Chapter Twenty Eight
Alice
I could have kicked myself for that slip of the tongue at the motel, or had it been intentional? Although I had no idea where Bella was I'd had someone keeping an eye on her and she wasn't dealing with it at all well. She was merely going through the motions, not finding a new way forward and if she was having that much trouble, then it was a sure thing that the Major was too. I wondered if he had any idea she wasn't dead? He didn't actually look in physical pain so I was right about her gift shielding them both.
The way he looked at me, I knew he would be coming with questions. Unfortunately, I didn't know the answers I would or could give him. I tried looking into Bella's future and Charlie's too, but it was so misty now. I couldn't tell if the danger was as acute as it had been or if they could safely meet again and I wasn't prepared to take the chance with Bella and her father. Well, Charlie really. The Major would look after Bella, but Charlie would be at risk and even Jake and the wolves couldn't protect him if the Volturi decided he had to die.
It was hard on Jake, knowing the truth while being forced to watch Charlie fall apart at the seams racked with grief. He wasn't handling it well either, especially when he'd found she was on the way to the Major when she had her accident although Charlie could hardly blame him for the accident itself. I should have kept that note she had written or burned it instead of putting it where he could find it eventually.
I needed to speak to someone and it would have to be Carlisle. He was the only one who could understand the Volturi way of thinking and who wasn't rabidly anti-Major. I wasn't looking forward to the conversation, however. When I told Jake of the slip I had made he agreed we needed to talk to someone and Carlisle was our best bet. We even had the uneasy feeling that he already suspected what we'd done.
So as not to arouse the suspicions of the rest of the family we went to the hospital hoping to catch him in his office. When we got there, however, he was in Seattle teaching for the day so we sat at the side of the road a mile from the house to await his return, we just had to speak to him without the others hearing.
When Jake saw his Mercedes coming he flashed his lights and Carlisle pulled over.
I jumped out and went to the driver's window which he wound down.
"Carlisle, could we talk to you for a moment?"
He nodded getting out and leaned against the side of the car,
"Alice? Why do you need to talk to me in private? Hello, Jake?"
"I think we have a problem, Carlisle."
He nodded, "The Major?"
"Yes."
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised, he was always going to turn up here eventually. You must have seen that, Alice."
"I know, but he needs to leave or he's going to start it all up again. The Volturi watch him off and on and they are going to want to know why he's hanging around a human grave here. That, in turn, will put Charlie in danger again and it will all have been for nothing. So, what do we do?"
He took my arm staring into my face.
"Alice. You lied to me didn't you? You faked Bella's death. I knew you had. Now you have painted yourself into a corner. You need to do what you should have done in the first place, tell him the truth."
"But I don't know where Bella is now or how to trace her, Carlisle. My spy has moved on. Besides, what about Charlie? And the Volturi. You know what Aro might do, can you tell me? I can't see."
"I think that's the least of your problems, Alice. The Major will find Bella. It's what he decides to do with you two that concerns me."
Jake put his arm protectively around me.
"I'll protect her, Carlisle".
Carlisle smiled a little sadly and shook his head.
"I know Jake, but who's going to protect you?"
Carlisle
I couldn't believe that Alice had made such a stupid mistake.
"So now he doesn't know whether to believe Bella is really dead or not?"
"I think so, Carlisle. I just don't know what to do about it. I can't see the future clearly any more and I know they are both hurting. I think the Major will leave, but Charlie is suffering too. He does nothing but mourn and sleep. The whole thing has turned into a huge mess and worst of all... I don't know if I can put it right anyway. I have no idea where Bella is, we lost her and she hasn't used the bank account in so long we can't trace her that way either. She took a big amount out at the very beginning and must have put it in another account we know nothing about. What do I do, Carlisle?"
"Well, whatever you decide you'd better do it quickly because you know the Major won't hang around."
"I know, that's why I came to you."
"And do you think the suffering is still outweighed by the danger?"
"I don't know. I think the Volturi have settled down as nothing happened here. I know Charlie is suffering and it's quite obvious how much the Major is hurting, but..."
"Well, you can be sure Bella won't be any better."
"I know so I think we have to take a chance and tell him the truth."
"I'm glad you decided because he's on his way down the road," it was Jake who'd been on lookout for anyone coming.
