After Midnight

Chapter Two

"Wow. Charlie wasn't kidding when he said it was a small town," blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Joe Hardy commented as his dark haired and eyed older brother directed the old Chevy down the streets of the tiny town.

"No kidding," Frank Hardy agreed, slowing the car as he saw the only house on the street sporting a police cruiser in the driveway. "This matches the description. This must be Charlie's house."

"I can't believe that we just got off of school for the summer, and dad ships us off to rainy Washington. The least he could have done is found a mystery somewhere sunny, like Hawaii," Joe grumbled. Frank smiled at his younger brother. Although the youngest Hardy loved solving mysteries and poking his hot head in other people's business, he wasn't a big fan of gloomy weather. And in Forks, Washington, gloomy was pretty much the forecast for every day.

"Fine, we'll turn around and not find out what's going on with Charlie and his daughter," Frank kidded as the brothers got out of the rented car and headed to the front door.

Joe rolled his eyes. "You know I can't do that, Frank. We can't resist a good mystery, especially if it involves a beautiful damsel in distress."

It was Frank's turn to roll his eyes. "I think Charlie wants help finding his daughter, not finding someone to try and date her."

"Why can't I do both?" Joe demanded as he knocked on the door. From somewhere inside the house, the brothers heard a gruff, "Door's open."

"Just keep your mind—and eyes—on the case, alright, bro?" Frank grinned, twisting the door handle and stepping into the house.

The inside of the house was as simple as the outside. They were in a small den where a couple of old couches were facing a muted TV showing a baseball game. A beer was on the coffee table, and a bag of chips had been left on the love seat. The brothers could see through the open kitchen door that the living room was probably the most exciting room in the house. A small table with two chairs sat in the middle of the floor, while a stove, two cabinets, a few counters, a microwave, and a sink filled with dirty dishes completed the décor. Obviously Charlie didn't watch many HGTV shows.

There was another door that led to a closet, a flight of wooden stairs that led up to what the boys assumed were a bathroom and bedrooms. Looking around the den a bit closer, the boys saw some pictures of a pretty woman, Charlie, and a cute little girl with dark curls and bright chocolaty eyes. "He keeps pictures of his ex-wife in his house?" Joe muttered. "Can we say lonely?"

"Dad said Charlie's not much of a social bug. Besides, he probably still loves her," Frank said. There was another picture of the same little girl, only seventeen years later. Joe gave a quiet appreciative whistle, and Frank had to admit that Isabella Swan was a very attractive girl.

She had long, curly dark hair, pale skin, and chocolate brown eyes that peered from beneath long lashes. She was smiling hesitantly, her lips full and pink.

"Hi."

The boys spun around. Charlie Swan had stepped into the room, his dark eyes sad. He had black curly hair cut very short and sported a matching moustache. "I'm Charlie." There was a pause. "Make yourselves at home."

"Actually, Chief Swan, er, Charlie," Frank amended at Charlie's prodding, "we need to know about Isabella, why you're worried about her."

Charlie sighed and plopped down on the love seat next to his chips. "How much do you need to know?"

"Pretty much everything," Joe said.

"Alright, but I warned your father—it's a long story."

"What's going on, Alice?"

"I don't know, Rose, will you quit pestering me?" the small, dark haired girl snapped, her golden eyes annoyed. "I can't really see. They don't have an exact course set in mind yet. They don't even know what Charlie's going to tell them yet. They're going to figure out their course of action when they hear the full story."

"But who are they?" Bella Cullen asked quietly from her place on the sofa, tightly holding a small child in her arms. "And why did Charlie call them? What do they want with me?"

"Charlie wants them to find you. He isn't buying the story that you're dying of some South American disease. He thinks we've kidnapped you. He's trying to find you, and for some reason, he thinks these two kids can do it for him."

"We can take care of them, easy," the big, muscular young man with his arms around the blond girl named Rose, grinned. "I don't think it'd take much to scare them off."

"No, Emmet, don't!" Bella hissed. "I feel so awful…I have to tell Charlie something. I can't stand him suffering like this."

"I still say we tell him as much as we can without getting in trouble," the huge, dark skinned Indian sprawled on the floor at Bella's feet, said.

The blond, painfully beautiful girl called Rose snarled in his direction. "No one asked your opinion, dog!"

The bronze-haired teenager next to Bella shook his head. His name was Edward. "We can't do anything yet, Bella. Maybe in time, we can figure out something to tell your dad so he can see you again. But until then…"

"So what do we do about the boys?" Alice asked.

"I'll stay behind and redirect them, make them see that there really is no need for such foolishness," the blond, scarred boy next to Alice said darkly. "If I have to, I'll scare them a little bit." Jasper Cullen smiled. "I'm sure they'll get the hint that we don't want or need any so called investigators on our tail, and that we won't tolerate it—case closed."

~Emachinescat ^..^