Chapter 12

It was on of the few sunny days the summer brought to Forkshire. Renee was walking with her daughters, going over all the stores at the principal street. They were looking for a gift for little Jane. Renee was adamant that the girl would love a doll.

"But Mom, she's twelve, not five." Bella smiled softly to her mother.

"Shut up! You still have 'Nessie' sitting on your bed." Bella blushed recalling her favorite doll.

Rosalie pointed to the window in the store in front of them. "Candies. No matter how old she is, she would never say no to a chocolate."

Smiling, the three women got into the store.

Aro was walking on the other side of the street. He tried to reach them before they entered to the store, but despite all his effort he was late. Now, he shall wait for them, here. At everybody's view. He wasn't wrong, Carmen was trying to reach him, again. This was the third time.

"Mr. Volturi, I'd like to have a word with you."

He sighed resigned.

"Of course Mrs. Denali, what can I do to help you?"

She looked around, happy to found him alone.

"I... I want to talk to you about that night."

She now had all of Aro's attention.

"Well, I..."

In that precise moment Renee and the girls were coming out of the store.

"Uncle Aro!"

Carmen glared at them. "Well, perhaps I can come later to the station. It just that I'd like to talk to you alone. I wouldn't like this murder case to be tainted, because some of the people involved were from the family of the police force." She turned her glare to Bella and left.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know. It's the third time she tried to talk with me, but always there's someone who interrupt us. I know she won't come to the station."

"Do you think she knows something important?"

"Who knows?"

Aro walked the way back to their home, lost in his thoughts. After the reading of the will, he had a sort of reunion with Charlie and the constables. The Commissioner was pressuring Charlie for an arrest, and the papers were mentioned their lack of results. So he sat with th guys to talk about a plan.

"We need to work with order, we're making a mess of this investigation. We're only going where the last clue got us."

Jacob puffed his chest, he was so sure Edward Masen was the culprit. "I told you, we have to arrest Masen, we know he didn't spend the night of the crime in his room, like he told us in the first place."

Seth shut him up. "But he has an alibi! Wether you like it or not. We need to find the mystery woman."

Charlie nodded. "You're right. And we need to find her before the papers find out about her."

Then they began to argue again. Aro yelled. "Stop!"

The others turned to look at him.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about. We only have a bunch of clues. I'm sure some of them aren't even related to the crime. First, we have to think, which are the people in town who had th possibility to be in Carlisle's study that night."

Seth immediately recited, "Lots of partygoers came back to their homes through the shortcut in front of the study."

"But we know Carlisle himself opened the door."

"So which ones could really had been in his study? To whom he opened the door?"

Seth was about to recite again, when Aro stopped him. "Our culprit has to be in the two list we're going to do. One with the people who could had been in the study. The people Carlisle would have invited inside."

The others nodded.

"The second list, is about people who had a motive to kill him. We know how an awful person he was, so this list must be big."

They left the reunion with the assignment to draw these lists.

Now Aro was dreading to come home by himself, because in his desperation, he asked Didyme for help, which she answered with a 'Prepared to be schooled.' comment.

xxx

Didyme was glad they finally got back. She had a smile of superiority while she was saying goodbye to the girls. They were going to spend the afternoon with Esme and her niece.

"Come Aro, sit here." She pointed to his favorite sofa. "I want you to act like the last time. Pretend to be sleeping. Let me handle th questions."

"Who's coming?"

"Helen, of course, she's my partner in this investigation. Emily Young and Lauren Mallory. We'll be playing bridge."

Aro couldn't understand what they could get, he questioned those women before and he got nothing except 'We didn't see a thing.' But he did as she asked.

xx

"Didyme, you can't deny it anymore. The whole town knows Emmett is courting Rosalie." Lauren beamed to the news.

Didyme threw he card and said "Well, not officially yet. Until the case is closed and Carlisle is buried and resting in peace."

Emily clucked. ""You're right. There's nothing wrong with waiting a week or two to make it official. How did Alice take it?"

Helen smiled. It was her turn and she had the perfect card. "You know Alice, she tried to make a scene, but Renee put her in her place. Well, Didyme told me."

"A scene? But she was prancing around town with Dr. Whitlock!"

"Was. Had you notice how he voids her now?"

The four women nodded.

"Claire, my maid, said that Alice spent one day standing in front of his house; waiting for him to open the door for her."

"No! And what happened when he opened the door for his patients?"

"He ignored her. She was crying on the street."

"So unladylike. A dame knows how to act in public. She should have left and cry in her room, alone."

"Dear, Alice was never known for acting like a lady."

"So true. But still, Dr. Whitlock's attitude is too strange. I've seen him going daily to the church." Emily said pointing to Helen.

"I know! But Robert won't tell me anything. I told him we all think he acts like he was guilty of something." The women nodded, Aro just paid more attention. "But he said that the problem that ails Dr. Whitlock isn't related to the crime, and to leave it alone."

Aro was tempted to laugh t the image of four old ladies pouting like little girls. Didyme was the first to recover.

"Well, he was out-of-town that night." She turned to Lauren. "But you two were sitting right in front of the scene of the crime."

"Yes, but we didn't see anyone coming into the study"

Emily nodded. "Believe me, we were seated there for a long time. Diego, the butcher's younger son, climbed the tree outside the study and was throwing confetti to the people passing by. We made them pass below Diego." Both women smiled.

"i think we were there seated for more than an hour. We left when Jamie, the butcher, was coming. We walked with him and his wife to give Diego time to get into his house before them."

Helen chuckled. "You are as naughty as him. And he's nine!"

"Please! What could a piece of paper could do? You should had seen Jemima, she was so mad! But Jessica loved the joke."

"So you didn't see anyone in the study?" Didyme asked, winking to Aro.

"We didn't see Carlisle opening the door to anyone." Lauren said "We heard him inside."

Emily put her hand on Lauren's cards. "But you forget about Carmen! When we arrived to the bench, Carlisle was scorting Carmen out of the study. They had serious faces, but not angry. He went back to his study alone."

"Did you hear voices later?"

"Yes, Carlisle was yelling at someone. We noticed a shadow through the window. It was tall, surely a man."

"But he left, and Carlisle kept screaming. Then we heard more yelling at Alice's room, you know it's upstairs. Carlisle threw something to the wall, we heard it crash. Then we saw his shadow pacing in the room."

"Not much later we left."

They were quiet, playing for a while.

"Do you think that if we had stayed, the killer wouldn't had attacked Carlisle?"

"Oh no! I'm not sure if the killer came from outside the house."

The four women nodded and continued playing, while discussing the latest gossip. The affair of the carpenter's wife with the milkman.

xxx

Edward was walking fast to through the woods. He had to get home before Emmett or he would spoil the surprise he prepared for Jane. He was aware that someone was following him, but he wasn't sure if it was Emmett or that constable who hated him and fancied Bella.

"Edward, wait!"

It was a woman voice! She came running, holding her hat with one hand. When she stopped, he found it was Kate.

"Hi, what can I for you?" He wanted so bad to let her standing and run to the house, but manners dictated he had to listen to her.

"It's really what I can DO for YOU." She smiled coyly. Now Edward was confused, what did she want now?

"I saw you the night of the crime, or more precisely, I didn't see you. I know you weren't in your room like you told the police."

"So?"

"I want to make a deal with you. I can offer you an alibi for that night, if you marry me."