"Whodunit?": A Murder Mystery One-Shot TwiContest
The Case: Precious Time
Alias: Detroitangel
The Suspects: Edward/Bella
Liability: I have no claim to fame when it comes to Twilight characters or story line. However, I do love to play in the crime scene!
None of this would ever be possible without the love and support of my Lemon Monster (Mopstyle), she keeps me coloring in between the lines.
PRECIOUS TIME
Sitting in my heated car on E. Ontario, I pushed air out from my lungs as I glared at the yellow tape that concealed the scene before me. The night sky was growing darker, a sliver of crimson flitted across the horizon. The red lights of emergency vehicles obscenely flashed against the concrete walls and brick veneer. I should have heeded their blaring warning, which berated my eyesight, and fled. There was no other choice; I had a job to do. The queasy feeling in the pit of my empty stomach was warning me that this night would haunt me forever.
It was my night off. After eight days of grueling investigations, I finally had a day away from the grit and grime of the Chicago streets. Normally, I embraced any extra work that I could get, to keep the stinging emptiness at bay. Tonight, however, I planned on fully swimming in the thick, viscous pool of my destitute until my fingers pruned. When I got the call from dispatch, I was adamant that someone else take the case.
All day, I was overwhelmed with anxiety. What would my life be like after tonight? Could I even hope for forgiveness or a smidge of happiness? Now that I would have to cancel my plans, I felt riddled with guilt.
I was hoping that my evening would be filled with something incredible; a reconnection that I had been desperate for, though, truly undeserving of. Working a murder investigation was not what I had envisioned the evening to entail.
A dinner date awaited me. Okay, it wasn't any dinner date, it was pivotal. I had been dreaming about this day for months and, if I was being honest with myself, since the very first moment we parted. I couldn't wait to peer deep into those captivating chocolate orbs once again; to finally being able to breathe properly, without the weight of my fucked up decisions crushing me. I had been dreading it, as well as anticipating it.
It must have been a bad night for the living in Chicago, because every other homicide detective on duty already had active cases. I pulled my car into a spot on the street under a recently lit street lamp. Twilight was once so romantic in my eyes. Now, the cold darkness creeps in as the city lights illuminate the sharp edges and dirty souls.
Here I was opening my car door as a chill rushed through me, making my skin bump and prickle. Feeling the coldness through to my bones, I closed my charcoal trench coat around me to capture the remainder of my body heat. I closed the car door with a rough slam. Hurdling over the barricaded warning, I flipped my collar up to block the wind and made my way into the chaos of the crime scene.
I had moved back to my hometown of Chicago, IL seven months ago. The opportunity to further my career in law enforcement was too good to pass up, no matter what I left behind.
I began my career as a young officer in the township of Forks, Washington. I spent my adolescence there with my Aunt and Uncle. They took me in and raised me as their own after my parents were killed in a car accident here, in Chicago. I was eleven. Their daughter, my cousin Alice, became my best friend and the person that I trusted the most. She followed me here when I accepted the job as a homicide detective for the Bureau of Investigative Services (BIS) of the Chicago P.D. Alice didn't want me wallowing in the loneliness and guilt from the path that I had chosen. She networked her interior design capabilities and quickly gained employment in one of Chicago's edgiest design companies. The move seemed to be good for both of our careers, but the rest of our existence was lacking, at least, in my case it was.
Forks was a small town with a small town facade. Everybody knew everything about everyone else. The crime rate was a blip on the radar. There was little room for advancement within the tiny police force, unless someone was to get injured, retire, or move away. The notion of excitement would come when Mrs. Newton would catch a pesky adolescent thief or someone would get caught vandalizing property. Most evenings were spent playing cards with the Chief of police and the other two deputies on duty for the night. When I got a phone call from a buddy from the academy saying that there were openings in the Chicago P.D., I couldn't help but extradite myself from everything that I had known. My family. My home. My love.
I slid my cell phone open and hit my number one contact. The incessant ringing of the phone only agitated me more as I watched the revolving red lights whipping around me, enveloping my body in unease. Finally, she picked up the phone and greeted me with her normal, high energy exuberance.
"Hey, Ali. I need you to call her and let her know that I got called to a crime scene." I pinched the bridge of my nose with the hand that didn't have a death grip on the tiny phone. I was deflated and my resolve from earlier in the day had begun to crumble. The frigid wind blew at my back, trying to push me closer to the commotion. I stayed in place, stubbornly anchoring my stance, and stilled any forward progress.
"Edward! No. You're not doing this to her. You can't avoid her forever. You haven't even spoken to her in seven months. You arrogantly chose her future for her and you were wrong! You forced her to accept that scholarship and let you walk away. It's been killing the both of you. She traveled all this way just to talk to you, since you never had the balls to answer any of her calls," her tone was annoying me, "you have to talk to her, see her. Bella won't wait for you forever, you know?"
Alice knew that leaving her broke me. Seven months ago, I freed Bella Swan from living an uneventful life with me; a life that would have locked her future to that small town, the very one she never wanted permanence in. She was going to marry me and doom herself to a future that she could never be happy with. She wouldn't have continued her dreams of being an artist if we would have kept on the path we were heading down.
She was talented, intelligent, and unique with her artistic expressionism. She was turning down a full scholarship to a prestigious art program in San Francisco to be with me. It never made sense why she wouldn't leave my side to be happy and do what she had always dreamed of. I mean, teaching art at Fork's high, being a wife of a local police officer, would never do her justice. She'd be stuck there, with me. My Bella deserved so much more. So, I told her I was leaving and going to Chicago. I told her that we wouldn't work and that I needed her to let go and move on. I lied and couldn't comprehend how she didn't see through me. It was selfish, but I didn't want her to end up like her mother; married too early in life, pregnant, hating the man she married and always searching for a way out. I needed her to be happy with no regrets.
Bella spoke with Alice often over the last few months. I never wanted to know what she had to say, always fearing how much I had hurt her or how well she was doing without me. A few days ago, Bella stated that she was coming to Chicago and refusing to leave until we could talk. I was sure that Alice was in the know of what was on Bella's agenda, but she wasn't going to break. I could tell it was something huge from how Alice threw these strange looks my way; some were consoling, but most were fierce with worry. Bella was my heart and always will be. I left her so she could move on and be successful in her life. She defined love for me; changed me, made me a better person and a better man. What I felt, no feel, for her can't be expressed by words. She humbled me, challenged me, and showed me heaven. She was my angel. I had to set her free so she could soar above me and blind the world with her beauty.
