It's Murder
Chapter 2
BPOV
Catching up with Renee has been good, but as always, one good long chat and we are both informed of everything that's happened in our lives since our last meeting. By teatime, I am regaled with stories of how amazing my step-father is on the baseball field, and how many devoted fans he has following him around. He's quite the local hero.
Then it just gets awkward as Mom starts demanding to know when I'm going to stop 'playing detective' and get a real life. That means, when am I going to land some sucker and use him for a meal ticket for the rest of my life, and play house.
This time, she brings out the heavy artillery.
"I would like to be a grandmother before I die," she whines, as if her untimely demise is waiting just around the corner.
"Then you should have hung around and had more kids before you deserted us," I answer, blandly.
"You are lucky I didn't. How would you have liked to have to play Substitute Mom to a bunch of younger siblings?"
"If it meant I had a mother who stayed around long enough to let me have some memories of her and my Dad together, then I would have been all for it. Anyway, if you'd had a house full of children, you might have felt compelled to stick around and raise us yourself."
"I don't know where you get the idea that women have to sacrifice their own happiness for that of their children even comes from. That went out with the ark. Sometimes you just know you did a stupid thing, made the wrong choice, and isn't it best to leave and not make more mistakes? Charlie and I wanted such different things. All he ever wanted was a little house and a baby, and a barefooted housewife to iron his shirts and have dinner on the table when he got home after a shift. And to live in the one place all his entire life," she spat, as if that was the worst possible Fate.
"Damn the man for wanting such unreasonable things," I growled sarcastically.
"Bella, I may point out that you don't appear to want a little house and a baby and a man bringing home the bacon, either, or you would have married Jacob when he asked you to. No, you knew you wanted something different. You managed to flee the nest before you had a husband tying you down, and a kid that stopped your social life cold."
"You didn't have to get married and have me, nobody forced you to," I retorted.
Mom looked embarrassed and the penny dropped.
"Oh God, you did. Charlie knocked you up in High School," I stated.
"The end of Senior Year. We knew by Graduation. I had to cancel all my plans to get out of that Godforsaken town."
"There were other alternatives," I shuddered. My life is nowhere near perfect but at least I have a life.
"Not where your Father was concerned. I needed money to travel, and he made a deal with me. If I hung around long enough for you to be born, he'd sign over his inheritance to me so I could go find the life I really wanted."
"Dad knew you always intended leaving? Why did you marry him?"
"Because it was what was done back then. Girls didn't go around having illegitimate babies, and Charlie wanted you to have his name. And to legally be his daughter, born within a marriage. It was hardly meaningful. I did it for him."
Or for the money, I guessed.
"So, does this theoretical grandbaby have to be born within a marriage?" I asked. I had no intention of ever having kids, but I was interested in what she was thinking.
"It would be nice. I'd like a handsome son-in-law to boast about, and that partner of yours is very attractive, Bella. Not that you seem to notice."
"Pfft," I smirked. "I'm not dead. I know Edward is gorgeous. I also know he's just as married to the job as I am. Forget that. The day I consider getting married is the day I meet some guy with steel balls who can handle me doing my job and not whine for me to leave it; but even then I can't see myself ever having a kid. Too much responsibility."
"How can you say that yet not understand why I left?" she argued.
"Hey, I know this already. I didn't get knocked up and give birth before I decided a child did not suit my lifestyle."
"Lucky you. I know for a fact you and Jacob took some foolish chances before you got smart and asked me to take you to get contraception, Bella. You could have ended up in the same boat as me."
That was true. Jake and I never expected to go as far as we did but teenage hormones have a power all of their own. We had dodged a few bullets before I'd been made bulletproof. Of course, nothing is ever one hundred per cent so even my affairs these days could possibly have unhappy consequences. I was safely implanted with a contraceptive device, and always insisted on the guy using a condom, but I guess some sperm can get through anything. I'd actually had a conversation with Edward about this very thing during a stakeout on our last case, and he'd said if anything ever happened, he'd have my back.
I had refused to ask him what he meant. Maybe he just meant he'd find me someplace to go to get a termination, but I didn't really believe that was what he was offering. It was starting to get a little awkward, with his offers to protect me outside of work. I wasn't his responsibility and I didn't know why he thought I was.
But he could not have meant he'd step in and play the role of Baby Daddy, surely? Guys don't do that. God knows, it's hard enough these days to even get them to stick around when they themselves put the baby inside you in the first place. That reminded me.
