AN:/ Sorry about the delay… Just spent a week in Norway, the scenery was really, REALLY stunning.

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Chapter 35- a tangled web of deceit II

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Special agent Seth Clearwater flashed the nurse his badge and his most charming smile and asked if she could perhaps consider making an exception to the visiting hours rule and let them stay a little while longer. The woman did not return his smile. In fact, she was most businesslike and in the end his request only resulted in a whooping additional five minutes in the room.

By the time those five minutes were up Bella had learned three things.

One, the car, with its hidden listening device, was going to remain untouched for now. Because, as Seth pointed out, they could still have plenty of use for it in the upcoming days.

Two; their apartment, or technically Alice's apartment, was safe and clean as far as bugs, trackers and other hidden devices were concerned. A crew of FBI technicians had been in there and turned the place upside down without finding anything that could pose as any kind of threat to anyone (save for Bella's trusted taser gun, of course). The new house had been picked apart and 'sanitized' too, the only remaining issue there was the fact that there seemed to be an unknown number of keys in circulation. All locks needed to be changed and then there was the matter of the new, flashy but currently-unused security system. Obviously it needed to be hooked up and switched on before the house could be considered safe and inhabitable. However, just as with the car, they were going to leave the locks and the security system untouched for the time being. For strategic reasons.

The third thing Seth brought up was a reminder that cell phones were not to be considered a secure method of communication and therefore discretion and reasonable precautions should be used at all times. The jibe was aimed at Edward, no doubt, and by the looks of his bowed head and dark, grim expression, it wasn't the first time he'd been lectured about it either.

Clearwater was right to bring it up though, anyone with the right knowledge and the right equipment and a bit of time on their hands could theoretically find ways to, if not hack their phones, then at least tap into their GPS systems. This wasn't exactly news to Bella, of course she already knew this, but the mere suggestion that it had come to the point where everything and everyone had to be considered a safety threat was alarming.

"How about we just stop using our cell phones all together," Edward suggested, only half joking. "There, problem solved."

"That would alert our perpetrator that we're on to him, or her," was Seth's response. "Also, pregnant girlfriend and no cell phone sounds like a bad combo to me."

That shut Edward up real quick, Bella snorted at the stupidity of the man that had such a tight grip at her heart.

In the meanwhile Seth went on about how they knew Renee had tampered with Bella's phone before. Sure, it had been a relatively basic sim card stunt that time and sure, everyone that knew Renee, knew that she was not particularly tech savvy… It only served to highlight the fact that you don't have to be a skilled hacker to find security holes to exploit. It hardly took a genius to hack a Gmail account…

At this point the nurse was back again, this time with doctor Ishida in tow. Both women were looking hella determined on clearing the room in preparation for the midday rest period, during which no visitors were permitted, no matter what the circumstances and excuses were.

They were terribly effective at it too and Bella soon found herself being tucked into bed again, with a new IV bag hooked up to her arm. If that wasn't bad enough she was pretty much rendered immobile when they attached a blood pressure cuff to her other arm and a pulse/ox monitor on her index finger. She was so sick and tired of hospitals she could scream.

She didn't, of course. She wasn't three years old, like Tony. Besides she was way too tired to actually put up much of a fight.

Instead it was Edward, who looked like he needed the rest perhaps even more than Bella did, that took to expressing his displeasure vocally. He really did not want to leave, which he repeated several times, but was grabbed by the shoulder and more or less dragged away from the bed by the short, but surprisingly strong nurse.

This seemed to have Seth Clearwater leaping into action "Stop dragging your feet, Cullen. Some of us still have work to do," the agent reminded Edward, with an impatient shove towards the door. 'We a schedule to get back to."

Before Bella had a chance to ask what that meant, they were out of the room with a vague promise of 'later'.

Once alone in the room, her eyelids grew heavy in a matter of minutes and she fell into a restless, unproductive slumber, feeling like she knew even less than she had waking up that morning.

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Two phone calls.

Two phone calls that had to be made in the car where they were guaranteed to be overheard.