It crushed me to leave her. We met in high school and instantly, I felt the strongest connection I had ever known. We were like magnets; I could feel her personal gravity pull me from across a room. We were inseparable for over five years. Some days I didn't know where I ended and she began; our molecules intertwined like our fingers when holding hands. I have been utterly incomplete without her. I had experienced that emptiness every minute of every day. I would leave this world completely if that is what she needed.
I thought that time would surely heal my hurt and loss. The emptiness just grew deeper and deeper, encompassing my soul. Every call that she attempted, I ignored. It blackened my spirit with every rejection I threw her way. I tried to push part of my reason for being away and each time, I realized that I had made the worst mistake. I had dwindled into a hollow core of a man. I lived to work and solve other peoples' mysteries, leaving my own to sit unsolved and gather dust.
Bella arrived this morning and called Alice as soon as she was in her hotel room. Alice said that it was essential that she talk to me. Bella traveled all the way here from San Francisco for me. My heart leapt out of my chest in relief, knowing she was so near. I couldn't hold on to the excruciating numbness anymore. I had agreed to see her. The pull was too much. It was the easiest choice I ever had made. When I get to see her, I plan to grovel and beg for her to take me back. I only hoped that I was not too late for a future of loving my Bella and her loving me back.
"Don't start," I warned, "no one else is available to take this case. Bella will understand as long as you call her….now. Please, tell her that I am so sorry. Tell her that I need to see her and want nothing more than to listen to what she has to say. Explain to her that I'm such a fool and I'm well aware of that fact. Tell her that she's important and that I lo….um, shit! Please, make sure that she knows that I want to listen and need her…..Oh, God! Alice? Please, just call her! Have her meet me at the apartment for breakfast tomorrow around 9." My nerves were frazzled. She heartily agreed to call and I slid my little phone closed and placed it in my coat pocket.
Tonight was supposed to be me, on my knees groveling and praying that she could forgive my transgressions. I would give it all up; the job, my pride, all of it. To touch her, smell her; hold her precious body in my embrace; only that would make me whole again. Maybe this aching emptiness that appeared when I left her would finally fill and my shattered heart could be repaired. I hoped that she still had fight in her, for us, and that she wasn't looking for closure. That would be a fate that I definitely deserved, but never wanted to face.
As I slowly approached the crime scene, with a whipping wind at my back, I noticed the rescue team urgently escaping the area. Lights and sirens overpowered the cold and sent shivers down my spine. I furled my brow in confusion. Why would there be a rescue squad fleeing from a homicide investigation site? I found a familiar face in the sea of officers and made my way over to him. This was his beat, so I thought it was best to speak with him first. His lithe body was hunched over the hood of his patrol car looking at a slew of paperwork. He had been shaking his head back and forth with a look of disgust on his face, mumbling something to himself. I stood about five steps away from him and called out to him, trying not to take him by surprise.
"Officer Whitlock," his words ceased and he straightened his posture, turning toward me, "Are you okay? Where's the body? Were there other casualties or injuries? Where are they being taken? Do we have a witness?" Okay, Cullen, stop rambling. I had no idea where all of this anxiety had come from. I was normally very calm, patient, and observant on the job. Tonight I couldn't get a handle on my nerves or my thoughts.
"Whoa, Detective, take it easy," Deputy Whitlock raised his hands and placed them on my shoulder to anchor me, "what's got you all antsy Edward?"
"Sorry Jasper, this was supposed to be my night off. The first in over a week." I shrugged my shoulders as he removed his hands from them.
"Ah, well I think that your evening has taken sad turn. Sorry, my friend. The victim was a pregnant Caucasian woman probably around the age of twenty. Cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma. No I.D. so far. I have my team checking out every trash can and dumpster within a mile of here. The ambulance intubated her and took them to Lincoln Park Hospital to see if they could save the fetus."
"This one is rough," he shook his head and blew out a big breath before continuing. "It couldn't have been a mugging. There was no sign of a struggle. It doesn't look like the security cameras in the area even come close to covering the bench. Of course, we're checking anyway. The Dunkin' Doughnuts and Red Roof Inn have both cooperated and sent the digital images in to your office. The 911 call came in at 6:43 p.m. was an anonymous female. We're getting the digital transcripts of the call sent to your office right now, too. Other than the emergency crew and your reporter, no one has been near the murder scene since I got here. So, it's all yours Detective." Jasper walked me over to a dark and shaded area where a park bench stood stagnant. A feeling of loss twisted through me and overloaded my instincts to protect.
I noticed that my investigation reporter was ready to enter, with her camera aimed at the stillness before us. I nodded my head to her to signal that I was entering the investigation site. I carefully walked a straight path through the scene. The soft clicking of the camera recorded my movements. The crisp autumn wind slashed at my cheeks and burned them a bright shade of pink. That color of blush, I knew intimately. The grass was thick here, a vibrant green that implored life, but a worn path shone about a foot from the bench where pedestrians would dull it, stomping on its vitality. I could see where the body had lay on the ground, leaving an indentation of her form, the grass mourning for her.
Deputy Whitlock was right. There was no apparent struggle. The earth was barely disturbed. I leaned down and looked closely at the area. Cigarette butts littered the grass as well as red coffee stirrers and plastic tops where people had missed the trash bin. I couldn't decipher any specific foot prints near the body's resting place. A large pool of blood seeped into the soil directly where the victim's head had rested, leaving the thick blades and dirt moist and dark; sticky to the touch. The scent of blood usually smelled sweet to me, but this specimen hinted floral and rust to my keen nose. It was a very comforting aroma to my body; my muscles tensed at some recollection that wasn't communicating to my brain. My reporter, who had been at the scene twenty minutes before me, was snapping pictures from every angle. I only hoped that the pictures could capture a different perspective that, now, eluded me.
"Lauren, did you get everything before the victim was moved?" I glanced up at her as she nodded her head in confirmation. "I'd like to see the images as soon as I'm done here."
"Absolutely Detective, I had a hard time with this one. I shot everything before and then after she was on the gurney. She had to have been in her last trimester of the pregnancy, she was huge. I'm just praying that the baby makes it." She looked down at me with a look of despair and sighed. My stomach began to twist and turn at the thought of this becoming a double homicide. Death, before a new life can flourish, was ominous and depressing.
