A/N: Again, my mind has been on overdrive and it probably didn't help that I began re-reading another series I'm in love with: In Death, by J.D. Robb. This is pretty graphic and uses strong language, so if you're against gore and swearing, I'd find a different story to read. Preferably one of mine...

Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight.

Prologue

Just because she saw death everyday, didn't mean that she was used to it. Lieutenant Bella Swan came up to the scene with ground-eating strides. The smell of blood and death hit her first like a ton of bricks. Rust, iron, and decay. Her stomach clenched, making her gag slightly. Holding a hand in front of her mouth, she hunched over and went under the plastic police barrier. A beat cop scuttled towards her, his shiny black boots looking distinctively different than her scuffed up, marred ones.

"You primary?" He asked, his voice slightly high for a man of his age. Bella reached into her coat pocket, pulled out her badge.

"You going to tell me what happened or am I going to have to find out for myself?" Bella glared at the cop until he began to stutter.

"Uh…uh…appears to be a female, mid-twenties to early thirties. No visual signs of struggle or sexual abuse." He rambled as Bella began walking towards the body. Bella crouched, scrunching up her face as she took in the scene. She tuned out the beat cop and began making her own observations. She was probably breath-taking when she was alive, Bella pondered, putting rubber gloves on. Not that anyone could tell now, with half her face missing. With almost laser precision, half of the woman's face had been removed, leaving behind the muscles and cartilage. Her throat had been slashed with a different weapon, Bella noted, seeing the ragged and uneven edges.

"Jesus Christ, Swan. Why do you always get the shitty ones?" Captain Emmett McCarty bellowed from behind the police tape. She waved him in, not looking up from the victim. She called him after getting the word from Dispatch. She needed his talent at the moment.

"Flies to honey, Em, flies to honey. You got anything on her?" She spared at glance at one of her only friends in the entire division. He was a large man, not fluffy, but muscular. His curly black hair was shoved under a baseball cap of his current favorite team. His bright blue eyes scanned the surroundings, taking in everything and everyone. A grin that was always plastered to his face was replaced by a scowl.

"Yea. Tanya Masen, married to Edward Masen. Age twenty-eight. Worked as an up-and-coming fashion designer. Reported leaving Forks Bar and Grill at eighteen hundred hours, alone. The hubby works at Sacred Memorial Hospital, as a neurologist."

"Anyone contact him?"

"Not that I know of. I can get someone on it, if you want."

"I'll do it. You got the number?" Emmett rattled it off and Bella punched it in her cell phone. A receptionist answered and Bella asked to be transferred to Edward Masen's office.

"Dr. Masen speaking," A velvety voice answered.

"This is Lieutenant Bella Swan, from the Seattle Police Department. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Bad news, Lieutenant?"

"Dr. Masen, your wife has been murdered. I'm terribly sorry for your loss." She waited a beat, listening for the loud intake of breath or the beginnings of weeping. She heard nothing.

"Tanya's dead?" He repeated, as if he hadn't heard her before.

"I'm afraid so. I'd like to speak to you about your whereabouts soon. Would it trouble you to come down to the station?"

"I can't right now, I have a surgery to prep for…" He trailed off. Bella nodded, glancing at Emmett. He was talking to the beat cop that she spoke to before, probably taking his statement.

"I'll leave you my personal number. Give me a call when you're able to come down."

"Thank you."

"And again, terribly sorry for your loss."

"Yea." The line went dead and Bella stared confused at her phone. Grabbing one of the Homicide workers by the back of the shirt, she yanked him to her side.

"Bag it and tag it, boys. We got a murder to solve."

Re-re-re-review!