Happy Sunday everyone, here is chapter 26. The next chapter will be the last one. I hope you will have enjoyed the ride as much as I did.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 26

Leah POV

Why did I insist to do this again?

Going over the gory details, telling all these jerks had done… This is definitely not my favourite part of the job. However, I couldn't very well let Charlie do this.

Charlie had insisted at first, saying he owed it to his daughter, but I told him I thought he owed it to his daughter to give her a neutral point of view. He would be too emotional. He ended up agreeing with me, but made me promise to tell the kids to send them to him should they have any questions. I accepted… if only to give him some peace of mind.

So here I am, sitting in Edward, Emmett and Jasper's living room. I take a sip of water before literally plunging.

"Okay. Before I start, I want to warn you that there is nothing pretty in what I'm about to say. Feel free to stop me at any time, for any reason." I look at Bella and Rosalie as I say this, as there may be some things they are not able to hear. They both nod. "Also, Chief Swan insisted that I tell you that you can go to him should you have any questions after tonight."

Everyone nods and I take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"I will start with what we have on Royce King, as it will bring us to James and Phil along the way." I see everyone nod silently. "Okay. So Royce King had never been the poster child for perfection. He grew up in the bad neighborhoods of New York. His mother neglected him, and he never knew his father. He dropped out of school at 15 and got involved in gangs. He also noticed quite early that because of his good looks he had power. He could have pretty much any girl do anything he wanted. That's how he had 5 girls working in different clubs along the east coast. They were technically hired legally, but everything the girls earned went into King's pockets. There was nothing left for them."

"Did he get them the same way he did with me?" Rosalie asks. I nod.

"Though it was easier with them. They fell for his act immediately, whereas you were a harder catch, Rosalie. Given your upbringing, you didn't trust people all that easily, as opposed to those girls, who were desperate to escape their miserable lives." I pause and take an assessment of the room, it looked at thought everyone was still with me so I continue. "King had a history with the local police department, but they were never able to prove it was him, as the girls' parents had never met him, and they couldn't find the girls. All they had were suppositions. That is, until he set his eyes on Rosalie."

"Why? What was so different with me?" Rosalie asks.

"You challenged him, and he loved it."

Flashback

"Come on, Rose, you know you want to!" Royce said with a wink.

"How many times have I told you to leave me alone?" Rosalie shouted before turning around to walk away. She suddenly turned back around. "And my name is Rosalie!" She shouted again before stomping away across the yard and into the school building.

Royce's face hardened and his fists tightened before he stomped away to follow her.

"Rosalie, please, give me a chance to prove myself to you. You'd be a killer model. Designers will fight for you, I can promise you that."

"I don't care, that's not what I want to do with my life. I have other things to do; I have other ambitions than to strut down a runway in ridiculous outfits. So fuck off!"

"You'll be putty in my hands soon, Rosalie, I swear!"

"Dream on!"

End of flashback

"He started treating you with all sorts of gifts, didn't he?" I ask Rosalie. She nods. "I don't mean to pry, but how did he get through to you? I'm curious."

"I'm not sure exactly, he switched tactics at some point when he saw that pushing me and following me everywhere didn't work." I nod and don't insist she tells me more; I'm sure it's hard enough as it is for her to be going through this tonight.

I see Rosalie look down at her hands and she starts to fidget. Emmett quickly puts an arm around her and pulls her into his side. She looks up at him gratefully.

Emmett's a total buffoon, but he can also be incredibly sweet when he wants to, from what I gathered.

Okay, let's rip that band-aid off before I chicken out.

"What happened after that is Rosalie's story to tell, so I'm going to jump right to after Royce lost the poker game to Phil Dwyer and what happened to him." I look around and everyone nods. I nod in response and take a moment to collect my thoughts before launching into the story. "Royce demanded a rematch several times, each time wanting Rosalie to be put in as the bet, as he wanted to get her back. But he lost each and every time, pretty much losing his shirt in the process. When that wasn't working anymore, he tried getting into the club. The bouncers didn't recognize him, so he was able to get in, but it never took too long before either Phil or James noticed him and threw him out. James would escort him back outside and to his car.

But one night, Royce had had time to drink a lot before James recognized him, as he and Phil didn't get to the bar until late."

Flashback

It's past midnight; the girls retreated to their private rooms a while ago. Royce is sprawled out on the bar, an umpteenth glass of whiskey in hand. The bouncers let him in again without any problems. And this time, he was able to enjoy more than a few sips of whiskey. Apparently, Dwyer and Helwyr are not in yet, so he's able to enjoy his night, for once. Though he wishes he could get closer to Rose… He would try to convince her to run away with him, make the most of it while the wolf is out. Too bad it's too late now. Oh well… he'd try some other time.

"Well, well, well… Look what we have here." James sneers.

He moves his head slightly, just enough to see his visitor.

"Hey, Helwyr!" He says drunkenly, faking enthusiasm.

"I thought we told you to never step foot in here again, King."

"Aw, but it's such a fine establishment you got here."

"Give up, King. You lost, you won't get her back. Now leave, and don't come back. This is your last warning." James says, threatening.

"Oh, come on. We're all friends here, and I'm a paying customer. I should be treated like any other paying customer frequenting this fine establishment."

"Don't try my patience, King." James warns, his tone menacing.

"Have I ever told you how stupid Rose is? She ate up everything I told her, every promise I made. She's of no use to you here."