Two more phone calls that were part of the tasks Edward had agreed to complete before leaving town, because yes, that's what all of this was leading up to. Edward was set out to act as a decoy. He was supposed to relocate to a remote, but closely monitored environment, (ie Cape Cod under the ruse of working on a prestigious recording project), while Tony and Bella were to stay within the NY state borders, safely tucked away in secure locations; secure, but separate locations. That was the only downside to this plan. In order to keep everyone safe they were going to have to be split up. It was the only way, apparently.

Edward did not like the sound of that one single bit. Shit, there were so many aspects of this plan he did not like. However with a body count of.. what… three dead bodies now(?!), plus one psychotic looking suicide and another victim in the ICU, he wasn't going to turn down FBI protection, even if it came with tons conditions and restrictions. Three dead bodies, this was proper serial killer stuff, wasn't it?!

"Technically, the definition of a serial killer says you need to kill on a minimum of three different occasions, not a minimum of three bodies " Clearwater shrugged in a blasé way, as the elevator doors opened to the bottom floor. "Also, using a hitman doesn't count," he added as they pushed their way through the milling crowd in the hospital lobby to get to the second set of elevators for the car park.

The carriage was empty as they stepped on waiting for the doors to close.

"That's not very comforting," Edward snorted, literally stabbing the down button.

"I'm not here to hold your hand, princess," the other man smirked as they started their descent to the underground garage.

"I'm not asking you to," Edward scoffed. "I'm beginning to feel like I've made a mistake trusting your judgement with this one."

"Now listen…" Seth pressed the bright red emergency stop button, causing the carriage to halt somewhere between floors, sealing them off from the rest of the world. "You're the decoy, yeah? We're splitting you guys up in hopes of drawing all the hostile attention in one direction."

"Away from Tony and Bella."

"That's the plan. That's what we think will happen, yes," Seth confirmed. "At the very least we're hoping that this move will provoke a counteraction of some sort; an irate, hasty counteraction."

"Anything that could be used to bring down this scum."

"Exactly," he hummed. "We know that what we are asking of you is not easy. It puts a big target on your back. James Turner has a record of violent offences and ties to organized crime that would scare most people."

"The target is already there. The scary part is that you're asking me to trust the two people I love the most in your hands."

"If you stay, then they become targets too."

"If they aren't already." Edward shuddered at that thought, because it was a very real possibility. "What if it's Tony he's really after? Or, what if the bug in the car and the hacked email account is all Renee's doing? We don't know what exactly she's gotten herself caught up in. We don't know what lows she'll sink to next."

"Well, she's not the one leaving dead bodies in her trail, so I wouldn't worry too much about her, if I were you," Clearwater offered, shrugging at Edward's frown.

"Don't underestimate her. This woman seems to be absolutely vile, from what I've seen and heard from her. There is something not quite right about her hubby too. I don't trust him."

"I'll keep that in mind. Listen, Swan is not only my colleague, but also a close friend and confidante. I might not approve of every decision she makes, but I'd hate to see her get hurt. " He placed his hand over his heart in an exaggerated gesture. "I promise I'll keep them safe. I'll guard them with my life if necessary. You have my word on it."

Edward regarded the other man for a long, silent moment. "I expect you to make good on that promise," he grunted. "I'm shitty at making threats, but if you screw this up, I'll see to it personally that your reputation and career will be in tatters. Are we clear?"

"Crystal clear," Clearwater nodded. "I really, honestly think that it's Turner we should focus on, but we'll obviously keep the Dwyers under close watch too. "

"Good. Glad we understand each other." Edward nodded too. "Turner needs to be taken out for good this time. I don't disagree with you on that. Three dead bodies are three too many."

He then made a move as if to push the button to make the elevator start up again, but Seth stopped him before he could actually reach the control panel.

"About that…" he started, scratching the back of his head. "I should probably warn you that I don't think we've seen the end of this yet. In fact, there is some frenetic activity happening in the FBI forensic labs at the moment, and I'm pretty sure that the number will be upped to four in a matter of hours. Maybe even five, considering the fact that Maria Nauhler is still hooked up to life support in the ICU."

