Chapter 14– #114 – Gray Zone
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Note # 114
This feeling of pending doom consumes
Like a snake closing in on its prey.
So vulnerable, and yet so knowing
That a life will soon come to an end.
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Note # 114 came in a red envelope attached to the tail of a mouse - not a computer mouse, but a live furry one. Only it hadn't been alive for quite some time...The envelope came attached to the corpse of a rodent delivered in a coffin-looking cardboard gift box.
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Bella waited patiently until the wee hours of the morning before she made her move. A quick glance at the watch on her arm told her that she had at least another two hours before sunrise.
She was dressed from head to toe in black; black to become non-descriptive, black to blend in with the shadows.
Drastic situations call for drastic measures…so drastic in fact that if she was caught the bureau would most likely deny all knowledge of her nighttime activities.
The hallway was empty in both directions. There were no voices, no noises coming from behind the closed doors she passed. The lack of light didn't slow her pace in the slightest. She had enough time in the building to have every turn and every corner memorized.
Her hand glided across the wall as she felt and counted the doors she passed until she reached the right one, door number nine.
Glancing around once more to be sure she was alone, she pulled out a couple of small tools from her pocket and crouched down to pick the lock.
She was inside in less than two minutes. Entering as quietly as she could, she listened intently for any sounds of movement in the apartment. She heard nothing, save the ticking of a clock and the hum of the central air-conditioning unit.
Both bedroom doors appeared to be closed and both tenants appeared to be sleeping. Deciding that the coast was as clear as it ever was going to get, Bella risked whispering into her headset. "Passing mark two, head…onto…mark three."
There was a brief crackle of static in her ear followed by a male voice. "Didn't catch that. Can you repeat?"
"I'm about to head onto mark three "
"What? I can't hear you."
Bella heaved an inward sigh and rephrased her words. "The hawk is in the nest where the two sparrows are sleeping."
"That's better. The wolf is lurking in the woods. Howl if you need me."
Shaking her head, Bella clicked her comm. unit again. "I can hold my own thank-you-very-much. I suggest radio silence from here on out."
"Roger that. Over and out"
Bella ended the conversation with an "Over and out." and then, there was silence again. Embracing the darkness, she remained still for a few, calm heartbeats while she planned her next move. Her first mission was to secure an escape route in case of emergency. It was an easy task, she had been in this apartment before, less than 24 hours ago, sharing lunch with two of the tenants. Retracing her steps from her previous visit she quickly managed to locate and unlock the door leading out to the balcony.
Next step was to take a closer look at the two bedrooms. She kept close to the wall and used her hands again to guide her, stepping carefully since objects could have been moved, creating physical obstructions in her path.
Just then, something soft and silky brushed against her hand and her brain immediately leaped to images of dead mice and hairy spiders… and snakes… She retracted her hand hastily, but thankfully suppressed the squeal rising in her throat.
'Jesus Bella, get a grip,' she chided herself. The object in question wasn't a snake, it was a pedestal table with a flower in a vase on top of it. Willing her heart rate to return to normal, she stepped around the table and continued towards the first one of the two bedroom doors.
The door squeaked a little as she pushed it open. The room was dark and quiet and the shutters were closed. She would have to use a flash light to get her work done, and she would have to be careful not to direct the light anywhere near the sleeping form on the bed.
In the semi-darkness, Bella could make out a bed, two closet door, a desk with a chair and an antique chest serving as a bedside table.
This was Tanya Denali's room, or Tatyana Lyudmila Denali, Bella noted as she flipped through the expensive looking wallet she had found in one of the drawers. Tanya had an Alaskan drivers license, but also a few Russian looking phone cards tucked away with the rest of her plastic cards.
Along with the wallet Bella had also located a designer handbag, a laptop and a few other things that she thought was worth taking a closer look at. Starting with the handbag – a vintage leather cream gold patchwork bag, with a long braided leather shoulder strap – she carefully examined each of the objects she had put aside.
