Nine

Leah hadn't heard from her husband in over than two days.

Heard absolutely nothing about their marriage, about the case.

The last time Leah spoke to Sam, she spent a good twenty minutes consoling the man who was discovered the fate of two subjects from his most important case —Thank goodness, the media hadn't caught onto the story about the missing, she had told Sam.

And that had been it.

Maybe it was for the best, Leah told herself. Unfortunately, the others didn't agree with her, including Aisha, who, following an update on the Denali and Demetri's case a couple of nights later, told her friend, "You need to talk to him. You can't keep this silent-treatment shit forever."

Leah poured herself her second glass of wine of the night. She took a long sip before replying, quite forlorn, "I know."

"And Emily—"

"I know," Leah groaned into the phone.

There were many times Leah knew she had to. Besides getting the bottom of what was left of her marriage, there was still the looming family wedding (only days from now), she had to worry about. Both Emily, for obvious reasons, and Sam, for being the in-law were expected to attend and no one else knew of the affair—As far as Sue was concerned, Sam's mistress might have been some chick he met at work. Not her niece.

Everyone in the know was right. This couldn't and wouldn't last forever, and Leah just had to weather the storm. It would be fine, she would promise herself hours later, while she rushed to finish her reports before ending her late shift.

The clock read 10:39 pm.

A few more hours, and she would be done.

Leah looked beyond her computer, checking on Jacob, currently yawning as he typed away. He gave her a small, sleepy smile. Leah returned one in kind, and then back to her work. Not for long, though, soon, she found herself more interested in the mess on her desk than writing about how little evidence was discovered during the latest visit to the Dahlia crime scene.

Beyond the mounds of paper, case-related photographs, and an old laptop was a row of framed photos of her loved ones: her mother, her father, Seth… and Emily. There was one in particular that caught Leah's attention. Emily was in it, smiling brightly with her arms wrapped around Leah with the loveliness that was the Washington wilderness behind him.

Both girls had to have been around ten—they were only a few months apart. Practically like twins, their families would say. Neither woman had a sister, but they did have each other. Both promised to look after each other, never to have anything come in between them.

Before that fateful night in December, Leah had been convinced that her bond with Emily would last forever.

Minutes after Jacob left for the night, Leah called her mother.

She regretted the decision the moment she dialed the number and heard the ringing. She considered hanging up; after all, it was past midnight. Her mother was in bed right now, and didn't deserve to—Sue picked up, and before Leah could talk herself out of it, she told her mother everything.

"Come home," Sue softly said once her daughter was finished. Leah could imagine her placing a hand on her forehead in an attempt to alleviate the effects of being on the receiving end of a bombshell-filled word vomit. "To my house, Leah. Not yours. Please."

"Mom—"

"I'd like you to come home now," Sue said. "And get some sleep. I know you have an extra set of clothes lying around. You can head straight to work after your rest."

Biting her lip, Leah glanced at the clutter of files on her table. The offer was tempting, but she wanted to get this work done. She didn't want to worry about it several hours from now. "But I have to do important—"

"It wasn't important enough to call me in the middle of the night," Sue pointed out, adding in a yawn. Leah could hear her mother sitting up in the bed and turning on the bedside lamp. "What didn't you tell me this before?"

"Mom, I—"

Sue didn't allow her daughter to finish. "You don't have to do everything on your own."

Leah ran a hand down her face and groaned. This again. A speech she had heard since she was nine. It was made of love, though, and Leah had to remind herself of that. "I know…" she said when Sue finished. "I know."

"Then come home."

Leah glanced at the time on her desk phone. 12:17 am. She sighed, and after realizing that she was too tired to come up with an excuse, said into the phone, "I'll be there soon."

She arrived at her mother's house a little after 1:00 am and end up having the best sleep in months. The whole affair only lasted for a few hours, but it was still wonderful being in Leah's old bed in her old room.

