A/N: This is a dark fic. This is also just an introduction to give some background so it won't be as long as the rest of the story.
Rain slapped against the dirty double paned window at the fifty seventh precinct. She traced the path of a raindrop as it slid down the window with her finger. It had rained nonstop for eight days, the gutters were so full they purged the water back and trash filled the streets. She sighed pressing her forehead against the window trying to see through the dirt and grime. The street was lit with two lights, both flickering and barely visible through the sheet of rain. She couldn't help but take the dreary weather as a bad omen, ten days ago they had found the first body and yesterday they found the fourth.
She moved to her chair, the metal groaning under her weight when she leaned back staring at the ceiling full of water stains that had collected over the years. The precinct itself had beige chipped walls where her captain and others in the past just continued to cover the lead paint instead of removing it. She moved again, the chair voicing its distaste, so she could press her cheek against the cool metal of her desk. Everyone was gone, the other detectives that worked the day shift left hours ago, the night crew were out on a call and the uniforms were walking the beat. She sighed pressing her forehead against the desk as images of a tiny girl covered in blood raced through her mind.
"Swan." Bella shot up at the sound of her name, turning in the direction of the door. "I figured you'd still be here." Bella smiled at the sight of her partner, Seth Clearwater, strolling towards her with two coffee cups. He placed them on her desk before shaking the water off his coat and hat.
"I had a report to type up, for one of our other cases." Bella lied before breathing in the aroma of the coffee.
"I bet." Seth murmured sitting down across from her at his own desk. "Are you here thinking about the Amy Rollins case?" Bella diverted her eyes, the little girl drenched in blood. "Bella, you have to let it go, we lost. I know it's been awhile since we had a case involving a child…" He sighed heavily running a hand through his thick black hair. Seth had known Bella for a long time; they came through the academy together and worked at the same precinct during their first year on the beat. He knew what happened to her when they lost cases, especially so-called "open and shut" ones.
"He killed that little girl Seth," Bella growled fisting the file in her hand. "And because the lab fucked up the knife he's free to kill another one!" She flung the file as hard as she could, causing papers to scatter and float through the air before settling on the scarred linoleum. Bella squeezed her eyes shut, the tears prickling the edges of her vision before sipping the coffee, relishing in the familiar burn that took away the pain. They had been working on that case for eight months. Eight months of watching her grandfather deny his sin then slowly give in, an evil mask replacing his once innocent façade.
"Bells…you win some and you lose some but never forget all the lives we've saved and the people we've helped." Bella knew he was right no matter how much she wanted to deny it. She slipped back into her thoughts, holding the coffee between her hands even though the liquid was burning her through the thin cardboard. They fell into a comfortable silence, the only sound was the rain splattering against the windows until their phones started going off.
"Swan."
"Clearwater." They answered in unison. Bella shoved her hands under files that were three weeks past due in search of a pen. She located one and wrote down the address that dispatch was giving her on her notepad.
"Got it." She responded and stood up. "So much for our relaxing evening."
"It's two o'clock in the damn morning Bells, what evening?" He laughed as they made their way outside to their car.
The rain had settled into a drizzle, enough to piss Bella off but not enough to permit a hat just yet. As they pulled up to the crime scene she knew something was wrong. There was yellow tape roping off the alley, cruisers marked off a wider area, their blue lights dancing off of the wet street. On lookers were gathered around the edge, trying to see what was causing such a ruckus this late at night. Bella pulled a Chicago Police Department pullover on, securing the chain that her badge hung from around her neck and stepped from the car. As they approached the tape the sickening feeling inside Bella's stomach grew. Seth lifted the tape for her to step under and they made their way to the black plastic sheet covering the body.
"Hey guys." Angela, who had just been appointed Chief Medical Examiner three months earlier, nodded to the partners before scribbling on her pad of paper. "Twenty two-year old female, shot in the back of the head, dead maybe three hours." Then she knew, she knew why the scene caused a feeling of dread to creep inside of her. Bella knew right away that this was going to be their fifth girl. Seth knelt down next to the body and slowly pulled the sheet back.