"I think I'll go see Alice and my Godson in the morning," I informed my Mom. By lucky coincidence, my best friend was living in the neighboring town to my Mom, not that it would last long. Renee would start wanting to move again soon.
After forcing down an overflowing plate of eggs and bacon and sausage and whatever else my Mom needed to cook to feel like a 'Good Mother', I finally stood up and hoped my stomach didn't explode.
"Invite her back for dinner some night this week," Mom said, as I gathered my jacket and car keys. My lips twitched, It seemed Alice was no longer a 'floozy' for having a baby out of wedlock; now she was someone my Mom wanted me to emulate, if I wouldn't go the more ideal route and get married first. She would settle for a grandbaby even if it had no resident Daddy. It was my choice.
Alice had never chosen this. She was seemingly safely engaged to James when she conceived and we'd all assumed either they would move the date of the wedding up, before she started showing, or wait until she got her tiny waist back after delivery.
As it happened, neither were on James' agenda and he did a midnight flit, never to be seen again. My Dad had been heartbroken, because he has always loved Allie as a second daughter, and her moving away to live with her parents had been a blow to him. He'd offered her a home and wanted to help out with the baby when it came, but our hometown was too small a place for something like that to happen without a scandal and a lot of gossiping and innuendos. Allie just felt it would be wrong for people to look at Charlie like they would; wondering if he had defiled his daughter's best friend and playmate, who he had known since we started Kindergarten together.
Personally, I've never given a toss what other people thought, and wished she had taken up his offer.
He'd have moved downstairs into the guestroom and given Allie his bedroom and baby Tom would have been installed into my childhood room. Let's face it,it would not have needed much updating, it still had the same wallpaper on the walls from when it was my nursery. I'd shared my room all my school years with Humpty Dumpty and his teddy bear friends smiling at me from the wallpaper border around the middle of my walls.
Alice threw her door open and rushed into my arms, surprising me. She had never been an overly demonstrative person but it seemed the months back under her parents roof had affected her somewhat.
"Bella," she squealed, grabbing around my torso, squeezing me in a death grip. "I'm so happy to see you. It's been a nightmare."
"Why have you stayed then?" I asked.
"No money, nowhere to escape to, nobody willing to help us. My parents agreed it's their duty to support us but at a price. I've reverted back to being the child in the house and Tom is the shameful secret. I mean, everyone knows about him but Mother likes to pretend no-one knows he is here. I'm never allowed to take him to the playground, or anything. You'll notice the curtains are all closed. If nobody sees him, he doesn't exist."
"Really? How ridiculous. Why don't you make my Dad's year and go back and live with him?"
"Bella, you know I couldn't do that. Mother thinks people gossip here, but it's nothing compared to Forks."
"I have an idea. Come back to Boston with me. My apartment building has vacancies and there's a creche next door. You have your certificate, you could work there in the Newborn Nursery or pre Kinder group, and have Tom in the room next door. I imagine they prefer mother's working there don't mind their own kids, but he'd be in the same building. You could feed him in your breaks."
"That would be ideal but I don't have the money for a bond on an apartment or anything."
"Alice, I told you when Tom was born that I wasn't buying him a plastic duck or a baby outfit. I owe him a gift and this can be it. I can afford it, believe me. I'll cover your rent until you get a job and have some savings. Just say yes."
I could see she wanted to. More than anything.
I had wished to come across James in one of our cases for a while now, preferably as the guy in the bodybag. It would be cool knowing he had a bad ending. Douchebag. Casting Alice aside for daring to continue her pregnancy instead of following his orders. I hated him anyway, from the first day we met, when he did that leering smirk at me. First chance he got, when Alice left the room, he had the nerve to invite me over to his place sometime when he could shake off Alice. For some 'consensual adult fun and games'.
I accidentally kneed him in the balls, but then, clumsy is my middle name.
"When are you going home? This is the only day I get alone. Mother is here every other weekday and of course, weekends are all spent in Church praying for my soul. I have to get out today or they'll stop me."
"Not a problem," I replied. Renee and I were pretty much talked out, and another six days...yeah. No.
We threw Alice's and the baby's belongings into a suitcase and several bin liners and packed them into my car and then she removed the baby car seat from her Mom's car and strapped it in as well.
Tom was intrigued; I guess rarely being allowed out into the world made everything interesting for him, and we headed to Renee's.
Alice brought the baby inside and Mom hurriedly served tea and rapidly put together sandwiches and I explained I had to go home because Edward had called to tell me we had a new case.
