All normal disclaimers apply and again thanks to the ladies who keep us readable.
I take her to pick up her spare set of keys and drive to her house address. "I'll just check over your house, before I leave," I say getting out of the car.
Bella unlocks the door and steps aside. I spend the next few minutes looking around the house making sure that it's secure, until tomorrow when she gets her locks changed.
"Make sure you put the chain on. I've already secured the one on the back door. Have your phone at hand at all times. Call 911 first, ask questions later, if you know someone's in the house. However, you can just call me if you're worried or feel unsafe at all any other time."
Bella holds up her hands. "Yeah, I know, you already told me this," she says with a smile. "I've already called and reported my cards as stolen, and the locksmith said he'd be here at nine tomorrow morning. Remember, I'm an officer's daughter, this was programmed into my head from a very young age."
I chuckle and give her a wink. "Okay, I'll be in touch about your case and I'll see you on Sunday for the class," I say walking out.
"You sure it's okay for me to join?"
I nod at her reassuringly. "Yes, of course it is, you'll be fine, really."
Bella doesn't look convinced with what I am saying.
"I'll take it easy on you for the first two classes, I promise. But after that, I'm going to be all over your ass making sure you know how to defend yourself."
"I'll see you then," she says and I notice the genuine smile on her face.
I wave at her as I walk back to my car. She seems to wait until I drive away, before going back into her home. I laugh shaking my head as I turn up my music and tap to the beat of the song against the steering wheel.
I walk back into the precinct and my smile falls when I see Mike and Jessica sitting there laughing as they talk with some of the other staff.
"Why are you two still here? Your break ended over half an hour ago."
They both look at me like they don't understand the question. "But we're dealing with the mugging?" Mike says a little confused.
"No, I was dealing with that, you are supposed to be at the PARK," I say, and again they both just look at me.
"But he has already mugged someone, why do we have to be there?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Because, I told you to be there, in case you forgot—it's your job! Speaking of doing your job, I want to know what the hell happened earlier—when Bella was mugged—because someone was not doing their job then either!" I yell and Mike pales.
"I was just wanting to warm up," Jessica pouts.
I look at her like she has gone nuts. "You were cold? It's summer time!"
She bites her bottom lip and looks around to the others for a rally of support.
"Did you call in for this break to warm up? Because I don't remember you asking for a break, or even informing me that you were going to take a break and sit in the car!"
"Don't shout at me," Jessica whines as her lip wobbles.
"How long were you in the car for?" I ask while glaring at Jessica.
"Half an hour," Jessica says in another whisper.
"So, let me get this straight, you start your shift, left late to go to the park, spent ten minutes walking and then took a half hour break?"
Jessica nods as her lip wobbles again. "I ... I ... I'm sorry," she says after a few minutes.
"Enough, Jessica you're supposed to be an officer of the law, toughen up. I swear you all better start doing your jobs better. If you had listened to your orders, maybe there would be one less mugging victim tonight!"
I walk away, before anyone can speak again. I pick up my outdoor police jacket and tell Emmett that I'm heading to the park. When I get there I start to walk around slowly, stopping when I get to the bench where Bella said she sat. I smile nodding as I pass a few people.
~RTS~
The days pass by without any leads, and we're still clueless to who's doing the muggings. I haven't seen or talked to Bella since the night she was mugged. I've found that she's been on my mind constantly—I'm sure that's just because she now becomes an open case of mine. I want to talk to her again, so I'm making my way to her work to talk to her. I walk in and see her serving a table. I make my way to one of the tables in her section. It doesn't take her long to come over to me.
"Hey, Edward," she says with a smile.
"Hey, Bella," I reply giving her a smile of my own.
"You still on duty?" she asks pointing at my uniform.
"I am, but I need to eat and I also wanted to talk to you again, so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone."
Bella bites her lip as she looks at me. "How about I take your order and then ask Rose if I can take my break?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me. I'll have the burger with smothered fries and a Pepsi, please."
She gives me an eye roll before she walks away. I watch her as she talks to Rose, who looks my way before moving her head as she speaks with Bella. Bella then moves over to the bar and looks as if she's getting my drink. She lifts her head and looks my way before putting it back down.
"Here's your Pepsi and your utensils, the food will be up soon. Do you mind if I sit with you and have my lunch as we talk?"
I look at her a little surprised. The tone of her voices tells me she thinks I will turn her down. "That'll be fine, Bella."
She smiles at me placing down another glass of soda and her silverware, before walking back to the bar. Once our meals are ready, she brings them over and sits down across from me.
"So," she says cutting her grilled chicken sandwich in half, "you want to ask me more questions?"
I chuckle a little as I tilt my head at her, because she seems nervous. "Yes, I do, but first, am I making you nervous?"
Bella swallows as she looks up at me. "What, no ... what did you want to ask? I guess I'm just wondering what there could be left to go over."
"I was allowing you to eat first, but if you want us to talk as we eat that's fine, too." I notice that as I talk she blushes looking down at the table.
"Sorry, no rush, just sometimes my mouth runs away on its own and says whatever it wants."
I chuckle and pat her hand. "It's fine, and you're fine."
"Well, ask away, because now you have me thinking."
"Okay, did you see or notice anyone watching you when you were writing?"
Bella thinks for a few seconds then shakes her head a little as she talks. "No, it was actually a pretty quiet day. I saw the police pass me by a few times. Then there was no one for a bit ... no, wait, there was a guy with a dog. The dog was friendly and came over to me to pet him. The man who was with him said something about it being oddly chilly, earlier than normal. It was after that I realized how late it was and started putting my stuff away."
I frown a little. "Do you remember what the guy or dog looked like?"
"Yeah, the dog was black and had whiskers; the guy said it was a Scotty. The man was in his thirties, bald, looked a little scary wearing one of those jackets that flashers wear, but he was polite." Bella shrugs her shoulders at the end.
"Okay, I'll look into that. He may have seen someone hanging around. I would also like to apologize. The park is supposed to be manned with two officers at any one time, but the two that were on when you were there were a little cold," I say with a little disdain in my tone. I look to Bella as she chuckles.
"Charlie hated when his men would complain about being out when it was cold or raining and it was always raining in Forks. You have no idea how many times he would grumble about it. He found a way to curb it though. Whoever complained was given the duty of cleaning the bathrooms, including scrubbing the toilets."
I look at her a little confused. "There were only eight cops under Charlie. Sally did the cleaning as well as manned the phones. It was up to the others to clean the toilets if someone said they didn't want to be out in the rain."
I chuckle and smile at her. "That sounds like a good plan; I may even try it."
The rest of our lunch seems to go by with Bella and me just chatting about other stuff.
"I'll see you on Sunday, remember I know where you live, so you better show up," I say as Bella collects our plates.
I walk out and head back to the station to see if I can find this man and his dog that Bella had seen.
A/N: Well what are your thoughts about Edward and his interactions with Bella in this chapter? Thanks again for reading and reviewing this story. Nikky and Kasi~