"The number? What number?" Edward groaned, pressing the heel of his palms against his brows. "I haven't got the energy to try and decipher what you're saying."

"The body count," Seth sighed. "It means that we have our lab forensics working on an 12 year old cold case and that we've had the remains of a long-dead, female murder victim, dug up again. Nothing is confirmed yet, but I'm fairly certain that this murder case can be tied to the one we're currently working on. "

"A twelve year old murder case? A female victim? Who was she?"

"One of the teachers at the high school Turner attended. She disappeared after a night out with her friends and was found dead three days later in a trunk of a torched car. Her boyfriend was arrested, but later on absolved of all the charges. There was no other suspects at the time and the case remained unsolved."

"What makes you think James had anything to do with it? What are you hoping to find?" He sounded like Bella now, he realized. Asking questions and picking apart the answers with further questions. "I'm only asking because he's not exactly known for leaving trails of evidence behind. He's used different methods every single time, hasn't he? And if that thing about him using a hitman to get to Nauhler is true, then he's not even getting his own hands dirty anymore."

"The school teachers throat was slit and her mouth and airways were blocked. Don't be fooled by the many inconsistencies and contradictions, there is a red thread in all of this; one that has become more apparent now that we have multiple deaths and corpses to compare and evaluate against each other. It appears as though he's been taunting us with clues from the very start; clues deliberately left behind to both mock and challenge us to figure this out."

"Clues?"

"Yes, clues. Listen, I shouldn't even be discussing this information with you since it is highly classified."

"Whatever, seeing as you're already talking, you might as well tell me the rest."

Seth looked away, then nodded. "All of Turner's victims has had foreign objects stuffed down their throats. Seemingly random objects that aren't so random when take a closer look at the possible motives and the victim-offender relationships. Our team of profilers says these motives most definitely have symbolic meaning to the killer."

"Foreign objects?"

"The blocking of the victims mouths makes it appears as though he's cleaning house, silencing anyone that has damaging information about him. The nature of the objects says something about his motives. The first victim we encountered, Turner's former boyfriend Victor Harridan, nephew of the now retired, but once very high-profile judge Jeff Harridan, had a golf ball stuffed down his throat. This was kept out of the papersat the time but-…"

The sentence was cut short when the speakers in the elevator, very abruptly and very surprisingly, crackled to life, causing them both to startle with some embarrassingly high-pitched, unmanly shrieks.

"Hello, this is Amerson security. You have pressed the Emergency Stop button," a woman's voice said in a bored drawl. "Please state your emergency via this intercom, or promptly reset the stop button by pressing it for 30 seconds."

Both men groaned at this unwelcome interruption.

Seth moved closer to the panel and pressed the 'Call' button. "No emergency. We are fine, thank you. Uh… I think we are stuck though." The last part was a lie, of course, one that would raise fewer eyebrows and demand less explanation than the truth, hopefully.

"I'll get someone to take a look at it," the voice on the speaker replied. "Is there a young, sick, pregnant, or elderly person in the elevator with you?"

"No. Just two fully grown and reasonably healthy males."

"Alright, stay put. I'll contact the maintenance personnel required to restart the system."

The elevator fell silent again.

"Stuck?" Edward raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought we were on a tight time schedule… phone calls to make, bags to pack, a charade to maintain."

"Well, I can press that button right now and table this conversation for another time, if that's what you prefer?"

"No," Edward protested almost vehemently and then thought for a moment. "I need to know what I'm getting myself into. Hurry up and tell me what I need to know, like what's the significance about the golf ball and what other kind of 'objects' have you found when examining the bodies."

"With the golf ball, we're leaning towards it being some sort of hidden message. Whether it was a veiled threat, or a warning, or a blackmailing scheme, is still uncertain. We think the message was meant for the golf playing judge and we think it hit home, because uncle Jeff had a heart attack shortly thereafter and has yet to bounce back to his old form."

"Odd, but alright… What about the Webers? "

"Money. They had wads of cash blocking their airways."

