Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

AN: I didn't think I would have this chapter out until later this week, but your reviews kept me going. The more reviews I get, the more I write. Thank you so much for reading my story! I love getting your responses. I'm glad you like it.


The Edge of Truth

Chapter 4: Caged Bee Cafe


Bella walked down a long concrete corridor. The dull fluorescent lights flickered overhead. She scowled into the dim lighting. The headache that started before she left grew worse. She would have to do it soon. She couldn't put it off any longer.

Her steps echoed so heavily it sounded like three pairs of feet were walking. As she rounded a corner, Bella stopped suddenly and closed her eyes. She held her breath and listened intently to the noises around her. The buzzing from the blinking lights. A water drop from the ceiling. A rolling thunder in the distance. The echo of footsteps that lasted just a hair too long.

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"What have you been up to?" Carlisle asked, not looking away from the book of neurology in his lap.

"Nothing." Edward said too quickly as he turned to close the front door behind him. The light of the sun was just peering over the horizon. Just a hint of morning on the edge of darkness.

"Mhmm." Carlisle hummed and arched his eyebrows. -Doesn't smell like nothing. You've been at her house, haven't you?"-

Edward sighed and shrugged. "I thought maybe I could find something useful."

-Any success?-

"Not really." Edward leaned back into the chair opposite Carlisle. "I'm not even sure what I should be looking for."

Carlisle looked up from his book then. -What were you expecting?-

"Something to prove it wrong." Edward stared at his hands. "Something to prove that she wasn't a criminal."

Carlisle placed a finger to his lips in thought. "Do you have enough evidence to prove that she ever was one?"

"Not really, no." Edward furrowed his brows. "But-"

-But she made you think there was something to be suspicious of?-

"Yes." Edward breathed. "But I don't know. I can't be certain."

Carlisle studied him over for a second like he would a patient in triage. -She's hit a nerve.-

Edward rolled his eyes at the assessment.

"Hypothetically," Carlisle started slowly, "What would you do if today she said she was a drug dealer. And then tomorrow she said she was a murderer. And you never knew which one she was. What would happen on Monday?" -I know how strong your sense of justice is.-

Edward blinked. He thought for a long time, immersing himself in the scenario. If Bella was by human definition "bad" . . . what would he think of her?

"I would. . . " He swallowed a lump in his throat that had nothing to do with the thirst. "I would just be glad to see her again." He answered as honestly as he could. "It changes nothing."

-Do you think she would offer you the same grace?-

Edward hissed and rocketed onto his feet. "It's not the same." The words slid out from behind his teeth. "I'm not-she can't-"

"Easy, easy." Carlisle waved his hands. -It was just a hypothetical.-

"You were trying to trick me." Edward scoffed.

"I'm not as good at it as Bella is, it appears." Carlisle said good humored and opened his book. "And I wasn't trying to trick you."

Edward sighed, "I know." He ruffled his hands through his bronze hair, which only made it puffier. "I'm just on edge."

Carlisle flipped to a new page in his book. "She's just a girl, Edward."

Edward stared at him for a moment, incredulous.

Carlisle glanced up to meet his eyes. "Problem?"

Edward opened his mouth for a second as if about to answer, but then he changed his mind with a minute shake of his head. The breeze caused by Edward's quick retreat into his room rustled the page Carlisle was reading.

Patiently Edward waited. He was thankful for the weekend. Nothing required him to keep up appearances in town today. For hours he moved less than a statue. Then his phone buzzed and like magic Edward awoke into a living being.

1 Unread Message: Bella

This time it wasn't a newspaper clipping. It wasn't an article. It wasn't a report on some international thief. She sent him an audio file. Edward flipped his sound on, nervous for what may be on it.

It was music. Well, it was played on a piano but it wasn't very melodic. The chords jumped around, not going into each other and it ended unresolved. It was no song Edward was familiar with. But something about it was familiar. The chords progressed like someone practicing their technique or running drills. This wasn't a song. It was practice. But the chords skipped the progression or did some twice in a row, sometimes a chord would circle back. There didn't seem to be rhyme or reason. There were two pauses between the playing of chords. They were full rest notes.

Edward ran down to his piano and played along with the audio clip. Five chords then rest, three chords then rest, four chords and finish. Was this supposed to mean something? Was something hidden inside?

Edward wondered if it had something to do with the number of chords. 3:4:5: were the measurements of a right triangle. Perhaps it had something to do with numbers. He mapped out the number of notes between each chord. He was halfway through when he almost smacked himself in the head.