I was having a difficult time keeping my emotions out of the mix tonight, which was contrary to my normal sterile procedure. Something just wasn't sitting right with me. I needed more answers. Who was she? Where was she from? Why was she sitting out here in the darkest corner on the block? Was anyone looking for her? Missing her? Where was the baby's father? The surrounding scene had given me no answers. I needed to walk the locale and scour for some shred of true evidence. I stood up and made my way to the witnesses in the coffee shop and then I moved to those from the Inn.
///////////////
Nothing. The beat police searched every disgusting canister for a mile and found no purse or source of ID. The woman had no identification on her? Who goes out in the city without a purse, wallet, or a cell phone? Did she work nearby? I just couldn't fathom any person being so trusting; not here in the city.
The coffee shop was void of customers around 6:30pm. The solitary worker had been changing out the grounds for a new batch of coffee. She couldn't even see the bench from where she was standing inside. The staff from the Red Roof Inn hadn't witnessed anything either, until the sirens and flashing lights began to consume their front lobby. By that point, the drones of onlookers were bunched all around the bench and the victim.
Lauren left the disk of images with me to peruse later, at the office. I had combed the scene thoroughly, but not one of my questions had been answered. The beat cops hadn't found any identification in their searches before I left the area. I was making my way through the few people who stayed to gawk at the site of the desolate bench, to get to my car. I needed to get rid of this frigid burn that made my toes curl. I sat in the car and blasted the heat, attempting to thaw out my poor toes. They cracked and pained me as I began to uncurl them. As I waited for the heat to work through my flesh, I grabbed my phone from my coat pocket and slid open my cell. I had two missed calls. Alice. Instead of listening to the messages, I dialed her number. I hadn't even thought that the phone had a chance to ring before she frantically picked up.
"Edward? What took you so long! Have you talked to her? I called Bella, but she didn't answer. That's not like her," she ranted on as I tried to talk her down from the ledge.
"Ali, slow down. She's probably just mad at me for being unable to make it. ShitFuck! How am I going to fix this?" I slunk down in the cold leather seat grasping the back of my weary neck with my finger tips. I kicked the lower part of the console and groaned as pins and needles began plaguing my right foot. I shook the discomfort off quickly.
"How many times did you try her? Maybe she just turned the phone off? I'm sure that she wouldn't want to hear the explanations for my rude absence from dinner. She'll cool off Alice, don't worry," I was imagining Bella sitting at Harry Carrey's waiting for me, turning fuchsia with anger and embarrassment as the hours went by and the bread basket dwindled to empty. I never showed up and she would be buried with anger by that. I'm such a fucking fool. I keep hurting and disappointing her at every step. I could never deserve her love and acceptance. She would forgive me, though, she always had.
I only wished that I could go back in time and ask her to move with me. I could have found a job in California and went with her, too. I should have sacrificed everything to be with her. I was willing to do that, now. I couldn't go back and undo any of it. I prayed with all that I was that she still wanted me and it was not too late for us.
"I've tried her phone four times since you called. I tried her hotel room. Nothing. God, Edward, the stress from all this could really put her health in jeopardy," she was frantic at first, but deadpanned at that last sentence.
"What are you getting at?" I snapped at Alice. I knew that she had more information about Bella than what she led on. I sat up straight in the driver's seat. Now, I was starting to worry.
"Edward, it's not for me to tell. She has needed you so much since you left, but you refused to talk to her. If only you two weren't so damned stubborn, you'd both be so elated being there for one another. You know, your lack of communication with her made her skittish with me as well. She only told me the truth a few days ago and I'm her best friend! I still can't believe that she was able to hide all of this from everyone." I had to interrupt her before her tangent went in another direction.
"Alice! Stop and tell me what the fuck you are talking about. What's wrong with Bella? Is she sick? Oh, my God, please don't tell me she's sick. What a fucking imbecile I've been…." I heard her trying to get me to calm down; I couldn't grasp the quaking anxiety that encompassed my entire being. "I broke her, refused her, now I'm going to lose her before I can earn her forgiveness." My face was damp from the tears that escaped their prison. I never cry, not since my parent's death. Nothing was as dire as losing them, until now.
"Edward! E! Listen to me!" Alice finally broke through my hysteria. "You need to find Bella. Call her phone. Maybe she'll answer; tell you off. You need to go to her, once and for all, and confess your stupidity and the arrogance that you might have known best. You need to man up and fix this. What she has to tell you will change everything. All this immature bullshit will finally be put to rest. Please, find her and call me as soon as you do. I'm really getting worried."
"Okay, Alice. I'll try her phone. I wish you would just tell me what's going on with her, but I see that you won't. I have to get back to work. I'm heading to the hospital to see if I can get any more info. Then to the office to see if there could be any leads. Call me if you hear anything, please. I need to know she's okay." I had calmed my overreactions and was beginning to allow rational thoughts to enter my brain.
"I will Edward. Please call me if you get a hold of Bella. Good luck with the case. I'll talk to you soon." Alice said goodbye and hung up the phone.
///////////////
I walked quickly to my desk in the corner of the crowded room, bumping into and swerving around a few people on my way. I grabbed a cup of freshly brewed coffee; Chicago's finest, as I settled at my desk. Busy and chaotic as it was, I could only hear an annoying rumble as too many unanswered questions tumbled frantically in my mind. The fluorescent lights above my desk flickered a bit as the tension in the room began to ascend. People over exerted their innocence and threats of violence permeated the room, but my body didn't recognize any of it as alarming; just another day at the office. It's amazing how acclimation to your environment changes how you react to certain stimulus.
I was on my way to the hospital when I received a call from Officer Whitlock. He told me that the victim's babies were born and doing well. My heart leapt into my throat as I heard that she was carrying twins. I was elated to know that something good came from something so bleak and destitute, but I now needed to find who she was more than ever. Jasper told me to work through the evidence that was collected and sent to my office. He would meet me at the hospital when I was done. I turned away from the hospital and drove furiously to the station, determined to find out any information that I could.
On my organized desk, next to my steaming cup of joe, was a scant file that had been sent on the case. Three hours after the assault and I wasn't one step closer to the answers that I needed. I also had the surveillance recordings in a digital file, from the closed circuits in that area, waiting in my inbox on line. In my trench coat, I had the disk from Lauren's camera. I reached into my pocket and pulled the tiny square chip out and set it down. I rolled my chair out and slunk into it, trying to find a comfortable position. I needed to dive into this and find a trail before it erased itself from time lost.