When she entered the kitchen later that morning, Leah found her mother sitting at the small table, reading yesterday's paper over a cup of coffee. Surprised, she looked up at the clock hanging above on the door leading to the backyard. 5:27 am, it read. Sue was never up at this time.

"When did you get up?" Leah would ask her mother after exchanging the usual morning pleasantries. She beelined to the coffee machine where half of the pot of the hot drink remained. She smiled to herself, relieved, as she made a cup.

"Around 12:15 this morning."

Leah turned around and faced; she had called her mother around that time. "You didn't sleep?"

"I'm a mother," Sue said, adjusting her robe. She looked up at her daughter, eyes warm but fatigued. "I couldn't. Not with you…" she trailed off with a wave of the hand.

Leah felt guilty. "I'm so sorry. The timing was bad, and—"

Sue shook her head, effectively cutting off her daughter. "You can call me anytime, darling," she said in a sweet voice that enough just enough finality, preventing Leah from arguing. Sue then rose from her seat and pulled Leah into a tight hug. She placed a soft kiss on the other woman's forehead. "Have a wonderful day at dear," she said, pulling away. "And you will come back here for dinner. Do you understand, young lady?"

Leah's smile was warm. "Yes, mom."

"You looked well-rested."

"With only three hours of sleep?" Leah laughed as she entered the car. After giving Jacob a cup of freshly-brewed coffee, she buckled her seatbelt, and added, "Thank you. You didn't have to pick me up."

"It's no big deal." Jacob gulped down some of the drink, emitting a low moan of appreciation. "Thanks for this," he said, placing the Styrofoam cup in the cup-holder. "Thanks for this. The one I had earlier tasted like dishwater."

"My mom insisted since you did come all this way," Leah said, and then joked, "Don't tell me that's the only reason why you offered me a ride."

"Ha! Of course, not." Jacob smiled. "Damn, you're in a really good mood. You need to stay over at your mom's more often."

"Oh, shove it," Leah retorted without much heat. She took a bite out of a granola bar, and then quietly added, "I told her."

"I figured you did," Jacob said, driving off. "Happy to have that weight off your shoulders?" When Leah made an affirmative noise, he asked, "How did she react?"

"She forced me to stay over."

Jacob nodded. "Ah."

"And now, I have to have dinner with her and Seth, and after that, have a heart-to-heart about my marriage," Leah said, rolling her eyes. She was not looking forward to that conversation, but it was needed. "So, we have to be done at a decent time. Or she'll have your balls."

Jacob chuckled. "Don't want that."

Leah chuckled along.

The soon detectives fell into a comfortable silence as they crossed the Evanston-Chicago line. Minutes later, while they passed Loyola University, Leah carried on with the conversation. "Have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Two, actually…" Leah trailed off to finish off her snack. She crumbled the wrapper in her hand, shoved it into her coat pocket, and leaned back against the passenger seat. "Do you have any updates on the missing bodies?"

Jacob shook his head. "None. Some are going to interview the guards again, but yeah… none."

"Theory?"

"I don't know the Denali killers did it. if they wanted to get rid of the bodies, they should have done it after committing the dead," Jacob explained. "I mean, this is only a theory, but I think Tanya may be involved."

"Denali?" Leah asked. "Isn't she related to them? What not claim the body once the autopsy's completed?"

"Probably for the same reason why Bella's late-night visitor didn't want Jessica's autopsy to be completed," Jacob suggested with a half-shrug. "Okay, second question?"

For a moment, Leah had forgotten about the "second question". She thought about brushing it off since it would force them to enter a more personal territory, but Leah decided to just go forward with it. "Your wolf…"

Jacob's face twisted in confusion, but then it relaxed. "What about it?"

"You were born that way?"

"Yeah, it kinds runs in the family," Jacob said. "It's a long story."

Leah nodded. "Huh."

Jacob scoffed. "What's the huh for?"

"I've always assumed that you, werewolves—"

"Shapeshifters."

Leah wondered the difference between the two. "Shapeshifters," she amended, and then continued, "Are made, not born."

"It can both."