She didn't look twenty two, hell she barely looked eighteen. Her once perfectly curled brown hair stuck to her face and the alley's dirty concrete. The heavy makeup that she wore slid down her skin with the rain, leaving tracks in its place. A slinky silver dress encased her lifeless body, one heel on her foot with the other twenty feet away. Bella closed her eyes tightly for a few seconds then walked deeper into the alley, pulling out her flashlight when she stepped over the threshold where the street lamps couldn't reach.
The small light helped very little in the darkness, just illuminated a four inch sphere in the direction she pointed it but Bella felt the need to look, look for any kind of clue to help out in this case. When she bent down to pick up a silver clutch the hair on the back of her neck stood up, Bella felt someone else's presence. Her hand drew her gun quickly, spinning to point it towards whoever was behind her but there was no one, just darkness. She quickly spun again, keeping her weapon drawn but again she was met with shadows.
She decided it was her nerves and holstered her weapon before picking up the clutch again, her hands sweating behind the latex. It was empty except for a pack of gum. Someone had cleaned up the scene, Bella thought as she started to walk towards the opposite opening of the alley. It emptied on a deserted street save for the group of men standing outside a steel door, the neon light atop read Garden of Eden. They were dressed in impeccable suits, each tailored to their specific body type and they seemed entirely out of place down on that side of town. Bella crossed the street towards the four men, wanting to take their statement.
The one facing her with blonde shaggy hair and a killer smile nodded his head and motioned at the one on his left, she couldn't make out the man to his left but he quickly disappeared inside the door making Bella extremely curious as to what was going on. When she was close enough Bella quickly surveyed the three remaining. The blonde was 6'1, about two hundred pounds, blue eyes. The man to his left, same height, brown hair, brown eyes, one hundred and eighty pounds, scar on his neck. The man to his right was at least 6'3, two hundred and fifty pounds solid, black hair, blue eyes, long scar that went across the length of his hand and disappeared inside the suit jacket.
"Can we help you officer?" The blonde one asked with a smile.
"Detective Swan, can I ask you gentlemen a few questions?" Bella asked holding up her badge and letting it fall back to rest against her chest.
"We always have time for the wonderful police officers in this fine city." He responded and the other two tried to stifle a laugh.
"Have you men been out here all night?"
"No, I'm afraid we just came out here about twenty minutes ago to discuss some business." His blue eyes flicked from the alley to Bella.
"So you haven't seen or heard anything unusual?"
"Nothing except the sirens." He motioned towards the alley.
"How about you two?" Bella looked at the other two men who shook their heads in the negative. "Well if you happen to remember anything please don't hesitate to call." Bella pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it over.
"What if I just want to call to say 'hi'?" The bulky one asked with a sly smile.
"Don't." Bella responded and jogged across the street, disappearing into the alley.
"Alright people, I know it's late but what do we got?" Jacob Black had commanded this unit for six years. He was forty years old but despite his age and time behind the desk his body remained intact and still filled out the suits he wore on a daily basis. His long black hair was streaked with gray and his brown eyes had lines around them from the years of stress and laughter. Bella's eyes flicked to her Captain before settling back on the white board in front of her.
"Fifth murder," Bella muttered looking at the five DMV photos taped to the board. "The fifth fucking murder Captain."
"Well where are we at on the murders?" Black crossed his arms over his large chest and stretched out his back as he looked over Bella's notes. "Anything connecting them?"
"Nothing except their appearances." Seth answered looking through his notepad.
Kimberly Rains.
Heather Martin.
Gemma Anderson.
Taylor Jackson.
Jane Doe.
Bella sighed going over each girl's name in her head, the last they had yet to identify. The others they eventually identified by their missing persons report sent out by a loved one. Their ages ranged from nineteen to twenty four, all within an inch or two of each other height wise, a few pounds in weight, brown eyes and brown hair.