I was hoping that wouldn't happen, but you how it is; you state a lie and Fate decides to make it true. Like when you make up an excuse to avoid a party you know will bore you rigid...I'd love to come but I have the most horrendous cold..I know, right. Such a shame...and next day you wake up with a streaming nose and pounding headache and a fever thrown in for good measure.
I'd probably get home and be told someone had gone on a murder spree and half the population of Boston had been slaughtered.
We managed to jam my case in the trunk as well though once Mom helped me clean out the garbage that had accumulated, there was a surprising amount of space actually.
Tom slept most of the trip and Alice kept looking back, as though she half expected her parents to be pursuing us with the local sheriff.
It was dark by the time we arrived; and I hustled Allie and the baby upstairs. Tomorrow would be soon enough to ask about vacancies in this building. A few residents had moved out recently, and would be looking for a temporary tenant until their place sold. There would be something affordable going begging. Tonight she would have to have my bed, and I'd get to experience the joys of my pull-out. No doubt I would soon rue the day I chose it, and wish I'd loosened the purse strings and bought something remotely comfortable.
I unlocked the door and ushered my friend in and reached for the light switch. Alice stopped dead still and laughed.
"I know it's tiny and cramped but there's only me and it's close to work and anyway, I'm saving up for..."
"Bella," she cut me off mid spiel. "Somebody's sleeping in your bed and I don't think it's Goldilocks, though the hair's pretty accurate. Maybe it's Papa Bear."
I turned and sighed.
"That's just Edward. I thought he was going home to visit his parents already. I refuse to believe my apartment was that dirty that it took him all day yesterday to get it clean. I wonder if there's any of that chicken dish he cooked in the fridge. Let's check."
"Let me get this straight. He cleans, he cooks, he looks like a Greek God, and you refer to him as 'just Edward'. Is he gay or are you stupid?"
"A little of both apply, probably," I chuckled. "Okay, he's not gay, he's a bit of a whore, actually. I guess he's okay looking. And he makes a wonderful cleaner and chef. If things were different..."
"What things? I can't imagine he is taken. No woman in her right mind would allow that to sleepover anywhere but in her own bed, surely. I think I'd keep him handcuffed to my bed frame if he was mine."
"Alice, behave. Though who knows, maybe a whipping is just what he needs to get him back in line, and keep him away from the skanks."
"I don't believe you," she hissed. "You sleep with boring morons and you have this on offer?"
I laughed.
"Edward would not seriously consider I was anywhere near in his league. Look at his face, girl. He deserves someone special and just as beautiful as he is. That's hardly going to be me."
"How about me?" she smirked.
For some reason, I didn't find her joke even mildly amusing. It just disturbed me. Him going with faceless strangers was one thing, but if he fell in love with Alice? I didn't think I could handle that.
"Bella, I was joking. I'm done with men. When it comes to the crunch, they all suck."
"I'll bring up your bags, you make coffee," I suggested, putting Tom down onto the sofa.
When I got back upstairs, Alice was clapping her hands with delight. I wasn't sure what could be so magical in my kitchen area.
"I have seen these coffee makers but they cost a bomb. Who'd have thought a confirmed tea drinker like you would splash out on one? I'm seriously impressed."
"I don't have a coffee machine," I replied, puzzled.
"Then Santa has come early. What's this then?"
I had no idea but it took up half my work area. It would look more at home in a upscale coffee house than here.
"I guess it's Edward's," I concluded, sniffing the air. God, this was better than any air freshener.
He was turning me into a coffee addict.
"Mine," Edward moaned and Alice raised her eyebrows and grinned. He appeared to be asleep, and several empty wine bottles were on the floor on either side of my bed, which he had no right to be in.
"You or the coffeemaker?" Alice asked. "What's 'his'?"
I slapped her.
"Pour him a cup, it never fails to wake him when coffee's on offer and I'll go see if the Super can lend us a crib for the night."
Felix's room was on the bottom floor so I headed down and knocked.
He smiled, always happy to see me, maybe because I'm one tenant who never bitches and wants him to fix something. I own my apartment, well, it's the joint property of me and the bank for another two months, but I just prefer fixing my things myself or calling in a professional. Felix had two dozen apartments to oversee, all but one larger than mine, and the tenants were never shy to insist he fixed their things even if it was something they'd broken themselves by their own recklessness.
"Hi, I was wondering if you still have that Porta-crib? I have a friend staying over with her baby. We'll buy our own tomorrow once the stores open..."
"Sure. Actually the old one got nicked, so you will be the first to use this one."
