Chapter The People in your Neighborhood

Leah snuck out the back door of the Cullen residence leaving Sam inside to face the police alone. There was a moment when she almost disobeyed his order, and if he had been Jacob she would have without a second thought. She knew she would never leave Jacob behind. But if someone was going to get arrested for desecrating a grave, let it be Sam. That bastard had it coming.

Once outside, she ran through the wooded area until she found a narrow trail. In spite of the rain and mud, it looked like it had been well traveled and so she decided to follow it. She kept in her human form, her feet covering ground at a swift pace.

She ducked under a fallen tree limb, and glanced back over her shoulder to see how much distance she'd put between herself and the house. In her next step something caught her foot. She felt herself falling forward and placed her hands in front of her to break her fall. But instead of hitting the ground she fell through something that felt like thick cardboard. Her head hit against something hard as she tumbled down into the hole.

As she fell, her arm caught a wire or piece of rope, she wasn't sure. There was a snapping sound and a soft crash. Leah hit the bottom of the hole face first. It took a few moments to recover from the impact. All around her was saturated earth. When she finally got to her feet, she realized she'd fallen close to fifteen feet. The crash she heard was a large fallen tree covering most of the opening.

Leah cursed to herself as she tried to scale the wet dirt to climb out, but she had trouble gripping the mud. It gave way under her weight. She pressed her hands against the sides, searching for roots which would be sturdier.

Several thoughts jumbled through her mind as she looked for a way to escape. The first and foremost was that this had to be a trap. No one digs a hole this deep and covers it just for shits & giggles. The Cullens must have done this – but why?

-o-

More waiting.

It seemed as though they'd been sitting in the airport for eternity. Rose checked the flight monitors for the twentieth time. Their flight to Heathrow was still on schedule. She looked around at the rest of the family. Bella and Alice looked ridiculous in their souvenir I (heart) NY t-shirts. Leave it to Bella to ruin the only shirt she'd brought with her. Not that Emmett was much better in his new Yankees jersey.

Rose walked a few steps toward the large counter near the gate. She checked her phone again, not that anything new had happened in the last thirty seconds but she felt as though she had to do something.

"Rosalie!" a voice exclaimed. "Rosalie Hale, is that you?"

The blonde spun around and came face to face with a middle aged woman whom she didn't recognize.

"You haven't changed a bit!" the woman covered her mouth with a gasp.

"I think you have the wrong person," Rose responded.

"Oh no, I could never forget you," the woman smiled, "It's me, Christine Miller."

Rose stared at the woman.

"We were sorority sisters, Alpha Phi, Boston University," the woman continued reaching out to embrace Rosalie.

Christine Miller, her "Big" sister at Alpha Phi. The vampire was caught off guard. It had only been for one semester - and that was twenty -something years ago!

"OH MY GOD is that EMMETT!" Christine clapped her hands together. "You married him didn't you? I knew it! I knew it!"

"Uhhh, Christine," Rose managed to say as the woman headed across to where he was sitting.

"Emmett Cullen – look at YOU!" Christine exclaimed. "EXACTLY the same as I remember you."

At that loud declaration all the Cullens looked up at the woman, then over at Emmett who looked downright shell shocked.

Rose swallowed hard. This was not the time or the place for a damn class reunion.

-o-

"I don't think using the Council's laptop to Google "disposal of dead bodies" is a good idea," Embry frowned. "The police can track that stuff. I think it's called Cookies or something like that."

"Well we have to do something, Em. And speaking of cookies, are you hungry?" Quil replied.

"Not really. Looking at body parts made me lose my appetite," Embry replied.

"'Cause I'm freaking starving," Quil rubbed his stomach. "You mind if I run over to Sam's and scrounge up some snacks."

"You're gonna leave me here, alone with bits and pieces of … whoever," Embry cried with exasperation.

"I'll come back as fast as I can. Dude, seriously. I'm starving here."

"Whatever just go," Embry mumbled.

"Ten minutes – MAX," Quil replied as he dashed off through the trees.

What a dick. Embry crossed his arms over his chest. He moved a safe distance away from the tree, but stayed nearby in case anyone should come wandering through the woods.

He leaned against an old stump. The body filled tree with Carlisle carved in the side was a message, at least that's how he perceived it. Someone or something, killed a bunch of people, cut them up and stuffed them in a tree. Then tonight, they cut the tree down for the pack to find. What was the significance of tonight? The rainstorm? The other body they found? Did it have anything to do with the strange incident Leah had on her drive back from National Park? What if it had something to do with Jake?

Embry knew it had to be something. There had to be a common factor. But what?

-o-

Sam Uley cowered behind the front door of the Cullen residence. Every cell in his body told him to run and get the hell out of here. Unfortunately he was 99.9% sure the State Police had already run the license plate on the truck and knew it was his. He wasn't certain why they were here, but he knew he couldn't let them go to the reservation – to his house – it was too close to the … bodies.

He stood there watching them, one was in the car the other was inspecting every inch of the truck. His flashlight was incredibly bright, like a beacon in the dark night. Holding the light up to the driver's side window he peered inside the cab. Sam's heart dropped when he opened the door. Shit. Leah didn't lock the doors!

Sam opened the front door and stepped outside, making his way to the squad car. The officer in the car opened the door and got out.

"This your truck?" he called from his position in front of the police car.

"Yes, Officer," Sam replied as politely and calmly as he could. "Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem," the officer repeated with a laugh glancing over at his partner.

"You're Samuel Uley, right?" the partner asked.

"Yes," Sam swallowed hard. His palms began to sweat.

The next few minutes happened so fast it made Sam's head spin. He was handcuffed and thrown in the back of the police car. The officers sped out of the Cullen's driveway on their way back to the State Police Barracks to process him.

"Guys like you make me sick," the officer driving the car commented.

"Officer, this is a mistake," Sam tried to explain again.

"Save it for the Judge, Uley," the officer in the passenger seat shot back.

"Yeah, Judge Connor HATES deadbeat dads," the other one sneered.

Sam was on the verge of tears. Apparently there was a warrant out for his father's arrest. He owed over ten thousand in back child support.

-o-

The pack was now down to seven. The remaining members were in the wooded area outside Sam's house. It was a chaotic meeting. There was no order, everyone spoke out of turn. The three leading members of the group were MIA and conspiracy theories were running wild.

Seth was especially upset that no one had heard from Leah. He insisted on going to the Cullen's to check on her and Sam. You never know, they might have killed each other. Paul felt it wasn't a good idea for anyone else to leave the Res. Jared agreed that their situation had an eerie resemblance to bad horror films. As soon as someone went off alone, they disappeared.

Quil disagreed. He'd gone to Sam's house alone. Collin and Seth had both been alone. Nothing had happened to any of them.

Finally it was Embry who came up with the only suggestion that remotely made sense. Everyone would phase and stay that way – at least until morning. It was the only way to assure constant contact. If anything happened to one of them, the entire pack would know immediately.

Embry and Seth phased and began their journey to the Cullen house to look for Leah and Sam.

Quil stayed alone to guard the bodies, since he was the only one who didn't care about the 'buddy' system.

Jared and Brady would patrol one half of the Res, Paul and Collin the other.

It was going to be a very long night for the pack.