Disclaimer: The great Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I'm just using her amazing characters to tell you a story.
Warning: "Life in the Balance" is the story of Bella facing the consequences of the way she chose to end the vicious cycle of an abusive relationship. The telling of such a story requires the retelling of the events that led to her choice, many of which contains acts of domestic violence and abuse in all its incarnations. If you are uncomfortable with reading these types of depictions, please do not read the flashbacks as they will tell her story as it happened.
A huge thank you to CherylSab and AgoodWITCH for all of your awesome work. I love you two so very much.
Chapter 21 – A Look At The Past
Alice
February 10, 2010
"Why on earth would she live here," I groaned as I bundled myself up in a coat, two scarves and a thick pair of gloves.
I still had thirty minutes before my meeting, but with the snow on the ground, I needed to be a little more cautious than normal. When I was finally buttoned up, I grabbed my bag, my keys and headed to my car.
If my license plates didn't give me away, my lack of speed told every driver passing me on the road that I wasn't from Forks – or from anywhere it snowed, for that matter. But I made it to the small school building safe and sound with ten minutes to spare. Jasper would have been so proud of me. That thought made me chuckle as I got out of the car and rushed into the warm building.
The small hallway served as a place to store coats and wet shoes before the kids made it into the open play area of the day care. As I was about to walk through to the main room, a voice called from a small office to my left, catching my attention.
I turned just as a tall, raven-haired beauty walked through the doorway. With a soft smile on her face, she held her hand out to me.
"Hello," she shook my hand, "you must be Alice. My name is Carmen. I run this daycare center."
Carmen took a step back, eyeing me from head to toe. She laughed and met my eyes again.
"From the looks of you, you're definitely not from around here. So tell me, Alice, what have you come to see me about?"
"Can we speak privately?" I asked.
Her smile faltered a little before she fixed it back in place.
"Absolutely. Come into my office."
She led me inside and motioned to the chair in front of her desk just before she took her own.
After setting my bag on the floor by the chair, I removed my coat, the gloves and one scarf, placing them on the coat rack behind the door before taking my own chair. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my leather bound notebook and opened it to pull the picture from the pocket.
As I looked across the desk, Carmen already looked tense and I had a feeling that showing her this picture would make it worse. In her notes, Bella had told us that Carmen was one of the few people that fought to protect her and I didn't expect it to be easy to get the information I needed.
"Carmen," I said her name softly to ease her fears, "I work at the Cullen Law office in California and I'm here on the behalf of Isabella Swan."
I slid the picture to the middle of her desk. Her back stiffened slightly and her smile became strained.
"I'm sorry. I don't know anyone by that name." Her voice was cold. "I can't help you."
"Please, I'm sure you've seen her story the news. So you would know what happened to her." I waved a hand toward the picture. "We're doing everything we can to help her and I need information from the people who actually knew her."
"I don't recognize her. I'm sorry." She tried to brush me off again.
"In my research, I have learned that she worked here for a few months in 2007. You would have known her as Celina Jacobs," I informed her. "If you could, please help me with a little information from that time. It would be a tremendous help to her defense."
"I'm sorry, Ms. Brandon," her tone was cutting, "I can't help you."
Frustrated, I tried to think of a different tactic but she spoke first.
"I'm sorry, but if this is all you came to see me for, I believe we have nothing left to speak about." She was formally dismissing me.
Suddenly, I remembered what Bella wrote in her notes about Carmen. I almost laughed when it hit me because I believed she knew this would happen.
"Carmen," I spoke sweetly, "we can get nowhere in life without trust and faith."
I recited the words just as Bella had written them. As soon as they were out, Carmen laughed quietly to herself and relaxed her shoulders.
"That was the first thing I said to her to get her to open up to me."
Her eyes were distant as she smiled, obviously remembering her past with Bella.
"I used to ask…"
She started into her story immediately, but I stopped her.