First, I had to call Bella. I didn't plan on being torn away from our meeting tonight. I was desperate for her to acknowledge that she was okay. Frankly, I had a difficult time believing that she was too hurt or angry to answer Alice's calls. My Bella could be so stubborn sometimes. She never missed an opportunity to tell me how she felt before. I'm sure that she had concocted a lengthy speech on my douchebaggery for tonight. God, I missed her will as much as her touch, her laugh, and her soft, warm kiss. I longed to hear her voice; watch her full lips wrap around her words. Even if she only was screaming at me.
So many times I had sat in this very chair and held my phone nervously in my hands. I'd stare at her name on display and pray that I could hear her and know that she was okay. She had called me so many times. I continuously fought, hard, each time to stay strong and let her go. My heart broke with every ring I never answered; my callous thumb setting on top of the accept button, trembling. My throat would close in on me, making my breaths shallow and my voice small. I couldn't bear to know what she thought of me then. I'm not sure that I want to know now, but I need to.
With my cell shaking in my hardened fingers, I slid it open and found her name displayed in black and white. I accepted her number and pressed the green button to begin the call. As I thought of what my greeting would be to my love, "Hello,", "Bella,", "Beautiful, are you okay,", "I'm so sorry, please forgive me," the ringing was barely audible to my ears.
"Well, hello there! I can't talk to you now, but I will soon after you tell me all the W's! Thanks." Her soothing voice made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end; my chest tightened and ached. How could I have ever gone a day without hearing that salve of a voice, so calming and endearing?
The beep taunted me, "Bella," I whispered, "I'm sorry. Please call me back. I…I'm worried. I'll be working tonight, so call me. No time is too late. Please, lo….umm, please," my voice failed me, only being able to grant the volume of a tender whisper. I hit end and slowly slid the phone closed.
Worried and frustrated, I exhaled and spun my chair so I was facing my computer. I turned on the monitor and pulled out the digital disk from Lauren's camera. I slid the tiny rectangle into the upload slot and waited for the program to run. Suddenly, I received a prompt that the HP Director software needed to be updated. Fuck! I slammed my clenched fist onto the wooden desktop receiving little notice from the bustling room around me. My hot coffee sloshed around threatening to taint the papers before me. This was supposed to be fixed last week. The mainframe for our office had a problem with this software four days ago. The tech guys came in and said it was all fixed and ready to go. Fucking computer nerd bastards! Now what am I supposed to do? I needed to see these pictures now. I hadn't even seen what the victim looked like. My investigation had been stalled for too long already. I'll have to grab my laptop from my car in order to see the images tonight. Why does it seem like the universe is totally against me taking a step forward?
I slapped my hands down hard on the surface as I pushed myself up from the most uncomfortable computer chair that I ever had to endure. I was seething. I ran to the computer that sat idle at the desk near mine. I hovered over the computer, never settling down, almost stalking it. I logged on and entered my password. I was secretly praying that this worked, even though I knew that all of these computers were connected to one big fuck-up of a computer. I began to recognize the prompt for HP Director…… "FUCK!" I yelled out, silencing the entire room.
I began to mumble as I logged off of the computer and trudged back to my desk. How am I supposed to look at surveillance if I don't know what the poor victim looked like? She was Caucasian, brunette, and very pregnant? Argh! I tossed my coffee in the trashcan, barely touched. I grabbed an empty disk and slid it into my C drive to download the surveillance onto. I prompted the cues and packed up my case files and media as I waited for the disk to burn. Five minutes later, I was trotting through the brisk Chicago wind to my car.
I waited for my Volvo to vacillate heat around me and opened my phone. First, I called Alice. Bella had not contacted either of us. Alice went a bit overboard with worry, but I couldn't find her at fault; I was beginning to fill with disquiet myself. Next, I called Jasper and told him that I was on my way to talk to the coroner and profile the body. He asked me to meet him in front of the nursery first. I guess he thought I needed some extra motivation by witnessing the tiny lives that were saved from the unsettling actions of this murderer.
/////////
Hospitals never made me feel uneasy. My Uncle was the head of surgery at Forks local hospital. I guess that I hadn't thought about it as a place for the injured, but a place to heal. I place to run to when you needed to be fixed. I had spent many an afternoon there getting Bella stitched up and righted through high school. She was so accident prone. Since this job, I tended to find the halls here daunting. I supposed the mood changed with the purpose.
I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. The nursery was located in the next wing on this floor. My body felt the motions of almost floating, as I ascended the building, my memory sparked to another time; a time when I did float, intoxicated with love and happiness. My fingers fiddled with the ring that I kept close to me, hanging on a long chain around my neck.
I asked for the engagement ring back after I told Bella I couldn't be with her. I couldn't believe the way she looked at me. I never would have thought that she'd relinquish it without a fight, but as in my every nightmare, she slowly pulled it off of her betrothed hand and shakily placed it in mine. The igniting flames burnt my palm as her fingertips lingered on my skin. Bella's tears brimmed her maple hued gaze. She averted her sight from mine and stared at my trembling fist filled with broken promises. I don't know how I kept a stiff upper lip knowing how much I was hurting her. I'm sure that I looked cold and unfeeling; I died that day for her freedom.
I exited the elevator and strode down to the next corridor where Jasper was lingering outside of the nursery window. He was leaning on the wall across from the viewing area with his back turned away from me. He looked exhausted as he turned around and spotted my advance. He ran his hand through his long hair. Jasper pushed his body off the wall as I approached him and solidly stood in the middle of the hall.
"Edward," he reached out his hand and we gripped into a tight handshake, "any luck on finding out who she is?"
"No. Our computers at the office are down right now, so I haven't even seen her face. How are they?" I tilted my head toward the glass wall where the babies rested on the other side.
Jasper moved forward and I followed him to the window. He pointed out two clear bassinets that were about eight feet in front of us. The room was spacious and rather wide. The walls were painted a muted mossy green and the lights emitted a soft pink glow. A nurse was sitting in a chair nearby looking at charts. There were probably about ten little infants all swaddled up in their bassinets. Jasper pointed toward two tiny bundles that were placed close together.
"They are precious. The nurse told me that the lungs are clear and everything else checks out fine as well. Miracles, Edward. We are seeing divine intervention before us." Jasper smiled at the sight before him.
