Chapter Twenty Five

Jasper

It had taken me far longer than I expected to get the supplies I needed, the heavy snow was slowing everything down and I had to wait for some glass to be unloaded and lumber to be cut to size so I could stow it in the back of the truck. A big part of me wanted to drive to the reservation and take out the pack but I didn't want trouble that would inevitably lead to the necessity for me to leave town, not while Bella was still trapped in Forks to finish her education so I swallowed my anger down. I hoped this would be it now, that the pack had vented their anger and would disappear back into the forest, in the meantime I would be calling the reservation to remind the elders of the terms of the treaty, they could rein the pack in for me.

As I climbed back into my truck I saw the girl who had been with the pack earlier walking towards the police station and she glanced over as if aware she had been spotted. I wondered if her destination had anything to do with me but then why should it? I hadn't done anything, I hadn't laid a finger on the mutts and then I remembered that Charlie was close friends with the Black and Clearwater families, the girl was probably on an errand for one of them.

I drove back to the house slowly cursing the drivers who couldn't cope with the conditions and should have stayed home with their cars safely tucked up in the driveway. As I turned the final bend and came into sight of the house I sensed there was something wrong although I couldn't hear or see anything, then it hit me, the faint scent of blood in the air, someone, some human, had been here and injured him or herself. Cursing I jumped out, if kids had decided to check the house out and cut themselves on the broken glass or splintered wood that littered the place care of the mutts I would be even more pissed.

I called out but there was no answer and no sound of heartbeats or movement so maybe they'd been and gone again. Then as I approached closer I recognized the scent, it was Bella's blood!

I raced inside but there was no sign of her or of anyone else until I reached the door leading to the garage. The smell here was stronger and I saw traces of blood on the door handle then kicking it open I saw more blood and bloody handprints on the wall close to the bottom of the stairs and at the bottom a pool of blood as if someone had fallen and lay there. Looking around I could see nothing else to give me a clue as to what had happened but then a glint caught my eye, something under one of the workbenches and kneeling down I stretched out my arm but I couldn't reach it, I had to lay flat on my stomach and wriggle partway under the bench to catch hold of what I discovered was a cell phone, and when I brought it out I could see the screen was cracked and it too was stained with blood.

I went back outside looking at the ground carefully for tracks, the driveway close to the garage had been pretty messed up but I could just about see several sets of prints but they were only just visible to me even with my acute senses. Someone, no some people had been here with Bella when she had been attacked or had an accident in the garage and now she was gone. Grabbing my own cell phone I started to punch in the number for the clinic in town, if she was injured whoever found her would have taken her to the closest medical help which was the clinic but then I heard a vehicle approach and it was coming pretty fast.

Looking up I saw Chief Swan and a deputy and they looked mighty unhappy. Charlie got out and I could feel the suspicion and anger in him while the deputy had his gun in his hand and it was pointed directly at me.

"Chief Swan, I was just going to ring you."

"Well I'm here now, so what did you want to speak to me about Mr. Hale?"

I let that go but it warned me this visit was official,

"I just got back from town and it looks like someone had an accident at the house while I was gone. I had some trouble earlier, some folks broke in and trashed the place."

I knew I had to be careful, I couldn't admit that I knew the blood in the house was Bella's because I had no way to explain how I knew.

He was staring at the two phones in my hand,

"Can I see those please?"

I handed them to him with an explanation

"This looks like Bella's, I found it under a workbench in the garage but I wasn't aware that she'd lost it."

He turned it over then looked back at my hand,

"Is that your blood?"

"No, there's some in the garage too."

"Show me please."

I took him into the garage and he stood looking at the pool of blood on the floor and the bloody handprints while I tried desperately to think of something to say that would release me to go look for Bella.,

"Looks slightly more than a little accident that happened here. I'd like you to accompany us to the station. In the meantime maybe you can tell me where my daughter is?"

"Bella? I don't know, I haven't seen her today, why?"

What I wanted to do was to run, get the hell away from these idiots and track Bella down, if she wasn't at the clinic and Chief Swan would surely have known if she'd been brought there injured then where the fuck was she? It had to be the wolves, they hated the fact we were together but somehow I couldn't see them hurting Bella, not on purpose anyhow.

"I should look for her if she's missing, that is what you are saying isn't it Chief Swan?"

He didn't answer me, he just gestured to the deputy who approached me with his handcuffs out.

"Put your hands behind your back please."

"Why? Am I a suspect? Do you have any evidence that I'm responsible for whatever happened here? I've only just returned from town, the storekeeper will verify that and that I've been buying supplies to put right the damage."

"I'll be checking out your story but for now, I have a missing girl, signs of a violent struggle, and a witness who saw you arguing with my daughter earlier in the day."