"Money?" Edward blinked, not sure he'd heard him right. "Because despite their charity work they were…. greedy people? That doesn't sound right."

"I agree. It's probably a little more complex than that. It could have something to do with the fact that James and his half sister grew up in entirely different material circumstances. Marrying reverend Weber was a significant step up, financially."

"And Nauhler? Or was Maria's faith different, seeing as he didn't handle it himself and seeing as it was meant to look like an accident?"

"With Nauhler it was a toothbrush. Broken, to make it seem like she had been brushing her teeth in the shower when she slipped and accidentally hit her head. It had been forced half way down her throat and according to our analysis she had toothpaste and soap in her mouth, liquid soap and lots of it. The only difference her is that it's still officially treated as an accident, so we're not supposed to know about it, or draw any conclusions about it yet."

"Soap? Because she was talking too much?"

"Or spreading lies perhaps…" he shrugged. "The high school teacher had her pharynx slit open and her mouth taped with duct tape, but there was also a balled-up envelope shoved down her throat. It never made much sense at the time, but-…"

"It still doesn't make much sense."

"Well, it was an empty envelope addressed to NYFA, New York Film Academy, which is the school of choice for someone who seeks a quality education in the field of photography."

"What does that mean-…?" the question died on Edward's lips, when suddenly the elevator rumbled back to life again.

"You'll figure it out," Clearwater said, checking the time on his watch. "Looks like our time's up."

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Seven minutes later Edward was seated in the drivers seat of his car, driving along the pre-planned route. As he stopped by the second traffic light, he picked up his phone, found Esme in his contact list and hit dial. While he waited for his mother answer, he made sure the phone was on speaker mode, before placing it in the brand new, dashboard mounted phone holder - all to make sure every word exchanged would be picked up by the audio tracking device, hidden behind the map light panel. This call to his mother was meant to affirm that yes, he really, truly was still planning on leaving town.

"Hi mom, it's me," he began, shutting his eyes as he spoke. "Listen, I don't have much time. I just wanted to check in with you and make sure Tony is alright."

"Edward? Is that you?" his mother answered, her voice unnaturally loud in the silence of the car. He'd been told she was awaiting this call, that she'd been instructed what to say and how to act, but he knew making this sound natural and conversational was not going to be easy.

"Where are you?" she asked. "Are you still at the hospital? How is Bella doing? I just got off the phone with Alice and she told me-…"

"I've just left the hospital. I'm in the car on my way home." Edward interrupted her. "The baby is fine. Bella is… She'll be fine too. She's made herself sick again, not eating and resting properly. "

"Honestly, I'm not surprised. I told you I though she looked exhausted yesterday," she said just a little hesitantly.

"I know. You were right. She's not the only one that's tired though. I'm so sick of this. I'm so tired on her fighting me over every little thing. Every time I say something, she goes and does the exact opposite."

"Oh, honey. Just be patient with her. You know she's not herself at the moment."

"I can't do this anymore," Edward confessed, trying to sound as defeated as possible. "I know, I said I wouldn't leave until Friday, but do you think you could…."

"You can't do what, Edward?"

"Tony," he replied, realizing he had sweat forming on his forehead. "Can you keep Tony with you tonight? I'll be by in the morning to say goodbye and make sure you have all of his stuff…"

"Edward?" The voice on the other end of the line went silent for a few moments. "You're leaving?"

"The sooner I leave, the better for everyone involved."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"I'm-…damn it!" Edward muttered, as a car cut directly in front of him and he had to slam the brakes. "Yes, I'm sure."

"What did you say? I can't hear you clearly."

"That's because I'm heading into a tunnel. Mom, I have to end this call now. "

"Oh okay. We'll talk about this later."

"Yes, later," he agreed, hanging up on her with a quick 'Love you, bye."

One down, one to go…

If he was gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly, or swerving all over the lane as he waited for the next call to connect, he really wasn't aware.

Alice, as always, picked up her phone on the first ring. Edward never knew how she managed that, but she did.

Instead of a 'Hi', she started of the conversation with an angry outburst about how much in deep shit he was, "I've left you seven messages, SEVEN messages! Why haven't you call me back?"