I looked through the thick glass at the babies; my heart leapt through my chest. The oxygen left my lungs and refused to return. I splayed my fingers on the glass, holding myself from falling to the ground. Gulping air into my lungs, I choked and sputtered on the thickness of the air. My eyes zeroed in on the little squirmer with the blue hat. He was quiet, yet active. His creamy skin was adorned with a full head of curly chestnut hair. He kept lifting his hands in the air like he was a tiny music conductor. I was astounded by his animation. The little girl was soft, pink like petals of a flower. She slept curled up facing toward her brother. Her reddish hair was untamed and flitting about from under her tiny pink hat.
"Edward, you okay?" Jasper's voice was dripping with concern.
"Wow," I swallowed in attempt to satiate my dry throat, "I've got my work cut out for me. I, um...I need to find their family." I said to him absentmindedly.
I didn't know why I was having such a physical reaction to a stranger's infants. But, there was a definite, inert pull linking me to their fate. The attraction was indescribable, almost innate, but I had felt something like that before. They felt familiar to me. I longed to comfort them, protect them, and hold them. I had never experienced anything quite like this before, not even with my own family.
"Well, Godspeed, Edward. Call me if you need anything else," Jasper walked past me and he squeezed my shoulder in a sympathetic manner, as if I needed consoling.
I stood at that window for what felt like hours and I was wasted at the site of them. Pink and blue; silent and active: copper and brown, but both so innocent and new. I could not fail these precious souls any longer. I cupped the back of my neck with my right hand and massaged the tightness beneath the skin. Slowly, I took in a deep, cleansing breath and placed my hand back on the glass.
"I'm going to find your family. They will be here for you before you know it. You're mama would want that. Sleep, angels, you will be embraced in love soon," I whispered out to them, to myself.
I had fought the urge to stand there indefinitely, but finally pushed myself away from the window. I was overwhelmed with need to be their protector. I coughed, gagging on the concentrated emotions surrounding me. Answers must be found. It was my responsibility to solve this crime and my personal duty to guard these two lives until they could be home and bathed in love.
The elevator doors opened in front of me; however, I couldn't remember how I got there. I shrugged my shoulders and mentally slapped myself out of the spell that I seemed to be looming under. I stepped in and the doors swiftly closed behind me, locking my body in the small box of metal and cables; cold and stifling. It contained by body, yet my soul was lost. I instinctively grasped the ring that lingered by my heart and twisted it between my long fingers. My thoughts went back to another time when I basked in effortless love and innocence.
The evening was perfect. It was dry and somewhat warm for April. The flowers in the secluded park had begun to sprout with promises of color and beauty. I had swung Bella around so that she was facing me. The sun was beginning to set, casting a warm crimson glow to Bella's creamy complexion. I placed her small hand in mine and found that her pulse vibrated through to my fingertips. It beat to the rhythm of my heart. My stomach was in knots. This was our faultless moment; we connected, green to brown; heart and soul.
"Nothing in life is easy," I said to Bella, rubbing my thumb on the smooth skin of the back of her hand, "but you make every hurdle effortless. You are my reason to achieve. You are my reason to wake up every day. You are my life. Bella," My hands trembled as I got closer to the query. She simply smiled and brushed her free hand across my cheek, resting it on my shoulder. Her eyes begged me to continue and her smile calmed the tremors that began at my knees and were making their way to my throat. I took a big breath in, allowing the sweet scent of her to encompass me as I did, like milk and honey, then I continued.
"You make me better. My life wouldn't be complete without my undying love for you. You are my best friend and the one that I want to share my life with." The tears began to pool in her eyes. Her chest rapidly lifted and fell with the gasps of air she was inhaling. Bella's hand stayed connected to my shoulder, the tips of her fingers curled into my flesh, as I slowly bent down on one knee. She giggled in delight and I had to chuckle at how easy she made this. My eyes were entranced in her gaze. I took a breath in to allow me to finish the task at hand.
"Bella, marry me? I will love you forever and under all circumstances. I will stand by you and encourage you in everything you do. I will listen to you, laugh with you, and hold you. I will work with you as we build a life together and strive every day to make our relationship stronger. I will be your friend, your love, and your partner for all of the days of our lives." There it was. My perfectly rehearsed suit. I held my mother's ring in my palm, warming it with the heat of my pulse. I released my fingers, revealing it to Bella; my promise of eternal love.
"Edward," she whispered and then cleared her throat as she held off tears, "if you want to be my partner, please get up off your bad knee, first of all." She teased me, trying to lighten the atmosphere. She pulled at my sleeve as I ascended up to her level.
"My life is so entwined with yours; I wouldn't know how to be without you. Your nose tingles and I sneeze." She laughed, lifting her head up towards the sky as her silky, mahogany curls bounced around her shoulders. The air around me echoed the joyous sounds.
"I've known for years that we fit. We work together beautifully as long as we respect one another and stand by each other. There aren't many happy marriages in the world," she flexed her grip around my hand and I thought that she was going to deny me, "but, when we're together, it's always you and me against the world. There is no other man that could make me feel as complete and beautiful as you do. I would be honored and so fucking ecstatic to be your wife." Bella finished her monologue, but didn't move. She just stared at me with the most stunning glow pulsing from her.
Finally I noticed, from lack of oxygen to my brain, that I had been holding my breath. I coughed out the old and gulped in the new.
"That….that's a yes? Right?" Bella let out a bellowing laugh that tickled every inch of my body. She wrapped her delicate arms around my neck and squeezed her body to mine as she chanted yes, over and over into my shoulder. Warm, wet kisses peppered my skin as she repeated her answer. It was the most exquisite sound my ears had ever heard.
I gathered her long hair away from her neck. Nuzzling my nose into a special spot under her ear had sparked her instinct to tilt her head away from me, exposing the sexiest part of her. I began kissing her slender neck as I declared my love and exhilaration. Those kisses were slow burning and they morphed into little love nips along her collar bone. Bella moaned and parted slightly from my body to look into my eyes. Her dainty hand curved under my chin, fitting perfectly.
"Nothing. Nothing could keep from you. I will be yours forever, Edward. I will endure hell if it meant that I was with you in the end." Bella pressed her plump, wet lips to mine. We kissed slow, hard, and meaningful kisses. Lips smacking and tongues swirling, we balanced our control as the energy beneath it all built to frenzy.