Carlisle looked at me for a moment then turned and walked to meet the Major.
"He's going to be really mad, Jake."
"I know, but I'll keep you safe and once he understands that you did it for the best of motives."
"You think he'll see it that way?"
The Major walked up to us followed by Carlisle and I shrank back disturbed by the look on his face, it was thunderous. It was apparent that he suspected something and was not going to leave without getting it from me even though he knew that I had been right about Charlie and the Volturi.
"I want the truth and I want it now, Alice Cullen."
I nodded clenching my fists to stop my hands from shaking.
"I know and I will tell you, but I have to explain something first."
I explained everything I had seen and what Jake and I had done as a result.
"So you see, everything we did was to keep everyone safe. I'm sorry, but I really don't see what else we could have done."
"You left her, alone and defenceless to face a life on the run with the knowledge it was her fault Charlie and I were in terrible danger?"
"It wasn't quite like that, but surely it was preferable to everyone she loved being murdered. It was her choice, Major."
"That's your take on it."
"I only had my take on it to go by and after I explained it to her, Bella agreed."
"She would have agreed to anything to keep Charlie safe."
"Actually, she was more worried about you."
"Well, it's immaterial. Where is she now?"
It was the question I had been dreading.
"I have no idea. She's vanished."
"What do you mean vanished? You said you had someone keeping an eye on her."
"I did, but then when everything seemed to be working there seemed no point in following Bella any longer."
"You are fucking unbelievable. How could you cut her loose? What name is she using?"
"I don't know that either. I couldn't know in case I slipped up and told someone by accident."
"You mean that idiot brother of yours reading your mind? So how is she financed?"
"Money goes in an account every month. I wasn't going to leave her destitute."
"How commendable. So where is she withdrawing it?"
"She isn't."
"So how is she living?"
"She took out a lump sum at the beginning so she must have opened another account. One we don't know about and she has papers so she could get a job."
"Let me get this right. Bella Swan is on the run, living under an assumed name that you don't know, moving every few months so you have no idea where she might be, and you have no way of tracing her?"
"Yes, that's about it."
"Do we even know if she's still in the country? Or alive?"
I shook my head, "No, but I'm sure she is."
He moved closer to me and suddenly I knew why people spoke of him with hushed and frightened voices.
"Alice Cullen. If anything has happened to Bella Swan I will be back and trust me, not even your guard dog will be able to keep you safe. If you hear anything you contact me immediately. In the meantime, you look after Bella's father."
I nodded stepping back hastily and grabbed Jake's arm.
The Major whirled to face Jake his face hard.
"Don't even think about it pup."
Then he turned and walked away and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Let's just hope he finds her alive and well or he'll be back and then… God help us all."
I nodded, Carlisle had a point.
Alice
"What can we do to try to find her?" I asked Carlisle in desperation.
"Who came up with the paperwork for you?"
"Our tame lawyer Jenks of course."
"Then why not see if he can find out the name on the papers."
"I can try, but he doesn't do them himself. It depends if he's still in contact with the guy who did the forgeries."
"It's worth a try, Alice. If the Major comes up blank we need a fall back to offer him."
While I called Jenks, Jake and Carlisle went to break the news to the others. Edward would be furious and Emmett hurt, Rose probably disappointed, and Esme shocked.
When I finally got through to Jenks he fell over himself to help but there was a problem.
"The artist I used for those particular papers got himself into a spot of trouble and ended up in prison."
"So visit him, lawyer's privilege, and find out."
"I'll try, but its most unlikely he'll be able to remember. He did a lot of work for me over the years."
"Try. I'll be waiting to hear from you."
As I put the phone down Esme came into the room and she was fuming.
"Alice how could you? That poor girl, all alone out there somewhere."
Great and this was just the beginning! No doubt the others would have something to say when they found me.
I wasn't wrong, Emmett refused even to speak to me although he had been my main ally since my relationship with Jake became public. When I tried to speak to him he just shook his head looking betrayed and walked out. I expected more support from Rosalie, she'd never liked Bella and I thought she would be delighted to hear that Bella was out there, alone and friendless, with no chance to speak to her parents or the man she loved ever again, but I had been wrong and that shocked me.
"Alice, how could you? I really thought better of you. Bella was your friend and you turned her out all alone into the world with no support."