It took her about 20 minutes before she was done and could move on to the next bedroom.
She felt she knew the two roommates pretty well by the time she left the apartment… Tanya and Angela…Tanya liked exclusive lacy lingerie, designer clothes and French Perfume. Biggest surprise (or maybe not) was the stash of pot and the two vials of what appeared to be crystal meth in the toiletry bag. 'Expensive taste, expensive habits,' Bella though to herself as she made a mental note to check what kind of income this woman generated.
Angela Weber, in the second bedroom, on the other hand came across as a compulsive neat freak. Her part of the apartment was tidy to the point of looking unused. Color coded day planner, books in alphabetical order, spotless shoes, clothes folded neatly in piles of different sizes and colors. No surprises there...
Two down, two to go…
Bella left the two-bedroom-apartment in the same state she had found it and moved down the hallway to the next apartment, where an unknowing Tyler Crowley was snoring away peacefully. It took Bella ten minutes to find the brochure from Bronx zoo. It took her another four minutes to find the knife tucked away in a pair of boots. After another four minutes she stumbled across a notebook hidden behind some CD's.
The notebook turned out to be a collection of names and dates, printed in very small letters. She had to strain her eyes to read it. The curtains had been left open, allowing the pale, pre-dawn light to aid her in her effort to grasp the context of the text. Fascinating reading really, it looked like Tylerwas running an illegal sports-betting operation out of his home. Or maybe he was just the middleman collecting the money for someone else… either way it was something worth taking a closer look at…
The next door on her list turned out to be unlocked and there was a crack of light coming from underneath the door. She had her ear pressed against the door listening for signs of activity on the other side, when, without warning, the door suddenly flew open. Caught of guard Bella struggled to regain her balance. Before she quite knew what had happened, she found herself dragged of the floor and through the open door into the apartment.
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(AN: It was my intention to en here and leaving you with a cliffhanger… )
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"So, we have concealed weapon, drug possession, records of illegal betting activities and a brochure from the reptile house at Bronx zoo," Junior field agent Seth Clearwater summarized his colleague's findings by listing them off on his fingers. When he was done, he smiled approvingly. "That ought to give us something to work with."
"I know," Bella nodded, quite pleased with herself.
Half an hour had passed since Seth had knocked the wind out of her outside that last apartment, Sandro Scocco's apartment. An embarrassing rookie mistake on both their parts which they had agreed to chalk up as a case of miss-communication. They had since then retreated into their makeshift office, a van parked a few blocks away, to compare field notes.
"Don't forget that shoebox of fake id's we found in Sandro's apartment. I know he's a college kid but no one needs that many fake id's. "
"You're probably right. The name on the lease of the apartment is Sandro Scocco, but the car he's driving is registered to an Alec Laurent and there was a third name printed on cable TV bill we found; Alexander de Volterra. "
"Something about those names sounds familiar but I can't put my finger on it," Bella said, drumming her fingers against the plastic door panel she was using as a armrest. ""What about the top floor? Did you find anything interesting up there? They all came out clean, didn't they?"
"Pretty much," Seth agreed. "The only thing worth mentioning is the massive amount of prescribed drugs that I found. There were enough pills to start a small pharmacy. I guess that's one of the perks of having a daddy that's not only a doctor but owns his own pharmaceutical cooperation. "
Fiddling with his ever-present Palm Pilot, Seth started rattling off a list that included at least three different types of sleeping pills, a couple of painkillers and some muscle relaxers.
"Edward's name was on most of the bottles and packages but another name popped up a few times…. M. Miller."
"Where did you find those?" Bella said, sounding somewhat alarmed.
"Edward's gym bag. Looks like someone is popping pills they don't want daddy C to know about."
"Give them to me and I'll look into it straight away."