"They could all be sisters." Bella sighed touching each picture slowly. Her eyes drifted to the map of Chicago they had taped on another board, a red dot indicating where they were found, blue dots showing where they were last seen. "Wait." She moved to the map following the line of red dots. How the hell had she not noticed this until now? "The first vic was found on east Division Drive, second on Elm then Bellevue followed by east Walton street and tonight we found Jane Doe's body on Pearson. That can't be a coincidence." The dots were in a perfect line heading south on the map.
"Yeah but where are they leading to? Is he moving away from or deeper into his comfort zone?" Seth asked trying to decipher the pattern.
"I don't know but we've got eight streets until it ends at the River." Bella grumbled staring at the map.
"Do you think that's where he's heading?"
"Who knows? I don't know if it has anything to do with the River because it also runs along the Lakeshore Drive." Bella sighed dragging her hands through her hair before tugging on it.
"Did you guys canvas the scene?" Their captain asks staring intently at the boards.
"Of course, I found fo-three guys in front of a bar called The Garden of Eden on the opposite side."
"You sure about that number Swan?" Black asked looking over at her.
"Yes," She narrowed her eyes. "There were four when I spotted them but by the time I made it to the group the fourth guy had walked inside. So I interviewed the remaining three." Bella moved to her desk to flip through the notebook lying there. "They claim to have seen nothing and heard nothing."
"Of course, isn't that what they all say?" Bella nodded in agreement. "Do you think that club had anything to do with it?" Seth shrugged sitting down at the computer.
"What did you say the name of it was Bells?"
"Uh..Garden of Eden." She moved to stand behind him, looking at his screen.
"Ah shit." Seth groaned pointing to the screen where the property manager's name was listed.
Carlisle Cullen.
Bella sat on her couch going over the file continuously, her eyes shifting over the lines trying to find anything that she might have missed. The Cullen's were a large crime family that had been around Chicago since the beginning. They started breaking the law during Prohibition, running moonshine throughout the city to city officials and other states. Then moved up to bank robberies in the late 20's to mid 30's before they realized buying politicians was much more lucrative. Skip forward a couple of decades when cocaine and marijuana became extremely popular, they wanted a hand in it.
Now the Cullen's were speculated to be linked to a gun ring that ran through from Ireland, intercepted in Canada and shipped down to Chicago where they distributed them through Detroit. Of course every time they would have them someone would always come forward and admit to the crime. There was chatter in Narcotics that the family ran their drugs up Lake Michigan into Canada but they couldn't prove anything. Where the Cullen's were concerned, you couldn't find enough evidence to take down anyone of importance.
She flipped a picture over of Carlisle Cullen, the word Boss was typed up below the surveillance photo. It was a picture of a dark haired man, piercing blue eyes and tan skin. He looked as if he'd rather kill you than look at you and in the picture you could clearly make out the handle of a gun peeking out beside his blue suit coat. No denying the men in that family weren't hard to look at. The picture looked like a model shot, he was leaning against a brick wall fixing his tie while waiting on someone Bella assumed. He was looking straight at the camera as if he knew the person was taking it, of course for all she knew he did.
The second picture was a man whose name was labeled as Eleazar DeLaterra beneath the name the word Consigliore. Bella didn't know what the hell a consigliore was so she quickly went to Wikipedia, her source for all knowledge. Her eyes danced over the screen certain words jumping out at her, "advisor" "right hand man" "appointed by the boss" "close associate." Bella sighed rubbing her fingers over her forehead and eyes before glancing back at the multiple files lying everywhere.
The ATF and Gang Task Force were all too happy to pass along copies of everything hoping they could somehow link these murders to the Cullen Family. The Chicago Police Department would take anything at all if it helped bring them down. They thought they ran the city, thought they were untouchable but Bella was going to quickly turn that around. All she needed was a way in, some way to get close to the family to ask a few questions. The only problem was when the police got a little too close their families ended up with their pensions because they disappeared and were pronounced dead. But none of it mattered, if Bella was to go "missing" no one would get her pension, no one would mourn the loss of her life and no one would speak about how they missed her while hanging her shield in their living room.
The way Bella saw it; she had nothing to lose and everything to gain.