I hadn't even thought how Alice may feel about putting her precious child into a crib an unknown amount of strange babies had slept in.
"I'll carry it up for you. It's a little awkward getting it up all the stairs."
He carried it to the door, then held up a finger as his phone rang.
"Alec. Right. 9am, I'll be here. No problem at all. We are all going to miss your smiling face, you know."
He ended the call.
"Is Alec off on vacation?" I asked. I barely knew the man, but he did own the very pick of the apartments here in the building. It had been a big, empty loft space and he was an architect so over a series of months, we'd seen it go from cold, basic hole with too tall walls and too many windows, to a dream house anyone would kill to own. Including me. I think in my job I'd know how to cover my tracks and get away with murder, but the problem was, Alec was hardly going to bequeath his place to the woman who only went to his parties to admire his home.
I drooled over his bedroom.
The man himself was hardly interesting, and he tended to drone on endlessly about what improvements he had made to the place, but I would have listened to him discussing the price of chicken manure if it got me inside his place to fantasize about it being my home.
"He's moving on. You know how he is. The loft is perfect so he's bored with it and he's found the 'most amazing' old tin shed somewhere that he plans to work his magic on next. Tomorrow there's a realtor coming with a photographer at nine and I have to let them in."
I stood dead still, as if I'd be turned into a marble statue.
"I want it."
"Bella, we all want it, but who could afford it? He wants half a mill. If it was on the good side of town it'd get two mill no worries. It's just that this is hardly the type of neighbourhood the rich and spoiled want to live."
"I want it," I repeated. I had almost, exactly, to the penny, half a million dollars in my account. I'd bought my one room; my cheap furniture, my non branded clothing, my homemade lunches, so I could save every spare penny in the secret hope one day Alec would get hit by a bus and his heirs would not want to live here and would sell the place.
I'd actually expected the place to go for seven hundred thou easily, but I was never going to admit that.
"Please tell him I want to buy it. Now. Call him."
Alec shrugged and leaned the crib against the doorway.
"Alec, Miss Swan is wondering if you would be willing to sell the loft to her? Yes, I told her the asking price and she didn't faint or anything. I dare say the cops get a special deal on mortgages at the bank."
"Okay. I'll bring her up."
He turned to me.
"There are a couple of issues he has to discuss with you but he sounds delighted that someone who obviously loves his little palace wants to buy it and not some stranger. He has requested our presence."
I came the closest I ever have since I was two years old to wetting my pants. Just imaging it may be possible to pull this off was a dream come true.
Alice and Edward were sitting side by side on my sofa, laughing together, and to my surprise, Edward had Tom balanced on his lap.
"Here's the crib. It's new; no grotty babies have used it. I'll be right back."
I shut the door and followed Felix upstairs.
"There is a private elevator, but it only has access on the ground floor, basement garage and top floor, of course. You'll enjoy that. No more lugging your groceries up flights of stairs."
I would have gladly lugged my groceries up fifty floors if it meant I got to live in that palace.
Alec opened the door and handed me a champagne glass full of sparkling wine, and he kissed the top of my head.
"Isabella, I can't tell you how happy I am that you are considering buying this little place off me. I love the way you spill tears down your cheeks every time I show you my bedroom."
Felix raised his eyebrows.
"Now, just a couple of things. Remember the grand piano? Of course you do, you've heard various friends of mine tickle the ivories at my wonderful soirees. Well, when we were converting this place, we had it lifted in by crane before the front wall was rebuilt and that means it is not going anywhere, ever, so it has to stay, Sweetie. Is that going to work for you?"
I nodded mutely. I had sat through a dozen piano lessons as a child and I could play "Happy Birthday" and "Mary Had A Little Lamb" with two fingers. I would probably never insult the amazing white grand piano by doing that but it was a thing of beauty and I'd be thrilled just looking at it. Maybe I would find myself a gay friend like Alec had, who played.
"The other issue is, the bed."
Oh God, kill me now. Please, please make him say the bed can't be moved. His brass bed made Edward's look shabby. Ish.
"I am never going to manage to create quite the right setting again for that bed...I am hoping you will accept it as part of the deal."
I guess I came as close in that moment as I ever have, to falling in love. I wanted to throw myself at Alec and wind my legs around his body, and kiss the living daylights out of him. He'd hardly enjoy the experience, with him batting for the other team, but what the Hell. I'd bring Edward up here and let Alec touch his stubble or something.
"How much extra for the piano and the bed?" I asked, rapidly wondering what I could sell. Really, I could afford a small mortgage, on top of my savings if necessary.
