A/N: Finally! Finally this story is ready to take off. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Thanks Irritable Grizzzly for the mad beta skills.

Sketch

~B~

The meadow was alive with yellow roses. The air smelled of them and light shone down on them making the world look like a living sun. It was so bright that she had to squint to see the man beside her. He was sparkling like a million diamonds, but his eyes were brooding.

Where was Jacob? This was their place.

He handed her another bouquet. Her arms were bursting with flowers. They ached from the weight of them.

"Why are you giving me these?" she heard herself ask. "There are so many of them. I don't need all these flowers."

"Yes you do, Bella." He looked at her now, his green eyes sad and intense. "You need them. I need you to have them."

"Okay." She gathered them around her.

The phone rang.

She jerked awake and reached automatically for the phone. The night-light she never turned off cast a dim glow around her room, which still seemed dark after the bright vivid light of her dream.

Disoriented, she brought the receiver to her hear. "Hello?" It was barely more than a whisper.

"Bella?" Charlie's voice was a forced calm, and too loud in the night.

"Dad?" She reached across the nightstand and fumbled for her cell phone. She flipped it open and read the time on the too-bright display. 3:02 am.

"Honey, I need you to wake up all the way. Are you sitting up?" There were sirens and urgent voices in the background.

"Hold on." She struggled to prop herself up against the headboard, and felt her heart begin to pound. "What's wrong?"

He fought the frantic edge out of his voice. "It's Ben and Angela, honey. There's been a fire at their apartment."

"What?" She was bolt upright now.

"Bella? You can't panic. They got the fire out." It seemed important to give her the good news first, however insignificant.

"Are they okay?" Her hands felt cold as they trembled and the phone suddenly felt too heavy.

"Angela's shaken up, but she'll be fine. Ben…" Charlie took a deep breath. She had a right to know. They were her best friends. "Ben's not in good shape. They're life-flighting him to Hoquiam, and once he's stable they'll take him to a special burn unit in Seattle. He got Angie out and then went back for Nomad, but it was too late. He got turned around and then the fire cut off his exit. He passed out. Tyler pulled him out after they got there, but Bella… it's not good."

She felt her chest tighten and her breaths came short and shallow. She couldn't see past the tears in her eyes.

"Bella? Bella are you there?" Her lack of response scared him.

"Yeah," she struggled to make herself heard. "I'm here, I just… can't believe it. Angela was just here. She was going home to him… we were laughing…" Her voice hitched. Hours ago Angela was showing her a mysterious bouquet of flowers and having a good time making Bella guess who the secret admirer was. Hours ago her husband was calling to ask where she was, and Angela was teasing him about not bringing her flowers anymore.

"Baby, I'm so sorry."

"I need to get to her. Angela needs me." Bella, forgetting the cut on her foot, was flinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

"She's with Ben. They're already gone."

She felt so helpless, so useless and lost. "I can't just sit here."

"I'll come and get you. Stay put."

"Okay." She ended the call, put her head in her hands, and wept.

~E~

Edward heard Charlie's end of the conversation and decided to make a call of his own.

"What is it?" Alice's voice was groggy, but anxious.

"Another fire," Edward spoke quickly so that he could get back to work. "Listen, it was Ben and Angela's apartment –"

"Are they alright?" Already she was completely alert. Edward could hear her pushing out of bed and moving around her room.

"No, Ben got burned real badly. I don't know if he'll come out of it. Angela's fine. She went with him in the chopper. Charlie just called Bella and told her and she's on her way here. I'm guessing she'll be pretty upset."

"You want me to come be with her." It wasn't a question. Somehow Alice could always predict what people needed.

"Yeah, they were her best friends. I think she could use one now."

"I'll be right there."

"Thanks Al."

He flipped the phone closed and wiped the sweat from his brow before putting his hat back on and walking over to George to get orders for the next step.

Tyler was already there, nodding at whatever George was saying to him.

"This wasn't a coincidence. I think that's clear now," George was saying. "Three fires in two weeks… I just don't see the connection. I can't figure out the Who or the Why of it."

"It could just be random arson." Tyler looked exhausted. Edward reminded himself that he'd just had to load one of his life-long friends into a chopper and watch him fly away without knowing if he'd be alright. He had a right to look tired.

"I don't know. There's too much to do tonight to think about it."

Quil ran over with a report. "The building's been evacuated. Lauren Mallory is going to her parents. Ester and Bob are still in Florida, and Marty and Teena weren't home. Their kids were with the Newton's, and that's where they'll stay tonight. They just came back from an evening in Port Angeles. I told them what happened."

"Good," George nodded in approval. "What about the occupants in the fifth apartment?"

"It was empty, but there's some empty gas cans in the kitchen. It looks like someone's been in there recently. There was still water in the sink."

"When Charlie gets back, we'll have him dust for prints. I'm guessing the arsonists set up in the empty room. So this was planned." He shook his head. "Tomorrow morning we'll interview everyone to find out if somebody saw anything or anyone out of the ordinary. I'll need to get in touch with Angela, but that can wait… I can't believe this is happening here." He scratched his chin and looked around.

The apartment building was small, and housed only five units and a small laundry on the ground floor. Ben and Angela's apartment was on the second floor, above the laundry room and both had been completely engulfed. There was a little damage to the neighboring rooms, but they managed to get the fire under control before those were completely destroyed.