I stared at him,

"A what? I haven't seen Bella today, we arranged that I'd see her tonight so your witness was mistaken."

"School finished early and no one has seen my daughter or her truck since and you were holding her bloodstained cell phone when I arrived so you can see how it looks can't you?"

I shook my head,

"I would never hurt Bella, have you checked the clinic. The local doctor? The hospital? Maybe she lying injured out in the woods, if she fell and hit her head she could be wandering around out there dazed."

"I know my job Mr. Hale I've been doing it a very long time, now put your hands behind your back so my deputy here can put on the handcuffs, you'll get plenty of time down at the station to tell me your version of events. My deputy will wait here until the crime lab boys arrive, they'll soon find out what really happened. You and I have a date with a video recorder."

I could have taken off or even killed the two of them but that would hardly help my situation so I decided to speak to Chief Swan once we were alone, that way I wouldn't be giving myself away to more than one person if it became necessary. The deputy nodded to Charlie and pulled the handcuffs tight before giving me a shove as I climbed into the back of the cruiser and throwing me a deadly look as he went to stand outside the garage peering in.

"Chief, it's cold, Bella wouldn't last five minutes out in the snow if she's dazed."

"I'm aware of that, I have people out looking for her, ever since we found her truck hidden in bushes about five hundred yards from your driveway. Care to tell me about that?"

I sat back fuming as I realized I had been set up, the wolves had done this, the Quileute girl was the witness who had seen the "altercation" but where was Bella and what about the blood? It was certainly hers so she had been hurt. The only good thing was that if she had been injured they would hardly let her bleed to death, they would look after her for Charlie's sake. That was the only reason I hadn't snapped these pathetic handcuffs, killed Charlie and his deputy and headed straight for the res. The wolves wanted me out of Forks and out of Bella's life and I wondered just how far they would be prepared to go and how much the elders knew about their latest escapade.

I waited until Charlie was out on the road and quietly pulled the handcuffs apart freeing my hands,

"Chief Swan, I have to talk to you, I think I know what happened to Bella, or at least who would know."

He slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road turning to peer back at me through the plexiglass screen.

"Who would know? So you admit the blood is Bella's? Just how would you know that Mr. Hale?"

I sighed, this was going to complicate the relationship between the Chief and myself but there was no way I was going to be stuck in a police cell wondering what had happened to Bella and if she was OK.

"I know it's her blood because I can smell it and along with the cell phone and hand prints that are her size it's pretty much a closed case I think don't you?"

His eyes narrowed,

"Are you trying to be smart with me boy?"

"No, I'm trying very hard right now not to kick the side of your car out and wrap these cuffs around your neck. Bella is injured, we both know that and the Quileutes took her, I don't know where but I can guess why. They want me out of Bella's life and out of Forks so what better way than to frame me for an attack on her figuring I'll be forced to make a run for it. They were the ones who trashed the house and threatened me earlier and the girl who came to tell you about the alleged altercation between Bella and myself, she was with them."

He made a noise in his throat that told me he thought I was talking a crock so I held up my hands for him to see the mangled cuffs.

"See these? It would be just as easy for me to do the same to your cruiser or even you but I'm doing my best to keep my temper because I don't want to have to explain to Bella when I find her that I killed her father. Now, you need my help to track Bella down because she's not going to be in the village so do we do this the easy or the hard way?"

He stared open-mouthed at the mangled cuffs then grabbed for his gun and I cursed,

"OK, then, I guess we do it the hard way."

I lifted my feet and kicked out and the cruiser door flew off its hinges and across the road to land in some bushes the other side. Charlie swore, fumbling with his gun and seatbelt, as I climbed out of the back seat and strode around to wrench his door open. As he raised his gun I grabbed the barrel and twisted it out of his hand.

"This is your last warning Chief Swan, you can work with me or….."

I took the gun between my hands and bent it double,

"You can end up like this."

I tossed the useless weapon into his lap and wrenched the mangled cuffs off my wrists.

"What the hell? How did you do that?"

"We don't have time to go into that right now, we need to find Bella and I should be able to track her down, I'm hoping they didn't take her back to the village but if they did then I'm more than willing to break the treaty."

"Treaty? I don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. "

"It doesn't matter, grab your rifle and come on."

I turned my back on him and began walking back down the road towards the house before cutting off into the trees smashing any branches that got in my way and Charlie followed cursing as branches I had bent sprang back to hit him.

"Just how are you going to track Bella? There's not much snow under these trees and if they went up the mountain it'll be near to impossible."

"Not for me but it could get tough for you and I have no intention of slowing down so you'd better keep up Chief."

At this, I increased my speed, my concern for Bella growing by the minute.

Thank you for bearing with me recently and for the kind messages I have received, I'm happy to report that Jazz, my sick poodle, is finally showing signs of making a full recovery. Jules xx