My mouth dropped open but I recovered my composure quickly.
"You hated Bella. I thought you of all people would approve."
"I may not have liked Bella's involvement with Edward or the family, but as her friend, I think she should have been able to rely on you."
I think after that I lost all fear of what Edward might say, he could hardly be more condemnatory than Rose had been. Since Jake and I got together he had avoided us wherever possible but he did make a point of finding me just to tell me how despicable he thought I was.
I think if not for Jake's support I would have felt very isolated. I did, however, feel somewhat better when he pointed out that the others may disapprove strongly of what I had done but they weren't exactly falling over themselves to find and offer aid to Bella.
We decided to visit Charlie to get away from the hostile atmosphere at the house, not that this was unusual. We tended to spend a lot of time with Bella's father even though it was so depressing. Once he heard about Bella's death he had changed, becoming more hard-nosed in public but a wreck in private. I guess it was inevitable as he felt his best friends, the Quileutes, had betrayed him by keeping their secrets, and as a result, he had nothing more to do with them. Jake and me he tolerated even though we too had refused to tell him what he wanted to know. I think he saw us as his only remaining link to his daughter.
We knew he was off duty for the next two days and always made it our business to keep him company at such times. By the time we arrived, he was already halfway down his first bottle of bourbon and was sitting in his chair staring at a framed photograph of Bella that had the place of pride on the coffee table at his side. I felt guilty as I always did when I saw him knowing I was at least partly responsible for his pain. Charlie now had no one, Bella had been his pride and joy.
He waved us to the couch and proffered the bottle.
"Care to join me?"
Jake shook his head, "It's a bit early for me Charlie. Have you eaten today?"
"Nope, not hungry but help yourself. I think there's something in the fridge. You know Bella used to cook for me every night and if she wasn't going to be here she'd leave me something ready to heat up. She never missed. Not once.."
He took a deep swig from the bottle and put it back down picking up the photograph and staring at it.
"It's not right. A man shouldn't bury his daughter. I was supposed to go before her. She never even lived. She was still just a kid. My only child."
I jumped up finding his sorrow unbearable right now.
"I'm going to make some coffee, Charlie, and something for you to eat. You shouldn't drink on an empty stomach."
"What about a broken heart, Alice? Is it OK to drink with a broken heart?"
I fled to the kitchen, this was all my fault. Charlie was disintegrating before my very eyes and it was all my fault. I wanted to kneel before him and beg forgiveness. Tell him that Bella was really still alive, but I couldn't.
When I rejoined them I heard Charlie's words and froze.
"He was there again. That figure at the graveyard. Old Gerry saw him when he settled on the bench for the night. I think it's him, that fucking ghost who stole my Bella. One night I'm going to lay in wait for him with my shotgun. We'll see just how immortal he is then."
"Gerry Packard is a drunk, Charlie. He sees little green men some nights and dragons on others."
Charlie squinted staring at Jake as if trying to work out if he was joking then he sat back taking another drink from the bottle.
"Yeah, I guess so. What point would there be in the Major standing vigil over Bella's grave, it's not as of she's going to rise from the dead is she? Or what was left of her."
I put a plate of toasted cheese sandwiches down in front of Charlie and moved the bottle out of reach.
"Eat something, Charlie."
He glanced at the plate and picked up one of the sandwiches taking a bite out of it and chewing slowly. I doubted he tasted it but he did empty the plate before retrieving the bourbon.
"You know, every day I think about joining Bella and every day I find an excuse not to. Does that make me a coward? I guess it does but I can't die, not until I find out what your secret is and I will, one way or another."
I wasn't sure whether he meant what he said. I really hoped not because that would only hasten his journey to the grave.
When he emptied the bottle he went through to the kitchen and came back with another.
"Me and my friend here are going to bed. You can let yourselves out."
Picking up the photograph he tucked it under his arm and walked, slowly and deliberately as only a drunk can, out of the room.
I turned to Jake, but he just shook his head,
"Leave him, Alice. There's nothing you can say that will make any difference. Come on. He'll be OK once he's in bed. We'll call in first thing in the morning."
I nodded and turned out the lights putting the dirty plate and glass in the sink before locking the door and putting the key in its usual place under the doormat on the porch.
.