"Like vampires?"

Jacob shook his head. "Vampires are only made. Well, at least… sort of." He huffed, and then added, "It's complicated."

Oh, Leah could only imagine. "Right," she said, rubbing her hands together as she glanced outside her window. They were passing the Lincoln Park Zoo. "How does one turn?" she asked seconds later. "A bite to the neck?"

"Something like that."

"Can any shapeshifter turn someone?" Leah asked. "Like vampires?"

"No," Jacob quickly said. With his free hand, he picked up his coffee and took a long sip. "Only alphas."

Leah slowly nodded. Alphas—she heard of them, mostly from folklore. She had an idea of what role they played. Leaders, she supposed, like captains. Of what? These were wolves, so perhaps a pack? She shook the thought out of her head, then asked, "And what are you?"

Jacob locked eyes with his partner and smirked. "An alpha," he said.

Later that morning, the detectives paid a visit to the Office of the Medical Examiner, at Bella's fervent request. Some things we need to clear up, she had texted to Jacob. No rush. Which, in Bella's words, could mean anything. To play it safe, Jacob convinced Leah to visit the morgue right after they met with the captain.

Inside the lab, Bella didn't notice the detectives' arrival as she gathered some tests, barely paid attention to her partner, chatting on the phone about last year's Comic-Con. When she noticed the detectives, standing near the entrance, Bella dropped the papers and grinned with relief.

After snapping her fingers at Eric and motioning him to leave the lab with his conversation, she rushed towards the detectives. "You don't know how happy I am to see your faces," she told them. She placed her files aside and pulled up another one from the table. She handed it to Jacob. "I know about them, you know."

"About who?" Jacob asked.

"Vampires," Bella said. "The supernatural… damn, Eric was right all along."

Jacob cursed under his breath.

Leah eyed the coroner. "You're taking the news exceptionally well."

Bella let out a nervous laugh. "I needed a couple of days to fully digest everything," she admitted. "Sam told me when he stopped by asking about the bodies. He also told me about the ultra-violets." She went to a lab table set against the wall, picked up a plastic bag, and returned. She held up the bag, containing a used bullet, emitting faint blue light. "One bullet to the head for all three victims—Demetri, Sasha, and Vasili."

"Any updates on the missing bodies?" Jacob asked.

"Bodies?" Bella tilted her head, feigning ignorance. "What missing bodies? We don't know anything about missing bodies."

Playing along with the coroner's game, Jacob nodded and said, "I must be thinking of something else."

Bella sent the detective a thankful look and carried on, "So, a couple of things: yesterday, we've discovered some UV light residue on Jessica's hands. At least, we didn't think much o it. See, Jessica was an avid tanner, but then I remembered something. We found the same kind of residue on Sasha's and Vasili's body—Eric and I thought: hey, maybe it's just a coincidence…"

"You found out it wasn't," Leah stated.

"We sent the bullet found in Demetri's skull to the lab. The substances inside casing matched the light residence found on the body. So, question: are these bullets available on the open market?"

"Not supposed to be," Jacob said, studying the page in his hand. "So, traces of light were found in everyone's wounds except for Jessica's," he paraphrased. "Traces are located on Jessica's hands…"

"Because she was handling them," Leah provided.

Bella looked at both detectives. "Handling in what manner?"

Jacob disregarded the question as his eyes widened. "So, they were after the bullets…"

"And she got in the way," Leah concluded. She turned to Bella. "Does Sam know about this?"

"Funny, you asked—Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I've been compelled by certain forces to rule the Denali murders as inconclusive, once they return to my custody."

"Inconclusive?" Leah couldn't believe her ears. This sounded like an old-fashioned cover-up. She checked with Jacob, but he didn't seem too surprised or concerned. Shaking her head, she added, "That was clearly murder."

"How would that be possible?" Leah asked. "They had stakes shoved into them."

"Well, for one, the stakes didn't kill them," Bella said, shoving her hands into her lab-coat pocket. "It was the bullet. The stakes were applied post-mortem."

