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.

It was during their meal that Asher answered Norma's questions with vague answers without going into any great details. His answers did seem to satisfy her for the moment. But he was anxious to get the hell away from her, so he could get the spoon back to the lab for her DNA to be checked.

CHAPTER 37: WHOOPS!

Edward had a lot to consider after making his discoveries at the court clerk's office. Even his conversation with Jasper was giving him food for thought. The biggest questions that kept circulating around in his mind was 'why did the ADA file writs to obtain search warrants concerning financial records for the Harrisons' personal and professional lives, and, for those of Bella's cousin, Jasper Whitlock?' Then the second question was, 'why were they never used?' That type of move seemed to Edward to be a waste of time and had no reasonable explanation.

Deciding to go see Jasper, Edward made a second call to Jasper to find out where they could meet. Jasper told him to come to ISABELLA'S since he was at the restaurant going over last night's receipts and getting the deposit ready for the bank. But, before hanging up, Jasper asked, "Edward, what's going on?"

"To be honest with you, Jasper, I'm not quite sure just yet. However, I'm hoping that after talking with you I might be able to gain more insight as to what might be happening. And, before you even ask, I can't tell you what I'm expecting to find out; I just know that I need to talk with you. That's what my gut is telling me that I need to do right now." Edward explained, but, knew that he wasn't really making much sense.

Edward had learnt through experience to follow what his instincts were telling him to do. He had learned that when he ignored his gut feelings, it always seemed to bring some problems to his client's case. So, after a time or two of that happening, Edward chose to follow his instincts completely resulting into very positive results for his clients.

XXXXXX

"Charlie, I'm not quite sure where all of this information you've given me is going to take us, but, I'm with you all the way on this trip. I'm firmly convinced from all of the evidence that I've seen that your little girl is somewhat of an innocent bystander in all of this mess.

"Have confidence, though, because we will definitely get it straightened out. It's my firm belief that Norma Harrison is the one that fired the fatal bullet that killed Frank Harrison.

"From all that you have told me, she was abused even longer than your daughter had been. The only problem was that Norma Harrison snapped and took the unexpected opportunity to get rid of her brother. And, I do believe that after the deed was done, she began to formulate her plan to let your daughter take the fall for the charge of murder. After all, Mrs. Harrison did take the first shot and it was her fingerprints found on the gun.

"And, now with you telling me that Mrs. Harrison is awake from time to time making a statement of what happened that night, she fully admits to firing the first shot, but, by all of the facts that come after, she didn't fire the shot that immediately killed Frank Harrison. That was done by the second shot and from all evidence found, that shot was fired by a second person that was hidden in the house.

"All of this brings us to the evidence located by a second search in the Harrison house and with that evidence it points to Norma Harrison. The final piece that we need to prove our theory is DNA from Norma Harrison." It was as Capt. Jenkins reached this point in what he was discussing with Charlie that Det. Asher walked in with only a small knock at the door to announce his presence before coming completely into the office. "On the note of needed DNA from Norma Harrison I say with certainty that we have it and I dropped it off at the lab before coming to your office, Sir." And, with that said, Asher realized that the other person in the captain's office wasn't another officer. Upon closer inspection, the detective recognized that person as being his suspect's father, Charlie Swan.

"Sorry, Sir, I didn't immediately recognize the person you had in here with you." Det. Asher was quick to apologize and was in the motion of turning around to leave the office when Jenkins halted him.

"Det. Asher, I think you should remain and bring me completely up to date as to what has happened. And, before you make any objections, it is safe to talk freely in front of Chief Swan, he's the Chief of Police in Forks, a town about three hours from here."

Asher looked from the captain to the man seated and back to his captain again before giving a slight nod then waited to receive further instructions. He was uncomfortable with the situation he was currently facing. It was highly unusual for a member of a suspect's family to be allowed to hear what evidence might or might not have been gathered. He wasn't sure if the captain was trying to trick him into something, or, if the captain was seriously allowing Mr. Swan to be involved in hearing information about the case.

