Chapter Five: Crumbling

We pulled up in front of the Cullen house and parked the car in the garage. Edward looked at me with a concerned sideways glance. Renesmee, Edward and I went inside. I heard voices coming from the dining room.

We walked in to find the Cullens—all except Jasper. Rosalie stepped forward. "Nessie," she said, "Let's you and I go watch TV." Rosalie started to lead Renesmee by the hand and out of the room. Nessie stopped her.

She turned to me with her hand raised. I bent down so she could touch her hand to my cheek. I saw what she was thinking. "Yes," I told her, "I think it does have something to do with what I was worried about earlier."

She touched her hand to my face again—she wanted to know what was happening. I hesitated, "Renesmee I…" She then touched her hand to my cheek once more and I saw her fear and worry. Renesmee seemed to feel more worry without knowing what was happening.

"I promise," I said to her, "I promise that I'll tell you after I know more." Nessie nodded and walked out the door towards the living room with Rosalie.

I turned back to face the rest of the Cullens. "Alice saw you two with the FBI agent," Carlisle told Edward and I.

"Too late to warn you though," Alice added. "Sorry."

"That's okay Alice," Edward said; then he turned back to Carlisle. "Agent Ramsey thought Bella and I knew more than we said because we had worked with Scott."

"How did Ramsey find that out?" I asked Edward.

"He got a hold of some documents during the investigation of Scott's death," Edward answered me.

"Agent Ramsey said that there have been murders in La Push and Charlie told us there have been some in Forks also. Have you seen who is doing this?" I asked Alice.

"That's what we were just talking about," Carlisle told me. "She hasn't seen anything to shed light on what's been happening."

"Have you heard from Jacob?" Esme asked me.

"No," I replied, "and I didn't think too much of it until Charlie told me Jake hasn't been returning his calls."

"Really; that's what he said?" At first I thought Edward was talking to me, but then I could see that he and Carlisle were having a conversation of their own; Edward's questions must have been directed at Carlisle's thoughts.

"We were talking about that as well," Carlisle said aloud to Edward.

"What is it?" I interrupted as I scanned both of their faces.

"I was talking to a friend this morning who works at the hospital with me," Carlisle explained. "On his off days, he works at the county morgue. He saw a couple of the murder victims as they came in."

"I was telling him that this part-timer must have nothing better to do then start rumors with fellow hospital scrubs," Emmett laughed.

"When they were brought in," Carlisle continued, "every one of them that my friend saw had almost all of their blood gone. It was odd, so he noticed it." He paused. "Sure, some wounds would… bleed quite a bit, but it wouldn't be like that—not that much gone like that."

It was silent. I couldn't see how this new information factored into what was happening. I reviewed what I knew in my mind. There had been people killed in La Push and Forks. Agent Ramsey thought they were connected to a gang in Seattle. Charlie had tried to call Billy and Jacob, but they hadn't answered. Charlie became worried and thought I might know what was going on. I hadn't seen or heard from Jake in a long time either. What was keeping him so busy? Oh my gosh. What ever keeps the wolves busy? It would be the same thing that would have a use for the blood from the murder victims.

"Vampires," I said out loud. The others in the room looked at me, their expressions somber. It seemed the rest of the Cullens had come to the same conclusion.

"Alice?" Edward asked, "You can't see anything? Do you think it's because the Pack is clouding your view?"

"It's possible," Alice said.

"Or," Carlisle added, "whoever was doing this could have stopped before Alice could see anything—changed their course." Alice could see future events, but she could only see ahead of people to where their current course of action would take them. Once they changed their minds, their future would change.

"Hopefully, we can take that to mean that whoever this did this isn't planning on killing again," Carlisle finished.

I was in our bedroom. Edward and Renesmee were in the front room, sitting on the couch together, reading Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was dark out; it was almost time to put Nessie to bed.

I had tried to call Jacob again today after talking with Carlisle—there had been no answer.

I took the bracelet out of my jewelry box and held it up to look at it again. I stared at the diamond heart and the wooden wolf as my thoughts drifted. Suddenly, my hip vibrated; it was the cell phone in my pocket. I placed the bracelet on the bureau, took out the phone and glanced at its face to see who was calling. I gasped. "Jacob," it said. His home phone number had been programmed into my cell phone, so if it wasn't Jake calling, it was someone calling from his house.

I flipped open the phone. "Hello?"

"Bella?" the person on the other end of the line asked. I recognized the gruff voice. It was Jacob.

"Jake I…" I started to say, but he cut me off before I could finish.

"Bella," he said, "we need to meet and talk."

"Where?" I asked eagerly.

"At the treaty line, south of the clearing," he said. "And you'll come alone."

"Why...?"

"I don't care what excuse you give to get away, just give one," he continued. "And if your other bloodsuckers have already overheard our conversation, you'll tell them you'll come alone for your own sake."

"Jake, what…?"

"I'll see you in a few," he said; then he was gone.