"Idiot." He muttered to himself. "It's so simple."

He played along to the audio clip once more while repeating the names of each chord. "C. A. G. E. D. rest B. E. E. rest. C.A.F.E." He jumped up. "That's it. Caged bee cafe." He was about to congratulate himself when he realized that meant nothing to him and he was no closer to knowing what today's message was.

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Bella opened her eyes as a shadow passed her face. She started walking down the hallway again and the echoing footsteps greeted her back. Inhaling deeply, Bella tried to steady her nerves. She'd been preparing for this for months. To cope, she began whistling. The notes were disjointed and the pitch faded eerily down the concrete corridor. It was the same progression of notes that she would send Edward in due time.

He hadn't replied to her first story. She wondered if he would wait to text her again until she had given him everything. It would be better that way, but she desperately wanted to know what he was thinking. If he was able to translate the newspapers. If he had realized that she was incriminating herself. She wanted to know what he would think of Bella the Lipstick Thief. If he believed it could be true or if he denied it.

She had to remind herself to be patient. She would know soon enough. Everything has its timing, like the notes on a sheet of music.

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1 Unread Message: Bella

It was another audio file. This time Edward had no trouble at all deciphering the message within the chords. "Effaced facade." Edward muttered to himself back in his room. He started pacing again while running over the words in his mind. He twisted them, defined them, redefined them, anagrammed them, assigned numerical values, but he kept running into a wall. She was giving him answers to a question that hadn't been asked.

Edward almost went across the hall to knock on Alice's door. Oh, that's right. She's not here. He missed Alice. He missed their odd conversations that no one else could follow. It was so easy with Alice. He wanted to bounce ideas off of her. Ask her what she thought he should do. Get it out of his head. Instead she left him to fend for himself. When would she come back? Edward started to feel hopelessly lost. He thought about calling her when his phone buzzed.

1 Unread Message: Alice

Alice: Humans have this marvelous invention called the internet, dumb dumb.

Did she just give him a hint?

He opened up his computer and tried googling the phrases. All that came up were links to kids piano websites and a few odd restaurants. Apparently these were common drills to help teach different chords to children.

Edward shook his head. Maybe he was doing it wrong. Maybe he hadn't figured out what the audio files were actually trying to say. Perhaps he jumped the gun and was following a red herring. But the chords spelled out real words. "Caged bee cafe" and "effaced facade" had to be the message or part of it.

Sighing, Edward turned back to the computer. He clicked on the first link of children's websites. Maybe it has something to do with the practice of piano. A regime for piano theory level 1 pulled up on his browser. He clicked over to chord practices. The link sent him over to a different window with a list of different chords for children to play.

A message from customer service appeared on the bottom left screen. "Hello, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask me."

Edward laughed apathetically. "Caged bee cafe?" Send.

Edward pushed his laptop down and leaned back against his couch. This was so different from yesterday. There were actual clues and stories and reports. Lines could be made, conclusions could be drawn. It wasn't a big leap to put two and two together. But this was just. . . nothing. There was nothing. No story. No connections.

Ding.

The customer service bot answered back. "I'm sorry. That is not correct. Please rephrase the question."

Edward rolled his eyes. Another dead end.

Ding.

"Please rephrase the question. I'd love to help you."

Edward stared at the message and the one above it. That is not correct? It was being oddly insistent. He checked the website he was on. It was just a series of numbers and letters with no attachment to the original children's website.

Edward bit his lip. This was a long shot. "What is the Caged Bee Cafe?" Send.

Dots appeared on the message screen. Edward didn't blink.

Ding.

"The song in each of us that is not afraid to sting."

Ding.

A link appeared followed by "I hope I have answered your question. Thank you and have a great day."

Edward would have fallen over if he were human. "No way." Edward almost laughed. He clicked the link provided.

A dark screen loaded. The only thing on the page was a space for a password. Edward tried "caged bee cafe" but it booted him out. A hint appeared above the password box. "Erase your mask."

A funny feeling squirmed inside of Edward. What was this? Hesitantly, Edward typed in "effaced facade."

It accepted the password. A new screen loaded.

"Welcome to Caged Bee Cafe headquarters. Congratulations. You have been accepted. To be invited to the next secret show enter your phone number below. You will receive a text 3 hours before performance with directions. You will have 10 minutes to accept your invitation. One per person. Please read our privacy policy."

There was nothing that explained what the performance entailed or what Caged Bee Cafe really was.

Edward shrugged and put in his phone number. What the hell. He read through the privacy policy and still didn't gather much information.