"Sorry, Carmen, but do you mind if I record this?" Her face turned cautious. "It allows me the ease of having a normal conversation with you," I told her but it looked like she needed more assurance. "I swear to you, this recording will stay with me. Not even my boss will hear it. I promise you complete discretion."
She hesitated and I knew she was considering whether she could trust me or not. I stayed quiet, not wanting to say anything that would make her too uncomfortable. With a heavy sigh, she nodded. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my digital recorder and set it on her desk between us.
"Thank you," I said as I pushed the button to start the recording. "Please, continue with what you were saying."
"Well, as I said, I used to ask her what was wrong because it was clear that the girl had problems." She grimaced. "It wasn't until the day a strong wind came through, catching the front door and slamming it shut, that I realized that whatever it was went well beyond normal irritations."
"What do you mean?" I asked though I knew the answer. "Why would that make a difference?"
"The kids were outside with one of the other teachers and Cel or…um…what did you say…Isabella?" she asked, unsure.
I nodded. "Just Bella."
Carmen nodded back. "Bella was cleaning up the mess the kids made with their lunch while I was picking up and sorting some of the toys and books on the other side of the room. When that door slammed, I didn't think anything of it and finished putting the books away. But when I turned around, she was gone.
"Again, not thinking anything of it, I headed towards my office to finish up some paperwork before the end of the day. That was when I saw her curled up under one of the tables, rocking herself back and forth. It wasn't normal and when I went to check on her, I heard the whispering… 'He's not here. He's not here.'"
My heart clenched at the thought of Bella so terrified. Carmen looked to me with sad eyes.
"Her eyes were shut tight and she was chanting it over and over and over again. It scared me. I hadn't made any noise as I kneeled down next to her, but it was almost like she sensed me there, and she stopped breathing all together. I touched her arm, hoping to bring her out of it or at least get her to open her eyes, but the instant I touched her, she shot to the other end of the table as far from me as she could get.
"You can imagine how much worse I felt when I took in her reaction. I knew then that she needed some serious help. I refused to let her leave, so she spent the rest of the afternoon in my office while I took over for her out here.
"I checked on her often and on one of my trips, I left her with that one sentence. It was something my mother used to tell me when I was having problems as a teenager. It always made me feel better and want to open up to her. I just hoped that she would think about it until I came back and we could talk."
"And did she?" I asked and then added, "Did she talk…that day?"
"Oh yes, she talked. In the two months that she worked here, I don't think I'd heard her talk so much, not even to the kids. We were sitting in my office until well after midnight before she finally talked herself out, I think."
Carmen began rubbing her temples as if to rid herself of some tension. I didn't even have Bella's whole story and I wanted to do the same thing often.
"She told me everything; the boyfriend, the beatings and the trips to the hospital. She told me about her friends and then she panicked as if the same thing as going to happen to me simply because she told me the truth. It was all so heartbreaking and I didn't know what I could do to help her.
"In the end, all I could really do was be a friend to her. Give her that shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to when she needed it and just be with her when she needed to have someone close by." She finished with a shrug.
"She must have really trusted you to let you in like that. I don't think she does it very often," I told her. "For us – well my boss, really – it was like pulling teeth to get her to open up. They fought and argued for months before she finally started talking."
"She is a stubborn little thing, isn't she?" Carmen laughed. "We became really good friends through all of this but within a couple of months, I noticed her starting to distance herself again."
"Did she ever tell you why? Or did she just run without saying a word?" I questioned her.
"She would simply say it was nothing and leave it at that. If I tried to question her more about it, she would refuse to talk to anyone for the rest of the day. It was so odd and I didn't understand it until..." A small grin turned up the corner of her lips.
"Until what?" I asked when it didn't seem like she would finish.
"Until I saw her at the diner one evening after work," was all she said.
My forehead creased with the confusion I suddenly felt. She laughed loudly when she looked up to see my face.
"She was with a man."
"Bella? Really?" I asked, shocked.
She nodded quickly. "Yes. I think I was just as surprised as you are now. She never even entertained the thought of being near a man. But there she was, standing at the counter with Ben Cheney looking at her all starry-eyed and practically drooling over her."
