STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

The voice and the touch that had come to mean peace and safety to Bella was there with her, even though, she wasn't able to respond back. With anyone else near her, she didn't connect as she did with this one person. And, she knew it was someone that she wasn't familiar with.

CHAPTER 20: REVELATIONS

Norma had hired an attorney for Alma and gave him strict instructions that he was to represent her to the best of his ability, but, he must get her bond lower immediately. She had very definite plans for her cousin, but, for those plans to work Alma had to be out of jail; she had to be free, so, she could be silenced and be unable to be in a position to blackmail Norma in the future.

Yes, indeed, Norma felt that all of her plans were moving forwards quite nicely. First, her undetected visit to her sister in law at the hospital; she had to see for herself, since Alma had managed to screw things up by getting arrested for her actions, what the truth of the situation was with Bella. And, at the same time she was able to let the bitch know that she, Bella, had lost and that Norma had won.

Second, she had been able to avoid contact with Bella's attorney and family, both before and then after her interview with the police. No one knew about her presence in her brother's house that night. That's the way it needed to stay; the only person that knew was Alma and Norma was going to take that threat away as soon as Alma was within her reach once again.

In her mind, she was going to be able to do any and everything that she wanted to do. She would have the finances that would be hers from both her brother's insurance and business interest along with Bella's share of things. Unfortunately, Norma never stopped to completely find out the truth of things where it concerned Bella's financial interest. Bella lost nothing if she were sent to prison except the proceeds resulting from Frank's insurance policy and his business. However, all her finances had always been handled by Jasper and would continue in that manner no matter the outcome of the court's decision concerning Frank Harrison's death. Norma Harrison received nothing from Bella's side of things.

Norma was lost in her dream of what her future was going to be after Alma was taken care of and Bella was sent to wherever she was going to be sent; everything would be hers. It still amazed her about how lucky she had been to be still at her brother's house at the same time Bella had returned from the restaurant that night. As she reached this point in her thoughts her memories returned to the events of that night.

She had received a phone call from Frank demanding that she come over immediately, but, he refused to tell her why. The way his voice sounded Norma's instincts were screaming at her that this visit wasn't going to go well; that something was wrong and it was going to have very unhappy consequences for someone: her or Bella, maybe both which had happened upon occasion in the past. She did wonder if all of this had to do with the brief conversation she had had with Frank earlier in the day.

Norma had given a call to her brother after she had seen Bella at the beach with some her friends. She had asked Frank if he was aware that his wife was there and what she was wearing. Frank had mentioned that yes, he knew since Bella had discussed it with him and he had okayed it with conditions attached, but, he wanted his sister to send him a picture of what his wife was attired in while out in the public which Norma did as he had asked.

Upon her arrival Frank didn't hesitate to launch into why he had demanded for his sister to come to his home. He was busy chastising her for why she was at the beach in the first place and commanded her to tell him who was with her and wanted to know what she had been wearing. But, her instincts had proved to be accurate because she had smarted back that it really wasn't any of his damn business since she was an adult and didn't have to answer to him or anyone else, he quickly, before she even had a chance to react, hit her in the face with his fist. Then told her to never back talk him ever again; that he had thought she had learnt her lesson in the past. That their father didn't put up with it from their mom or her and that he, now that he was the man of the family, wasn't going to allow it either.

After she had gotten through answering his questions and then enduring more punishment that he felt she deserved, as he declared it, she had gone to the bathroom on the ground floor and was there when she heardd Bella's arrival. She heard the entire exchange that was taking place between her brother and his wife. In fact, she had quickly finished up in the bathroom just as Bella had entered the house and was being confronted by Frank so she crept down the hallway, being sure to remain out of sight, but, still be able to hear and see all that was taking place between the couple before her.

As Bella ran up the stairs with Frank following close behind her, Norma quietly followed as well. She witnessed the total exchange of violence that had taken place between husband and wife. And, as Bella passed out after making her call Norma did what she had to do. She was tired of being abused by men, being used as if she was their punching bag while having to listen to their verbal abuse also, from her brother especially, so, she made up her mind to put a stop to it permanently.

Not knowing how much time she had Norma raced down stairs, grabbed the dishtowel from the back of the chair where it happened to be hanging, ran back upstairs to the master suite, entered, reached down for the gun that Bella had fired and, making sure that she was using the rag she had in her hand so none of her prints appeared on the gun, she fired another bullet into her brother, making sure that it was in the same spot as where Bella's had hit him in the neck.