"I'm calling now, aren't I?" he tried defending himself.

Not too surpassingly, Alice wasn't placated, "You're lucky I was there when Bella passed out, you know that right? She could have hurt herself for real, she could have fallen, or gone into labor, or something…"

"Yeah, I know." Letting out an exaggerated sigh, Edward flipped on the turn indicator at the next junction. So far it had been a pretty normal conversation between the two. Alice often chided him and reminded him of his mistake, claimed it was part of her sisterly duties. So far, so good.

"Listen Al, I'm glad she was with you and I'm glad you drove her straight to the ER. I'm sure she was being difficult as always, insisting she was fine and didn't need to go there."

"She obviously was anything but alright," Alice snorted. "How long are they keeping her? I was allowed to stay for the ultrasound, so I know my nice is alright, but Bella-…"

"… is one stubborn mule who refused to listen to reason. She's dehydrated and completely stressed out. They are keeping her over night. She'll be fine once she's re-hydrated again."

"You two are equally stubborn," Alice huffed. "And you fight over the most idiotic stuff! I don't even want to hear what it was this time. Just grow the fuck up, or stay away from each other," she grumbled, then added, "Your baby deserves better than this."

Those words rang very true. This call was all about damage control. Yes, he had rushed to the hospital to be by to Bella's bedside, but that didn't mean that everything was forgiven and forgotten. There was still a dispute, still plenty enough reasons for him to want to leave. This next part was hard to verbalize, but it needed to be said. "You'll be glad to know that I'm going ahead with my plans of doing just that." He ploughed right ahead, trying not to stumble on the words. "I'll be leaving town for a while... I've told Bella I don't want to hear from her, unless she's in labor, or like in serious trouble, or something." Oh dear, that sounded awkwardly harsh even in his own ears. "I'll make sure she's ok before I leave, obviously and don't worry about Tony, mom will take care of him," he added as an afterthought.

"My God, Edward! You can't do that! She's eight months pregnant! And Tony's just a baby."

"I was planing on doing this all along, you know that. It's been booked since forever and I can't back out now. I need to keep my company afloat. It's for all our sakes really. Maybe this way Bella can actually rest up and get ready the d-day."

"But… but… It was supposed to be one weekend, three, four days tops and you were planning on going back and forth."

"I was, but honestly it's better this way. I have work piling up, I need to get at least some of it done before the baby gets here and that won't happen unless I have some peace and quiet around me. "

"I don't like this, Edward."

"I don't need your approval."

"Who will keep an eye on Bella when you're away? She's just barely capable of taking care of herself at the moment."

"I know. She said she'd call her friend Lauren."

"Lauren?"

"You met her at the baby shower the other day. She's apparently in the midst of having her two bathrooms remodeled, so she probably wouldn't mind coming over and staying for a few days. I'm sure it will be fine. Between you, mom and Rosie and all your meddling, it's not like Bella will be alone for any longer periods of time anyway."

"Gee, great that we can be of help. Maybe you should have thought to ask instead of just assuming, some of us have lives and other responsibilities, but whatever…I have to run now. I have a meeting and a yoga class to get to, but we're not done talking about this. Mark my words…."

"There is not much else to say," Edward replied, with a tired sigh. He had done his part. He knew that once he could finish up this call, he would have a few hours for a much- deserved break to look forward to. "If you wanna help me pack, you know where to find me. I'm hanging up now. Bye."

"Text me if anything changes. Bye," was the last thing he heard as he pressed the red disconnect button.

After the phone calls were over and done with everything passed in a blur. He had no recollection of how he finished the drive, but ten minutes later he made it home safe and sound, in one piece, without incident. At that point Edward would've gladly sacrificed both his car and his phone to the hacker gods, if it meant he would never have to deal with anything similar to what he'd just gone through again. He realized Clearwater had been absolutely right though, the combo of no phone and a pregnant girlfriend was a bad one, so he settled for hurrying up to the apartment, locking the door behind him with all the available bolts and chains.

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