Chapter 15– #115- In the Darkness of the Night
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# 115
I am dead serious.
That should be clear.
The fact you do not know my real name, personal details, etc... is irrelevant.
All you need to know is my ideas and my intentions.
The fruits of these intentions will be made clear when I am ready to present them.
In the meantime, know that all shadows are gray no matter what color they fall upon.
It was Rosalie who found note # 115 in the lunch room at the gym. The note was not in an envelope. It was just a big piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator with a Snoopy magnet. Anyone who walked by could have read it.
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Closing her laptop, Bella set it down on the floor next to her bed. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she stood up and stretched her arms above her head. She hated paperwork - not necessarily because she didn't like the work itself, although quite often there were other things she felt her time could be better spent on, but because working on her computer for several hours at a time always resulted in tired muscles and headaches.
The case was moving forward at an excruciatingly slow pace. They had managed to form a fairly good idea of what kind of person they should be looking for, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that the stalker was covering her tracks very well…. Yes HER as in female…. The graphology analysis had confirmed that the handwriting most definitely belonged to a woman.
The profiler from the Behavioral Analysis Unit not only agreed but was willing to take it one step further by suggesting that the subject was a young, mid 20 something, white Caucasian or Euro-American female with a mid to high level IQ.
The motive, however, was still to be ascertained. The written threats were all laced with a yearning for revenge and retaliation, but it was also believed that some degree of mental illness was involved—or at the very least, an obsessive and unhealthy desire for domination, psychological manipulation, and control.
Stifling a yawn Bella plugged her cell phone into it's charger and set her alarm clock for 5:30 before she kicked off her slippers and climbed into the bed.
The lab technicians had confirmed that all the photographs, both the recent candid ones and the older studio shots were in fact authentic. They had also found traces of chemicals that indicated that at least some of them were developed in a home photo lab setting. That was, however, pretty much the only solid lead the photos had provided at this point and even those could not be verified with 100% certainty.
Bella's most promising finding, the snake, had unfortunately turned out to be more or less irrelevant. The microchip had been traced to a pet store in Brooklyn, but the store had been out of business for a little over six months due to bankruptcy… Another dead end in other words…
The further the investigation had progressed, the more bizarre twists and frustrating dead ends had been encountered.
Fighting back another yawn, Bella switched off the lamp on the nightstand and settled down for the night.
The 'not getting anywhere' was beginning to take its toll on her. Without significant leads or suspects she had about as much authority as a glorified bodyguard. What had started as a simple stalker case had quickly escalated into a bizarre cat and mouse game… or maybe in this case; a snake and mouse game…
And then there was the ongoing murder investigation. Could there really be a connection between the two cases? Something kept nagging at her in the back of her mind and she felt like she was missing something… but what that something was, she didn't have the slightest clue. Her thoughts were running in circles and it was giving her a headache.
Rolling over she sighed and closed her eyes willing her body to relax. She'd think about all this in the morning, she promised herself. Right now she needed sleep.
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That night she dreamed of Edward Cullen for the first time in years.
In her dream she was back in Forks, back to the weeks preceding her eighteenth birthday.
There was a time when Bella would have done just about anything to get out of her court ordered custodial summer visits in Forks. It was a no-brainer really. Who in their right mind would want to spend their summers in the dimmest corner of rainy Washington state? Especially if they had the option of spending them elsewhere, say somewhere warmer like California for example where her step dad Phil had his neat 'little' seven bedroom, nine bathroom mansion.
Not that she had anything against spending time with her biological father per say. Truth be told though, at seventeen she hardly knew the man. Her parents had been divorced for as long as Bella could remember and Charlie had become a distant presence, a shadowy figure in her life. From what she could tell he appeared to be a decent man, a bit on the boring side perhaps and a bit strict, but then again he was the chief of police so nothing else was to be expected. Not everyone can be as charismatic and easygoing as Phil.
Bella had been fifteen the year her mother had gotten herself remarried to Phil. Her mother had gone out to buy soy milk one morning, but instead of bringing home a grocery bag she had return fourteen hours later with a silly grin on her face and a new man on her arm. That's how Bella first came to meet Phil Dwyer, a retired major league baseball player, whom Renee had fallen head over heels for after having backed into his car at the Whole Foods parking lot.
Renee's biggest obsession at that time had been organic food, which would explain why she would drive all the way across town to purchase a gallon of milk. Phil on the other hand couldn't care less about toxic free, bio-dynamically produced milk. The only reason he was there, on that particular parking lot, at that particular time was to stock up on some fancy, smancy Creatine diet supplement that he needed to keep his back injury in check.
It was a match made in heaven. Not only did Renee know her way around the overpriced herbal supplements at Whole Foods, but she also happened to be an aspiring alternative medicine healer and a huge baseball fan.
Luckily the infatuation was mutual. Phil Dwyer was more than a little smitten with the slightly older, but utterly charming (read quirky) Renee Higenbotham and he was surprisingly open to the idea of taking on a teenage stepdaughter. You see Phil was in the midst of launching a political career and accessories like a wife, a kid and a readymade family would undoubtedly look good to have by his side when campaigning for higher office.
Whatever his motives were, Phil Dwyer was a generous man, both with his love and his money. The wedding occurred only three moths after their first meeting. This was fine with Bella, she had no complaints. As long as her mother was happy, Bella was happy as well. And why wouldn't she be, she lived a rather comfortable life under the glow of the Californian sun for the next year and a half.
