Thanks to everyone!
I need you. Only you.
Paul Lahote groans in bed at the sound of his phone on his bedside table, but fumbles in the dark to answer it anyway. His wife rolls over onto her other side, away from the offending light as he unlocks the screen and reads the message sent to him by Rosalie Swan.
He's awake immediately, sitting up in bed with his curiosity piqued. He knows she only reaches out to him if it's important.
What's up?
Sliding the covers off him, he slips his feet into his favorite pair of slippers and heads downstairs, straight towards the kitchen for the coffee pot. If Rosalie Swan is texting him in the middle of the night, he damn well better be awake enough for her.
He wouldn't put it past her to call him out on his unreasonable request for sleep.
Alice Brandon, a friend of Bella's, has been attacked. I'm with her at the hospital right now.
He looks at the text strangely, feeling terrible that the poor woman was assaulted but not seeing the connection just yet. Maybe he will after the first sip of his coffee, which brews loudly behind where he stands.
Another text from Rose comes through. She said it was Bella's husband.
He's out of his slippers and on the way to the hospital faster than he can tell his wife he's leaving. He calls her when he's safely on the road, not knowing when he'll be able to talk to her now that things are starting to develop, and not in the way he had hoped for.
Rosalie meets him outside before he can make his way up to her room.
"How is she?" He asks as he approaches her, bringing a cigarette up to his mouth.
Rosalie sighs, crossing her arms over her chest. "She'll be okay, but she refused to speak to anyone until she talked to me first. That's why I'm here. She doesn't even want to talk to you yet but I convinced her she could trust you."
Paul nods, the two of them standing beneath the fluorescent lights of the hospital parking lot. "What happened?"
"He followed her when she was walking in the park. Strangled her when she wouldn't tell him anything about Bella."
"Fuck," he sighs, blowing smoke through his nose as he looks down at his feet. "I'm sorry."
"He must have thought she was dead and he left her there in the woods. She woke up eventually and made her way here."
He nods. "Any of my guys up there?" He would have gotten a call by now if the case were his.
"Two, but she's not talking."
"Can you get her to? Eventually?" Alice will need to talk, and fast, before their window of opportunity closes.
"Probably. She's really shaken up right now, obviously, so I'm not pushing her. Her husband is flying home from a business trip so I'll be with her until he gets here."
"Okay. They're going to need a statement from her so we can bring him in for questioning."
"I'll try, but you can't let him get away, Paul." Rosalie pauses, shaking her head in confusion. "This is completely out of character for him, and now I'm not sure what he's capable of."
Detective Paul Lahote never gets the chance to find out. Because when they go to Bella's former house to question her husband, the house is empty.
There's no sign of him anywhere.
I told you all to trust me! LOL Still asking you to trust me for JUST a little longer! But yes, the time is soon! Can we feel it?!
See you tomorrow!