But, just before she fired she had seen Frank open his eyes and try to speak to her, but, instead, she told him, "Never again will you lay a hand on me, and now I'll reap my reward for enduring your abuse all this time. All that you own, or, will ever own, will be mine." Then she fired.

Quickly realizing that she had been splattered with blood and matter she knew she had to get out of the house, however, she first had to make sure that only one emptied shell remained in the clip; not two. So, using the hem of her top she quickly removed the clip, took out both empty casings and ran over to Frank's side of the bed where she knew he kept the bullets, took one that happened to be laying loose in the drawer out, put it into the clip, replaced one empty casing and took the other one.

She looked around to make sure that she hadn't left any evidence that would point to her being there and then left the bedroom. Once downstairs she once again checked to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind and once satisfied she left the house making sure to take the dishtowel she had used to fire the gun with her. Norma went to her car and left, but, as she had reached the end of the block she heard the sounds of screaming sirens as they neared Frank and Bella's home. With one last look back at the place she had just left she saw the police and ambulance pulling up, Norma allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief and that was when she thought to herself that she wouldn't only receive her brother's money, but, Bella's as well, since she would be charged with killing her husband.

She was familiar enough with the law to know that it specifically states that a person can't profit by killing of another, so, that rules Bella out of receiving anything from anything from Frank's insurance policy or his business and being Frank's next of kin with his wife out of the way, Norma would receive it all. So, with a smile spreading across her face, a quick sigh of relief that she'll never have to endure abuse from Frank any more, Norma went home, cleaned up, burnt the clothes and dishtowel she had used, packed up and left her home. She needed to disappear for a bit and at the same time sit and think about what steps she would need to take next. Her future was looking rosy; Bella's was on a downhill slide to hell and Frank was out of her life forever.

Norma had stayed long enough at her home for the police to come and inform her that her brother had been murdered and that it appeared as if his wife had done it. They had requested that she come down to the precinct to give a more detailed statement of all that she knew about her brother's relationship with his wife, but, at that moment they had only conducted a basic interview. It was after that that she had left.

She stayed hidden for a few days before going to the police to tell them a tale about how abusive Bella had been to Frank instead of Frank being the abusive one. The cops believed everything she told them.

It also was extra insurance to convince Alma to be assigned to Bella's case, that way she was assured to know everything that was happening to Bella. That is until Alma screwed up and got herself arrested.

Now, she was having to get the stupid bitch out of jail and then deal with the fact that Alma needed to be silenced permanently.

XXXXXX

Capt. Jenkins looked through the file once more and was paying closer attention to what was and wasn't in the file after seeing the revelation about two shots being fired into the victim's body. From the way the report was reading, it was the second shot that was the one that killed Frank Harrison. The first shot had nicked the jugular vein and Frank Harrison was slowly bleeding to death, but, the second shot opened the vein further and he bled out faster because of this.

Arriving once more to the final bit of information in the file Capt. Jenkins realized that he didn't have a report of the lead being found in the body or anywhere else. It was as if no one looked for it. He had seen the report that the clip had been checked and it only contained one empty shell casing. And, because of that no one looked any further assuming that Frank Harrison had been killed by one shot and that the lead was still in the body.

Also, Jenkins was wondering why no one was checking further into the coroner's report about the second shot. Because of what was apparent when the police arrived upon the scene and the preliminary evidence everyone felt that the case was open and shut with Bella Harrison being the murderer of her husband.

Capt. Jenkins decided that he was going to be doing a deeper investigation into this case himself. It also called for an internal investigation of the detectives that were in charge of this case. Too many questions have been left unanswered and charges were brought too damn quickly against a woman that appeared that she was a victim of sorts as well.

Jenkins wondered if he should bring all of this to the attention of Charlie Swan and his daughter's attorney, Edward Cullen, or, just check into it himself before talking to anyone about what he suspects? So, it was after a little thought that he decided to call Charlie and get the name of the detective he had hired to check into his daughter's case. That way by working with that private detective things would be kept on the quiet side until it was time to reveal the facts they discovered.

A/N: Now we have a view of Norma Harrison and exactly what she has done. What will Capt. Jenkins tell Emmett and what will Emmett tell the others? Will Norma and Alma be discovered as being connected to the murder of Frank Harrison?

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