That's when the shit hit the fan, or rather that's when the local press got their hands on some compromising nudie video footage. Footage of Renee and Phil getting it on in a swimming pool; a semi public, outdoor, hotel swimming pool. And not just any hotel, the pool belonged to the plush five star hotel where Phil insisted on staying (courtesy of the taxpayers) despite the fact that he owned a perfectly nice overnight apartment just a few blocks from there.
Coincidentally or perhaps not so coincidentally the footage in question was leaked just in time for the annual convention about ethics in the Public Service. Contrary to popular belief, all publicity is not good publicity…
One should perhaps be thankful that it was his wife and not some random groupie keeping Phil company in that pool, but still… There were nipples and ass shots and almost complete frontal nudity — the whole nine yards… Absolutely nauseating!
As you can imagine, the humiliation of having your mothers tities plastered on the front page of every newspaper in town, was harsh. If the press coverage had been bad, the high school rumor mill was even worse. Teenagers aren't exactly known for their tact and maturity. School became a nightmare of brutal teasing and isolation. When Bella's attendance began to drop to the point where her grades were affected it was quickly decided that she would go stay with her father until the whole thing had blown over…or until she had secured her high school diploma, whichever much anticipated event occurred first… And that's how Bella at the age of seventeen ended up moving to Forks.
Living in Forks had been a big adjustment. Not just because of the rain and the small town mentality, but because Charlie's parenting style was completely the opposite of Renee's. Where her mother had always been the happy-go-lucky type, childlike with the emotional age of a teenager, her father was strict and authoritative. He was the Chief both at work and at home.
Bella had never experienced anything like that before. Sure, there had always been chores, like cooking and cleaning, but she had never had to deal with curfews, random room searches or dinner table interrogations before. She had never had anyone care enough to yell at her for staying out late or getting home drunk. It was oddly comforting, yet stifling and quite frustrating at the same time.
Forks definitely had its perks, though. She had made somereal, honest-to-god friends there, something she'd always had a huge shortage of in her life up to that point.
And then there was Edward... devastatingly handsome yet alarmingly sensitive. He was known as quite the trouble maker, always brooding, always acting tough, but once you got to know him he had a gentle soul. And he was amazingly talented both with his lyrics, his instruments and his hands…. My God the things he could do with those hands…
Yep, Forks most definitely had its perks.
Bella had only had one wish for her birthday that year; she had wished for her hotter-than-hot secret boyfriend to… well, in lack of better words…. "sex" her up...
At that point they had been sneaking around for months. Chief Swan wouldn't let her date anyone, let alone go anywhere near one of the Cullen boys. All the secrecy and the thrill of sneaking around had her teenage hormones rocketing all over the place and she wanted nothing more than to lose her virginity to him… to Edward.
It was those memories that haunted her sleep, the attempted seduction of Edward Cullen. Seriously, of all the things to dream about at night, that's what her brain cooked up? And of course it had to be one of those dreams you remember vividly, and in detail, upon waking up.
In her sleep she was chasing him, literally running after him with the intention of jumping his bones. Dream Edward wasn't very cooperative mind you, but then again neither had the real life version been, at least not initially. For some obscure reason he had insisted on drawing the line at heavy petting. He wanted to wait, wanted it to be perfect and romantic and memorable... Who knew teenage guys could be such girls! One would think he was the virgin and not the other way around! He wasn't though, and if the stories whispered in the girls' restroom at school were true, he hadn't been a novice in that field for quite some time…
She had always suspected that his reluctance to 'put out' was because her cop father had some kind of hold on him, which Edward of course would never admit to… the only other reasonable explanation she could think of was that he was getting 'it' elsewhere…. something he denied strongly and with vigor. Whatever his reasons were, he did not give up easily and neither did Bella, so the whole thing quickly became a power struggle between the two over who would cave first.
Bella remembered trying every trick in the book to seduce him. Of course 'the book' had been rather thin at the time, her being an inexperienced seventeen-year-old virgin and all, and her efforts had ended up being more pathetic and needy than anything else….
In her dream her methods were a little more straightforward, a little more refined, but she never got the chance to reap the rewards of her efforts because like most dreams, it was over before she got to the really good stuff.
Isn't that typical!
But then again maybe it was all for the best, because as eh… spectacular as the actual deflowering of Bella Swan had been in real life it was not something she was very keen on revisiting, not even in her dreams.
Not that it hadn't been everything she had hoped for…initially… wonderfully sweet and incredibly hot, but then it turned messy, slightly painful and awkward… majorly awkward.
Like with anything else though, it held the promise of getting better with practice… and practice they did, until chief Swan intervened.
Needless to say, no teenager wants to get caught in the act by a parent. Hands down one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Well, that and having to listen to her father re-enact the whole event to the Cullen's and then having to sit through Dr. Cullen's inquires about weather or not it had been consensual and what kind of birth control they had used. Bella couldn't help but shudder at that particular memory. Lots and lots of nightmare material right there.
Aware that her mind was running in circles, and not in the right circles either, Bella fumbled with her cell phone on her bedside table.
4:54 am
She rolled over.
She rolled over again…
4:55 am
After another half an hour worth of tossing and turning She finally gave up. Scooting off the bed, she dragged herself into the kitchenette area of her small apartment.
"Stupid dream. Stupid brain. …" she grumbled to herself as flung the refrigerator door open and poured herself a glass of milk.
In hindsight she knew good old Charlie had been right to nip things in the bud all those years ago. The way he had gone about it had been a bit over the top though (read: borderline crazy), with the loaded gun, the handcuffs and the screaming and all, but he had been right none the less.
Who meets their soul mate at the age of seventeen? That sort of thing only happens in fairy tales.
Of all the things to dream about…