STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

And, without further ado Capt. Jenkins motioned for Det. Asher, Charlie and Edward to join him out in the hallway while all four men read the report. It didn't take long before a voice was heard to say, "The damn murderous bitch!"

CHAPTER 39: GOT'CHA

"That damn murderous bitch! If she had managed to get that shit into Bella no one would have known what had caused her death. Since the body makes its own insulin, no one would have thought to check for the manufactured kind. It was a perfect plan if she had been able to carry it out.

"Thanks to Alice her plans had been foiled." Edward remarked in a cold voice that was resonating with suppressed anger. He was exerting such extreme control over his emotions that Edward's whole body was almost vibrating from his efforts.

"I agree with you, Edward, that my daughter was extremely fortunate to have Alice present to be able to stop the bitch from carrying out her plans, but, we still have work to do.

"Both, Bella and Norma, shot Frank. So, charges are still possibly going to be filed against the both of them. We are going to need all of the evidence we have gathered to help minimize the consequences of what could happen to her."

"Chief Swan and Mr. Cullen, if you don't mind, I'm going to give some unasked-for advice. You both as well as your whole crew are going to have to keep moving forward and be prepared to bring forth all of the evidence that you can to help Mrs. Harrison.

"Chief Swan, we all know what can and, more than likely, will happen now that Mrs. Harrison is awake. None of us have control over that, but, we all have to do our best and do our job to make sure real justice is done in this case." Det. Asher spoke to both Charlie and Edward. Then he quietly added, "As for myself, I will be doing my job and just wanted you to know that I will be making a recommendation that charges against Mrs. Harrison be considered as self-defense in light of all the facts that seem to be coming to light in this particular case.

"So, please, make sure, Mr. Cullen, that you have your case ready with the necessary information to be able to represent Mrs. Harrison with the proof that my recommendations are indeed the true facts of the case. That what you have match, maybe in a different way, what I'll be presenting."

Jenkins had stayed silent during the exchanges taking place between the other three until it seemed that each had said all that needed to be said. "Charlie, Mr. Cullen, I'm going to have to take a backseat position in this section of the investigation.

"Your main concern, when you came to me, had been about Det. Asher's absent-minded approach to how this case was being handled and I agreed with you after looking over the details of the case up to this point. However, with the current happening I have to say that Det. Asher seems to be on track for now. Wouldn't you agree?"

Both Charlie and Edward looked at each other and glanced back over at the detective and the captain as if they were looking for something in particular. It was then that the question crossed Edward's mind concerning the unused search warrants. So, he took the opportunity to ask, "Can you, Det. Asher, explain why there are active search warrants on file that haven't been used as yet covering the financials of both Mrs. Harrison and her cousin, Jasper Whitlock, in both their business and in Mr. Whitlock's personal affairs?"

"I turned all that I had over to the D. A.'s office while Mrs. Harrison was still in a catatonic state. At that time, it was discussed as to whether the death of Frank Harrison had been a conspiracy to kill Mrs. Harrison's husband. It was wondered if Mr. Whitlock might have conspired with his cousin to murder her husband due to the abusive relationship that seemed to have existed between the Harrisons.

"I must interject that the decision was also based upon the information that had been supplied by Norma Harrison. At that time, she was considered to be a most reliable source when she gave her statement since she was closely familiar with the internal happenings between her brother and his wife, to all departments involved in the investigation.

"Of course, I didn't have the information in the coroner's report and wasn't taking the time to find out the results of that report. Reason for that was because it seemed to be an open and shut case. However, I'm quite sure that the D. A.'s office did see the report and I expect that is the reason why the warrants were never given out to be executed."

Edward took time to consider what Asher had just told him and felt that the information was reasonable. It was most likely that the D. A.'s office was more efficient in waiting for all of the facts than what Det. Asher had been. The D. A.'s office would want the test results to back up any actions they would want to take.

So, with reaching that conclusion Edward did suggest that they all return to Bella's room and finish conducting the necessary questioning before taking further action.

Everyone entered the hospital room once more and Det. Asher walked over to Norma Harrison, told the police officer to undo the handcuffs and to seat her. Once she was sitting, Asher took the time to state her option, "Ms. Harrison, I'm going to give you one chance to tell me your side of things. And, I'll tell you right now, that from what I know and what I'm seeing, you will need to have a pretty good excuse for the happenings going on in this room by you and Ms. Cullen."

Norma tried to use the argument that she had to see Bella for herself to express her feelings of disgust about Bella murdering her brother, Frank. That she hadn't had the chance to do so before now and that she was pretty sure that her name wasn't on the visitor list. "So, that's why I've gone to the extremes that I've gone. And, that thingy that is being said is mine and that I was trying to harm Isabella is nothing more than lies." Norma finished speaking and felt that she had fully explained within reason all of her actions.

So, it came as a shock when Det. Asher instructed the officer to read Ms. Norma Harrison her rights since she was under arrest for attempted murder. "You see, Ms. Harrison, the contents of the syringe were checked and identified as insulin that would be used by a diabetic. If that had gotten into Mrs. Harrison's system, it would have killed her without anyone being any wiser as to what had caused her death.