"But, Sir, Mr.—sorry, Chief Swan is the father of Isabella Harrison, the main acknowledged suspect in this case."

"I'm very much aware of what and who he is. Thanks to Chief Swan and his team of investigators we were able to find the rest of the evidence that seems to have been overlooked from the first search. All that was found this second time around seems to verify what the coroner's report says.

"I told you earlier this morning how we were able to obtain the additional evidence that was corresponding to leading us to the true suspect. So, why are you questioning the presence of Chief Swan?

"Give me your report about your meeting with Norma Harrison and tell me what you meant about the DNA being dropped off at the lab. So, act like a detective and do as you're told instead of questioning the wisdom of your superiors." Capt. Jenkins ordered the detective.

So, without further hesitation, Det. Asher did give all of the details concerning that meeting and what he was able to snag with Norma Harrison's DNA on it. "So, as you can see, all she was doing was trying to get information from me concerning our current standing on the case while wondering why formal charges hadn't been filed against her sister-in-law.

"All the answers I gave her were vague and led her to have the impression that all we needed was the formal statement from Mrs. Harrison before we could really say that we had all of the facts to be able to satisfy the D. A.'s office.

"I also got her to agree with me that we really didn't want to overlook any formalities that might enable Mrs. Harrison to be able to be set free." Asher concluded his report with that last comment. Asher was also surprised to hear both the captain and Bella's father laughing and congratulating him on a job well done.

"It seems that all we need to do now is wait for the test results to come back and then we'll know if Norma Harrison was really the person that fired the second shot that killed Frank, or, not.

"I have to say, Jay, that if I had known more of what that son of a bitch had been doing to my daughter, I might have been the one to take the killing shot." Charlie commented with barely controlled anger resonating in his voice.

"Charlie, my friend, if there had been any evidence showing that you were the one that fired the fatal bullet killing Frank Harrison then I would be after your ass the same way we are after Norma Harrison. Friendship be damned and, although, I would feel the same if it was my daughter, the law is the law. We are sworn to abide by it and to uphold it no matter who might be involved." Jenkins remarked to Charlie's statement.

XXXXXX

Norma left the restaurant not fully satisfied with some of the answers she had received from Det. Asher. She had a feeling that he had been withholding a lot of information that she wanted to know. But, when she reasoned things out, in her own messed up way of thinking, then she felt that she understood why he wasn't telling her everything. What he had told her about the D. A. office's requirements concerning facts being completely in place before filing charges made the most sense to her. She was willing to accept that.

But, it seemed that it would take a while longer before anything was done and that didn't sit well with Norma. She wanted the matter handled so she could get on with her life and be financially free to do as she wanted; so, she could get away from all of the pain and memories this place held for her. She wanted a complete change by starting over in another place to where no one would be able to associate her to any part of her past. By doing that she felt that she would be able to forget and to reinvent herself with a new name in a new place. And, it was within that moment that Norma decided that another visit to the hospital was going to be necessary.

The problem with making another trip to the hospital was that she had gotten rid of the nurse's uniform that Alma had given her a while back. She did that because she felt that she wouldn't be needing it again. So, now what disguise could she use to be able to get pass the guard at the door without being stopped or questioned?

After a great deal of thought, Norma felt that she had stumbled upon the perfect solution: florist delivery. She knew that the guard couldn't leave his post to take the flowers in, so he was going to have to allow her entry. Her biggest problem that she was going to have to overcome was to make sure the guard, whichever one was on duty, didn't recognize her from before.

As the day moved on into late afternoon, Norma was nearing the end of her preparations. It took some time to be able to locate the most important item on her list, but, thanks to a certain element of individuals she was finally able to get just what she needed. It would never be detected.

