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Chapter Eleven: Olympic Peninsula Adventures

Bella awoke, her body feeling tingly as she recounted her night with Edward. It had been wonderful, even if his brother had interrupted them. It gave her a break from there reality she was facing.

She got out of bed and headed down the hall. The door to her Grandfather's bedroom was closed and as much as she desperately wanted to go inside she knew it would just bring on another wave of sadness.

Downstairs, Rose was sat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea in her hands and her laptop in front of her as she stared off into the distance.

"Morning," Bella called lightly, not wanting to startle her.

Rose snapped out of whatever trance she was in and her purple eyes met Bella's. "Morning." She sipped at her tea. "Did you have fun last night?" When she raised her eyebrows, Bella blushed.

"I had a wonderful night thank you." She didn't want to be embarrassed about it. She was a grown woman in an adult relationship. She could enjoy a night of pleasure if she wanted.

"Good." There was a slight sadness to Rose's eyes and as Bella waited for the kettle to boil she realised why. The spot their Grandfather usually took was vacant.

"Rose-"

Her cousin cut her off. "I don't want to talk about it. It's too soon."

Bella nodded in understanding. "Alright." She motioned her chin towards the laptop. "What are you doing?"

"I'm looking at the Facebook page of Olympic Peninsula Adventures." She put her cup down and began to scroll through the page. "It lists their employees so I've been going through them - I thought I might be able to find something out. And I did." Rose turned the laptop towards me to reveal a picture of a young girl, probably a few years younger than us with pale skin and wild red hair that framed her face. "This is Maggie Green. She hasn't posted on her Facebook account for six months and there's a private page called 'Remembering Maggie'.My next port of call is to check the online obituaries."

"That's really morbid," Bella told her. "And her family might not have even put up an announcement if it's the same person… and she might have died naturally."

"I know it's a long shot but we need to catch whoever did this."

Bella understood. She turned her attention back to the kettle and when it had finished boiling she went about making herself a cup of tea.

"Hey, B?" Rose called. "It's the right Maggie Green." Bella turned to see what was on Rose's laptop. There, in plain text was an obituary for Maggie Green, her picture (the same one from Facebook) in full colour next to it. Underneath her obituary was a plea from the police asking individuals to come forward if they knew anything that might help them catch her killer.

Bella sat back and processed the information as Rose pulled up another news article. "She was found murdered in her home, postmortem says strangulation… and fang marks were found on her wrist."

Bella let out a breath as Rose continued to scroll through the article.

"She didn't have any family," she informed Bella sadly. "The Facebook page was set up by some of her colleagues at work."

Rose met Bella's eyes over the laptop.

We need to do something. Rose's mind swirled with worry. Edward and Jake had told her they suspected whoever stabbed Bella at Black's was responsible for her Grandfather's death. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Let me get some breakfast," Bella said. "And then we'll go."

Rose nodded. The trip might prove fruitless or it might prove useful, but there was only one way to find out.

Thirty minutes later and both Rose and Bella had gotten dressed and driven into town (Jake having fixed their car before the funeral). They were hoping that one of the employees at Olympic Peninsula Adventures could help them out. Even if they didn't say anything, there might be something in their minds that would give them a clue.

"Ready?" Rose asked Bella as she pulled the car to a stop. Bella nodded and they got out of the vehicle and walked towards the shop.

The bell above the door went off when they went in and a middle-aged man looked up, giving them both a smile.

"Can I help you girls with anything?" His voice was soft and gentle and his hazel eyes were some of the kindest Bella had seen. He had an air about him that screamed nice.

"Yeah, we were actually looking for an old friend of ours… Maggie ?" Bella questioned. The main straightened immediately at her name and a sense of sadness crept onto his features.

"Maggie Green?"

Both girls nodded.

"I'm afraid she's not here," the man told them. "Unfortunately she was killed a few months back."

Rose and Bella faked shock.

"That's terrible!" Rose said, bringing a hand to her mouth.

The old man nodded and then sighed. "They think it was a deliberate murder - she was strangled in her apartment." Images of the news items flashed in his mind, the floor where she had been found, the overturned pots on the side where she had struggled.

"Do they know who did it?" Bella asked.

"No - the police haven't even had any leads." His voice was laced in disappointment. It was clear how highly he thought of Maggie. "The really sad thing is she had just started to date someone. She was very excited about it." The memory of her smiling face was clear in his mind. "She never dated, not until she met him."

"Do you know who she was dating? Rose asked.

"She only told me about him the week before she died. She seemed like she really liked him. Such a shame…" he trailed off. He was silent and still before clearing his throat and looking apologetically at Bella and Rose. "Sorry, that was the last conversation I had with her. I was off for a week."

"Don't apologise," Bella told him, fully empathising with his grief.

"Is there another employee who could have seen her in that time?" Rose questioned.

The man shook his head. "I used to manage the shop by myself but had to hire Maggie when my health went downhill. She told me she could manage by herself."

Guilt consumed him. His mind went into the 'what-ifs'; what if he hadn't taken the week off; what if he had hired someone else to help; what if he had questioned her about the boy she was seeing?

"You can't think like that," Bella told him, reaching forward and covered his wrinkled hand with her own. "It's easy but you can't. It'll eat you up."

The man stared at Bella, understanding her words straight away.

"We just lost our Grandpa," Rose said quietly. "If we thought about the 'what-ifs', we'd never stop crying."

The man looked at them both.

"I'm sorry." His eyes were full of understanding.

Then for a moment, just a moment, the three of them were united by their grief and their questions.

"Maggie left some belongings her… as you're her friends would you like to take them? I hate to think of them just sitting in a box."

"Yeah," Rose told him as she nodded. Bella took her hand from his and watched as he disappeared into what appeared to be a storeroom, emerging only a few seconds later with a box.

He handed it to Rose.

"Do you mind if I ask you one more question?" Bella asked. The man nodded. "Do you sell bumper stickers?"

"We don't sell them but if you have a loyalty card you get one once you've purchased over fifty dollars worth of equipment."

"Thanks," Bella and Rose told him, leaving the shop and getting in their truck.

"He didn't lie to us," Rose said. "He didn't know anything about her death until the police spoke to him. He was genuinely upset that she'd been killed." She paused. "Did you focus on the memory of his last conversation with Maggie?"

Bella shook her head.

"In that memory, she didn't have any bite marks on her wrist."

"Which means she got them after she'd spoken to him," Bella concluded. "In the week leading up to her death."

"All of these deaths have to be related; Irina's, Maggie's…Grandpa's. Even your stabbing."

It was a possibility that Bella had considered. She'd had no choice after what Jake and Edward told her.

"Come on," Rose began. "Let's get back. The sooner we get home, the sooner we can look through this box and see if there's anything in there."

"Is that why you accepted it?"

"I was hoping there might be some pictures or something that can help us."

Bella nodded as Rose started up the engine and backed out of the parking space.

She hoped the box of Maggie's belongings provided some kind of answers.