Cheney… Cheney. Sounds familiar.
"I know that name," I said, perplexed. "Why…?"
An even bigger grin crossed Carmen's face. "Ben Cheney," she said with a shrug. "He's the mayor's son. And boy, did he have it bad for that girl."
Suddenly, I was extremely interested in this conversation. From what I could gather, Bella never let herself near another man after she left James. Whoever Ben Cheney was, he must have really meant something to her.
"Now, Cel…I mean Bella, always claimed there was nothing going on between them, but he was always popping up around town just to see her. She got her food at the diner most days and he was always there." She chuckled. "From what I hear, he started paying for all her meals."
My eyes widened at that news. She read my shocked expression immediately and clarified.
"Really," she said quickly. "Mrs. Cope, the lady who runs the diner, she told me that Ben walked in there one day, laid down a hundred dollar bill and said that she was no longer allowed to take Cel's money."
"What did she do when she found out?" I asked.
I knew what the woman sitting in the prison cell would have done but I was still getting a feel for the old Bella. Her actions were so unpredictable back then. I couldn't figure her out.
"You mentioned earlier that she used to fight with your boss." She made it sound like a question so I nodded. "That's a far cry from the girl who lived here."
Carmen stood up. "Would you like some water or something?"
"Water would be great," I answered and she walked out of the office.
I knew she was stalling and decided to give her the time she needed. I couldn't imagine that there would be anything she could tell me that would be worse than Bella killing someone, but maybe, to her, there was.
She walked back into the room with two bottles of water, handing one to me before sitting back down. Taking a long drink and a deep breath after, she was finally ready to continue.
"She scared me back then."
That wasn't what I expected at all.
"You know how small towns are, so it took less than a week for the news of what Ben had done to make it back to Bella." Carmen's eyes were focus on the desk – on Bella's picture. "She stopped coming to work. She wouldn't answer her phone. She simply disappeared.
"I waited a few days before I went to check on her, but there were no sounds coming from her apartment when I knocked on the door; no television, no radio, no…nothing. I thought she might have left town. With everything she'd told me of her past, it seemed to be her first reaction."
She stayed quiet after that and the silence was making me nervous. I wanted to say something to bring her back to the conversation. I had a feeling, though, that if I did, I wouldn't get the whole truth. I didn't dare move to even look at my watch to know how long we sat in silence. I gave her the time to collect herself enough to keep going.
"She'd described her ex to me once," she finally said. "She told me that if I ever saw him, I needed to find her, make sure she got away and then she handed me a key. I had never needed it and almost forgotten I had it until that day."
Carmen leaned forward on her desk and rested her chin on her clasped hands.
"I knew she rented a furnished apartment so I'd expected to see all the furniture still there, even if she wasn't. But the place was spotless, almost like no one ever lived there at all. I had walked through the small hallway, glancing into the bathroom to see it in the same condition as the living room and kitchen. The bedroom was the same; bed made, nothing out of place. I'd figured she'd gone and I felt bad…upset. I'd really liked her and I had hoped she felt safe enough here that she would have stayed."
She pulled in a ragged breath, blowing hard as she let it out. I did the same, realizing I'd been holding my breath while she described walking through the apartment.
"I was about to leave, already a couple of steps into the hallway when I heard it; just a small whimpering sound. I froze, didn't make another sound as I listened, but I didn't hear anything else.
"I don't know what made me turn around, but I found myself back in the bedroom. I just stood there, listening. The silence was uncomfortable and I started to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I turned to leave again but this time my eyes caught the closet door.
"My hands were shaking when I reached for the doorknob, I didn't expect anything to be in there considering the look of the rest of the apartment, but that didn't stop me from being a little afraid."
My heart was pounding in my chest as I pictured everything she was describing. Bella hadn't explained any of this in her notes to me. She simply told me that Carmen helped her and kept her sanity in check while she lived there. I found myself feeling a little afraid, even though I knew Bella was fine and she got out of this place unharmed.