"By whom?" Jacob asked.

Bella shrugged. "Hey, I'm just a medical examiner, not a detective," Bella reminded everyone with a shrug, and then added, "So, is there a conspiracy going around that I need to know about? Because I'm pretty at this rate, the FBI's going to make an appearance and start asking some questions."

"The feds aren't arresting you," Jacob assured the coroner.

"Oh, thanks," Bella said. "But this isn't about me, really. This is about the investigation and what can happen during a trial. How can I submit any of these autopsies as evidence? I mean, what am I supposed to do with this? There isn't a protocol for handling corpses belonging to vampires."

"Because vampires don't technically exist," Leah pointed out.

"This doesn't help me. At all," Bella grumbled. "I suppose I can go to the Sam-route, but…"

"Have you spoken to your supervisor about this?" Jacob asked.

"Of course."

Leah lifted an eyebrow. "And?"

"Banner said to rule everyone's death, excluding Jessica, as inconclusive… but what if I have to testify? I'm not trying to catch a perjury charge."

"If they're smart, this won't go to trial," Jacob said. "Trials are public events, and I'm sure that's the last thing this city needs."

"So, what now?" Leah asked. "I know this isn't technically our case, but there's some connection to the Dahlia case. Remotely, but enough."

Jacob glanced at his partner. "I'll talk to Jenks," he told Bella. "Off the record, of course."

"Thank you," Bella muttered. She placed the files aside and started pacing around the lab, pulling on her coat. Nervous. "There's something else I have to tell you." She stopped and let out a deep breath. "He visited me. Again."

Oh, shit—

Jacob leaned forward. "Who?"

"Edward," Bella said.

Leah cursed.

Jacob blinked. "Excuse me?"

While Bella explained everything, Leah couldn't help but think how bad this situation was. It was arguably worse than the Denali debacle. Something had to be done: completely disregard the damned Deal and obtain a warrant for Edward's arrest. And then, get Bella a deal security detail. Nothing major; one cop who during the night would do.

"Wait, this all happened a couple of days ago," Leah pointed out once Bella was done. She glanced at her partner, who was far from the vicinity of being happy. "Why are you telling us this now?"

At least, Bella had the sense to look guilty. "I didn't think it was a big deal," she said with a shrug. "At the time."

Leah blinked, incredulous.

"You didn't think it was a big deal—" Jacob threw up his hands. "Bella, are you trying to get whacked?"

Bella wrinkled her nose. "Whacked?" She put her hands on her hips. "This isn't The Sopranos, Jacob. No one's getting whacked around here."

Leah couldn't believe what she was hearing. She thought the coroner had more awareness. "Your friend, Edward Masen, is a member of the Cullen family," she carefully informed the coroner. "Did he tell you that?"

Bella's eyes widened slightly as he brought a hand to her mouth. "What?"

"The Cullens operate a criminal organization," Leah said, frustration evident in her voice. "Do you know what that is? They're a group of people involved in dealings including, but not limited to, extortion, illegal arms dealings, and murder—" She cast an unimpressed look on the other woman. "You cannot be that naïve to think this isn't a big deal."

"Who are you calling naïve—"

"No one's calling anyone naïve," Jacob quickly interjected between his partner and coroner could go at it. He turned to Bella. "But perhaps, you should've told us earlier," and then, "I'm going to request someone to look after you—"

"I don't need a bodyguard."

Leah rolled her eyes. "A member of a crime family came to you, after hours, requesting to stop the Dahlia's autopsy. Again—You need protection."

"So, what happens if we find any UVs?" Leah asked Jacob later that afternoon as they searched through the infamous LaPush executive suite. The room had been cleaned top to bottom with no dust bunny.

"We tell the captain," Jacob said, scanning the common area with a UV Index Meter, provided by Forensics. "And Paul. Traces of UVs can be used as proof as there was an illegal arms deal going on that night."

