AN: Thank you all so much for your reviews and encouragement.

A big thank you to a couple people. Sweetgirl57 betas this for me. Thank you for the work, the patience, and the suggestions you offered. Brier Lynn Rose has held my hand and read over parts of it. Thank you for helping me along the way.

And the usual: Stephenie Meyer owns the characters. The plot and mistakes are mine.

CHAPTER 3

Three weeks later

It had been weeks since Bella had heard anything from her CI. It was not unusual for her to pop in and out of contact, but usually someone had seen her. There was no word of her on the street. No one had seen her at her regular hangouts. It appeared that Bella, in fact, was the last person to talk to her.

"Hey, Swan," Emmett called.

Bella looked up from the computer on her desk toward her commander's office. He took up most of the doorway he guarded. Emmett McCarty was Chicago through and through, born and raised in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. He was a big guy: 6'4", broad shoulders, and all muscle. While playing football for his junior college, he earned his Associate degree, having studied criminal justice, and completed a paramedic certificate. Shortly thereafter, he entered the Chicago police academy.

"Come on in here!"

Emmett closed his office door as Bella entered.

"We've gotten word on your CI."

"Great! What do you know?" Bella asked.

"Not much, just that she's in the morgue." Emmett deadpanned.

Bella fell back into the chair and gasped. "What happened to her?"

"They found her in a forest preserve. She was exsanguinated."

"Wh-what? Another CoEd killing?"

"They brought her in this afternoon. Go ahead over to the morgue. They'll have more information for you. Then we should talk about what she's been doing."

*****RTTD*****

"Paula Lahote, 25-year-old, indigenous transgender female, found exsanguinated in LaBagh Woods in North Park. There's very little outward decomposition; however, her cells have the markings of having been frozen. It's going to take a little more time to determine how long ago she was killed. Do you know the last time anyone saw her?"

"It seems that I was the last to talk to her about three weeks ago. No one has seen her in nearly a month." Bella looked upon the body on the table in front of her.

Paula was covered by a white sheet up to her underarms, her arms at her side on top of the sheet. Collar bone, shoulders, neck, and head were visible. Her face was clear of any injury; however, torn muscle was visible in the flesh where her neck meets her right shoulder.

"Well, that at least gives me a potential time frame."

"What do you know about how she lost her blood?" Bella asked.

"A piece of her neck was torn off, almost like a large animal took a bite out of her. But if it was an animal, there would be far more damage. She was killed somewhere else and moved there, as there was no blood on the scene. She's obviously not the first exsanguination I've seen in the last few months, but she is the first to look like this. If not for the bite, I'd suspect this was your guy," the coroner explained.

Shelley Cope, a tall slim African American woman has been a county coroner for nearly three decades. She was one of three women in her medical school program. In her mind, she has seen it all. Nothing surprises her anymore. The answers are always available to those who are willing to search for them. While this is certainly a strange case, she was convinced she would have answers as soon as she understood what the right questions were.

"I'm still trying to figure out what could have removed that section of her neck. I'd bet that whoever killed her wanted to remove any evidence of the weapon they used," Shelley mused.

Bella looked down at Paula's face. She brought two of her own fingers to her lips giving them a kiss, then placed them on Paula's forehead. "Keep me abreast of anything new," she said as she turned to leave the room.

"Will do."

*****RTTD*****

Bella entered Emmett's office. It was rather Spartan. A large filing cabinet and a tall mahogany bookcase stood along one wall. Across from them was a black leather couch and rectangular coffee table. His mahogany desk with its tall black executive chair faced the door leading to the bullpen. Two black leather armchairs were positioned on the other side of the desk. Bella set two coffees down on the desk then collapsed into one of these chairs. She blew out a breath and spoke.

"Right now, I'm not sure that Paula's a victim of the CoEd killer."

"Do you have any other thoughts about who could have killed her?"

"Not yet, but I'll be heading out to talk to her friends tonight."

Their conversation came to an abrupt stop when they heard a knock on the door jamb.

They both looked at the man standing there.

"Hey, Edward," Emmett said, inviting him in. "What brings you in today?"

He lithely sits in the chair next to Bella. Edward was never clumsy. Whether it was because he was a vampire or because he was graceful as a human, Bella did not know.

"I heard your CI was found," Edward replied looking directly at Bella. Something was different about him today. His body seemed rigid and his smile not quite at ease. "And she was completely devoid of blood." He grimaced slightly. Bella didn't think it was enough for Emmett to notice, but she knew Edward well enough to see it.

"Yes, and a chunk of flesh was removed from her neck. Coroner thinks the killer did it to remove any clues about the weapon," Bella replied, looking straight into Edward's eyes.

They continued to stare at one another. The tension grew thick. Bella often found herself mesmerized by Edward. The more she looked at him though, she realized his eyes were different. He often wore emerald-green contacts to cover the red of his irises. They looked different today, as if the color beneath the contacts was coal black. Allowing thoughts of Paula to recede to the back of her mind, she pondered Edward.

Emmett cleared his throat, "how 'bout you two head out and find us some answers."

Bella startled. "Sure thing," she said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Bella and Edward sat at her desk with their heads close. "Could it be another vampire who attacked Paula?" Bella asked.

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything new."

"Can you find out?"

Edward took a deep breath; he loved her scent. "I can ask around. There are a few people who might know." His downcast eyes told Bella there was something on his mind. The only thing she could do was wait until he was ready to share.

"I'm gonna check out her regular haunts and see if anyone noticed anything different in the area. Wanna join me?" Bella asked.

"No. I think I'll head back home." Edward's eyes were far away and his voice soft.

"Okay. . . Edward, are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just remember something I need to do," he responded a little too chipperly.

She was not going to push, at least not yet. Edward gave her a small smile, turned, and smoothly strolled out of the precinct.

**************RTTD**************

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