"If I didn't hear the whimpering again, I would've missed her under all the blankets. Getting on my knees, I pulled two of them out of the way before I saw her. She was asleep and the part of her face that I could see through her hair was scrunched up like she was in pain. Without thinking, I reached in to move her hair out of the way. She screamed something that sounded like 'don't touch me' and threw herself into the back of the closet."
I gasped. Knowing how Bella used to hide from James when they lived together made it so easy to picture her hiding under a pile of blankets in a closet when Carmen found her.
"It took me several minutes to calm her down, but when I asked her to come out and sit with me, she refused."
"What did you do?" I asked. "Did you finally get her to come out?"
She shook her head. "No. She felt safe there and I just couldn't force her to leave any place that made her feel that way. So, I did the only thing I could do." Carmen took another sip of her water. "I sat in the closet with her."
She shrugged and sat back in her chair again with a small smile on her face. She looked satisfied with her solution and I understood why. She would never push Bella for more than she was ready for.
"I sat against the wall with my legs stretching out the door. She got back under the blankets and laid her head in my lap. We sat in that closet and talked for hours. At least until I started to get hungry."
Grabbing her water bottle, she drained the last few drops before tilting it in my direction.
"Are you going to drink that while it's still cold?"
"What?" I shook my head. "Oh…yeah."
I twisted the top off and took a drink, watching the water quake in time with my trembling hand. I knew Bella left Forks without incident, but hearing what she went through while she was there affected me more than I thought it would. I could finally understand why Carlisle would come back to the office some days after a meeting with Bella looking haunted. The stories she had shared with him were a million times worse than the one I was listening to.
"She told you about Ben, though, right?" I prompted. "And why she hid herself away like that, especially from you. I mean, she trusted you enough to tell you about her life, but when she obviously needed help, she didn't go to you."
"She believed, since she was now the talk of the town that she had to distance herself from everyone. I told her that wasn't true. We all cared about her here and it was obvious that Ben cared about her…or at least he wanted to." We both laughed at that. "I didn't want her to be alone and after a lot of coaxing, she finally came back to work. She may have changed her routine a little but she went back to her life."
"So what about Ben? Did she try to talk to him? Did he back off?" I asked, curious how she handled herself with him.
"She didn't want to, but Ben's not one to take no for an answer."
Carmen chuckled but I couldn't stop the worried look from taking over my face. James wasn't that type of man either and I would hate to have someone else hurt her. She noticed the look on my face and hurried to put my fears to rest.
"I know what you're thinking and it was nothing like that." She gave me a slight smile. "I talked to him after that night with her and told him he needed to back off and give her some space. He agreed but the next thing I knew, he was standing at our front door with flowers in hand, ready to ask her out on a date."
"Did she accept?"
She shook her head still with a smile on her face. "Not at first, but after shamelessly begging her to talk to him, they walked out of my office smiling with a planned date for the end of that week. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how shocked I was, but when I asked her about it, she seemed happy. So I let it go."
"Did the date go well?" I couldn't help but ask.
"It must have because I believe they dated for about a month before she finally left town."
"You believe?" She sounded unsure. "You mean you don't know for sure."
"Neither one of them came right out and said they were dating, but rumors are easy to start around here. People would say they saw him coming and going from her apartment. There were 'accidental' meetings at the diner. Little things like that make people talk."
Carmen paused a second and her brow furrowed and a frown appeared.
"Even though neither one of them admitted to it, Ben was heartbroken after she left. He moped around town and he never dated. Now that I think about it, I don't think I had even seen him talk to another woman for a while after that. He had asked me several times if I'd heard from her but I never spoke to her again."
"So you don't know what made her leave?" I asked.
"Of course I do," she said quickly.
I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for her to finish.
"One of those accidental meetings landed their picture in the paper." She shrugged. "Bella was gone two days later."
"She picked up and left that fast?" I asked, still unable to believe that she could move on so quickly. "Doesn't that seem odd?"
