Chapter Four

Charlie

I was worried about Bella, she was so quiet and pale but she managed a wan smile as we landed and I gripped her hand,

"Do you want to go straight to the house or would you like to get a motel room so you can sleep first?"

"Lets get it over with."

I nodded and we took a cab to Renee's address which turned out to be a slightly run down single storey in a shabby neighbourhood but inside she'd made it comfortable and homely. I picked up a framed photograph of Renee with Bella on a beach somewhere and felt a pang at my ex wife's death. I'd never stopped loving her despite the way she left me, taking my baby daughter with her.

Bella kept us in contact and sometimes I thought Renee sounded wistful when we spoke. If she'd asked me to take her back I'd probably have been fool enough to say yes but now that was over, she was gone and I was all that Bella had left in the world. I'd do my best with this person I hardly knew these days. I watched as she went through the back, to the bedrooms I presumed, and I waited a while before following her. She sat on her bed holding another photograph of herself and her mum and crying silently.

"I never saw her you know. I saw the other, they were torn to pieces, and I heard the noise, but I never saw mum."

She put her hands to her ears still holding the photograph which bent as she tightened her grip.

"Saw what Bella? You were still in the bus, how could you see what happened to the other passengers? Sometimes in accidents there's so much blood it makes injuries look a lot worse than they are honey but I think you're imagining this. It's probably all to do with the bang on the head you got."

She shook her head in denial,

"There wasn't...not enough anyway...how could they be so mangled with so little?...What happened Dad?"

I sat down beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders .

"There was a crash Bella and you hit your head, you couldn't have seen much, you were unconscious when they found you and you were still inside the bus."

She shook her head emphatically,

"No. I wasn't. None of us were. The bus broke down and we were waiting in the road. I saw the second bus, well its dust trail. He told me that's what it was. He knew something terrible was going to happen and he warned me, he told me what to do but no one would listen to me."

"I think you're mixed up Bella but if someone did see what was going to happen it must have been shortly before the crash. Maybe someone told you to get to the back of the bus. Is that what happened maybe?"

Bella

There was no point in pursuing it any further, not yet, so I got up and started packing my things then turned to look at Charlie,

"Do you want me to cook something? There's plenty in the freezer, we stocked up for when we got back."

He was about to shake his head when he understood I wanted time to pull myself together.

"Sure Bells you do that while I look through Renee's paperwork. Its got to be done."

"All her personal papers are in a blue tin under the bed."

I went through to the kitchen and found some chilli I'd made and frozen but I couldn't stomach the smell, not now, so I threw it away and got out a steak pie which only needed heating up and some frozen fries to go with it. Once the oven heated up I put it all in and laid the table almost putting out cutlery for Renee too before catching myself. I wouldn't cry any more, I needed to pull myself together and every memory I had I would write down, every snippet until I could piece together everything that had happened. If there had been a young man who warned me why was he at the airport? Did he fly back on the same plane? Was he following me? Was I in danger even now? I pushed those thoughts away and concentrated on dinner.

Charlie spread the papers out while I cleaned up and then threw the remaining food away, emptying the cupboards as I went. Household things I boxed up for goodwill keeping a few memento's and all the photographs. Mum had kept all my report cards too and I couldn't help smiling as I put them in a box of things to be burned. I knew Renee was a bit of a pack rat but I was amazed, all the entrance tickets to places we'd visited, Sea world, Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, all kept in a shoe box. It was all I had left now, memories, and there would be no more, she was gone. I made a pledge that once I graduated I would find out what had really happened, why that stretch of road was so notorious and hopefully who it was who tried to save us. It gave me a good reason to keep going but I decided not to say anything to Charlie, at least not for now. He could probably find out some stuff but I wasn't sure I trusted the Mexican Authorities, they were keeping something quiet but what? And why?

It took two days to sort out the house and get the unwanted stuff picked up then we caught a cab to the airport and our flight to Seattle. Dad had found mums will which left all her worldly goods to me as sole heir. It meant there was some money, how much we didn't yet know, for my college fund. Dad's friend Harry picked us up from the airport which was a relief, I hated the thought of travelling in Dad's cruiser but of course he had been on leave while in Mexico so it wouldn't be here waiting. Dad got in front with Harry leaving the back seat for me but I wasn't alone. Already seated was a dark-skinned boy that I vaguely remembered from my visits to Forks when I was a little girl.

"Hello Bella. Harry thought you might like some company on the ride home, well Forks. I'm not sure if you remember me I'm..."

"Jake, Jacob Black, yes I remember you. I think the last time I visited you and I got in trouble for making mud pies and trying to bake them in your oven at home."

He laughed and it was the first I'd heard in a while,

"Yeah, I got in real trouble for that one. I'm sorry about your mum Bella."

I nodded biting my lip, I didn't want to talk about that just yet.

"So Jake what is there to do in Forks besides making mud pies? I take it the rainfall hasn't decreased any?"

"Nope just as wet as ever. As for Forks, couldn't tell you, we stay on the Res most of the time."

I nodded, I'd forgotten that, so he wouldn't be a friendly face at school! My life just looked more and more gloomy. Still, only two years and I would graduate, then I could find a college somewhere that didn't remind me of Renee, but not until I found out what really happened in Mexico. I wasn't letting that drop. I debated telling Jake of my thoughts but although we'd been childhood buddies I didn't know him well enough to take him in my confidence. He might tell Charlie or his dad Billy who was dads best friend. No, it would remain my secret, my mystery, and ultimately my discovery.