From what she remembered from her two trips to the hospital, the florists made their deliveries at midday and around five in the evening. So, with that time fast approaching, she realized that she had very little time to get ready, pick up the floral arrangements and get everything in place once she got at the hospital. Norma felt like she had a good plan and was ready to get on with it. After this visit, Isabella Harrison, the bitch, would no longer be a problem to her, or, have a chance of getting in the way of what Norma had planned for herself.

The hired delivery van with the florist logo on the sides pulled up at the hospital as planned and Norma was there to meet it. She had the push trolley ready to receive all of the floral orders and had no problems getting them inside the hospital as the delivery van went on its way back to the shop.

Once inside she managed to sneak, unobserved, into the ladies' restroom to remove the hospital smock that she had been wearing. With the smock removed, it was revealed that Norma was wearing a uniform with the name of the florist that had just delivered the different arrangements. She quickly stuffed the hospital smock in a bag hanging on the handle of the trolley until she was able to place it inside a utility closet on one of the floors before reaching the floor that Bella was on.

From floor to floor, Norma continued to drop off the different arrangements until she came to Bella's room. The guard halted her and questioned her reason for wanting to enter the room. "Well, as you can see, I have several arrangements that is intended for the patient inside this room." She answered as she held up the disbursement listing showing the name Isabella Harrison.

Not finding anything unusual that would demand the florist assistant to being denied entrance into the room, the guard motioned for her to continue. Norma was a bit surprised that one of the two guards she had seen before wasn't at the door. Little did she know that some time during the day a new guard had been assigned to guard duty since the other one hadn't made a report of an unknown nurse entering the suspect's room.

So, without further hesitation, Norma reached out and opened the door and then after thanking the guard for helping to get the trolley into the room, she closes the door.

XXXXXX

Bella had been lightly dozing when she heard the voices outside. The male voice she didn't recognize, but, the female voice sounded all too familiar somehow. She really didn't believe that Norma would be coming back once more after what she had said the last time she had been here.

Pretending to be in her catatonic state, she waited to see what Norma was going to do or say this time. The one thing for sure was that Bella wasn't going to let whatever Norma had to say, get to her.

Norma took her time arranging the flowers around the room as she waited to see if anyone was going to come into the room and once, she felt that enough time had elapsed she walked over to Bella and looked down at her. Then without fear of being caught, she spoke to Bella, "Bitch, your time has come. I'm going to make sure that you never open your eyes. I made sure that Frank couldn't hurt me again and it's perfect that you're getting blamed for the killing.

"Frank was awake and trying to speak to me as I picked up the gun you had used and shot him again. And the best part was that I made sure that it was in the same area as to where you had shot him.

"Once that was done, I did a quick clean up to make sure that no one would know that another person had been in the house. Then I left and was down the street as the police and ambulance pulled up.

"With you about to be charged with killing your husband you don't get to profit from the crime, but, I do get to inherit Frank's insurance money, and then, I get to have your share of the restaurant since you are likely to die for killing Frank and I'm Frank's only living relative.

"But, you know, I'm getting tired of waiting for the law to move forward; it's moving too slow for my liking. And, no one will question you taking a sudden turn for the worse due to your injuries. I promise, even though you're a bitch in my opinion, that your death will be painless."

And, as Norma reached into her pocket pulling out a syringe with one hand while the other was reaching out to take hold of the junction point of the drip tubing where medication was injected into the tubing as needed. However, the move was never completed due to three things happening at the same time.

Bella turned over with her eyes open to stare at Norma just as a pair of hands reached up behind Norma to grab her arm with one hand and an arm grabbed Norma around the throat while yelling for the guard out in the hallway.

A/N: It seems that Norma wasn't as cautious as she should have been. Her plan that seemed so perfect had some holes in it that she wasn't expecting. Did Det. Asher's lack of answers push Norma into taking things into her own hands? Any idea why the D. A hasn't used the search warrants?

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your reviews and thoughts.