Chapter Nine
Charlie refused to leave while his daughter remained unconscious, or asleep, as Alice, her doctor examined her. He made the call seconds after she collapsed, though it surprised Edward that someone else knew about Bella's episodes, especially a doctor.
Bella had been unconscious and eerily still since the ordeal. Edward stood beside the pint sized, raven-haired woman, assessing her abilities. She looked much too young to be a doctor. She was a female equivalent of Doogie Howser, only shorter. He barely recognized her. It had been years since he'd seen her.
"When will she wake up?" Edward asked as he leaned his shoulder against the wall near the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.
"When her body and mind tell her to," Alice stated as she started to put her things away in an honest to God old-fashioned medical bag. "And you will not attempt to wake her up before then."
Edward's eyebrows arched at the no nonsense tone of the tiny woman. She stood up to him as if he wasn't glowering at her. "She has information we need," he stated in a matching tone.
"Well, she can't give it to you if she's damn tired." Alice turned away from the formidable Edward, smiling at Bella's father. "She's fine, Charlie. She needs a while to recover from the ordeal. I'll show myself out."
"I wanted to be sure, thank you, Alice." Charlie stated as Garrett followed the doctor out of the room, ready to take her back home. "Sorry, she's the only other person that knows about this place."
Edward rolled his eyes, but kept his voice low for Bella's sake. "Is she always so annoying?"
"She's very protective of Bella since Rosalie died."
"I haven't seen her or her brother in years. How is Emmett?" Alice was Emmett's little sister, and if he remembered correctly she was about Bella and Rosalie's age back in high school.
"As well as you expect from someone who thinks he lost the love his life."
Edward rolled his eyes again, trying to ignore the pang of guilt. He wasn't exactly nice to Emmett when he figured out he was in love with Rosalie back in the day.
"Heard he moved all the way across the country," Edward said, turning his attention away from Charlie.
"New York."
Edward grunted. "That's about as far away as you can get from home."
"And the place Rosalie dreamed to go one day."
She had wanted that, dreamed and talked about it every time Edward visited, until she disappeared.
"You know an awful lot about my sister and her friends."
"Bella likes to keep her memory alive. I think it makes her feel less guilty. Alice keeps her up to date on her old friends." Charlie shrugged and gestured toward the door.
Edward shook his head. "I'm staying here."
"She's tired." It seemed that Alice wasn't the only one protective of Bella, though he expected nothing less from Charlie.
"I won't wake her up, but I'm keeping an eye on her," Edward stated firmly. He wasn't that much of an asshole, though many would argue.
"All right," Charlie said, nodding. "Alice says the chances of someone surviving that wound in the picture are actually pretty good." They stilled as Bella rolled to her side, away from their voices, whimpering. Edward and Charlie moved toward the door, walking into the hallway to allow her to sleep.
Edward left the door partially opened so he could still see her. "If that's the case, he's one sick bastard. Did he do it to himself or to someone else?"
Charlie hummed, before replying. "She said 'his eyes' more than once."
That could mean he'd done it to himself. "What kind of person are we dealing with? Why did he choose her in the first place? Has he become so fixated on her that he intends to kill those that look like her until he gets his hands on the real thing?"
Charlie's face flushed as his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "That will never happen."
"I agree. It won't. I won't let it happen, but we need answers."
"Maybe we can get some once she gets up," Charlie said softly. "She sometimes gets intimate details from these episodes, like if she really is in their heads."
Edward cleared his throat and looked away. He had a feeling she had been in his mind. Ever since she described her episodes and seeing one happen in person, the possibility sounded plausible. From a supernatural standpoint at least, though science and most people would laugh at them for even considering it. Another thing he noticed was that his mind was clearer, not as dark. It was hard to explain, even to himself.
"Yeah, let's hope."
Charlie scratched at the back of his neck. "Honestly, for her to have been in his head scares the hell out of me."
It scared Edward, too. In his line of work, he often had to think like a killer or suspect. It allowed him to figure out their next move, it was something he was good at, but the idea of Bella being inside the mind of a killer did not sit well with him.
"Edward!"
Charlie's eyes widened as Bella screamed from her bedroom. Edward ran inside and found her thrashing in the bed, her lavender sheets twisted at her feet. A nightmare was plaguing her once again, and he reached for her. He held her close as she shuddered and clutched to his chest.
"H-he…oh my God," she cried, gasping for breath. "You need to look for c-cops and authorities of any k-kind in the victims of their known friends and family." She shivered violently in Edward's grasp. "Look for a cover up, too, from about twenty to thirty-five years ago."
"You got that much from that brief time in his head?" Charlie asked from where he sat, on the other side of the bed. She nodded, tightening her grip on Edward's shirt.
"What kind of cover up?" Edward asked as he smoothed a hand down her back. She relaxed a little more.
"It's all disjointed, but he was a child, maybe. It may be multiple incidents. He has a thing against authority figures like cops, lawyers, and teachers."
