Bella walked Seth into the station and directly to an open interrogation room where she would question him. She had left the room to have someone look up any information on him if there was any.
"Hello again Seth, are you ready to talk?" Bella asked.
"I already told you I had nothing to do with that fire. I was only there to get my stuff." Seth told her. "I was only there because I had nowhere else to go after my step mom kicked me out of the house."
"When were you kicked out?" Bella asked.
"A week ago if not longer," Seth replied crossing his arms.
"You said you didn't start the fire but do you have any connection to it?"
"I had nothing to do with that freaking fire. I left my stuff tucked in the ceiling tiles so no one would know I had been staying there." Seth replied. "I left it there while I went to a friend's house to see if I could stay with him for a few days because I notice people were coming around more. The fire was raging by the time I came back. I left again but didn't come back until after the trucks and police were gone."
"So you couldn't have started it by accident like leaving a cigarette unattended?" Bella said. "Or maybe it was something with the electrical?"
"I don't smoke. I can't stand cigarettes. I got burned with them when I was younger by some bullies. I've stayed as far from them as I can."
"Did you see anything that seemed odd or out of place to you?" Bella asked.
"Not much but there was this dark colored truck across the street, there was a guy standing beside it watching the house burn like it was a fireworks display." Seth said.
"Could you point him out if you saw him again?" Bella asked.
"No I couldn't I only saw him from a distance." Seth replied. "I'm sorry but I don't think I'll recognize him."
"That's all I need for now. I can't let you go until your alibi is confirmed as you are our top suspect right now. So I'll need the name of your friend and his address if you can remember it," Bella said. "You'll be put in a holding cell set aside for minors."
Seth just nodded his head and continued to look down at the cold metal table in between them. Bella flipped her notebook closed and took in Seth's appearance. He was tall, lanky and dirty from living in an empty building for a week. She was sure he hadn't been to school at all during that time for obvious reasons. He also looked like he could eat a burger or two.
"Seth I want you to listen to me." Bella said.
Seth looked up at her.
"I know what life is like in a situation like yours. I lost my mother when I was young but I was lucky enough to have my sister by my side for a while but past away too soon also but she was with me until I was ready to be on my own." Bella said. "Your mother wouldn't want you to be living like this. You should really talk to someone about that and you should also get a place to stay even if you end up renting a singer room from a sweet old lady."
"I've tried that but until I am eighteen there is no way I can get a place of my own." Seth said. "I could go the sweet old lady was as you pointed out but there are none. I can't even get a motel room."
Bella had no idea what to say.
"Well okay then." Bella said.
She grabbed her notebook and walked out of the room.
Jasper was walking back to his desk when Bella came out of an interrogation room and bump into him.
"Jasper what are you doing here?" Bella asked him.
"I've only been given desk duty." Jasper replied. "But I have been given the case of your lovely little stalker since I can do most if not all of the work from my desk and can send a patrol unit to arrest someone or bring them in if I need to."
"You've been looking into that?" Bella asked.
"Yeah, I started doing it on my own but now I'm getting paid to do it." Jasper told her. "But I got to be careful Aro got pissed when he heard me talking about it with Peter."
"That seems strange he got mad for you talking to another cop about it." Bella said. "So have you found anything?"
"The closest thing I've got is that the person sending them is either someone you know or someone pretending to be them." Jasper replied.
"I'm sorry but I ran into you at the wrong time. I have a witness to go and finish questioning." But I'll stop and talk to you later if I can swing it."
Bella had disappeared just as quickly as she had appeared. Jasper was not even able to get a word out before she had turned away. He shrugged and walked back to Peter.
"You okay?" Peter asked him. "You look more than a little frustrated."
"I'm fine. I just got some information I need to share with Bella and she's too busy to even stop and listen." Jasper replied.
"Hey you can't blame her, she is technically busy," Peter said. "She has the kid in interrogation to worry about. He nearly trashed her crime scene. She's trying to figure out if he's behind that fire at that scene or not too. You both have a lot going on. I mean the information isn't life or death is it?"
"That's the problem I don't know if it is or not." Jasper said. "Peter I think the guy is stalking her and I have no clue if he is or not and that could be life or death."
"Is there anything to say that he's behind her attacks?"