"She's a girl, she knows how to dance, that's all we need. Now get out of here." James gets dangerously close as he says the last words.

"No. I want to see Rose." Royce says stubbornly.

"Out of question."

"Let me see her, and then I'll be out of your hair." Royce tries to negotiate.

James' patience was wearing thin. He was becoming a nuisance, and, soon enough, he would probably become a threat as well. He had to get rid of him.

End of flashback

"Helwyr walked King to the hallway leading to the private rooms and knocked him out. We're not sure what happened next, but next thing we know, we find King lying in a ditch in the woods east of Seattle, just as we were about to make a move and arrest him."

"Why didn't you arrest him before?" Emmett asks.

"Because we didn't really have any proof until he admitted to Helwyr having talked to Rosalie and made her promises. We had an officer dressed as a civilian in the bar the night King talked to Helwyr, and he had a hidden microphone. He was able to record the entire conversation, so we took that for his admission to kidnapping Rosalie."

I take a minute to breathe and drink some water, and to also let them digest this part.

"Is everyone okay?" I ask, looking around at all of them. "Can I go on?" They all nod. "Okay then, James Helwyr. We don't know much about him. He seems to be an immigrant, because he didn't appear in government records until about 15 years ago. He was convicted for fraud and theft and did time in jail. He was released about 7 years ago, and it wasn't long after that that he met Phil Dwyer. He saw his vulnerability and decided to use it. Dwyer placed his trust in him. At some point, they decided to open a bar. It required a lot of money, and Dwyer almost gave up, but out of nowhere, Helwyr found the amount required in no time and paid. Dwyer never questioned it. However, we found that it was stolen money from breaking and entering into people's houses. He was pretty much low profile after that, becoming Dwyer's right hand man. Nothing much happened until Royce King talked to him before being found dead. Given his lack of patience towards King, it was quite obvious that he was the one that killed him."

"He was arrested, right?" Bella asks. I see she's terrified, probably terrified that he's going to find her.

"Yes, he was arrested, Bella. The night at the bar? Your father arrested him himself. He will be behind bars for a long time if they don't decide on the death penalty."

"The death penalty?" Edward asks.

"Yes. A series of murders occurred around Washington State in the last few years, and we were able to trace them back to Helwyr."

Bella nods and leans into Edward, who kisses the top of her head. She's reassured, but she's still reluctant. That's completely understandable. She probably won't feel safe until Helwyr and Dwyer are sentenced and in prisons far away from here.

"What about Victoria, his girlfriend?" Bella asks shakily.

"Her record was clean before this whole ordeal. And even with this, we don't have much against her. Yes, she helped in keeping Bella and Rose locked away, she'll probably get something for being somewhat of an accomplice, but since she didn't help in any of your kidnappings, we're not expecting her to go behind bars."

Bella nods.

"And Dwyer?" Edward asks after a moment of silence. I take a deep breath.

"He didn't really have a record before this. A few speeding and parking tickets, nothing major. Phil Dwyer was a promising baseball player. He was playing in the minor leagues and apparently there were several scouts observing him. He made a spectacular catch during a game about 10 years ago, but when he touched the ground, his foot caught on something and he fell. Next thing he knows, his knee was busted. He underwent surgery, but the prognostic wasn't good. He fell into a depression…"

Flashback

Phil is sitting on the couch in the living room, the TV is on, but he's not paying attention to what's playing. He is thinking back to his baseball days, when he came so close to achieving his dream: playing in the MLB. He is running over and over in his head what he could have done differently to avoid the injury that ruined his career.

Renee, his wife, enters the room. She stops for a moment and observes him, wondering what she could do. Every day is the same: he would sit in the living room in front of the TV and mourn over the fact that his career came to a screeching halt. She feels for him, she wishes she could do something to help him, but she can't magically fix his knee.

A few months later, she finally convinced him to go out a little, if only to the local bar to get his mind off of everything for a little while. She knows it's not the cure, but at least it's something. He ends up going out more and more, almost every night. He would sometimes come back smelling of smoke and cheap perfume, but she decides not to ask any questions. She is sure Phil is not the type to cheat, so she lets him enjoy his time out.

However, at some point, he ends up not coming home on several nights and, when he would come back the next mornings, his clothes would be rumpled, the smell of perfume would be stronger than usual, and there would sometimes be lipstick traces.

After a month of that, she has enough and decides to confront her husband. Things go downhill from there. Phil becomes aggressive, bordering on violent, telling her to mind her own business and threatening to file for divorce, arrange to leave her with nothing. He ends up stopping to go out for a while and things slow down, but he sinks into depression again.

So she ends up telling him to just do whatever he wants, she won't question him anymore. She would rather see him happy.

End of flashback

"Dwyer met Helwyr shortly after that, and we all know what it leads to." I see them all nod.

I let them absorb everything I just revealed.

"I know it's a lot to take in," I tell them after a few moments of silence, "but please be assured that you are all safe now. The trials will start soon. It's not 100% sure yet, but the prosecution doesn't think they will need any of you to testify in court. Chief Swan will keep you all informed."

"Thanks Leah. For everything." Edward says. I give them all a smile.

"It's my job. But it was my pleasure. Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. I'll see myself out. Take care."

I see each couple huddle together before I close the door. I have been involved in several investigations over the years, all more sordid than the other. However, none has left me with such a feeling of elation, that for once, I made a difference.

Thoughts? Please review :o)