Okay so I got really motivated (and procrastinated on studying) and wrote the next chapter today! Please please please let me know what you think!
When we finally made it to the police station, it was a complete madhouse. Officers were rushing around everywhere, followed closely by terrified people from town who had come seeking reassurance. I followed Edward to his office, weaving in and out of clusters of people standing around. I got a few prolonged glances thrown my way but for the most part they didn't seem to realize I didn't belong there.
"Cullen." A towering bear of a man rose up from inside Edward's office. Edward greeted him with a curt nod before sinking down into his chair behind the desk. "Who's she?" The man barked, as if I wasn't standing right in front of him.
"This is Detective Swan, from the federal office. Detective Swan, this is Chief Harris." I prepared for a handshake but the chief's arms remained tightly folded across his chest as he turned back to Edward. Well fine then.
"This town has officially lost it," Harris declared. "I've had no less than fifty phone calls in the last hour asking me to send a patrol to check out a suspicious car parked on their street."
"Can you blame them?" Edward was already typing away furiously on his computer. I hovered near the door, not sure whether to speak up or remain silent for now.
"Do we have a name?" It took me a second to realize they had moved on to discussing the body we'd found earlier.
"No, everything was too smashed up to tell. The coroner's going to check dental records and fingerprints later to try to figure out who it was."
"Have there been any missing person reports filed recently?" I made up my mind; I wasn't going to stand back like a kid and let the adults do everything. Harris glanced back at me as if he had just remembered I was here.
"Only one in the last week."
"So chances are..." I let my sentence trail off, blushing bright red. These were seasoned police officers; I'm sure they'd already connected the dots.
"We have our suspicions of course; we're just waiting for the coroner to confirm them." Edward stopped typing and stood up. He edged past Harris and I to the door, pausing and turning around. "You wanted those reports?" He raised his eyebrow; I scrambled to follow him, glad for a reason to get away from Harris. Edward led the way down the long hallway, nodding greetings to everyone we passed. We stopped in what looked like the break room - there were chairs, a microwave and fridge, and a printer to tie everything together. Edward grabbed a few papers off the printer and handed them to me. "Read as much as you want but these papers don't leave the station. Got it?" I nodded, already glancing over them.
"Can you give me a rundown on everything that's happened so far and everything you know?" The reports were awfully wordy; it would take a long time to get the vital information from them. Edward sighed, running a hand through his already-messy hair.
"Sure, but it might take a bit to cover everything." He moved to one of the chairs to sit down and I followed, settling across from him. "So, from the beginning. We found the first body three weeks ago, on the other side of town in the woods. She died of blood loss from puncture wounds in the neck."
"Puncture wounds...like from a knife?" I asked slowly, trying to understand. A brief, unreadable expression flitted across his face.
"Like from an animal."
"So why do you think a human is doing this?" I frowned, not understanding the connection.
"The first victim, Madison Wilson, had drugs show up on her tox screen. Prescription-strength sedatives. So did the second, Erica Waller. We're still waiting to identity the body today but it won't surprise any of us if it comes back positive for drugs. Both girls were missing for a few days before we found their bodies, so we know they had to have taken those drugs sometime between when they went missing and when we found their bodies. The killer probably did this to control them."
"So someone's drugging these girls, killing them, then dumping them in the woods? Did the animal bites happen after they died, possibly from some scavenger?"
"The bites were inflicted before they died, per the coroner. Besides, an animal wouldn't bite the neck and leave the rest of the body alone."
"Maybe he did it to cover his tracks," I mused. "Make people think an animal did it."
"If that was his plan, he might be the worst killer we've ever seen."
"He's still out there, though, so maybe he's better than we're giving him credit for." My words hung in the air as heavy silence fell.
"We'll catch him," Edward said, grim determination in his voice.
"That's what I'm here to help with." I glanced down at the reports in my hand. "I think I'll start talking to people today, just to feel things out." He nodded, standing up.