"Obviously I left the pill bottles where I found them. Wouldn't want anyone to know we searched the room, now would we?" Seth remarked as he produced a zip lock bag with two Tylenol sized white pills out of his back pocket. "But I have these and I also have a few photos of the labels. I'll send them to you once I have had time to edit them. I had no light to work with so they are a bit on the dark side."
"Don't bother with that. I'm a whiz at Photo Shop. Just send them over straight away. And don't forget to wipe the memory card clean once you're done. The fewer that knows what we have been up to tonight the better."
"Gee, Paranoid much!"
"Better safe than sorry."
"Alright, alright. Check your inbox, Swan. You've got mail."
"Perfect!" Bella flipped her laptop open. "So, two pills and some blurry photos, that's all you got tonight then, Seth?" she asked as she waited for her computer to boot up.
"Well, no, there was actually one more thing that really surprised me…."
"What was that?"
"The sleeping arrangements…."
"Sleeping arrangements? Really? How come?"
"They were all crammed into McCarty's apartment for starters. The girls and the baby were in one room, the big guy, Emmett, was on the living room couch while the remaining two, Cullen and Whitlock, had the second bedroom all to themselves. For a moment there I thought I had walked in on some kinky man-on-man orgy action but then I realized that at least one of them was fully dressed."
"Sorry, I should have warned you about that…"
"About the orgy?"
"No, no… about Edward and his sleep issues. It has gotten pretty bad as of lately. From what I've heard, he's developed insomnia as a result of recurring nightmares. Apparently the others have started taking turns keeping him company at night, playing cards and video games late into the morning. Alice says it's more of a giant ongoing slumber party than anything else."
"I see… What about the babysitter? What about Angela Weber? Does she have a standing invitation to these slumber parties? She has been seen coming in and out of that apartment quite a few nights these last couple of weeks."
"Right, I've noticed that too. I suppose it is possible that she's using her babysitting duties as an excuse for something else," Bella commented, biting her lower lip to keep from frowning. "She's well liked by the others though. Never causes an problem."
"Don't you find it strange that our stalker has never mentioned this girl. I mean, Ms Weber is young and attractive and she does spend a considerable amount of time around Cullen, but so far there have been no signs of jealousy directed towards this girl. Why is that?"
"I don't know, you tell me. You seem to have given it some thought."
"As I see it there are only two reasonable explanations. One; because this girl isn't considered a threat, or two; because this girl IS the threat."
"You think we should take closer look at Ms Weber, is that what you are saying?"
"Bingo!"
"Okay fine, but this girl is the sweetest thing ever. Sickeningly sweet actually, very polite and very well mannered. I've never even heard her raise her voice."
"We should leave no stones unturned."
"I still say we should focus on that Victoria woman, the redhead from the surveillance tapes."
"Ah, the infamous redhead…" Seth sighed wistfully. "We're only halfway through the tapes but so far she has been spotted numerous times, both at the club and in the hallways of Cullen's old apartment building."
"But still no sightings of her around this place?"
"Nope, but we're working on it. Speaking of which, how is the list coming along?"
"What list?"
"Cullen's list of ex's and sexual conquests. Jenks has been asking for it."
"Again? I had been hoping to put that off a little while longer. It's not going to make me very popular with Edward. He is not too keen on the idea of us prying in his private life."
"I'm sure you can find a way to drag the names out of him… Seduce him if you have to, you have my permission."
"Very funny," Bella muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Aww come, don't tell me you haven't noticed the way he's looking at you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She tried to shrug it off, but a girlish blush betrayed her.
Seth said nothing, he just raised one eyebrow and maintained his stupid grin.
"Okay, fine, I've caught him looking at me a few times… I know better than to encourage him though. There's a little bit too much at stake here, wouldn't you agree?"
"I don't know, you tell me. You seem to have given it some thought," Seth teased with a sly smile. "You're looking awfully red there, Swan."
"What is this, pick on Bella day or something?"
"Bella my dear, everyday is pick-on-Bella-day. You should be used to it by now."