Bella's full, perky breasts pressed against me, allowing me to feel every contour of her. Nipples were pebbled hard indenting into me, through her bra and shirt, and I could only think of feeling every part of her skin on me; warm and soft. She must have had the same idea, because suddenly her shirt and bra were scattered amongst the young blooms. My gazed allowed me to inspect every inch of her natural state. She pressed into me and her body heat invaded my clothed skin. My erection was prominent and pushing into Bella's soft little belly. We moaned together as she created the most divine friction between us. I needed to feel home; that physical connection that made me feel like I was where I was supposed to be. Our mouths collided in a fevered motion; all lips, teeth, and saliva. She wrapped her leg around mine and I felt an animalistic need to grab her and devour her.
My hands slid over her chilled skin, grazing her nipples and pushing at the full flesh under her breasts. Tingling fingers dipped into the waistband of her jeans. I rubbed them over her skin, circling her pronounced hip bones, as she unbuttoned my dress shirt and practically tore it from my body. Her eagerness made me crazy with want. My hardened cock twitched under its confines, needing to find a way out. My fingers dug deeply into her flesh, accentuating my need to feel the depths of our connection. I gasped for air as I pulled away from her swollen lips. Placing my finger at her raspberry stained lips and asked for her to give me a moment.
Bella sighed and I dreaded turning away from her for any moment, thinking that this was all a dream and she would no longer be mine. I backed away from her and quickly spun around to find the bag that I had brought. I returned with a smirk and a blanket. Smoothing it out on the ground, I glanced up at my fiancé; half naked in all her beauty like milk and berries. She looked down at me as she deliberately snaked her hands down her glorious upper torso, over her belly, to the button on her jeans. Bella giggled and she was never sexier; hands down the front of her pants and my ring on her finger.
Soon, she was gloriously bare and straddling my thighs. She ghosted her naked sex above me and I could feel the heat from her arousal through my pants. Her small hands massaged my skin and toned muscles. I moaned her name as I melted beneath her. She rubbed up and down my torso leaving a scalding trail of kisses behind where she had just touched. Her tender fingers and hooded gaze drove my body to quiver underneath her.
I slid one hand to her supple breasts, kneading my way to her peaks. She mewled with pleasure. The other hand tickled its way to her lower, wet lips. I teased and stroked from her clit to her slit and back again, spreading her arousal around. She was always so wet for me. Bella's hips bucked into my grasp and the tip of my index finger dipped into her slightly. She moaned at the penetration as I wiggled the tip of my finger around. She was dripping with euphoria as her head tilted back and her smooth hair cascaded down over my thighs. I began sinking my finger into her silky sex ever so slowly. Pulling out, I added another finger and plunged into her, beginning a rhythm that made Bella writhe and whimper. My slick fingers were pumping and curling, pressing on her textured walls. I moved my opposite hand from her breast and brought it down to pull and rub at her throbbing bundle of nerves.
"You are so beautiful, Bella. I'm yours forever. You are mine." Bella moaned and swept her body and hair forward, veiling us from the meadow.
At those words, Bella lost her hold and came undone; chanting my name as it hung in the air around us. Every woodland creature could have been witnessing our love and desperation and I wouldn't have cared one bit. Her skin sticky sweet with sweat and her precious face was locked in an expression of physical and emotional bliss made me proud to be hers. Only I could make her feel like this at this moment in time. The blush on her skin made her glow. Her chestnut hair fluttered in the breeze and swung about her shoulders. I never wanted to see her in any other light. Her joy was all I could ever ask for.
I heard the elevator ding as I reached the basement of the hospital. The morgue was on the base level of the hospital. My palms were sweaty and I could feel slight tremors vibrating through me.
The doors opened to a bright white hallway. Ten feet away from the elevators was the morgue. The entry door had a security phone next to it. I picked up the receiver that connected to the coroner's line. It rang twice before he answered.
"Dr. Crowley, its Detective Cullen. I'm on a case. Do you have the Jane Doe already examined and prepared for me?" I took in a deep breath trying to ground myself so I could get some real work done. I had to clear my brain of Bella and concentrate on my work. Tyler and I had been acquainted for a few months now. He was the coroner on my first homicide case. He had been very thorough and detailed in his work. He treated me with respect and patience as I worked my way through it. He has been my go to guy for any and all questions on my cases.
"Sure, Detective. I'll buzz you in. I just completed the physical autopsy." Tyler said into the phone as the door in front of me buzzed for me to enter.
I grasped the door handle and received a jolt that made me jump back and release the knob. "Fuck!" I exclaimed as I shook the tingles from my fingers. The door clicked locked in front of me as I muttered a few more words of distaste its way. The door buzzed again and I tapped my fingers at the silver orb before I grabbed it and twisted the knob open. I saw Tyler holding back his laughter as I walked into his office.
"Having some issues today, Detective?" He couldn't hold back the chuckles any longer as I gave him the bird and told him that there was no nerve damage.
"Okay, okay. We've got business to handle, Tyler. I haven't seen the body yet. Can you set J.D. up in the observer room, please?" I was feeling so anxious. I needed to see the body, yet my insides were tense and pulsing more and more as I encroached on the observation room.
The room was all white and stainless steel; minimal and sterile. The smell of bleach burned at my nose. It's an awful sensation, but it desensitizes quickly. The rooms where the bodies were observed were very frigid. The cold temperature slows down the movement of molecules in the air, so the bodies won't permeate the room with the stench of rot, decay, and the fume of death.
I had carried my attaché with my investigation tools and my laptop with me so I could input and preserve any new evidence. I set the case down on a small metal table in the corner and turned on my laptop. I also put a pair of latex gloves on so I wouldn't contaminate anything. I was preparing all my tools and evidence bags as Tyler opened the door and rolled the metal gurney into the room. My body instinctively froze. I slowly turned around as the body was presented right in front of me. She was completely covered with a bright white sheet. I took a slow, deep breath in and I was shocked to smell something that didn't belong in this room. Was it honey? I couldn't quite place it, but the scent left a pang for home in my chest.
"Okay, Edward. White female. Approximately twenty one years old. Forced trauma to the head and spinal cord. I only see the one wound which I declare the cause of death. I'll give you my speculations in a moment on that. She was 8 months pregnant with twins which delivered earlier this evening, um, 7:42 pm for twin A and 7:44pm for twin B. Height: 5ft. 6in." Tyler stood at the head of the gurney as he read me all of the pertinent information.
