~ Forks, Washington - August 16, 2004 ~
The Chief and I sat in the station waiting for Mark to arrive. Chief Swan had spent the day in Port Angeles trying to get a county judge to sign off on the warrant to arrest Robert Mitchell for multiple accounts of animal cruelty, obstruction of justice, and insurance fraud. With Bella arriving tomorrow afternoon, he wanted to get this part of the investigation completed before then.
"I'm glad you were able to come in, Edward. Since it was your detective work that made this arrest possible, it's only fair that you should be here when we bring him in."
"It's no problem, Chief. I'm looking forward to it." I replied honestly.
The Chief doubled checked his gun belt and the straps securing his bulletproof vest for the third time in the last ten minutes. He saw me watching him, but he just continued checking his gear.
"I'm always like this," he said while he checked his radio. "Some call it nerves, others anticipation, I just call it smart. Any cop worth his salt should be nervous. If you go in complacent, then you might come out hurt, or worse, dead. I'm not expecting any problems apprehending Mitchell, but I always prepare myself for trouble, just in case."
I nodded and looked to the parking lot. Mark had just pulled up. When he entered, I noticed he was dressed in similar to Chief Swan. The Chief spent a few minutes inspecting Mark's gear while he talked about how the evening should go.
"We'll drive over separately. Once we get close we'll go lights out until we reach the house. With any luck he will be sitting down to eat when we arrive. We'll just knock, present him with the warrant, and bring him in. We'll book him here and he will stay the night in our lockup. Tomorrow, I will arrange to have him transported to Port Angeles so he can formally arraigned. However, if anything looks suspicious, we'll pull back and call the County Sheriff's Office for assistance."
Mark nodded. Normally Mark was very carefree, but not tonight. He and the Chief were all business. The two of them walked over to the locked gun cabinet, where they removed two shotguns, shells, and clips for their side arms. They each checked their weapons, stored their ammunition, and headed towards the door.
After seeing their preparations, I started to wonder if maybe I should trail behind them just in case things went bad during the arrest, but the Chief's next request squashed that idea.
"Edward, you stay by the phones and the radio. Should we need anything, I'll give you a call. We should be back in about an hour at most."
I nodded and then they were off.
While the Chief and Mark were gone, I focused on Mark's thoughts, as his were louder. However, the Robert Mitchell farm was outside of town and to the southeast. I ended up losing Mark's thoughts about halfway there.
Unable to hear them anymore, I spent my time waiting by going over Bella's upcoming visit. Alice had assured me that she saw nothing bad happening, although there were quite a few holes in her vision given the number of decisions that were to be made over the next ten days. However, I was still anxious. Besides worrying I would hurt her, I was also fretful she would not enjoy my company. To calm myself on at least the first concern, I was planning on hunting after tonight's arrest. The goal would be glut myself on blood until I was sloshy. I figured if I did this every night during her visit, my control should be fine. Plus, in a week my family would be moving out anyway, so if I needed some support, they would be here. The truest evidence that Alice and rest of my family were not worried, was that they never offered to come out early. I knew if any of Alice's visions indicated that Bella would be in danger, they would be here on the next flight.
Fifteen minutes after the Chief and Mark left, my cell phone rang. It was Alice. As soon as I hit the green button to pickup the call, I heard her voice yelling through the phone's tiny speaker.
"Get out to the farm now! Go! Go!" Alice shrieked.
I dropped the phone and nearly took the station's door off it hinges as I sped southward. It was evening, but still light out. I couldn't just run through the town as I could be spotted, so I was forced to loop around downtown Forks. I cursed that this would cost me valuable seconds. Regardless, I would be at the farm in less than a minute. I hadn't run this fast in years, so it wasn't too long before I picked up the thoughts of Robert Mitchell first.
The three of them were now near the barn. Mitchell had spotted them coming and rushed out of the house. He had gun and would rather die than be sent to jail.
I was still too far away! I willed myself to run faster than I ever had, as I silently prayed I would have the speed to reach them in time.
Mark and the Chief entered the barn from different directions. It was dark inside and difficult for them to see. Neither the Chief nor Mark knew about the gun or the owner's intent.
Marked crept inside carrying his shotgun. Without warning, Mitchell stepped behind Mark and hit him hard in the back of the head with the butt of the pistol. Mark fell unconscious, bleeding from the bludgeon wound. Mitchell swung around to see Chief Swan. The Chief had his pistol drawn, but before the Chief could fire, Mitchell squeezed off a shot that hit the Chief in the chest, causing he to recoil backwards and hit the floor.
I was now less than a quarter mile away. I wasn't going to make it!
Mitchell stood over the Chief with his pistol pointed at his head. The Chief's eyes were wide as pain radiated through his chest. He couldn't tell if the vest had stopped the bullet or if went through. The pain was just too severe.
"I'm not going to jail!" Mitchell spat as his finger began to tighten around the trigger. "I'm sorry," Mitchell added. Chief Swan refused to look away but his thoughts were of his daughter and how he would miss her.