Leah nodded before announcing she was heading to the main scene of the crime, the master bedroom. Once inside, she pulled out a crime scene photograph, taken by CSI on the night of the Dahlia murder, showing the victim and the king-sized bed she was found next to. Leah could recall how rumpled the bedsheets were. Shit, she thought as she looked at the newly-made bed. She wished the hotel staff hadn't cleaned or moved anything.

Now, Leah could only rely on the CSI photos and her memory.

She stood up, took a step back, and then held up the photograph, aligning its objects with the bed in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at the picture—there was the black sequined dress, laid neatly on the bed, completed intact. So, it wasn't ripped off.

Did this happen before or after the botched deal? Leah wondered. Probably after. Generally, people didn't engage in deals in the nude. Generally.

She shook her head, feeling a bit hopeless. The room wasn't giving her much. Nothing connected to the hotel did. Not even the hotel security tapes from the 29th floor, showing no one leaving (or entering) the room that entire night.

Leah rubbed her chin as she studied the bedroom. So, if the tapes were indeed valid, then that meant the man Jessica had planned to meet up with, spent some a good time with might had also been present during the deal—a man the detective still couldn't identify.

"How did anyone leave the room without detection?" Leah asked her partner as she walked into the common area. "The cameras didn't catch anyone."

"The windows?"

Leah glanced at the panel of windows. None had the function to open fully. "This high up?"

Jacob shrugged as he continued to scan the room.

"Find anything?"

"Not yet."

"What about—"

"Bingo."

Leah went to her partner's side and examined the spot the UV meter was hovering over. "Well, shit," she said. "So, this was a deal gone bad."

"A deal gone very bad." Jacob marked the spot. "She was dealing with UV's." He deeply breathed in the air. "No traces of a Cullen or a Denali," he remarked, ignoring his partner's inquisitive look. "Shit." He turned to Leah, eyes wide, and with a gulp, he told her, "We need to see Paul. Now."

"You've got to be shitting me… You've got to be shitting me."

"I knew what Demetri smelled like; I caught a whiff of his scent while at the morgue," Jacob told Paul, leaning in his seat in front of the captain's desk. The detectives had returned from the Dahlia crime scene about a half an hour before and thought to tell Paul the news since he and his task force handled the supernatural. "And when I visited the hotel room today, I picked it up again."

"So, our captain may be onto something about Jessica playing for both teams," Leah said, and then, "Like a scent, scent?" She looked from one man to the other. She had never heard about—shouldn't they use a police-associated canine to verify this information? Jacob's sense of smell wasn't going to hold up in court.

Jacob gave his partner a smirk, tapped his nose, and then told the captain, "Demetri, he was there. He was definitely there."

"It's been a month," Paul said. "Surely, the scent must've faded…"

"He's a leech," Jacob reminded the captain. "Their stench never goes away."

Paul sent Jacob a sharp look. "You can't be saying that shit around here," he warned. "We don't tolerate any forms of discrimination within these walls, not even against vampires. Internal Affairs are far enough up my ass—" He gave Leah an innocent smile. "Not that I've personally done anything wrong."

Leah gave a dismissive wave.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Like you got any—" he stopped. "Wait, you do? Nah, you're messing with me."

"We're an equal opportunity employer, Detective. Diversity is key, especially in this field of work."

Leah cleared her throat and glanced through the glass section of Paul's office wall. On the other side was the squad area, full to the brim of cops working away. Not all of them were humans, she realized. Oh, my God. She didn't know. They all looked so normal. She turned to the captain. "How many?" she wondered.

"A couple," Paul said. "But they're not a problem if that's what you're worried about, Jacob. They're fully committed to the cause. Wonderful at recon, and as long as they don't get on my nerves or do something that'll result in an Internal Affairs investigation, I don't give a damn what they are."

"And they know about you?" Jacob asked.

Paul crossed his arms and snorted. "They're not dumb, detective."

No way.

No fucking way.

Leah wanted to ask Paul about it; she doubted there as anything she wanted to ask more at the moment, but she resisted the urge. This was a sensitive subject, and Paul could confirm or deny her suspicions on his own time.