"I'm going back to talk to Harris but feel free to use anything here. If you have any questions, you know where my office is." He disappeared, leaving me alone in the lounge.
An hour later I found myself outside Madison Wilson's house. Her parents lived in a quaint two-story house with a wraparound porch, something that I had noticed was common to houses in Forks. It made sense; with all the beautiful forests, I'd want to be outside as much as I could.
I hesitated before walking up the sidewalk and knocking on the front door. A few seconds later the door opened a crack, revealing a man at the door. "Hi, Mr. Wilson? I'm Detective Swan. I'm here to ask you and your wife a few questions, if now is a good time." I held up my badge. He nodded, opening the door wider as he ushered me inside.
"Can I get you water or anything?" He ran a hand through thinning brown hair, hovering awkwardly between me and the front door.
"I'm alright, thank you."
I followed him into the living room, taking a seat in one of the chairs while he settled on the couch. A woman appeared a few seconds later, her eyes darting warily between her husband and I. "This is Detective Swan. She wants to ask us some questions." Mr. Wilson sounded tired, as if they'd gone through this routine many times.
"Haven't you made us re-live this enough?" I was taken aback by the venom in her voice.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, we're just trying to piece together more information so we can bring justice to your daughter."
"Anna..." Mr. Wilson stood up, folding his wife into his arms as she dissolved into sobs. He held her and I stood up.
"I'll just come back another time..."
"Just give me a minute and I'll be ready to talk," he murmured, gently leading his wife out of the room. A few minutes later he reappeared, swiping the back of his hand across his eyes before sitting back down. "Don't blame her. She's not usually like this," he said in way of apology.
"I don't blame her at all," I said softly. "I'm sorry we have to meet under these circumstances."
"Maddy was a great girl. Got good grades and was involved in a lot of clubs at schools...I just can't understand why someone would want to do this." His voice cracked.
"Mr. Wilson, can you tell me a little more about Maddy? What she was involved in specifically at school, who she hung out with, stuff like that?"
"She had lots of friends. Seemed like all the kids liked her - homecoming queen and all that. She was on the student council and played volleyball and soccer."
"Did she ever talk about any fights or arguments she might have had with anyone at school?"
Mr. Wilson thought for a second, then shook his head. "Not that she ever mentioned to us."
"Who were the people she was with the most?"
"Bethany Stallings, Alyssa Crowley, and Jen Mallory." I jotted down the names quickly, making a mental note to speak to all three of them later. "Mr. Wilson, thank you so much for your time. It was very helpful." I stood up, shaking his hand before showing myself out. The door shut firmly behind me.
"What do you know about the kids at the high school?" I was back at the station, slumped down in a chair in front of Edward's desk as I nursed a cup of coffee. It had been almost twelve hours since the body had been found and we were still working though all of the normal people in town were asleep by now.
"They keep out of trouble for the most part," he murmured, not taking his eyes off the computer.
"What about Alyssa Crowley, Jen Mallory, and Bethany, um, Stallings?" I asked, glancing down at my notebook.
"Madison's friends." Edward didn't sound surprised; I'm sure he had turned over the same information when he had talked to the Wilsons. "We've already talked to each of them. None of them had anything useful to contribute."
"I might try talking to them again tomorrow."
"Go ahead. Good luck getting anything out of them."
"Getting anything out of them?"
"Yeah. They clammed up when I asked them about their relationship with Madison. Guess they had a recent falling-out or something." He didn't sound concerned, though his words sent up several red flags in my head.
"And you didn't think to follow up with that? Did they have alibis for when she went missing?"
"They didn't do it."
"You sound sure about that."
"I am." For the first time Edward looked up at me, his eyes locked onto mine. "Trust me, they didn't have anything to do with her death."
"Hmph. I'm still going to question them though." I got up, intending to go hunt for another cup of coffee.
"I wouldn't expect anything less," he called down the hall after me.