"Tell Steve to keep the hose on it for another twenty minutes or so, and then we'll shut it down and let it smolder out. We're going to go through this one piece by piece, boys. There're clues here and we can't afford to miss them. We have to sort this out before it happens again. People are getting hurt."

They nodded solemnly.

Edward heard the hum of a familiar engine and looked up to see Alice whipping into the lot. Under different circumstances, he might have found her reckless driving amusing, seeing as she was always the one giving him a bad time about his own.

A moment later, Charlie's cruiser pulled in and parked beside her.

"Edward, can you run over and tell Charlie we need him?" George began to follow Quil toward the building. "We'll be in the fifth unit."

"Alright." He hurried toward the parking lot, grateful for the excuse to see Bella.

Charlie was helping her out of the car, telling her to put her weight on him. Alice hurried over and took her other arm. Together they helped her to the curb, being careful of her foot, where she sat down and stared – horrified – at her best friend's destroyed home. The shock was written clearly in every feature. Edward's heart went out to her, violently. When he realized what he felt, it was too late to stop it. He went to her.

He knelt before her, oblivious to the awkward audience made up by his own sister and her father. He took one of her hands in his. It was small and cold and trembling. She was deadly pale, her eyes dark pools filled with tears. "I'm so sorry Bella," he squeezed her hand in his. "I'm sure they're going to be alright."

She nodded mechanically, meeting his gaze but not really seeing him. "I can't believe this." She looked back at the building. "I can't believe this happened."

"I know." She was clearly in shock. He was glad he'd thought to call Alice. Charlie would be busy with the investigation. Bella would need someone nearby, someone to watch her.

Edward stood up and looked to Charlie. He was watching his daughter with concern. "George needs us in the fifth unit. Alice can stay with Bella."

Alice nodded and sat down beside her, putting one of her tiny arms around Bella's shoulders.

Charlie nodded. There was work to be done.

The unit was on the ground floor. Like all of the other apartments in the building, it was small and cozy. The kitchen and living area were visible from the front door. Both were clean and unfurnished. The smell of smoke and gasoline hung in the air.

Quil quickly showed Charlie where the gas cans were placed on the kitchen countertops. They were empty.

"Alright, no one touch anything. I think it's safe to declare this a crime scene." Charlie paced through the apartment. There were fibers on the carpet that could easily have come from shredded sheets and cloths. The kitchen sink was still damp, and splashes of – something – were splattered all over the floor. He took in every detail.

George ordered everyone out. Charlie was in one of the bedrooms, kneeling on the hardwood floor, examining a pile of ashes and recently burnt papers. Something made him freeze and call to George to have Edward stay behind to help him.

Edward followed Charlie's voice to the back bedroom and paused in the doorway. Charlie was looking at him warily, holding up a piece of partially burnt paper with a gloved hand.

Edward walked in closer to get a better look. It was the bottom corner of a familiar ivory card. Most of the message was destroyed, but his name, in his own handwriting, was scrawled clearly across what was left of it. Yellow petals were scattered around the room. His heart stopped.

"What's this?" Charlie watched as the color drained from Edward's face.

"It's the card," Edward replied dazedly. "It's the card I was going to give to Bella."

"Explain," Charlie ordered quickly as he carefully placed the card in an evidence bag.

"I was going to take your advice, you know, tell Bella about everything. I got flowers for her, and that card was attached to them." Edward pointed, too horrified to let embarrassment or pride get in the way of the story. "I was going to stop by on my way to the station. I chickened out and threw them away."

"When?"

"Last night around… I don't know – eight?"

"Where was the trash can?"

"On the street. The one on the street right in front of her shop."

Charlie felt his stomach do a flip. "Did you see anyone?"

"No – but I wasn't really paying attention."

Charlie nodded.

"You must be right." Edward ran a hand through his hair and pinched the bridge of his nose in distress. "It has to be James."

Charlie agreed glumly. "Looks that way."

Edward paced the room, feeling the world close in around him. "How did he get to me so fast?" he said, almost to himself. "Why can't he let it go?"

Charlie stood up from his crouch after satisfying himself that there was nothing else to collect. "He blames you because he can't blame himself. He obviously wants our attention. He wants you to know who's done this."

"But why Ben and Angela? I barely know them."

"You had them over for dinner, right?" Charlie remembered Bella telling him a little about that evening. "Bella too." Again, his stomach did a flip.

"Yeah." Edward met Charlie's gaze as though he knew what he was thinking. "I'm sorry I brought this here."

"You didn't know he would follow you," Charlie said slowly.

"I should have. I can leave. I can be gone tomorrow. You shouldn't have to deal with this mess."

"Is that how you deal with your problems, Edward?" Charlie looked him square in the eye, "By running away?"

"If it protects the people I care about, yes."

"This is here now, in my town. I can deal with it. I will deal with it. You running away won't solve anything. You'll just take it somewhere else." Charlie ran a weary hand over his face. "We know who's behind it now, and we know why. It shouldn't be that hard to track him down."

"Don't underestimate him," Edward warned.

Charlie gave him a small smile. "Don't underestimate me," he replied.

~J~

My brother didn't know about the clues I'd left. He would be mad if he did, but I was careful - so careful. I just needed them to know we were watching. I just needed them to know.