"Fine, no more vampire slander," Jacob said with a huff. "Anyway, Demetri was definitely inside that hotel room, and according to the hotel records and the way this whole crime family-thing works, he had no business being there. He was a high-ranking member of the Volturi. There's no way in Hell the Olympic would deal with him."

"But—maybe that was the man Lauren was talking about?" Leah suggested.

Paul lifted an eyebrow. "Lauren?"

"Jessica Stanley's roommate," Leah clarified. "When we visited their apartment the first time, she had mentioned something about Jessica meeting up with a man. Looked young, Eastern European, brown hair, slim build… maybe that was Demetri?"

Paul slowly nodded as he leaned back in his seat. "And how the fuck did they meet?"

"At a club?" Jacob provided with a shrug. "You know Demetri loved to snoop around nightclubs, and Jessica, from all accounts, loved the nightlife."

"You may want to talk to the roommate again," Paul advised. "See if she remembers anything else about Jessica and her little date."

"She claims she doesn't know much about Jessica's private life," Jacob said. "They didn't talk much."

"But she had to know something. She knew about the necklace, and the trips about Jessica's so-called side hustle."

Leah looked at Jacob. "You think Demetri was the one who gave her the necklace?" she asked him. "He was a member of the Volturi."

Jacob shook his head. "That'd be suicidal."

"Not if he wanted to entice someone into his web," Paul said, giving Jacob a pointed look. "Not if he wanted to gain the affections of a pretty young lady associated with a rival. This Jessica, she seemed like the type to be too attracted to luxury, and that necklace is fucking priceless."

"Do you think Sulpicia knew about this?" Leah asked.

"Doubt it," Paul said. "She wouldn't have reported it stolen if she had. Also, check with Bella to see if she can match Demetri's fangs with the bite found on Jessica."

"Will do," Jacob said, nodding.

Then something came to Leah. "Demetri was a vampire, right?" she asked, and when she received confirmation, she continued, "Look, I don't know much about vampires, but Jessica was bitten by one, but not drained. Don't vampires suck all of the blood when they, you know, feed? So, therefore, the bite must've been done on purpose for Jessica… " She rubbed her chin. "But why would she let him?"

Jared and Paul shared a look.

"She thought he was going to turn her," Paul concluded.

"She wanted to become a vampire?" Jacob asked in disbelief.

Paul shrugged. "Why else would let someone bite her? Right there?"

"Maybe they were freaks?"

"But the bite was too clean," Leah pointed out. "If they were in the middle of relations and he bit her without her consent, wouldn't she have pushed him away or something? Not that everyone fights back when… but Leah described her as being a fighter about everything. Unless she were incapacitated at the time, that bite would be, I guess, messy."

Jacob slapped his forehead. "So, our number one suspect is currently chilling side one of Bella's freezes," he groaned. "There goes our case."

"No need to be dramatic," Paul said. "I know it'll suck for your stats, but this case may lead us to something bigger. In the center of this debacle is an illegal arms ring. We also have proof, to an extent, that two associates from two rival crime families, the Cullens, and the Volturi, are involved. This is huge."

"Yay for us," Jacob mumbled, and then in a clearer voice, he asked Leah, "Do you think Demetri was involved in all of this?

"In what?" Leah asked. "The arms deal? The subsequent murder?"

Jacob nodded.

"Well, he must've been," Leah said. "Maybe that's what enticed him? The fact that he was getting close to a Cullen-associate. He must've known…"

"He was a member of the Volturi," Paul stressed. "Why would Jessica tell him shit?"

Jacob shrugged. "Maybe she didn't know about his affiliation."

Paul shook his head. "Even humans know that Demetri worked with the Volturi."

"But maybe Jessica didn't," Leah argued. "Maybe she thought she could trust Demetri—I hear he was a charmer. Maybe he was the who have given her the necklace. After all, she had a weakness for the finer things in life."