It was at that moment that I burst through the wall of the barn, making it explode into a spray of debris and shrapnel. Mitchell pulled the trigger as I reached the Chief. I shielded the him from the shot, which hit my back and ricocheted away. The Chief's eyes caught mine for the briefest of moments before I turned towards a stunned Mitchell. Just as he started to register my presence, I grabbed his pistol in one hand, shattering it into pieces with my strength. With my other arm I threw him across the open space. Mitchell hit the far wall of the barn with a thud. He was unconscious before he hit the floor. At my full speed I tore the handcuffs from Chief Swan's belt, sped to Mitchell, and cuffed his hands around his back. I was back in front of the Chief before he could blink.
Chief Swan sat in shock. In his thoughts he tried to make sense of it all. The wall exploding. Mitchell's gun going off. Mitchell being disarmed and tossed like a rag doll, before lying cuffed and unconscious.
I started to inspect his chest. I couldn't smell any blood, but his vest was in the way. With a flick of my wrist it sailed across the room. There was no sense trying to hide my strength and speed after what the he just witnessed. I gently probed his chest. He winched in pain, but luckily it was from me pressing on the blooming bruise growing. I sighed in relief. The bullet never made it through the vest. However, I could feel that he had at least two broken ribs.
"Edward?" The Chief finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and ruff. "How?" His mind replayed what it could. "You've been shot!" he yelled recalling the second gunshot that I deflected. He tried to lift himself up, but the pain in his chest and ribs caused him to gasp and fall backwards. I caught him before he could hit the ground and I gently positioned him so he sat up against a wooden crate.
"Chief, don't move. The bullet never made it through the vest, but you have a couple broken ribs. Maybe some internal bleeding. You need remain still, while I go check on Mark." I said calmly.
"But, you were shot!" The Chief wheezed as he grabbed my arm.
"Chief, I'm okay. I promise there isn't a scratch on me, but Mark is hurt." I glance over to Mark's body. The Chief looked over and then nodded.
A blink later I was inspecting Mark's head wound. Again, I saw no sense hiding what I was. The wound was not too bad. I knew from my medical school studies that head wounds bed a lot. However, I could just see the white of his parietal bone. He would definitely have a concussion and need stitches. I gingerly felt around the wound. The bleeding appeared to be superficial and not from under the bone, which was a good thing. I tore a strip of cloth from my shirt and wrapped it around his head. I then lifted Mark from ground and placed him next to the Chief.
"Mark's got a head wound." I told the chief while checked Mark's makeshift bandage. "He has a possible parietal fracture and a concussion." In the Chief's thoughts he noticed the hole in my shirt where the bullet had ripped through the fabric. I decided to not say anything. I reached for the Chief's radio and handed it to him. "Call this in. You need to get medical help out here, ASAP."
The Chief nodded before calling for assistance. After the ambulance and Country Sheriff had been contacted, he looked over to Mitchell.
"Is he dead?" The Chief asked.
"No, just unconscious," I replied.
"He's cuffed?" The Chief asked more to keep the conversation going. He knew I was about to leave.
"He is." I replied. I had to leave, not only the farm, but also Forks. The Chief had seen too much, but I didn't really have a choice. I couldn't let him and Mark be murdered by Mitchell. A plan formed in my head. I could burn down the main house. Esme would be crushed, but in another sixty or seventy years she could rebuild and move back. Jasper would know where I could get a body to plant at the scene. It would look like I perished in the flames.
I could just make out the sirens in the distance. Chief Swan wouldn't hear them for another minute or two. I looked down at the Chief and let out a useless breath in defeat. I guess I wouldn't be meeting Bella after all.
The Chief registered the sad look on my face. "You have to leave, don't you?" He finally asked. He didn't know what I was, but he knew I was not a normal human. This didn't frighten him as much as it intrigued him. All of the oddities he had cataloged about me now made sense. I was surprised at how quickly he could allow his reality to shift. He trusted and accepted what he saw.
"I have to." I answered. An ache in my chest started to overwhelm me. The Chief could just now hear the sirens. "Chief, you have a choice. If you tell them," I nodded towards the sirens, "about what happened you could be putting your life in danger."
The Chiefs' eyes widened, he thought I was threatening him.
"It's not like that." I answered. "I would never harm you, Chief. However there are some of my kind that will not hesitate to kill to keep our existence a secret. I can't tell you any more. Like I said…it's your choice."
The ambulances were about a minute away. I got up and darted round the barn. I placed the Chief's vest next him and dragged Mitchell over towards the Chief and Mark. I didn't have time to do anything about Mark's bandage that was made from my shirt, so I pulled what remained of the garment from my torso and placed it under Mark's head. Finally, I looked around for the bullet that had bounced off me, but I couldn't find it. I would just have to leave it.
I took one more look around. The Chief was smart. He could concoct a story around the scene I staged…assuming he wanted to. It would not be too hard to believe that after Mitchell's gun misfired and exploded, that the Chief was able to subdue and cuff him before calling for help. Then he would have wrapped Mark's head with a piece of old shirt he found. There was no need to explain the hole in the barn wall. The barn was in such a state of general disrepair that if the Chief ignored it so would everyone else. Plus, anything Mitchell would say about what happened could be passed off as him being crazy, which was a definite possibility.
As the ambulances pulled up, I turned towards the Chief one more time. "Goodbye, Chief Swan. Have a safe life."