"Come Jasper! Have one of these."

Emmett pushed some reddish concoction into my hand. I took a sip... hell this was strong!

"I call it James' special. It has a little of everything and Grenadines to give it a sweet taste."

"Sweet my ass! How much of everything and how many drops of Grenadines?"

"Oh, now you want a girly drink." He put a little umbrella on my drink.

James was mixing more of his special. He made three jars! How much had the guys drank?

He filled a cup and gave it to Edward, who was more than tipsy.

"Hmm, I detect a hint of beer in this one."

"We got out of vodka. Carlisle went for another bottle to the restaurant, but while he returns..."

Edward shrugged his shoulders and took the rest of his drink.

"To James' special and the fantastic and polite police of Eclipse Island!"

We said cheers, but we knew he was mocking Detective Black.

Carlisle was back with the bottle and the manager of the hotel. The man looked tired; his tie was loose, his sleeves rolled up and he accepted the drink James put in his hands. We all looked at him shocked, he was always the image of sobriety.

"Who cares? Tomorrow I may not have a job. They're thinking of calling the FBI. These two weren't normal people as it seems."

Now he had our attention.

"Those two girls that came from DEA said that Michael wasn't the man they were looking for. Then, of course, we have that comment from Mrs. Newton that her husband was a leftie and he couldn't shoot a gun with his right hand. So, Chief Black is considering calling one of his friends from the FBI to come. Unofficially of course."

How? I just left them five minutes ago!

Edward nudged my elbow. "Not really. It was half an hour ago. This drink really has a kick on it."

"Did I say that out loud?"

He nodded.

xxx

Another thirty minutes later. The manager, excuse me, Benny, was as drunk as the others. He was really out of his mind thinking that they will fire him because he let a crime to happen in this hotel. Carlisle and James were trying to ease his mind, and even Emmett offered to search between his acquaintances for another job for him.

"Psst, psst."

I turned to my left, Alice was standing beside me.

"Hi!"

"Hi! I thought you were with the other women."

"Nah. They were oh so preoccupied about little miss widow."

I didn't get why Alice hated Bella so much.

"The poor woman just lost her husband. No matter how awful he was, he was his husband. And she had to see his dead body, all bloody and disgusting."

Alice smiled.

"Can I tell you a secret?"

I nodded and got my ear closer to Alice.

She looked around and whispered on my ear. "I think she knew someone was going to kill him."

Shit! I turned to Alice, and she was nodding, like I would doubt what she said; well, in other circumstances I would doubt it, but after hearing what Bella told me...

"She mentioned to your uncle something about going to England for a while. She said that it was time to begin her life. See, she just plays the part of poor old me..."

Alice had a satisfied smirk that suddenly turned into a frown when she noticed Edward looking at her with disdain. He took his drink, stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"Well, it's not like I ever stood a chance, right?" And then she drank my glass of James' special.

Carlisle, who was standing behind us and witnessed everything, admonished Alice. "Really Alice? Is that how it's gonna be? You're gonna irritate him because he wasn't interested? Really mature." And he went to the other side of the bar, to help James to distribute his concoction.

By now, almost everybody was here. Of course, Bella was sleeping in her room; Jessica and Angela, if those wer their real names, were still up in the office with Chief Black, and there were other police officers at the suite with the bodies, well, I think.

Detective Black was here; his uncle banned him from the office where they were discussing the case. At least that was what Alistair said. After he came back from his bathroom escapade, he sat near the door to hear what they were talking. But one of the officers saw him leaving his room and came with Detective Black who reprimanded him. Now Alistair was grumpy and angry at Detective Black, who was also angry because he was dismissed and nobody over here was nice to him. Add alcohol. Yeah, it was bound to happen.

"You know they let you stay while they interrogated the maid because they thought you were the dealer."

Uh? Now he was angry at me?

"So? I don't mind. I mean, now they have someone else to corroborate my background. But, if they thought I was the dealer, what did they think about my uncle?"

Black snorted. "That you were lovers, but were scared to come out of the closet."

Jesus, this man is so blunt.

"I don't mind. All kind of guests come into this island. After all this a place where people comes to get away for prying eyes. Here they don't admit children and the basic stay package is for two weeks. I can tell we'd seen it all."

"Except murder."

Black glared at me. "Of course."

"Then why are you so angry at me?"

"It's not you. This was my only chance to prove I'm worthy of a better position, maybe to become Lieutenant. I'm sure those two have something to do in these murders. Then those DEA girls trying to steal my case. Oh, and of course I didn't have enough tact to get those two to identify the bodies. Now everybody is against me. I heard them betting that DEA girls will solve the case."

He drank almost completely his cup of James' special.

"Well, why don't you wait 'til tomorrow and begin again? I don't think you'll get anything from anyone by now."

We glanced around, and certainly no one was sober. Not even Rosalie who was the last to arrive.

"And they're hostile. You made everybody angry. Come back tomorrow and you'll find out you get more out of them by being nice."

Black finished his drink and told me. "You're right. By the way, your girlfriend may be too drunk because she's stirring trouble over there." He got his jacket on and left.

But he was right. Alice was very drunk and whatever she was yelling at Rosalie had the poor woman in tears. Now I'm wondering why he said she was my girlfriend, while I walked over there to get her out of the bar. Esme was holding Rosalie and before I got to Alice, her father took her to the stairs.

She was crying and yelling how unfair was life. Jesus.

I decided to seat for a minute then go back to my room. I had enough drama for a day. Edward was sipping his drink, and gave me a very drunk smile.

"Sometimes we forgot how young she is, right?"

"She's not that young Edward. She's twenty-three. I think she'd been too sheltered."

"Spoiled is a better term, my friend."

He waved to Carlisle who refilled our drinks.

"How do you feel?"

"Honestly, I don't know. If you had asked me yesterday how I would feel if Tanya died, I probably had said relieved. But it feels so wrong. My only consolation is that the bullet killed her instantly."

"They said you saw the bloody bodies..." I wasn't sure if it was right to ask this.

"That prick Black, he thought it was right to bring Bella to the room. Tanya was... her face..." he drank the whole cup. "There was blood everywhere. Michael's body wasn't in a better shape. and the bastard made her got closer to verify it was him."

Ok. I think Black will have to work harder to get something out of my friends.

"How did Bella take it?"

"She almost fainted. I was glad when Esme and Rosalie took her to her room. Despite whatever Alice believes, Bella was as shocked as I."

"I wouldn't pay attention to Alice. You know she gets jealous..."

"Yeah. Apart from everything I have to deal with the unwanted crush of an immature girl, who never minded her words in front of the police. Now how could I convince Black that what Alice said was a lie?"

Edward almost passed out, so Carlisle helped me to get him to his room. Carlisle's of course. Edward's suite still was full of police officers.

When I left them and was walking in the hallway to my room, Alice came running to me. Just what I needed.

"Wait! I'm sorry, it's just that..."

"Stop Alice! I'm not in the mood. Maybe tomorrow."

"No, but I know now. "

"TOMORROW!"

I left her crying there. What was wrong with her? Maybe she was on her period.

When I opened the door, I saw an envelope falling to the floor. Very unusual. I opened it.

We know why you're really here. If you want us to keep yours and your 'uncle' secret you'll have to do as we say.

A very concerned friend.

Fuck my life! Now someone is trying to extort me!

Hi! I'm finally back to my routine. Expect the next chapter on the weekend, probably Sunday night.

Now, don't hate Alice. She find out something she didn't like. You'll see.

May