"Knowing how she had lived her life, I've always assumed that she had a new identity stashed away, ready to use at a moment's notice." She shrugged again. "Who knows…maybe she even had more than one."
"It wouldn't surprise me at all if she did," I said and then refocused our conversation back on the picture. "Do you think having her picture in the paper is how James found her again?"
"Can you think of another way? Then again, how would he have even seen it? Forks is nowhere on anyone's map. What would drive him to look through newspapers around here?"
"From all the places I've been, he had to know she was hiding out in small towns. How hard would it be to subscribe to their papers or look them up online if they were available?"
"I guess you're right. You know," she chuckled again, "seeing herself in the paper was the reason she left. I wonder what she would say if she knew how much her picture was in the paper after she was arrested."
"What? She hadn't lived here for a long time. Why would she be in your papers then?" I asked, shocked by this piece of information.
"Oh, it was a huge deal to people around here. The mayor's son and his involvement with a murderer. Can you imagine the scandal that caused around here? The rumors were flying. I heard it all." She rolled her eyes. "They were still secretly seeing each other? That she killed her ex so she and Ben could be together. There was even talk about him funding her escape. It was all ridiculous?"
Carmen may not have thought anything of the rumors, but that brought up the one question that I'd wanted an answer to for a long time.
"Carmen, you knew Bella was a teacher before she left Colorado, right?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Well, creating a false identity takes money and, being a teacher, she didn't make a lot of money. How do you think she afforded to change her identity so many times without help?"
She looked wary, so I had to be careful with my next question. I didn't offend her in any way.
"Do you think it's at all possible that Ben did help her?"
She sat quietly for a moment with her eyes on Bella's picture again. She reached a hand out to touch it and smiled.
"To help her, that would mean he had to talk to her. He was always so convincing when he would ask if I'd spoken to her." She looked back up at me. "I saw his face…the hurt in his eyes. I've known Ben a long time and I have a hard time believing he was lying to me."
"Even if it was his only way to protect her?" I asked. "After all, you lied to me, quite convincingly I might add, when I first got here. If Bella hadn't given me all of the information herself, I might have believed you."
"Very true." The corner of her lips turned up into a crooked grin.
Opening a drawer to her left, she pulled out a piece of paper and grabbed a pen. She scribbled something quickly and handed me the paper.
"If you want answers, Alice, I think Ben would be the one you need to talk to. I don't think he'll be any more willing to talk to you than I was, so give me a few hours to call him before you do. I'll make sure he knows that you're only here to help."
"Thank you, Carmen. You have no idea what that means to me and what it will mean to her."
I only had one question left for her and I believed I knew what her answer would be but I had to ask just to be sure.
"Can I ask you for one more thing?"
"Absolutely."
"I'm putting together a list of character witnesses for Bella. Given your relationship with her, would you be willing to tell your story in court? It would be such a great help if we…"
She held her hand up to stop me. "If it'll help her, I'll be there."
I thanked her for all her help and she walked me to the door. She laughed again as I bundled myself back up.
"Yeah, she stood out then just as much as you do now." She stepped outside with me. "Alice?"
Her voice caught my attention as I walked the few feet to my car. With my hand ready to open my car door, I turned to her.
"When you get back, will you tell her that I miss her and that I wish I could have helped her more?"
Carmen's eyes teared up and I could see how much she still cared about Bella. I couldn't deny her request.
"Of course. I'll make sure she knows."
With a nod from each of us, I was back in my car on my way to the diner to pick up some lunch before heading back to my room.
~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~
I was sitting in my room with the television on low as I transcribed my meeting with Carmen earlier in the day. My phone rang and I glanced at the clock, frowning as I realized how late it was. I had already said goodnight to Jasper so I knew it could only be Carlisle. Given the time, I knew this was going to be a long call.
"Hey boss, can't sleep?" I asked.