"Got it, thanks. Can we proceed?" I motioned with my gloved hand to the sheet that covered the body. I stepped in a bit closer as the shroud lifted from the head and Tyler gradually peeled the white layer down to reveal the corpse underneath. I couldn't move. Stillness plagued me as I felt my throat begin to close. My vision blurred and my stomach twisted and lurched forward as I saw and recognized the woman on the table; so frail and drained of life, of hope, of a future. Bella.
"Bella," I heard a foreign voice gasp into the air around me. The sound of consonants and vowels rolled around in my brain until I realized that her name came from my tongue. No, no, no, no, no! My mind shouted at me. My hands made purchase on the edge of the gurney. My grip was so strong that you could see bone from under the skin. I was losing all control of my body and mind. I had to have been hallucinating. I sunk my head in closer to get a better look. The room began to tilt and spin. I lurched forward toward the sheet on the gurney and heaved from my guts. Nothing. Nothing came. No bile or food, I was simply empty. I lifted my head up to breathe, but my lungs didn't want to cooperate. I was snuffed out like a candle's flame. The light began to dim and I felt nothing. I was lost in the tails of dissipating smoke and didn't want to be found.
My world was gone. Bella, my Bella, was standing before me illuminated by the heavens in hues of gold and rose. She didn't speak, silence was her companion. She slowly offered her hand to me and I graciously took it. She didn't feel real; she was soft like the touch of a feather. With no effort at all, Bella pulled me up to her. She was happy, the expression on her face shone of peace and forgiveness. I couldn't speak. I didn't want this sight to disappear. I didn't want to drive her away from me again. She reached her hand to my cheek and tenderly brushed her knuckles across my skin, ending in my hair. She tickled my scalp, as she used to always do, and I leaned into her trying to breathe her in, one last time.
I looked into her tranquil eyes and she showed me a vision that I didn't want to believe. I was sitting in my Aunt and Uncle's family room with a little girl in my lap. She looked about four or five years old; thick, wavy bronze hair and dazzling green eyes. I was brushing her hair as she tried to wriggle and slide off of my lap. I tickled her and her tinkling giggles filled the air around me. In a flash, a little boy tumbled into the room and stopped abruptly in front of the girl and me, he laughed as he yanked on the girl's hair. His big brown eyes opened wide as we came after him, attacking with tickles and rolling on the floor.
"I don't understand," I whispered to her pulling her close to me as I wrapped my arms around her waist, "Bella, what was that? I can't go on knowing that you aren't alive. I need to know that you exist. I need you." She was soft like a cloud and cool like a spring rain. It was an otherworldly sensation, but so comforting. Bella was my home.
"There's no future for me without you," I stated as she sadly smiled and shook her head at me, "please, don't tell me to move on. I can't survive without you any longer. Please, don't leave me here alone." My whispers turned into tears.
"Edward," Bella's voice chimed like bells clinking in the breeze, "you haven't lost me. I will always be with you. But, you have to take care of our loves." She leaned in and brushed her lips against mine. I closed my eyes and a flash of two infants curled in towards each other burned into my brain. I gasped at the familiarity of the sight and my heart opened up, grew larger than I ever thought possible, and repaired. No stitches or scars.
Our love will heal me. I had thought to my self, but she heard my thoughts and released her lips from mine. She smiled the smile that was always mine. My arms involuntarily fell to my sides, allowing Bella to step away from me and move toward the warming of the golden glow behind her. I wanted to run to her. I wanted to scream for her. I only watched her disappear into the light.
My body was trembling and my chest was heaving with sobs. I had no words, only guttural sounds of grief and sadness. The lights became brighter; too harsh for my sight. I strained to hear something; a man's voice. He wasn't talking to me. As my senses had begun to sharpen I could recognize the voice belonging to Tyler. My eyes opened to slits and I could see him speaking to someone on the phone.
"You're in the lobby? Okay Alice, take the east elevators to the basement. You can't miss the door. Just pick up the receiver and dial 3 and I'll buzz you in. Oh, I think he may be waking up. I'll see you soon." He closed the cell phone and rushed over to where I was propped up on a canvas chair.
"Edward," he approached me like I was a wild animal about to attack, "are you okay?" The palms of his hands were signaling to me to stay calm.
"I called your sister from your phone. She'll be down here in a minute. Please, just stay in the chair. Try to breathe."
My face was cold from the tears that spilled like a waterfall. My fists were clenched; nails biting into the fleshy heal of my palms. My body shook violently with each new burst of sobs. The more I tried to evade the devastation, the harder it had become to find the numbness.
My head snapped to attention when I heard the phone ring. I heard Tyler buzz Alice in. Her face was riddled with confusion and concern. She skittered towards me with her arms prepared to embrace. I wet my lips and tasted milk and honey along with the salt from my tears; the last taste of my Bella. My knees crushed into my chest and I wrapped my fists around my legs, trapping them to my body. I found a lulling rhythm and began rocking slightly to hold off my breakdown from escalating. I needed to protect Alice from seeing Bella; broken, skin stretched over fractured glass, shattered.
Alice knelt in front of me, wrapped her warm arms around my shoulders, and rocked with my fluid movements. She lifted her head to look in my eyes. I could see her perspective of me. I was lost; the flaming glow of life behind my eyes was barely a flicker. She arched her body so that she could see Tyler and still comfort me.
"What happened?" Alice sounded frightened. It reminded me of how she asked what happened to my parents all those years ago.
"I'm not sure, but I think that he was taken by surprise by the Jane Doe he was investigating. I think that he knew her." Tyler pointed to the observation room.
I felt Alice's arms loosen from around me. I couldn't let her experience seeing her best friend like that. I needed her to be strong; for me and what waited for me upstairs. She lifted herself up from her knees and had begun to dwindle away from me. Before she vanished from my side I grasped her wrist and pulled her tightly to me.
"Ow, Edward! What happened? Who's in there?" She pleaded with me to respond to her.
So I did. I was slightly coherent and spoke to her through hiccupped breaths.
"No! No, no, no, no, no. She's gone. That's not her. Please, Alice, don't. It's not her. She's gone. She's gone. She's go…." I continued to beg and cry. I shook my head back and forth trying to clear the crushing pain from invading. Mumbles of my need for her stability spewed through my voice. I had to keep her near me and away from Bella's shell.