"Bella, Sweetheart, I would not dream of asking you for a single penny extra. You would be the one doing me the favour. I created that loft bedroom for that bed. It needs to live here forever and I know I can trust you to keep it, and worship it as it deserves. You can swing the asking price?"
"Half a million dollars? I can scrape it together," I assured him.
"Good girl. Then Felix, cancel this person who was coming tomorrow and Bella and I will sign the contracts and get things moving. I need to move out in three days so feel free to live here from then as my guest, until the contracts are exchanged and it becomes your little slice of Paradise. Now, Alec needs his beauty sleep if he's going to start drawing up plans for the new place, so we'll say goodnight. I'll call you in the morning, sweetie and we'll do the necessary."
"Thank you so much. I promise I won't change a single thing. It's perfect," I murmured. It felt like I was floating above my own body.
"Of course it is," Alec replied, closing the door behind us.
"So, I hope you'll still lower yourself to talk to us lowly staff once you move into the penthouse. I can just see you sitting up there in the roof garden, dangling your feet in the pool."
"There's a roof garden?" I choked. "And a pool?"
"Heated, of course. It's very pretty up there. I am surprised you have never seen it."
"I guess I've never managed to get past Alec's bedroom. It's just so amazing, you know."
Felix shrugged.
"I admit I'm confused to why Alec has taken you to his bedroom at all, but whatever. None of my business. I am the soul of discretion. Nobody will ever hear about it from my lips." he mimicked turning an imaginary key in his mouth and I bit back the urge to laugh.
Admittedly I had done some moaning and drooling and possibly even experienced a tiny spontaneous orgasm in Alec's bedroom, but only from looking at how everything had such exquisite detail in such a beautiful room. The man had never even been in there when I'd snuck in to look.
And soon it would be mine.
Of course, it would have no furniture, maybe for years but I'd have a bed and a grand piano, what more did a girl need?
~x~
EPOV
Bella's little friend Alice was just a laugh a minute and I kept hearing in my head "you have to introduce this girl to Jasper. They would be perfect."
My younger brother had a bad habit of choosing girls that were not good for him, so maybe it was time for someone else to choose for him. The last disaster had lasted four long years. Hurricane Maria, our Dad called her.
Not because she was a ball of energy; but because she left a trail of destruction behind her wherever she went. She had accepted Jasper's marriage proposal then called the wedding off three days before it was due to happen. He'd been in pieces for months afterwards, then just when we started thinking he would survive, she came back. All smiles and in total surprise to hear how he'd suffered.
He'd been wary as Hell of her for months but she'd wormed her way back into his heart and we'd all waited for the other shoe to drop. Sure enough, she 'met someone' and disappeared again.
Dad and Mom had sold up and moved far away, leaving no forwarding address with anyone, in the hope Maria would never find him again, and so far it had worked.
Money was never an issue in our family, so over the past few months they'd lived in California, New York and now they were trying something completely different.
Some little never heard of town in Washington.
Dad was looking for a house worthy for my Mom to live in, because Carlisle had always believed Esme deserved nothing but the best, and apparently large fancy houses were not the norm in the town they were interested in settling in. Even so, Mom loved the area.
I'd sent a text asking for details of where they actually were now, and was waiting to hear back before I headed to the airport.
It helps to know your exact destination before you leave.
As a result, I'd stayed at Bella's another night and got caught out.
Alice found it amusing, but Bella had completely ignored me when she and the Super had dropped off the Portacrib, so I imagined I was in trouble.
Alice had insisted she would clean up the dead soldiers and put them in Bella's glass recycling bin, and she'd poured me coffee and even let me hold her baby.
I'd never really seriously given any thought to having a child until tonight. This kid was cool. I couldn't help thinking if Alice did meet Jasper and they clicked, everybody would assume this was his son, anyway. Tom had the same ice blue eyes my dad and brothers had, and the same blonde curls my younger brother alone had inherited from our grandfather.
My colouring came from our Mom, and it was anybody's guess where our older brother Emmett got his black curls from.
"The milkman," Carlisle joked, but if there was one thing we never doubted, it was that our Mom had always been faithful to him. To her, other men did not exist in any way apart from their profession. She didn't notice handsome faces or well developed bodies; to her they were 'the butcher', 'the pharmacist' etc, nothing more.
Carlisle was her 'pin-up boy' and always would be. We all craved for the type of love they shared and until recently, I admit, I assumed it was something only they would ever have.