Carlisle always had trouble sleeping when his meeting with Bella was a bad one. Jasper had told me that he heard a bunch of yelling today during their meeting but neither Carlisle nor Bella were in the mood for talking when it was over. With him calling me now, at least I would get some answers.
"Sorry I'm calling so late, Alice. How did your meeting go today?"
"Great actually. Carmen gave me some great information and agreed to appear as a character witness for Bella."
I didn't know if I should tell him about Ben until I knew I could get anything out of him, but I figured it couldn't hurt to mention the meeting I had scheduled with him.
"I'm going to stay here an extra day, though. Carmen mentioned someone here who may have helped Bella out while she was here and after she left."
"That's great."
He definitely didn't sound like himself. Something must really be wrong.
"Carlisle," I said softly, "are you alright?"
"This is just so hard, Alice." I heard his heavy sigh. "For the last week, I've listened to her talk about the fights she would get into with him."
"She actually fought back before she left?" I asked, surprised by this news.
"She said it was after she found out about Emily." He paused for a second before continuing. "About a month after Emily got out of the hospital, she was still scared and keeping herself locked away from the world. So Bella went over a few times a week to check on her and make sure the others had everything they needed.
"When Bella got home one night, she got into an argument with James. He was upset because she was over there all the time taking care of them when she should have been taking care of him and their home. Bella argued that Emily was still so self-conscious about her scars that she hated to let anyone see her, so she locked herself in her room and didn't take care of anything around the house anymore. James' reply to that was to say that the scars wouldn't be so bad if she wouldn't have fought back.
"She said she doesn't remember much after that because he had caught her, ripped the phone from her hand and beat her with it before she could finish dialing 911 to tell them what he did."
My empty hand flew to my mouth to cover my gasp. He must not have heard me because he kept talking.
"Bella thinks, because he was angry, he slipped when he talked about what he did to Emily, but if you ask me, he did it on purpose. He wanted her to know that he could get to her friends any time he wanted."
"I'll bet you're right," I agreed with him. It sounded like something James would do.
"He threatened all of their lives if she ever told anyone," he continued. "And true to form, Bella kept her mouth shut. Only now she had a real reason to hate him and when he started beating on her again, she would fight back, making things so much worse for herself."
"At least she stood up for herself finally," I said with as much sympathy as I could. "That has to be good for something. At least it proves that she tried to defend herself against him for years before that night. It lays the groundwork for…"
"I don't care about the groundwork anymore, Alice." His voice cracked. "I know I started this but I don't think I can listen to her tell me again how he beat her unconscious or choked her until she blacked out."
I knew this was really getting to him and I wasn't there for him to talk to at night. I felt so sorry for him. No one should have to listen to the person they love most in the world describe how they were brutally beaten with no way out. I couldn't imagine what I would do if I was in his shoes.
"And I swear to you, Alice, if I have to hear her tell me again how the police did nothing to help her, this is going to be my last case. I'm done with all of it."
"You can't say that."
"I've lived my life putting my faith in the justice system and to hear how it failed her time and time again makes me wonder why I bother. Just because someone has the money to buy his way out of trouble doesn't mean they all have to look the other way."
He was yelling and I knew what I had to say wasn't going to make things any better.
"No one likes it but, unfortunately, that's what happens. As long as there are people out there to take the money, the rich are going to be buying their way out of trouble." I blew out a deep breath. "Besides, when this case is over and she gets out, do you really think she'll allow you to quit doing something you love so much simply because of what happened to her?" I laughed. "I haven't even met her yet and even I know her better than that."
"You're probably right," he only partially agreed with me.
"I know I'm right, so don't argue with me," I told him.
My attempt to lighten the mood a little must have worked because I heard a stifled laugh come through the phone.
"Now what else did you talk about?" I asked, reluctantly bringing the conversation back to their meetings.
"She's told me about most of her trips to the hospital," he grumbled.
"Most?" I interrupted him.
"Christmas '06. She's still won't talk about that one. I know she's told Paul about it but she still won't tell me. Why can't she trust me enough to…?"