"Also, I would be willing to bet that only your fingerprints will be found on the syringe since everyone else had been careful in how they handled it."

Norma was shocked into silence just by the sheer fact that she was being arrested. She had truly believed that she could get Asher to believe her explanation. However, that turned out not to be the case. And, just before she was led out of the room without anyone realizing what she was about to do, Norma jerked loose from the hold the guard had on her and quickly grabbed the gun from the officer's holster, and turned to look straight at Bella with the gun pointed in Bella's direction and uttered, "Bitch, you have always brought me misery and I'm going to see that you pay for messing with my plans." And, as Norma was speaking, the gun was fired, but, the shot never reached Bella since both Edward and Asher were quick to react to the danger that Norma posed by jumping in the path of where the gun was pointed.

The officer and Charlie, who happened to be nearby, both grabbed Norma and took the gun from her. However, Norma did manage to put up a bit of a struggle as she still had more to say and continued as if there had been no interruption, "I might be charged, but, not convicted of trying to get rid of you. However, you will be charged and convicted of killing my brother. I've made sure of that." And, with that said, Norma was a bit roughly hauled out of Bella's room with the officer on one side and Charlie having a hold on the other side. And with head held high, she walked out of the room without another word spoken.

Everyone inside the room had instantly become frozen from the shock due to the quick turn of events. But, suddenly it seemed that everyone began to react all at the same time. Everyone, but, Bella, as they ran over to check on Det. Asher since he was the one that seemed to be directly in front of Bella as the shot was fired. And, that was why no one, but, Bella realized that it had been Edward that had been hit and she quickly ran over to him.

She quickly yelled for Carlisle and got his attention immediately since he couldn't find anything wrong with Det. Asher. And, at Bella's yell he turned his head to see her kneeling beside Edward and putting pressure on his son's chest. Moving away from the detective over to Edward, Carlisle quickly went to work on his son while yelling for a nurse to lend a hand. He wasn't a father at the moment, but, was a doctor working to save the life of a patient.

Esme looks to see what Carlisle is doing and then realizes that he is working on Edward. Although, she is wanting to behave as a freaking out mother, she instinctively knows that by doing that it wouldn't be helping the situation. So, instead, she runs over and drops to the floor to help her husband and son until a member of the nursing staff can get into the room to take over.

A nurse came rushing in and Carlisle started shouting out instructions while continuing to work on Edward in trying to stem the flow of the blood he was losing. She ran out and immediately summoned additional help and a gurney was rolled in. Together two nurses, one male and one female, along with Carlisle and Jasper, lifted Edward up onto the gurney and he was quickly taken to another room; which as they arrived a doctor was waiting to attend to Edward's wound.

Carlisle backed out of the way, but, stayed close to observe the treatment Edward was receiving as well as to hear how his son was doing. Another nurse came in and announced that an operating room was waiting for the patient's arrival. Carlisle wanted to go with his son as they began to move him, but, knew that he needed to return to Esme to let her know what was happening. If he didn't, he would definitely be made to regret it later, especially if something wrong happened to Edward.

Also, he needed to check upon Bella again to make sure she has no lasting effects that might set her back on her road to recovery. The added stress that has been happening around her, trying to suck her down into the deep end of it, could cause some serious setbacks that would impede her recovery process.

XXXXXX

The whole time Carlisle had been attending to Edward several things happened in Bella's room. The first was that Det. Asher was assisted into a standing position by Jenkins and those two left to take care of the necessary things that would be needed to have charges filed against Norma Harrison. Also, they wanted to have the fingerprints verified on the syringe. But, before they left Asher spoke with Alice to let her know that she would need to make a formal statement concerning what she had overheard Norma saying to Bella.

Then Det. Asher turned to Bella and he told her that he would be back to take her statement about what had happened the night that Frank Harrison was killed. But, Bella told him that she wouldn't make any statement without the presence of her attorney or her father. "One of those two men will have to be present before I say anything." She told him with a steady voice.

Asher only looked at her for a moment, smiled slightly, gave a quick nod of his before saying, "I wouldn't expect you to do anything else." Then after saying that he left with Jenkins.

As Asher left, Jasper and Renee rushed over to check on Bella to make sure she was okay. And, at the same time Esme was talking with Alice to make sure she was okay. Everyone else was trying to catch up with all that had occurred and to stay out of the way of the nursing staff and the police.

Bella noticed the moment that Carlisle arrived at the doorway to her room and she immediately demanded information concerning Edward's condition. Her words caused all other conversations in the room to cease as everyone waited to hear about Edward.

"All I can say at this moment is that he has been taken into surgery. However, he seemed to be holding his own despite the amount of blood he lost." He looked over at Esme and Alice, then asked, "Do you two want to join me in the waiting room while they are working on Edward?"

They both nodded 'yes' and as they began to walk out of Bella's room, Alice turned to let the others know that they would be kept up to date as to how Edward was doing.

A/N: The syringe held insulin which would not have been noticed by the coroner since the body does make its own type of insulin. Norma is on her way down to headquarters to be officially charged at the present time for two counts of attempted murder: her victims being Bella and Edward. How bad is Edward's condition?

This story is quickly coming to an end with only about three or four chapters left which does include an epi.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to your reviews and thoughts.