But Bella made me feel like it was something I could have as well, if she would just see me differently, and now, here beside me was Jasper's 'One'. I had no doubts. It was as if they were looking for one another and just needed a nudge.
Maybe I should ask Alice to come home with me, when I found out where home was.
Bella's Dad lives in Forks, Washington, and it would be convenient if my parents ended up somewhere close by to him, but Washington is a big state and Forks is hardly a stand out town, so what were the chances.
My phone beeped and I excused myself to Alice and opened the text.
"Just fly into Sea Tac and I'll meet you. It's a bit of a trip to the town here but it is lovely drive. Very green. The local Police Chief is Bella's father, what are the chances? It seems he will be the one handing out tickets to your brothers when they break the speed limits. Looking forward to your visit. We are temporarily renting a nice house out in the forest but I think your Mom has fallen in love with it. The boys think it is 'awesome' but then, it does have a six car garage. Enough said."
I laughed.
"It seems my parents have moved to Forks."
"Oh wow. I love Forks. My aunt lived there until she died. She raised me. I went to school with Bella. My parents knew from when I was just a toddler than I was a 'wrong'un' and agreed to leave me in her capable hands. If she was alive today, I'd still have a home."
"That's fucked up," I replied. She'd told me about her loser ex and how she got left holding the baby, and it seemed, turning to her parents for help had been the worst thing she could have done.
How crazy is that?
Just because I have wonderful parents I sometimes forget not everyone else does.
While Alice fed her son, I got cracking and started cooking up Bella's favourite pasta meal and hoped it would go some way to getting me some Brownie points. I needed them. I had a feeling just as kissing her had been 'a mistake' in Bella's eyes, sleeping on her bed was an even bigger one.
Fuck, the sheets!
My little joke would backfire badly the mood she had been in. She looked like she could barely contain her emotions when she was here before.
I stripped off the linen while the pasta and pot of homemade meat sauce simmered, and remade the bed properly.
Alice raised an eyebrow.
"I love it! I haven't short sheeted her bed since we were in dorm at college together. She really loses her cool when anyone does that, you do know, right?"
"I've never done it before," I stated. "Well, not to Bella. My brothers and I were always doing dumb shit like this when we were kids. I just thought she'd fake still being at Renee's long after she came home, so I figured she'd forget to keep up the pretence and call to yell at me when she tried to get into bed."
"Then she would be doubly mad," Alice pointed out. "Do you have a photo of your brothers? I wish I had a brother."
"You can have one of mine," I replied, smirking. I just knew what was going to happen when Jas saw this little dynamo. He would be asking "Maria who?"inside a week. Alice would fill his heart and show him not all females were bitches who needed a good hiding.
I don't hit women but if I ever change my policy about that, I will seek out Maria and thrash the living daylights out of the bitch.
Alice predictably looked a little taken back at the size of Emmett, then smiled and ran a finger over the image of Jasper. I knew it!
"Wow, your parents have produced three beautiful sons. You are all different to one another but quite amazing."
No prize for guessing who she thought was the most attractive. She glanced longingly at my blonde haired bro and reluctantly handed the photo back. It didn't bother me at all because I knew Bella thought I was the prettiest, by far. She adored Emm and Jas, but in a brotherly fashion that I could live with.
Just as I drained the pasta, Bella appeared.
She looked rather shell-shocked.
Alice lay the sleeping baby in the crib and walked over to her friend.
"Okay, either Chris Hemsworth just kidnapped you and pulled you into his apartment for a fun time, or...you won lotto?"
"I just bought a new apartment," Bella replied breathlessly.
I felt an instant pang of regret. I loved that she lived here, on the less 'desirable' side of town and didn't care what anybody thought about that fact. Every other female I'd met had been impressed because I lived in the best part of town, but Bella thought it was ridiculous how people paid four times the price for the same sized apartments there just because somebody had decided they were worth more in that area.
She had a point.
Here the residents lived in closer proximity to one another but had a sense of community. Over in The Heights, we had high fences and security buildings with doormen and often never even saw who lived in the same building.
We had more choices of fine dining, but she had two restaurants she loved right on her doorstep, and who needed more choice than that?
It wasn't as if she dined out often. I thought she really loved living here, even if she had a single room and no interior walls.
"Where is it?" Alice asked.
"Upstairs," Bella replied. "It's amazing, Alice. This architect bought it when it was just an open warehouse and he put in a mezzanine floor and created this loft bedroom that you won't believe...it has a claw footed tub in the bedroom! I love it!"
"So, here you at least get a separate bathroom and it's better?" Alice questioned.