"I know she trusts you, Carlisle," I said, cutting him off. "She wouldn't have told you this much if she didn't."
"Not like she trusts him though." He sounded angry.
"Of course not. She has a completely different relationship with him than she does with you."
"Well that's obvious." Yes, Bella's friendship with Paul was definitely making him angry.
"Stop it, Carlisle," I said harshly. "Paul's just a friend, a shoulder to cry on, someone to talk to and sort out her feelings with."
"She could do that with me."
"No, Carlisle, she can't, because you're the one they talk about. She cares about you…a lot from what I hear." I heard him try to jump in but I kept going. "Have you ever stopped to put yourself in her shoes? Have you ever once thought about what it must be like for her to talk about the worst time in her life with the one person who could possibly be part of her future? She is laying herself bare in front of you, opening herself up and showing you every painful detail that she's fought to hide for years. That's trust, Carlisle. Never mistake it for anything else."
"Again, Alice, you're right. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. I know how hard this must be for you. You love her and you want to be the only one she needs, the only one she turns to."
"Is that so wrong to ask for?"
The emotion in his voice was about to make me cry. I didn't know how he'd held this in for so long. But I couldn't let him wallow in this. He needed to be the strong one here.
"Frankly…yes. Because she can't give you that, not right now. She needs Paul and she needs Jasper to help her sort through her thoughts and her feelings before she comes to you. It's not because she trusts either one of them more than you. I think it's because she doesn't want to hurt you.
"I want you to remember that when you think she's keeping something from you, maybe she's just trying to figure out the best way to tell you. Or maybe she's holding something back because it's still too hard for her to talk about."
Remembering the pictures of her from that Christmas caused me to pause. The bruises on her body were more black than purple. Her face was so swollen she was unrecognizable. If they didn't have fingerprints to work from, you'd have never known it was her. Carlisle's words shattered the image in my mind, bringing me back to the conversation.
"I know that. I just wish she would confide in me."
I smiled. It was too cute to hear him so in love.
"Well, look at it this way, Bella may share some things with Paul that she's kept from you, but you're the one that gets to hold her when she needs someone close. You're the one who gets to kiss her when that tough girl exterior breaks down for a while. And if Jasper and Paul are right, you're the one she's considered giving her heart to when she's finally able to give it. She's been withdrawn for so long, Carlisle. Give her time and you just might get the future with her that you hope for."
He took a deep breath and let it go. "Thanks, Alice. It's always so much easier talking to you." He chuckled. "When are you coming home anyway?"
"Miss me already, Boss?" I teased.
"Not at all. I just want to know when I'm going to get those notes you're holding on to."
"Uh huh. I'm sure that's the reason." I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Anyway, according to Bella's timeline, I've got seven more cities to hit before I make it back to California. I'm still doing a bit of digging, though, because there's a big chunk of time that isn't accounted for in her notes from the time she left Modesto to the day she showed up in that house in Palos Verdes."
"Maybe she didn't finish before you left? Would you like me to ask her about it?" he asked.
"No, don't. She told Paul that this was all there was." I reread the paper that held the last of her notes. "This was left off intentionally. I still think there's something she doesn't want us to find."
I put the paper back in my file and cleared off the bed. I was done working for the night.
"Don't worry though. Whatever it is, I'll find it," I assured him.
"I have no doubt." He laughed. "So, what time is your meeting tomorrow?"
"Not until mid-afternoon," I told him. "I'll finish up with that, catch some sleep and then head out the next morning."
"Okay. Drive safe, be careful and call me if you need anything."
"Don't worry about me, Boss. I'll be just fine."
We said our goodbyes and I put the phone back on the table. With everything cleaned up, I climbed under the covers and thought about what Ben Cheney would have to tell me tomorrow.
Carmen really was a great friend to Bella. I, for one, am glad she's going to step up and testify in court. She's seen and heard enough to help. Speaking of helping, I'm pretty curious to hear what Ben has to say too.
Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to let me know what you think. Until next time…much love to you – D