I replaced the phone into my pocket. What excuse was I going to give Edward? "Oh, sorry honey—I know it's practically bedtime for Nessie and it's black as pitch outside, but I feel like going for a run." Yeah right. "Oh no sweetness, everything is fine… actually, I thought I'd go stroll by myself…love you too."

Like that would go over well. What did Jacob take Edward for—a fool? But Jake had said that I should come alone for my own sake even if the rest of the Cullens knew about it. So, I would tell them the truth if it came to that. I wondered if Edward had overheard the phone conversation with his acute vampire hearing.

I went out into the front room and saw Edward and Nessie curled up on the couch with the book: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. I wondered: if my life was a Shakespearean play, would it be a tragedy or a comedy? A comedy of errors? Not likely. A tragedy then: in which everyone dies at the end? I hoped not. However, perhaps my life was more like a melodrama: the obscure Shakespearean genre that was neither a comedy nor a tragedy. Literature buffs had to give it some kind of name, because to just call it "crap" I imagine wouldn't go over well in the school system.

Was my life a melodrama? I suppose it's better than the alternative—a tragedy. I could live in a melodrama; I could be okay with that.

"Edward," I said, interrupting their reading. They both looked up. I hesitated. "I have to go out Edward, but I'll be back soon."

Edward looked at me with a puzzled expression—nothing different than what I had been expecting. I was eager to see Jacob, but after our brief conversation on the phone, I was feeling that this wouldn't be a friends-catching-up-chat. "What's going on Bella?" Edward asked.

So he hadn't heard the phone conversation in the other room; he must have been engrossed in the book. Renesmee's facial expression was questioning also. Edward and I had agreed on filling Nessie in on what had been happening lately. Of course, some things should be edited for young minds. For example, I didn't tell Nessie the details about the poor people that had died, but I did tell her that someone was doing bad things and that this was why she hadn't seen Jacob in some time. Talking with Nessie about this seemed to relieve some of her worry.

I went back to Edward's question. His expression had become more anxious as I stood there. "I can't really explain," I said, "but I'll be back in a little while, and I need to go alone."

Edward gently pushed Renesmee away from him, as she was half-lying on him, so that he could get up off the couch. He came to stand in front of me. "I'll be alright," I said before he could speak. "Trust me." I smiled to reassure him.

Edward watched me for a minute. "Okay," he said. "When should I expect you back?" I understood what he meant: "How long before I should be worried?"

"Give me a couple of hours," I answered. I didn't exactly know why Jake wanted to see me and how long it would take.

Edward nodded. He leaned forward and took me in his arms. His kiss was passionate, but short. I had a hard time pulling away. I felt relieved at his trust in me; I realized that I really loved that about him. I walked over to where Renesmee sat. I lifted her into my arms, hugged her and kissed her gently on the forehead.

I ran to where Jacob had said to meet. I recognized his scent and slowed to a stop. He was alone and was in his human form. He watched as I approached and came to stand in front of him.

"Hi Jake," I said.

"Hi Bella," he answered in a non-committal tone. It was quiet for a minute. "Bella," he started.

I could see what appeared to be pain in his eyes. "What is it?" I asked.

"Bella, those people in La Push were killed by a vampire."

"We figured as much also," I said. "There have been murders in Forks too. We have to find this rouge vampire and stop him. We…"

"Bella," he cut me off, "it's not just some vampire passing through."

"Why not?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

Jacob cast his eyes to the ground, searching, as if looking for a needle in the grass. His body slumped in what looked like inner conflict. "It can't be a rouge vampire because of the scent left at the scenes of the murders and on the victims."

"I'm not quite following you," I said.

"Bella, the scent was Jasper's."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Those people were killed by Jasper, Bella."

"Do you realize what you're saying!" I half-shouted. "You can't believe this!"

"I can't turn away from the evidence!" he shouted back.

"But Jasper would never do this!"

"You can't know that for sure. The evidence says he did it," he retorted.

"I can't believe you Jacob."

"You're going to have to. Sometimes people can't change their nature Bella."

"You mean by being a vampire!" I yelled at him. "You're insane to believe that Jasper killed those people."

"You're being stupid!" he yelled back. "Do you really think this whole thing is easy for me—like I don't care. I care about Renesmee. It sucks that I haven't seen her in awhile because I thought it would be better that way, but we can't ignore what's going on."

"Jacob," I said through gritted teeth, "you obviously can't pick up a scent ten feet in front of you if your life depended on it."

"Ha!" he mock laughed. "I'm sure you didn't mean that to be funny, but our lives really are depending on it." His fists were shaking now. "And I know that it was Jasper's scent," he added. "One of the people killed also happened to be a friend of Leah's; as if she needed more reasons to hate and distrust the bloodsuckers."

"Who do you trust, Jacob?" I asked. "You wanted to meet with me didn't you?"

"I thought you should know," he answered. "And I trusted the Cullens; I really did, until now. The question is, should you be trusting them?"

Before I could say anything more, he was phased and gone, running off into the trees. I stood, frozen in place, a chill on my skin despite the warm, humid air.