"All the victims including Bella and Rosalie came from the same school district. Maybe he attended a school in it, too." Charlie offered to Edward. "And both of them had cops in their families. We can go through the rest of the victim files, see if any them do, too."
Edward nodded. It was a lead, and the same one he had the night before. He looked down at Bella, her eyes drooping again. "Hey, Bellie," he said firmly, shaking her slightly. "I need you to tell us, is he dead?" She shook her head, trying to move away. "No, Bella. I know you're tired, baby, but I need you to answer. Did he really try to kill himself or was it another victim?"
"His eyes," she grumbled, fighting against Edward and wanting desperately to sleep again. "It was him."
Edward allowed her to fall back on the bed, watching as she curled around her pillow. "She can sleep now," he said to Charlie, tucking a blanket around her. "I think we got everything we can from her today."
Charlie nodded and led the way out of the room. They called Garrett, who left with Alice, to give him the information they learned from Bella and he agreed that it would be worth looking into. He only hoped the school records were up to date and in a computer system, or else they'd have to go through them the old-fashioned way.
~oOo~
An hour passed since the others departed to grab the files Edward required and check in with work. They needed more supplies if all of them planned to stay with Bella. Edward didn't like the idea of so many coming and going. If the killer hadn't followed one of them the first time, he could if he caught Garrett or Charlie in the city.
Alone with nothing to do, Edward explored the cabin. It was a traditional log cabin, with wood beams and high vaulted ceilings throughout. The fireplace in the living room was large enough for him to walk inside if he needed to, and the mantle looked as old as the trees that surrounded the perimeter of the cabin. He familiarized himself with the security system.
A few hours passed when he checked on Bella again. "Hey, sleepyhead," he said, finding her sitting on the side of the bed. Her legs dangled, her toes not even skimming the floor. She was small, petite. "Everyone left."
"I figured," she yawned, finally meeting his gaze. There was evidence of her crying on her cheeks and the redness around her eyes. "He's going to keep playing with me now, isn't he? I shouldn't have said anything. What is wrong with me?"
Edward walked further into the room, taking a seat beside her. "Bella, you were upset and you lashed out. Anyone is entitled to do that under your circumstances. Yes, it was best for him not to know that you can see through the eyes of his victims. There is no going back now. I'll be honest with you. Now that he knows what you're capable of, I have no idea what he'll do. But I will promise you he will not come near you again."
Edward meant it, and he would not fail this time.
She nodded, whispering, "Thank you. I'm sorry that I lost it there for a bit."
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, a natural thing to do, though to him it felt different from when they were younger.
"If that's your worst, my stay here should be a breeze," he said in a playful tone.
She leaned further against his side. "You've seen my worst, Edward. I'm pretty sure you and your buddy, Jasper, took a while to regrow your hair."
Edward's head tipped back as he laughed. "I knew that was you!"
It was during one of his visits back home for Christmas, that he made quite a scene at a party where he found his little sister. He found her and Bella, along with Emmett, dancing the night away. Bella refused to leave with him since he was not the boss of her—her words—so he threw her over his shoulder and carried her out. She screamed all the way to the car alerting neighbors and having the police show up minutes after they left. Including her father and that earned her a punishment of three months for that. Though he didn't catch her there, some girl at the party ratted her out.
A week later, Edward and Jasper woke up groggily to shaved armpits and no eyebrows. Jasper suffered since he had helped pick the girls up at the party. Rosalie had stated that because of what happened none of the boys from school would ask Bella out anymore, so she wasn't happy with him. Rosalie never had admitted that Bella drugged and shaved him.
"That was a total over reaction."
"I had no date to my prom thanks to you," she grumbled.
It took a moment for Edward to come to another realization. His smile fell, his laughter ending abruptly.
"Looks like you're figuring it out now," she whispered, rubbing her face harshly and sighing. She moved enough to put more than an inch of space between them. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."
"You were taken that summer." Just like his sister.
Other things fell into place, the fact that she'd been hiding ever since, how she was so skittish when he first arrived. Suddenly, sitting beside her on the bed, made Edward aware of how close she was to him.
"Yup, I haven't had sex in seven years." Edward cleared his throat, standing and trying to think of something to say. She looked thoughtful for a moment, her brow furrowed. "Then again, since I never had sex, I have no idea what I've been missing."
This was not a safe topic of conversation. Edward himself hadn't had time to seek a warm body in months, hell, probably a year. He spent most of it trying to get his PI and security company up and running.
Her scent filled the room, filling his head with dangerous images. Looking at Bella now, with her soft, flushed skin, beautiful long legs in cutoffs, he remembered of how aware of her he was since he arrived. Had been since the day they met. He hadn't allowed himself to think of her like that then, not really. As she sat looking up at him with soft brown eyes and a timid smile, he knew it wouldn't be a good idea for that to change.
However, his body was not fucking cooperating. He was hard. Fuck.
