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 4

Lincoln Avenue is busy any time of the day. A major artery through the north side of Chicago, the segment through the Budlong Woods neighborhood glows with neon at night. Bars, restaurants, and motels line the street. Some of these places are well known for the underground economy of drugs and sex work. Bella drove down the road in search of some of the street regulars, hoping to find out something, anything, about what Paula had been up to since she had seen her last. She pulled into the lot of the Diplomat Motel.

The Diplomat is a two-story stucco outdoor access motel. The rooms were clean enough and cheap enough for a quick stay of an hour or three. The beds felt like boxes, the walls yellow from smoking - tobacco or other products. Paintings bought in bulk at warehouse stores adorned the walls. The decor in tans and browns was in styles long passed. More than one of the rooms had the added ornamentation of a bullet hole or two.

Bella hopped out of her car into the pungent scent of marijuana. She found Sam and his group of misfits slouching against the front of the motel, vaping. She strolled over to them.

Sam took in her look and nodded toward her as she approached. She was dressed in snug dark jeans, a Black Flag t-shirt, black zipper boots, and a black motorcycle jacket. Someone in the group wolf whistled.

"Lookin' good there, detective," Jared called.

"Hey guys," Bella greeted them. "Can I talk to you about Paula?"

Sam placed his right hand over his heart and looked up to the sky then muttered something that sounded like "miss you P."

"Damn shame, she was a good one," Emily lamented.

"I'm trying to work out the last time anyone saw her and if anything seemed different about her. When did any of you see her last?"

"I don't know that it was the last time I saw Paula, 'cuz ya know, you never think it's gonna be the last time," Jared paused. "She seemed jittery and kept looking around. Almost kinda like paranoid. I thought maybe she needed a hit." Then under his breath he murmured "maybe not."

"I saw her at the Pho place over on Bryn Mawr. But that was like two months ago. She was hanging with some blond dude. Never saw him before," Sam recalled.

"Would you be able to describe this guy?" Bella queried.

"I mean, I s'pose, but I didn't get a good look. I was just pickin' up some dinner and left."

"Could you tell how tall he was, his eye color, the shape of his face?"

"They were sitting down, so I don't know how tall, but they looked about the same size. He was maybe a little bigger than Paula, like in his shoulders. He was wearing a dark hoodie, I think. I know his hair was blond and pulled back in a man bun. That's really all I remember."

"Okay. Hopefully someone else has seen this guy around and can fill in the description." Bella looked at each member of the group. She sensed Sam was not telling her everything.

"Anyone else remember anything?"

They all looked down at their feet taking a drag of their vapes almost synchronously. All was silent, save for the cars going up and down Lincoln. Bella stood silently, knowing they were becoming uncomfortable with her there. She did not mind waiting them out.

The nearby traffic light went through a full cycle before Leah broke the silence with a deep breath. "I saw her a few weeks back with a red head."

"What do you mean by a few weeks back?"

"Last time, when you were asking around about her; it was a couple days before that."

"Tell me about this red head. Guy? Gal? Nonbinary?"

"She had some great tits, so I'd say woman."

Bella nodded and waited. "And?"

"She had this hair." Leah moves her hands around her head. "So much of it. Long, curly fire red hair! I wanna know her hairdresser, 'cuz natural or not, that shit was wild."

"Anything else?" Apparently she had to draw it all out of Leah.

"Her eyes. They were like a really dark purple. Like she was wearing contacts, and her real eyes are dark."

Bella took a breath. "Okay, what else?"

"She was almost as tall as Paula, but she was wearing some kick-ass platforms. That's all I remember."

"Why didn't you tell me about this when I was looking for her?"

Leah looks to the ground. "I was s'pose to be at work, and I didn't want my PO to know I skipped out."

"Listen, I'm not here to bust any of you! I'm trying to find whoever killed Paula!"

"When's a cop carin' 'bout people like us," Embry sneered.

Bella looked at him stony-eyed. "Hey mother fucker, I cared about Paula! She's not just some vic to me!"

Embry to a long step closer to Bella. He was taller than her by at least six inches. His chest heaved. "Because she was useful to you! When are you comin' 'round here looking for the killers of our other brothers and sisters? I ain't seen you down here looking for Irina's killer! Or Tyler's, and he was just a kid! Bet if he was a Lincoln Park kid the whole city woulda been turned upside down."

He stared down at her.

Bella was chagrined. "You're right. We don't do enough for any of you, but right now, I'm trying to find Paula's killer. Let's focus on that, then we can solve CPD's problems."

Embry rolled his eyes. "Yeah right! I'll help you with Paula, but I don't believe for one minute you give a damn about the rest of us. Bet when I turn up dead, Ima be just another statistic that never gets solved." He stormed off.

They all stood in stunned silence until Bella spoke. "I really want to help. I wish I could do more."

Sam puts his hand on her shoulder, "We know you're doin' all you can. We'll let ya know if we hear anything about Paula."

"Thank you." Bella walked off knowing full well that Embry was right about everything he said, and Sam was only placating her.

After speaking to a few more people and checking in at the bars and restaurants in the area, Bella called it a night. In her car, she gave Edward a call. It went to voicemail, so she texted "Just thinking about you. Let me know if you wanna talk or if I can do something for you." She tossed her phone into the cup holder and pulled into the street her eyes glassy with unshed tears.

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