Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, the series, or anything affiliated with it. All belongs to Stephanie Meyer.
A/N:
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"…and may we bow our heads in a humble prayer to Fredrick Jhiemer Dougherty. As our beloved ancestors before us proclaimed, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Father Kramer, whom I witnessed with my own eyes gambling in the cellar with Edward and Emmett the night before, spoke to us with sympathetic eyes and open arms. This was the fifth funeral service in a matter of months that I had attended in the name of the Cullencianos. Sometimes it felt like I was going to be next. "Our Father, who art in heaven…" And the crowd echoed him as he repeated the prayer three times. Edward squeezed my hand in a consoling gesture as the paw bearers walked the coffin right past us. Alice was in hysterical tears all the way until he was lowered into the ground and dirt was shoveled onto of him, but it wasn't there holding her shoulders in support like in Reynaldo's death. I wanted to play the part with her, to pretend that he did die in an automobile accident on his way back to the hotel, but I couldn't find it in me.
Alice was a wonderful actress. "Pardon, may I borrow you for a second?" Edward's business associate, James, whispered to him and stole a single glance at me. Edward made it a noticeable notion that he wouldn't bring security guards or any unholy weapon to a funeral, or any religious function that demanded no violent or destructive objects. I usually found this stipule of his, but as he kissed my cheek and whispered something lovely in my ear, I felt a depthless coldness run up my bare legs. There were no security men around and Ed was walking away… I began to question how I ever went out in public without a team before I met Edward. Then, before him I didn't feel the need to be protected.
"Make haste in marrying him." A voice popped up from beside me. I visibly jumped and looked over at the stoic-sounding female; as per the fashion, she wore a short, black veil attached to her cap that covered her upper face and she held her skinny hands behind her back, but made them visibly empty for me. "Fiancés die, not spouses." The redhead added cryptically.
I folded my arms with my hands gripping my upper arms; how did this woman know me? My short-sleeved dress did little to protect me from the midday breeze of Kentucky's late autumn, but Edward was serious about our image. He wore fancy, uncomfortable five piece suits and I wore tight dresses and painful high heels. "Who are you?" I asked sidelong, giving my eyes to the weeping crowd around me so that the two of us didn't look conspicuous.
"There's a grim reaper collecting engagement rings, Miss Swan. Don't wait until the springtime to wear your wedding band, no one wants a bride dead upon arrival." I sent her a look of shock and ridicule. Was she basically threatening me that if I didn't move the wedding up I'd be dead? I shook my head in thought- no one else but Edward and I knew the present date of our wedding- April 17th, I hadn't even told his mother yet! Then again… was she hinting at what I thought she was? It was as if she knew Alice killed Fredrick. No… she was just trying to scare me and possibly enjoy getting a rise out of me. No one could have known. Edward formulated a bulletproof alibi, murder story, cover-up- no one but the three of us knew what really happened.
"I have no clue what you're talking about." I replied, just as stoic. Who was this woman and what game was she playing? "What is it that you want from me?" I wasn't usually this rude or upfront with people, but this redhead was unrelenting.
"My name is Victoria Penne, and I want justice to be served." Victoria turned toward me assertively.
I swallowed nervously. "Ye- yes, you're, uh, you're right. That reckless driver should be brought to justice for what he did to Fredrick." Victoria could not have known the truth! Edward wouldn't have told a soul, Alice wouldn't snitch herself out, and I was too shy to think of what she did, let alone repeat it to another. The grim, knowing smile of hers sent shivers down my spine. "Might I ask your relation to Fredrick?"
Victoria Penne's thin eyebrows rose slightly. "My relation to him? I'm just and old friend of his. Funny, you didn't assume I had relations to Alice Cullenciano, the new widow." she spoke down at me as if she could see every card in my hand.
I pretended to be casual as I shrugged and looked away. "It's just that Alice and I are very close and she has never once mentioned a Victoria Penne, and we've never met a party before. What other explanation would there be? I don't know Fredrick's family or friends all that much, you could have been his mother and I wouldn't have recognized you." Did that sound like babbling? I just wanted to silently prove to her that I was scot-free and telling the truth… it felt so awful to be burdened with this kind of lie.
"Understandable." Victoria began with a jerk kind of smile. "But if you two are so close, why aren't you the one comforting her right now?" She gestured to a weeping Alice, whom was being rubbed, hugged, and talked to by her cousin, Adeline, and not me. Internally, I was stuttering. Why hadn't I thought of an excuse for that? It was weird that I wasn't at her feet trying to cheer her up and take away her sorrows. Before Fredrick came along, we were attached at the hip! "A little trouble in paradise, then?"
"Leave that alone!" I shot at her, pointing one lace gloved finger in her face. "What goes on between Alice and I is none of your concern, you're just a nosy little stranger." I spat out. "If you really must know, I refuse to coddle her in this time of need because that is not out relationship. We understand one another on a completely different level- when people are not looking and the media is not there to document it, we talk. About problems, gossip, politics, pains… we don't feel the need to dramatize everything that goes on during our sister-in-law interactions." I treated her as I would treat any normal paparazzi or magazine writer- they were mean, rude, nosey, unscrupulous and would do anything to get the story they wanted! "Put that in your article, Miss Penne." I ended softly and rudely turned my face away from her, back to the end of the ceremony.