"No photography. No posts on social media. All phones will be collected by security. Do not try to fool security. Celebrity guests will not be announced at time of invitation."

He was only halfway through reading the privacy policy when his phone buzzed. Edward excitedly opened it up expecting to see another message from Bella.

1 Unread Message: Unknown

Unknown: Seattle, WA

9845 Factory Rd.

Walk towards the underpass. Enter the door on the left hand side under the awning. The music happens on the third floor. Reply ACCEPT within 10 minutes to receive the password.

Edward responded instantly. Coïncidence or not Edward was following this rabbit trail.

He checked his watch. The drive to Seattle would take three hours if one was obeying the speed limit. He could get there in one. Edward was already changing into what he hoped was appropriate clothing. He grabbed his wallet and made sure his "over 21" license was in there, just in case.

Buzz.

1 Unread Message: Unknown

Password: Swan

With keys in hand, Edward jumped over the banister down the three flights of stairs. He wasn't sure what to expect. A small part of him wondered if maybe she would be there too. Regardless he bolted down the highway towards the destination. About an hour later he was staring at an abandedoned building. He checked the directions again. This was the place. He watched as as people went in and out with large black chests.

As the sun went down, a swarm of people descended in the area. Edward grimaced. Vampires typically avoided these kinds of crowds, well the vegitarians did anyway. It was like a buffet, a distracted sweaty mass of food. After a quick prep talk to himself he hopped out and joined the masses.

It was after midnight when Edward came home.

"What have you been up to?" Carlisle looked up from his book as Edward slipped in through the front door. It was like deja vu from earlier today.

"I." Edward started a little incredulous of himself. "I went to this music. . . thing." He played with the wrist band on his right hand.

"A music thing?" Carlisle raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Edward nodded. "And it was amazing." Edward started gushing. "I got directions to this old abandoned building. This whole thing was all shrouded in secrecy which kind of weirded me out at first. But I understand why they do that. It makes it more personal and intense. This thing only spreads by word of mouth. Everyone there was so connected to the music because they felt like they were in on it. On stage there were these people dressed in robes and you couldn't see their faces and they were playing a mix of instrumental music and electronic and it was brilliant and creative and just fun? Fun? Yeah, it was fun. I was able to find out through reading a few minds that the players were all child prodigies, but then you, know, they grew up, so people stopped paying attention so they took their talents underground. Oh man, oh, every half hour they would bring in a famous artist and they would play together and the crowd would go crazy. I don't really keep up with popular artists but everyone else was shocked at who got to perform. And they would just improvise together. The music was phenomenal. They mixed genres and classics and I think I understand hip hop now? It was great." Edward breathed.

-But was she there?-

"No." Edward sighed. He had been surrounded by thousands of people, but he had never felt more alone. He wanted to share tonight with someone. But she wasn't there to share it with. "I mean, I don't think so. There were thousands of people there. I didn't smell her, but it's possible, not probable, but possible she could have been in a different section and I wouldn't have noticed. I don't know." Edward shrugged.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun." Carlisle smiled. "That's not something you get a lot of."

"No. It's not." Edward agreed sadly. "Unless you count hunting as fun."

"No one really does though. Except Emmett."

Edward laughed. "Yeah." Edward opened his mouth again and then closed it.

"What?" Carlisle pried. "Not this again."

"I'm confused. I'm not sure what the story is on this one. She just lead me to this thing and I went and I had a good time, but I don't know the story." Edward sighed and got a good whiff of himself. "Yikes, I smell like two hundred sweaty humans. That's disgusting. I'm going to go take a shower."

Buzz.

1 Unread Message: Bella

"Holy shit." Edward breathed as he stared at the picture Bella just sent.

-What is it?-

Edward handed Carlisle his phone. He took it and eyed the picture in question.

-What exactly am I looking at?- Carlisle stared at what looked to be a drawing on a paper napkin. There were posts and cross sections and what appeared at first to be blurry candle lights waving in a light breeze. But there were faces in the lights. And then he realized it was people. The drawing contained a multitude of people with their hands in the air.

"That's the view from the stage." Edward said slowly. "That's the point of view from someone on stage tonight. She, Bella, she was there."

Unlike yesterday, Edward desperately wanted to be able to believe this story. Bella: the underground musician.


AN: DOoooooo you want the next chapter?

Theories. Predictions. Questions.

Lay it on me.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

xoxo

Rosalie

p.s. thank you for the well-wishes. I'm feeling. Much. Much. Better. :)