Chapter Eleven

Alice

When we finished in Seattle we drove back stopping at the local store for some shopping, it would have looked odd if we never brought food locally and we strove very hard to fit in with the human community. I excused myself to browse in the little book store which was better than the smell of the human food and as I did so two elderly women came in and started chatting to the store owner. At first it was just local gossip and I was about to leave when I heard something that made me stop, just out of sight of them behind a rack of cookery books.

"Did you hear about Meg Hinds?"

"No, didn't she run away from home with some boy?"

"Yes but she's back. Her mother was sick with worry, they thought she might just vanish like the Swan girl."

"Not the same thing at all Jane, Meg was a teenager and we all knew about that boy she'd been seeing. A bad lot by all accounts."

"True but even so it worries you, if a baby could go missing and never be found then so could a teenage girl."

"I still say her mother had something to do with that. His mother Helen swore to it right to her dying day."

"Do you think he still misses her? After all he never married again."

"I guess so. Well I'd better be going home before Len gets back demanding his dinner."

So there was a mystery in Forks! The disappearance of a girl, a baby girl. Could this be the girl we were all looking for?

As soon as we got back Carlisle and Esme went to hunt while I excused myself, a few hours alone was just what I needed right now. I booted up the laptop and typed in

Mystery disappearance from Forks Washington"

But got no hits, now why?

"Baby goes missing from Forks"

No more luck. Then I reran the conversation I'd heard. No one actually said the baby went missing from town so I tried,

"Baby girl vanishes"

But there were too many hits now, I needed to narrow my search. They'd used a name. Swan. I typed in,

"Swan baby goes missing"

There were a few stupid stories about the water fowl but then I hit gold dust. I read everything I could find on the case then put my thoughts into some kind of order before ringing Jazz.

Alice, tell me you have something."

"I do, you're looking for a girl called Isabella Swan although I doubt that's the name she's known by now. She went missing from a babysitters house in Phoenix Arizona as a baby."

"So what's the connection with Forks?"

"Her mother and father were divorced but they lived in Forks before that. Her father still does and I think somehow she's learned of her true identity. I think she's heading to Forks to find him."

"So who is he? Do we know him?"

"Yes we do, he's Chief of Police."

"You mean Charlie Swan?"

"Yes. He spent years trying to find her but there was no trace. I think possibly Carlisle was responsible for her disappearance although I have no idea why."

"Carlisle? See if you can find any connection between Charlie Swan, his ex-wife and Carlisle. I know it's a long shot but worth a go."

"OK. Best of luck."

Well we knew a little more but everything we learned threw up more not fewer questions. If Bella Swan were making her way from Little Rock to Forks then she needed transport.

I text Alice,

"Check bus reservations from Kansas, see if a girl was booked on the Greyhound bus. If she was and never showed at least we know where to start searching."

She rang me back,

"Has Peter rung back?"

"Not yet."

"You need help Jazz, she could be anywhere between Kansas City and Forks and God knows how she's travelling, hitching is so dangerous."

"Alice, if I get help what do I say? You're looking for a girl called Isabella Swan somewhere between Kansas City and Forks Washington but she probably wont be using that name and no, we have no idea what she looks like."

"I guess if you put it like that it sounds pretty hopeless but if she's not using Swan she might be using Harris. Don't forget that's the name Carlisle used on the phone, the Harrises should meet with an accident. I'll check that out, maybe we can find a photo of the mystery girl that way."

I went back on the internet looking for a murder of a couple or family called the Harrises somewhere near Little Rock, where the truck driver had started out. I had to hope rather sadly that Carlisle's orders had been carried out or we wouldn't be any further forward. I found the article as breaking news. A successful business man and his wife had been killed in a car jacking that went wrong. Both had been shot multiple times and were dead before help could be summoned. There was no sign of the couple's daughter Annabelle Harris and police were worried for her safety. I shouted a cry of relief when I saw the photograph of our girl and took a copy sending it on to Jaspers phone before ringing him again.

"You get the photo?"

"Yes well done Alice. I take it her "parents" are dead?"

"Yes, supposedly a car jacking gone wrong but they were both shot multiple times. Now the whole world will be looking for their daughter. She'll have to stay under the radar if she knows about it. If not, then chances are that Carlisle will know before we do. You need help Jazz."

Jasper

Alice was right and at least now I knew who I was looking for so I rang the other number I knew would bring help,

"Major this had better be good only I'm in the sack."

"Garrett I need help"

There was a rustle of linen, a female voice then his voice again,

"When and where?"

"I'm on my way to Kansas City looking for a girl in trouble."

"OK. I'm in Glenwood Iowa, not too far from you. Do we have a picture of the girl we're looking for?"

"I've just sent you a copy. She'll be hiding from others looking for her so don't expect it to be an easy search."

"I never expect anything easy when you ring because I'm always wrong. You want me to start in Kansas city and work my way towards you?"

"She's headed for Forks Washington so head north-west."

"Peter searching too?"

"No, I haven't been able to contact him."

"Oh right."

I knew from Garrett's tone that he understood what I hadn't said so he had obviously spoken to Peter at some time and heard about Alice.

Alice

Carlisle arrived back soon after I finished speaking to Jazz and cleared the browser history on my lap top, suddenly I didn't trust my parents. Carlisle excused himself, work to do in his study, and I made my own so I could go upstairs and in the privacy of my room watch for Carlisle's next move. I looked for the girl, Annabel or Bella but she was still a misty figure and I wondered what was keeping me from seeing her. I closed my eyes and waited for Carlisle's next move to become clear, he was obviously still deciding on it because nothing happened for a while then I saw it. He rang this Leo back,

"Where is she?"

"We can't find her. She must know we're after her and be hiding."

"She's a young girl for Gods sake. Find her and quickly. The police are looking too and if they find her you wont get any money, just a jail cell for kidnapping a baby. Remember that."

His ally Leo was much easier to follow, he would send out all the men he had and comb every bar, mall, and dark alley in Kansas City, positive she'd have holed up somewhere too scared to move. I thought he was wrong, she was resourceful and although terrified I thought she might find a way out of the city, she had to have seen Leo's guy waiting at he bus terminal so she knew any kind of normal transport like trains, buses, planes would also be watched. My bet was that she'd try to get another ride from a trucker, her only danger then was that she might be recognised by someone seeing her photograph, especially as she didn't know about her parents and the search for her.