A/N: Heyy Guys! I finally got in an update. Sorry it took so long. I do have other stories to write for and two Creative Writing classes to write stories for as well. I got this in as fast as I could. I have the third chapter 1/3 of the way done and will be posting the sneek peek later today on Livejournal (kcmayers . livejournal . com) and Twitter ( twitter kcmayers).
UPDATE: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED. INSTEAD OF SAM, THERE IS JACOB. THE STORY FLOWS BETTER THIS WAY.
Much Love,
K.C Mayers
City dark, higher up, you notice
Set it up, leave it up, you're hopeless now
The whole world is treating you wrong
Pushing back 'cross the sand
Find a light between the system
But before we collide
[Incomprehensible]
All the world beyond the window
All the world beyond, you are
All the love up above
Tell the lights, I'm not to see it
Tight grip, empty hand
Otherwise we start to look in
All the world beyond the window
All the world beyond, you are
"Windows" –Broken Bells
2. Windows
BELLA POV:
This was it.
After many years of perusing his whereabouts, wild goose chases into several states and constant dead-ends, she had finally pinned him down.
Forks, Washington.
What a fitting place for a serial killer: dark, gloomy, the relentless rain, snow, and clouds.
Yesterday was his first mistake. Many pedestrians who drove on the interstate had seen him, a man with copper red hair, chasing a woman into the trees of an abandoned road, right where they had found the body, no, remains, of Jessica Stanley.
She was shredded into bits, and burned to ash. Her blood still stained that road.
Bella had figured that Forks was his rendezvous location; he'd always regrouped here. He also owned a simple home there. She figured he would visit every now and then. His mansion was somewhere in Port Angeles, and if she could find that house, she could find him. But first she had to get through his guards and followers.
Isabella Swan was a detective of the Forks Police Department. She used to be shy, maybe a little soft, but when the time came, she was a real hard-ass. No one messed with her because of her relentless obsession with finding the man who murdered countless brunette women. She took over the responsibility of supervising the town when her father, Charlie, died in a shootout earlier the previous year. She had soared through the ranks, amazing everyone, with her grief and anger fueling her success.
When she first heard the news five years ago of killings extending all the way from California to Maine, all well-endowed brunettes, she knew it was a serial killer. She traced his patterns all over the country, leaving behind her friends, Alice, Rosalie and Emmett, to pursue a man she didn't know, but planned to kill. Everyone at the station lost interest on the man's case because they lost hope that a man with that degree of hate, wouldn't be put down that easily; so they left it to the big authorities. But Bella disagreed. She was going to put him down no matter the cost. And every time she found a new lead, it would disappear in a day. He covered his tracks well.
Bella had walked in the station that morning feeling optimistic and it really paid off. Sheriff Jacob Black had cornered her in the lounge room, while she went to collect her morning coffee, grasping a manila envelope, which she had kept the un-sub's file, in his caramel colored hands.
"Guess what I have, Detective Swan," he uttered cheerfully, hoping that he would be praised significantly for his hard work. He had spent hours and hours utilizing the information Bella obtained on the un-sub. Up to now, they never discovered his name, but Jacob had.
"What are you going on about, Black?" she voiced coldly, as she poured coffee into a small Styrofoam cup. Steam rose from the surface of the brown liquid, filling her nose and mouth with its warm, energizing aroma. She stared at his large form, gazing at him for head to toe as if he were an insect in her giant world. He may have been over six feet tall and vested with dangerous muscles, but he was soft and he broke easily.
Especially in Bella's presence.
He was secretly in love with Bella. Everyone knew it, even Bella, and it made her feel more powerful every time she, a meek yet strong twenty-four year old, belittled and humiliated, a twenty-six year old man of his size, daily. It was fun to see him cower before her. But he thought she was simply unaware of his feelings and will come to love him in time if he did things for her.
Like this.
"I got something," he replied meekly as he saw the irritation flourish on her face.
"And what might that be? I was having an amazing morning until you showed up. So what is so important that you had to fuck that up?" she faced him as she applied milk and sugar to her steaming cup and stirred rigorously, leaning against the counter; her charcoal gun flashing in warning from her belt.
"Information on one Mr. Edward Masen," He said merrily. He threw the manila folder haphazardly on the table that lay between the two of them.
"Am I supposed to know who the hell that is?" she asked bitterly as she took a careful sip of the hazelnut goodness.
"Your serial killer," he replied with gusto. She ungraciously choked on her coffee, spraying its particles through the air.
"You found out his name?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I got my best people working on it. And we found his name, address, business, and hideouts." He commented proudly.
"You hired private investigators? For me?" Bella asked in wonder. She never knew that Jacob really cared that much for her. She set her coffee back down on the counter, grasping the edges so she wouldn't fall in excitement. "This case was for me and me alone."
"I just thought you needed help; you weren't really looking in the right places and I just didn't want to see you disappointed anymore." he replied as he fidgeted in his spot anxiously while some of the walls surrounding Bella's heart started to break off.
Bella started to look at Jacob in a new light now. "Jacob…I don't know what to say or... how to thank you." She really couldn't believe that she was being nice to him for once.
Jacob gazed toward her with sudden confidence and determination. "You can thank me by going to dinner tonight,"
"Jacob," she said in exasperation, and then thought better of herself. It was time to stop playing around with the man's emotions and try to give him some semblance of a chance, even if she might not reciprocate, yet. But she was getting there. "I would love to,"
Minutes after Bella and Jacob's agreement for dinner at seven, she went to work on tracking the whereabouts of Edward Masen.
According the files he was last seen in Masen Enterprises, located in Seattle around eight-thirty this morning. It was nine-fifteen now. If Bella was lucky, she could corner him at his office. She wasn't necessarily looking to arrest him because she didn't have any evidence to put him behind bars; all she wanted was a confrontation, maybe an observation.
She dialed the number to the office, anticipation tingling its way through her bloodstream.
"Good morning, you're calling Masen Enterprises. This is Angela Weber, how may I help you?"
"Hi, Angela. This is Bella Swan, and I wanted to know if you can squeeze in an appointment for me to see Mr. Masen in the next thirty minutes."
"Um…that is pretty short notice. I'm sure you know Mr. Cullen is a very busy man."
"Yes I do know that, Angela. Maybe I didn't tell you, but I'm Detective Swan. Unless you want me to get a warrant and bust in that place myself, guns blazing, I suggest you arrange it." Bella replied coldly. She knew that a man of his power would never want police trespassing through his business.
"Um, yes Detective. I will arrange that appointment straight away. Can you get here for…9:30?"
"I'm on my way," bella replied, quickly hanging up. She gathered her handbag, badge and gun, and made her way to the squad car. Bella arrived at Masen Enterprises at precisely 9:25, parking close to the abnormally tall building and made her way inside, curious to see what kind of man would ever kill a woman.