"Who? Edward, who is in there?" Alice's voice trembled as I grabbed Bella's ring that hung over my throbbing heart. I pulled it out from under my shirt and I heard her gasp.
"She can't be in there. She's at her hotel; the Red Roof Inn on East Ontario." My eyes opened wide at her words. The dots were connecting.
"Have you spoken with her Alice?" I yanked her back down to her knees, desperate to hear that she had. Then, this could all be a nightmare that I could actually awaken from.
"No," she solemnly uttered, "but, Edward, she's pregnant. I wasn't supposed to tell you. So, see? That can't be her." Alice trying to soothe me, but I had begun to rock again as the tears churned into fury and fire, burning a trail down my face and onto my chest.
I felt my pulse pound against my skin. I placed my hands on Alice's fragile shoulders and squeezed. My eyes pierced hers, trying to let the truth sink in. I heard Tyler sigh from across the room. He knew from that information that Alice and I definitely knew Jane Doe.
"I know that, Al," I gritted my teeth trying not to lash out at her positive outlook as my anger grew exponentially, "the babies are in the nursery. The nurse up there said that they're healthy. They aren't in the NICU. I need for you to focus. Was there some one who wanted to harm her?"
"No, of course not! It's Bella," she exclaimed. Her hand shakily covered her mouth as the information had begun to register with her brain
Alice's eyes filled with tears. As she turned her head, some had spilled out and trickled down the apple of her cheek. I let go of her shoulders and she slumped in surrender to the inevitable truth. I couldn't fathom that Bella would have an enemy. She was always so giving and self-less. Who would want to harm her? What selfish, unfeeling person could murder a helpless pregnant woman? What kind of monster kills a woman, taking her away from her family? Risking the life of her babies!? Who dared to take her away from me?
My fists clenched and clawed at the arms of the chair. My breathing had become shallow and erratic. I slid my feet to the floor and prepared to stand. Every muscle twisted and tensed as I lifted myself from the chair. I bent down to Alice and gently helped her up so she could sit in my place. Her eyes glistened with sadness and regret. She had just lost her best friend, her sister, and she could see her brother slipping away from her.
"I'm sorry. She only told me a week ago, about the twins." Alice whispered regretfully and reached out to grab my wrist. I snagged it away from her before she could make purchase.
I was angry that she didn't tell me something so important. She should have told me as soon as she knew. I would have run to Bella and made things right. Now, I'll never get that chance. Being upset with Alice wasn't going to solve anything. I realized that. I also had to go back into that room and get a positive ID. I had stunted any and all emerging emotions so I could be strong for Alice, Bella, and our children. Oh my God, how will I do this? How will I get through this without her?
"Dr. Crowley?" I was balancing on a tight rope. Moving forward was my only option or I would fall to the depths of hell without a net. "May I have a moment in there with you?" I pointed to the room where Bella's corpse lay.
"Edward, are you sure?" Tyler queried.
"I need to be positive that it's her. I also need a few answers." My voice was sterile like the room that I was about to enter.
Five minutes later, I was holding the hand of my Love's lifeless body. I ran my fingers over a scar on her wrist that she got one day she had fallen off of her porch. Her warmth was gone. Her light passed on. My dreams that lay in front of me turned to stone. My stomach started to turn as Tyler explained the blow to her head which caused her death.
He told me that the instrument that pierced through Bella's skull and into her spinal column was approximately 5 3/4in. in length. The tip was in the shape of a square about 1/2in. in width and the size gradually increased to about 2in. in diameter. The object seemed to be made of some type of metal alloy. He, of course, had the evidence already bagged for the investigation. He had also mentioned that he found a few long blonde hairs on her. They were bagged and ready to be analyzed also.
I reeled in my emotions the best that I could and covered Bella's flesh with the clean white sheet. I couldn't bring her back to us. But I could try to find the heartless cretin who did this to her; to us all. Turning on my heel, I walked away from my Bella and closed the door behind me. I was fuming. I was devastated, empty, and exhausted. I had become determined to find the answers to all of my questions. I picked up my laptop and all other evidence that I had collected and put them in my attaché. I had called my boss and explained why I wasn't able to work objectively on the case. He was sending Detective Dixon to the hospital so she could take over.
Alice and I left the coroner's office holding hands. We entered the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. I pulled the strap to my bag over my shoulder and moved the cuff so it didn't cut into me. The doors swept open and I was hit with an overwhelming scent of honeysuckle; sweet and floral.
Alice knew that she was forgiven. I never could carry a grudge. I needed her in my life now, more than ever before. So, I squeezed her hand and told her there were two people that we needed to meet. There was no way that I could ever do this on my own. She walked with me to the nursery and her tears turned to those of joy for a few moments as she looked at my beautiful newborn babies through the glass. Mine. Ours. Precious time ticked by on the clock of life.
I wasn't ready to go into the nursery yet. It felt wrong to begin on that path until I was past this small pothole. I planned to, as soon as I could, relinquish all the evidence to the new detective on the case.
Alice cooed through the glass at her tiny cousins. I sat in a stiff hospital lobby chair that was placed across the hall from the nursery. I was sorting through all of the evidence that I had collected, so far, and I held the surveillance DVD in my hand. I couldn't resist taking a peek. I would have seen it all earlier at the office if the software wasn't all messed up.
Maybe Bella had been caught in the doughnut shop or in the hotel lobby? I could see her living one last time; pregnant and glowing. I never had the opportunity to experience that. I can only imagine how cutely she may have waddled around; all big and round on her tiny frame. How she rubbed her belly as our babies moved and kicked inside of her?
I powered up my laptop and slid the disk in. I began skimming the digital images, fast forwarding my way through the Dunkin' Doughnuts footage first. I suddenly saw someone very familiar and froze the frame. I was disappointed that it wasn't Bella, but it wouldn't make sense for this person to be in Chicago. I couldn't get a clear view at the face, but I was almost positive that I knew who it was.
"Alice? Can you come here for a second?" I didn't normally show civilians evidence to a crime, but I needed to see her reaction to this.
"Edward, those babies are amazing!" she said as she sat beside me and placed her little hand on my knee. She turned her attention to the 19in. screen.
"Hey! I know that jacket. Edward, that's Rosalie." Alice gave me a look between confusion and concern.
"Rosalie McCarty, what are you doing so far away from Forks?" I asked, speaking mostly to myself. She was a menacing still life, wearing her long, blonde hair in a high pony tail and a very tall pair of heels.