ever done anything like this before?”

“It’s complicated. Charlotte has always been extremely private about their relationship. But what I do know is there have been multiple times where she’s come to me crying her eyes out over the brutal arguments they’ve had. She was never specific about what was said, but she’s never failed to mention how hostile Karl would get, or how he’d grab the most random thing he could get his hands on and hurl it across the room out of anger.”

“Be honest with me,” I said, delivering a look that told him I was far from fucking around. “Has he ever hurt her before, like in the past?”

“Physically?” he asked, and I nodded, waiting patiently for his response.

Peter shrugged, and judging by the look on his face, I believed him, as did Phoenix, who was now standing beside me.

“Charlotte has always denied it when I’ve asked. And to be honest, I’ve never seen any physical evidence as far as bruises and such. Aside from this one recent time, I truthfully don’t know about any previous altercations. If it did happen, or has happened, she’s never told me. Detective Rhodes,” he said, nudging his head toward Phoenix. “He knows this already because he was here when it happened, but I quit being her lawyer because of this shit.”

“She needs you, Peter,” Phoenix said, frowning. “You’re the closest friend she has who understands the true danger here.”

“And what are you expecting me to do, Detective Rhodes?” he asked, sounding a bit tense. “I’ve tried everything I can think of, and nothing has worked. She wouldn’t even be in this position right now if she’d have listened to me.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“Don’t quit,” Phoenix answered simply. “Given what’s happened, I’d say she’s received one hell of a wake-up call. Don’t you agree?”

Peter just scoffed and shook his head at us like we were complete idiots.

“You don’t understand. The situation with Charlotte and Karl… This has put an extremely huge dent in not only our friendship, but our attorney-client relationship as well. She doesn’t listen to me. Any advice I’ve ever given her has always gone in one ear and right out the other. I hate that I quit on her. I do. But that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped being her friend. I’ll always be there for her whenever she needs me, but when it comes to this shit with Karl, I just can’t do it anymore. I’ve stomached all I can take.”

“And yet here you are,” Phoenix couldn’t help but point out.

“Yes,” Peter answered tightly. “Because that’s what friends do. They show up and are there for each other despite their disputes.”

Even though I didn’t really know Peter, I had to admit he’d given a reasonable, respectable explanation.

Peter abruptly straightened his spine and then whipped around to grab the coffee mug off the counter.

Phoenix and I turned, finding Charlotte standing behind us dressed in pajamas. Her hair was damp, unbrushed, and still, even after her shower, all she could do was gape between us with a river of tears pouring down her distraught face.

twenty-five

Phoenix

“You let him go?” I shrieked the following morning, irritably running my fingers through my hair and gripping it tightly as I began to pace around Captain Burgess’s office.

Chief was here too, standing beside Cap as he sat behind his desk.

“We went through everything,” said Chief. “But unfortunately, there is nothing there proving Karl made any purchases from a flower shop. There’s no evidence putting him at one either.”

“But that doesn’t mean anything,” Cap said, trying to remain confident. “We’re still investigating. Karl’s had help before, so it’s likely there are others involved. It’s just going to take a little more time to prove it.”

I couldn’t fucking believe this shit.

“What did Karl say?”

“What do you think? He’s denying everything.”