A solitary chuckle sounded from her mouth. "Fiery, aren't you? I'm not a reporter, Miss Swan. I'm just a regular woman that works for the City of Rockville, an assistant for some sloppy old man that runs the electricity plants in these parts." Her answer made my resolve soften. She said she was regular, and not a reporter… if that was true, what was she doing talking and interrogating me? "Fredrick, as I have said before, was a very close friend of mine. And I have reason to urge you to marry Mr. Cullenciano promptly. Do your homework, Miss Swan, your sister-in-law is not at all the woman you see her to be."
"Food and drinks are provided at the Dougherty's residence, everyone is welcome to pay their last respects to Fredrick in the house he spent his last years in." Father Kramer announced in a jolly yet somber tone, abruptly ending our conversation. Victoria stepped away quickly, so quick in fact that when I turned around, I couldn't find one trace of her red hair in the moving crowd.
"Are you ready?" Edward's voice scared the living shit out of me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when he put his arm around my waist. "What is the matter, Isabella? Are you not feeling well?" I stuttered like an idiot and was going to make up some kind of response when I saw Alice and Emmett approaching. Beneath the tears and heavy makeup she wore, I saw the malicious glint in her eyes. The masked sneer on her face directed at me, or was I just going crazy? My eyes did the seasons as I considered all sorts of scenarios in my head. Would Alice kill me for knowing her secret? She wouldn't have a fat chance in hell in getting away with killing her brother, and besides, he was the one covering for her! But I was just a witness, I was just the girlfriend of her brother! Not even his wife, just his fiancé… Victoria's early words came back to me. Everything she said now made sense. Alice killed her own fiancé, she would kill me in no time.
But then again, we were very close and had an unbreakable friendship. I was loyal to her, but was she questioning my loyalty now? She knew I was God fearing, and I doubted that she believed I wouldn't crumble under the pressure. "The limousines are ready." Emmett murmured and held Alice's elbow in a possessive gesture; all she had left were two older brothers, would she die that way? We walked together to the main limo, which was white and silver, and Alice made it a point to put Edward and Emmett on either side of her. Alice's in-laws piled into the opposite door, completely filling the car. I bit my lip in contemplation… was I the odd girl out?
"The next limo is empty, Bella, do you mind riding alone? It's just a short trip to the house, thirty minutes at most." Alice's serene smile beneath her veil made me nod in an odd, hesitant pattern. I didn't want to impose on the personal time she obviously needed to spend in the limo with them. Edward made a move to get out and join me, but Alice put her hand on his pant leg. To me, the hand looked awfully close to his crotch area, which must have been uncomfortable for her. "No, Eddie, stay here with me. Bella doesn't mind riding alone, right, Bella?" She turned to me with a hopeless look on her face. She needed the support right now, and even if I wasn't comfortable riding alone in a big, empty limousine, I did what I thought she'd want. I nodded.
"Yeah, Edward, it's fine. We'll meet at the house anyway." I sent him a reassuring smile before waving everyone off.
"Oh, use the limo with the license plate 202B5E, alright?" Alice urged. "I made the accommodations to your liking, I know how you enjoy your complimentary spirits." That statement made me pause in my smiling- the sentence went from kind and thoughtful to rude and embarrassing. Why would she say such a thing in front of his parents? She made me look like a cheap drunk! But I nodded and smiled either way. I searched every limo's license plate before meeting the last one at the end of the row. It was filled to the max and didn't match the license plate numbers Alice gave me, but I felt just awful when I noticed that all of the limousines were slowly pulling away until I was left alone in the middle of the sunny graveyard. But it wasn't like I could have just jumped into any awaiting limo! Alice said she made special reservations for me… I sighed heavily at my luck. There was no way to get a hold of any out here, how the hell was I going to get back on my own? And from the stories my dad told me about these Southern racists, the Ku Klux Klan would just eat me alive.
A model T Ford pulled up slowly and the passenger side window rolled down slowly. "You look like you could use a ride." The invasive redhead from earlier regarded me with a slow smirk.
"No, thank you." I replied stubbornly, paying little attention to the fact that there was another gentleman in her car. "My car should be arriving shortly." I lied easily. I didn't want her to think that she had any advantage over me, and I didn't want her to use it against me.
"That's a lie, Miss Swan, you know as well as I do that you have no ride. The last car left a few minutes ago, I am your only way back to the Dougherty's." Victoria eyed me carefully. "Come on, the ride is free of charge." She was baiting me, I could tell. But I had two options here- take her ride and possibly be killed or kidnapped, or refuse her offer and sleep under a willow tonight with the countless other dead people in this cemetery. "I will let you drive if you like." What was up with this woman? Why did me getting in the car matter so much? But I shook my head at her last offer, walking to the front of her door instead.
"I will take the ride, but I don't know how to get there." I admitted angrily.
"No worries." Victoria smiled almost evilly. "Hop in, we'll be there in no time."
A/N: dun, dun, dun…. Kids, please don't get in the car with strangers. Even if you are stranded in a countryside cemetery.
Or if ghosts and zombies aren't your thing, go ahead and take the ride.
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