"I'll show you this week when he moves out. It has two normal bathrooms as well, and four guest rooms and an enormous open sitting room with cathedral ceilings, and a gourmet kitchen..."
"Wow. How did you afford it?" her friend asked.
"Savings, Alice. I've saved every dollar possible all my working life in the hope I'd one day own that loft. Of course, I can't afford to furnish it, but it does have a brass bed and a grand piano."
"So, two places to have sex," her friend chuckled.
"Allie! It's a grand piano. Nobody would sully an instrument like that by shagging on it, surely."
"If you say so. Does the kitchen have counter tops?"
"My God, you are perverted," Bella replied. "I would never have sex on a bench where food was prepared. That would just be...unhygienic."
"Not to mention dangerous with all those knives and such," I added.
Bella sat down and I served dinner.
"So, Edward, how did you end up sleeping in my bed?" she asked as she twirled the pasta around her fork.
"I got scared of those lethal springs you were warning me about," I joked.
Bella's face dropped. Fuck.
"God no, I didn't bring anyone here. I wouldn't do that."
She relaxed and shot me a small apologetic smile.
"So, what will you do with this apartment?" I asked.
"I haven't thought about it. You'll come live with me in the new place, right?"
For one delirious second, I thought she was speaking to me.
Alice shrugged.
"You could rent this place to me and Tom. I'll find a job as soon as possible and pay my own way. You can't just take us on as charity cases. You must have mortgages, you property tycoon."
"I have two payments to go on this place and I can swing the asking price on the loft without any mortgage if I don't furnish the place. I mean, I could buy things each paycheck. Just get a few basics and replace them with something better when I have savings again. I guess if you moved into the loft with me, I could rent this out unfurnished so at least you will have my old bed, and Edward will still have his uncomfortable pull-out sofa to suffer on. I don't want to live in a place that big all alone."
"Then I insist on buying you a new sofabed as a housewarming gift," I stated, cheering up considerably now I knew nothing was going to change. I was still allowed to sleep over. In fact, I'd buy her a whole lounge suite.
"Okay, seeing you will be the one sleeping on it, but nothing else, Edward. Don't get any ideas about paying for my furniture yourself."
Alice gave me a wink. I had a feeling she would help me sneak some furniture in, and maybe we could come up with a way to explain it.
Sure enough, when Bella went off to the bathroom, Allie whispered conspiratorially to me.
"It'd be cool if you were about to buy all new furniture for yourself and had nowhere to put your current stuff. I'm guessing money is not a problem for you. I know that's an Eton shirt you are wearing and how much it must have cost you. Not to mention those shoes. Berluti never had that style on sale in this country, where did you get them?"
Bella knew less about brands than a chicken did, so I was surprised that Alice, who seemed to be penniless, knew them so well.
"I got them in London last time I went over for a vacation," I replied.
She nodded her approval.
"Back in the day, when I had money, I bought Bella a Gucci blouse once. She cut the tag out because it itched. Can you believe that?"
I laughed. "Bella will always be Bella. I bet it's one of the garments she hangs in the bathroom."
Alice looked outraged.
"It's midnight blue."
I nodded. "I love that blouse on her. It makes her skin look amazing. I'm sure she has no idea what you would have paid for it or she'd shove it in the back of her closet and never wear it in case anyone thought she was 'being posh'".
Bella's home phone rang and she hurried out to answer it.
"Really? Yes, indeed, that would be great. Now? Cheers, talk to you later. And thank you."
She hung up and turned to us.
"That was Alec... he has to go out for the evening unexpectedly but he knows me too well. He said if I want to get another look in the apartment through new eyes as the almost owner, to go up now and he'll let me in before he leaves. Do you two want to come and see what I just bought?"
Alice jumped up and almost ran for the door, then remembered Baby.
"Oh darn. I guess I will have to wait until he let's you have a daytime visit. I don't have anyone to watch Tom."
"Not a problem, we can take him. He never wakes up once he's settled for the night, no matter what, you said," Bella answered.
"Let's do this," I added. I wanted to see what Bella's apartment of choice was like. I knew this one could not be her idea of the perfect place to live. It had always been a stopgap and now we knew why. It was cheap and she could keep saving the majority of her wage even as she paid off this mortgage.
Bella led the way, and I carried the sleeping infant against my shoulder. It seemed young Tom could sleep through anything. He was heavier than I'd expected, but my job demanded I work out and keep fit so he was no challenge to my arms. They were used to bearing weights.