"Not yet, but he has made threats." Jasper replied.
"Well then take your time and investigate. Find a way to talk to him if you can."
"Not a bad idea." Jasper said. "But I've got to eat and build my energy before I can."
"You want to go now I've been running down leads for that FBI Agent Masen and haven't been able to stop until now."
"Sure let's go."
Bella had walked away from Jasper Whitlock even though she didn't want to. She had her cases and as of now Seth to think about. If Seth had told her the truth then he could now be a target of the arsonist.
After making sure Seth got to his holding cell safely she went to the lab to see if they had any results to report. She was not the only one with this idea as there were a line of other officers waiting for their results or avoiding doing more work.
She walked down the hall past the line and to the tech that she needed to speak with. The woman's office wasn't much, just her degrees hanging on the wall along with a book shelf full of forensic books and a single poster on the back of the door. The desk was as generic as the poster on the door with a computer in on corner and a phone in the other.
"Jane please tell me you have something for me." Bella said. "Because I really need information so I can move forward with my case."
"I actually have good news. I was waiting until all the test came back to send you the results. All suspects but Dirk have been cleared. I'm still working on his." Jane said. "What do you need?"
"I need these prints run though every system you can run them through. I want know who they belong to and any connections those people may have." Bella told her.
"I will let you know what comes up and I'll have Alec take care of it." Jane said. "But keep in mind that it might take a while."
"Just send me updates with each hit you get but only send me hard copies when you have all the results."
"So how is your case going?" Jasper asked her when he got back from eating.
"As well as could be expected, you need something?"
"No, I wanted to tell you about with your possible stalker." Jasper said.
"What about it?" Bella asked.
"The person that sent you flowers while you were in the hospital was Aro or someone pretending to be him. haven't been able to get back with a photo of him and ask the woman if it was him or not." Jasper said. "But I want you to be careful. I also think there is something funny with your sister's case."
Alice had been in the bathroom for ten minutes with an intense pain in her back. The pain had gotten worse of the past hour too, but she wanted to get through dinner first. She knew she was freaking her husband out right now.
"Alice are you okay? You have been in there for a while." Dylan said.
"I'm perfectly fine. Just not getting around like I used to." Alice said. "Can you make sure the ham isn't burning?"
"Yeah," Dylan replied.
She heard his footsteps lead away from the bathroom. The squeaky oven door was opened and she heard the clang of pans being removed and placed on the counter followed by the creaking of the oven door again.
When the doorbell rang Alice knew she needed to get out of the bathroom and face her guest. She also needed to face the fact that she could very well be in labor. She put her hand on the door knob, took a deep breath, turned the knob and walked out of the bathroom to greet her guest.
"Hey Alice, dinner smells great." Bella said. "Please tell me it's your ham."
"Of course it is. Dylan has just taken out of the oven for me. It should be cool enough to eat in a few minutes." Alice said. "Where is Jasper I thought he was supposed to come with you?"
"He's out taking a call. It's about one of his cases so he can't put it off." Bella said. "I also can't listen in."
"I'm guessing your sisters case then," Alice said. "Which you could solve better than most anyway."
When Jasper finished with his phone call he came in and Alice led them to her small dining room. The table in it was already laden down with food. The ham in the center of it all clearly the star of the show. Alice sat on one side next to Dylan while Bella and Jasper sat on the other side.
"Carve the ham Dylan." Alice said.
"It's a spiral ham. I don't have to." Dylan replied standing up to show her what he was talking about.
Hit with an unbearably tight pain Alice screamed out in pain. Dylan immediately turned toward Alice to check on her and make sure she was okay.
"Alice I need to tell me if you are okay." Dylan said.
"It hurts bad," Alice said through clenched teeth.
"Where is the pain?" Dylan asked.
"My back."
"Alice how long have you been feeling the pain?" Dylan asked. "Come on I need you to tell me."
"Since this morning but they've only gotten bad in the past two hours." Alice said. "I thought it was because of all the cleaning I was doing."
"That's it I am taking you to the hospital. The pain could mean something is wrong or the baby could be coming sooner than we planned." Dylan said helped her out of the chair and rushed her out to the car, leaving Jasper and Bella to lock up the house.