"It has an elevator but it doesn't stop on all floors so we have to use the stairs," Bella explained with a shrug.
"I didn't get to the gym today anyway," I replied.
"Goodness me, this place is going to impress the boys," Alice said, looking about in awe at the high ceiling and mezzanine half floor above us.
"I'm never bringing any casual acquaintances back here. Sex is not worth the effort, anyway. I have my house now, and I plan to spend my nights stamping my own brand on this place and making it truly mine. I won't need another outlet for my energy. Everything I have is going into making this place perfect."
Bella was going to try celibacy? I'd never considered that a viable option. What happened to men who didn't have sex of any form? Their balls probably spontaneously combusted into dust.
When I met females, I always categorized them into Untouchable; if they were related to a case and could possible be our suspect, and never thought of them as females again. If the main suspect was not obvious, they were perps, witnesses, givers of false alibis, aiders and abettors.
If not a suspect, they were then looked over more carefully. Some would have the personality and attitude I was looking for; Fun Time girls.
Others had the look and vibe of a woman searching for her mate, and they had the power to instantly shrivel any response in my pants. I either called those girls "Ma'am" and pretended I'd assumed anyone their age was already married and pissed them off that way or if necessary, I bought out the big guns, and inferred she must have an 'understanding girlfriend' somewhere in her life. 'What, you aren't gay? I'm sorry, I just assumed...'
Oh, they hate that one, and avoid me like the plague themselves and only ever shoot me glares of hate from then on.
On the work front, as I said, I usually just got it out of the way and defused the bomb from the beginning, and every time we were on a stakeout together I confided in them about some woman I was pursuing, real or more often, imagined; just so they knew we had gone as far as I ever intended us to go, and they either got huffy for a while, or started telling me back about some guy who got away and I'd offer some ideas, but really, we all know the truth.
If he wasn't that into you, nothing would change that.
You were what you were to every guy you met and if he'd put you in the dreaded friend category, or had already taken you up on your offer but refused seconds, then you needed to forget him and move on.
Men do not harbour secret feelings. If they like what they see, they attempt to possess it, temporarily or permanently. If temporarily, and he says he isn't looking for a relationship right now, that means he isn't into you, no matter how 'perfect' you may think the two of you are as a couple. It isn't going to happen so don't demean yourself by chasing after him and throwing yourself at him at every opportunity. He has made his decision and the most you will get is a guy who thinks 'hey, she's offering sex on a plate, while not avail myself to that while I'm looking for my One, or for my next conquest." Either way, he is not into you like you want him to be.
There will be no words of love, no affectionate touches, no longing to be back beside you when we part. No flowers or three hour phone calls in the middle of the night because he misses you.
We think we have made everything clear and above board but sometimes we do miss the cues that you still think this is headed somewhere, despite our actions and reactions..
Sometimes we do pick up on it; when we meet a 'Jessica' and then we need to abandon ship fast and get out of Dodge.
Which is why I rarely hook up in my own neighbourhood.
Bella's neighbourhood had always been more convenient, because afterwards I could kiss the girl goodbye and drive to Bella's place and claim my usual spot on her couch, not face an hour in traffic. Sometimes, if the girl kissed me back in the wrong way, I'd check the time and shrug and add "I should get home. The wife believes I work late but she is never going to buy that I work all night long."
That's usually enough said. Even if they really do fancy me, what sensible girl wants to take on a proven cheater? Why put themselves through the drama of coming between man and wife when they know in time it could be them sitting at home in the dark, watching the door, waiting for me to come home smelling of some other woman's perfume?
Men can be pigs, of that there's no question and it never bothered me if my conquests saw me that way. If I had any real interest in them, I would not have gone home with them from the bar the first night we met.
Bella was the only exception to that rule, amongst many of my other rules that had always protected and guided me.
I was desperate enough to be with her that if she offered me a single night in her bed, I'd take it. I would just have to make it such an amazing night she would forget to kick me out once we were done, though I knew a night with her would go on forever. We'd still be trying to get enough of one another when the dawn broke.
More than anything I wanted to see that spark in her eyes that said I was what she wanted as well.
So far she had done nothing to indicate she would ever see me how I wanted her to, but for some reason, I was the one being the blind fool here, and waiting for the day that changed.
I'd only ever kissed a girl with feeling once and Bella had neither noticed the message I was trying to give her, nor reciprocated. She'd hardly even kissed me back.
After all the girls I'd used and kissed without any feelings other than lust, I guess I deserved it.
Karma can be quite the bitch.