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LadySharkey1 rocks my world by being the most amazing, kick-ass beta I could ever imagine.
Belmont Island, Maine
Saturday, March 17, 1951
6 AM
"What the hell is going on?" Edward's voice sounded gravelly as he pushed through the small crowd that had gathered at the entrance into Emmett's bedroom. What he saw when he made it inside the room sobered him up at once.
He and Emmett had never been quite close. Hell, half the time he'd hated the son of a bitch and his boisterously arrogant behavior. But to see him lying there in a pool of his own blood, eyes staring out into nothingness as an irate Rosalie was comforted by a frazzled looking Bella, his grief over the man's gruesome and untimely death was imminent.
As were the effects of a killer hangover, which caused him to speed to the waste bucket that stood in a corner of the room and empty what little contents his stomach still held in them.
"What happened?" Voicing the question that was on everybody's lips, Edward breathed a sigh of relief as Jasper, who was a little less drunk and a whole lot more up to the task of taking the lead in the situation, sauntered into the room as if he was completely master of the situation.
Edward kind of wished that was really true, since it would mean that at least someone knew what the heck he was doing.
"I…I…" Rose stammered, holding onto Bella's hand as she gathered what sense she could make from the frantic mess that was her mind. "I heard a noise coming from the room and…and I went to look. It's crazy, really… I don't know how many times I've h-heard him with his…uh, him with other women but this time I think it was different." Her hand shook violently, her eyes wide with horror as they glanced at her husband's lifeless form before focusing back on Jasper. "I found him like this. The knife...there was so much blood."
Edward managed to rush over just in time to catch her fainting body before she hit the ground. Emmett's blood creating a heavy, overpowering stench in the room as they gathered around the bed.
"We need to get her to a bed," Bella spoke, taking care of poor Rosalie while the others focused on her dead husband. "This is the second time she's fainted and I'm worried about the effect this will have on her health."
"She seems more upset than I would have thought," Edward muttered, grunting under the weight of the once waifish looking beauty queen; those days had definitely gone.
"It's one thing to hate your husband," Bella answered, leading the way through a door that connected the spouses' separate bedrooms, "but that doesn't mean that you'll dance on his grave. They spent years together. They were unhappy ones, that's for sure, but that doesn't mean you can just push what happened aside."
"It almost seems as though you're speaking from experience," Edward couldn't help but remark.
"I loved my husband," Bella snapped, assisting as Edward gently deposited Rosalie on top of her rumpled bedding. "I may not have loved him in a conventional way but there was definitely a lot of affection between us in the end." She sighed, playing with the little cross pendant that had hung around her neck ever since it had been sent to her from some godforsaken place in Europe. "I genuinely mourned his death…and I still do."
"I'm sorry," Edward was quick to apologize, a guilty blush staining his cheeks as he stepped away from Rosalie's still unconscious form. "It was wrong of me to assume."
"You're hardly the first," Bella shrugged away his apologies, "Nor, I imagine, the last." She sighed, her heart hurting both for the pale, tragic woman lying between the two of them and for her loss. "It's what happens when a young woman of modest means marries an older rich man. And I guess if I have to be completely honest, the money did appeal to me. The fact that I would have a safe, secure life after all the turmoil and scheming between both my parents, was a huge draw. But I did love him…in the end."
"Did he know?" Edward couldn't help but be curious, even if he knew it was completely inappropriate.
"That I loved him or that I married him for his money?" Bella asked, before answering both questions. "He knew on both accounts, actually. In fact, he offered his hand knowing my heart was completely unreachable to him at that time. I'd like to think that when he left for Europe, he knew my feelings had changed, even if I never really professed them. I prayed he did every night."
"I'm sure he knew," Edward assured her, torn between blinding jealousy and strong compassion. "You always wore your heart on your sleeve."
Bella smiled. "I keep forgetting how well you know me…"
"You've changed, though," Edward chuckled, remembering how he'd thought the complete opposite. It was true that she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him but everything else about her had grown…ripened into something even more attractive. "I don't think the woman you are today would have fallen for the selfish asshole I was back then."
"I'd like to think you're right," Bella agreed.
Both of them looked up as Jasper strode into the room. "Is Rosalie still unconscious?" he asked, before bringing the other two up to speed. "I don't think we should move the body. Not that I know a single thing about police work but I believe they'd want to see exactly what we found. I've locked up the room so it won't be disturbed. It goes against the grain, I know, but it's all I can do at the moment. Now if only we can find that damned butler and see if he knows a way to reach the shore without going for one mighty hell of a swim…" Sighing, he retied the strings that held his robe to his body. "At least the chef has her wits about her. She's offered to cook breakfast early because I don't know about you guys but I don't think I can sleep after what just happened."
Bella nodded, though eating was about as appealing to her as sleeping. "Do you think there's another way off this island? I thought yesterday Carlisle said…"
"I don't care if I have to build a damned boat myself!" Jasper spat as Rosalie started to stir. Knowing their presence in the room would probably not be appreciated, the men left to get ready for breakfast while Bella sat with a slowly waking Rosalie.
"Is it real?" Rose squinted against the early morning light that started to stream in through the curtains.
Bella nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so. How are you feeling? I apologize, I know you're probably devastated but did you hit your head? Are you feeling dizzy?"
"I'm fine." Pushing herself up, Rose waved away any assistance as she got up and drank a healthy portion of the water that had been left by her bedside. "I'd like to be alone now, please."
"Are you sure?" Bella was a bit taken aback by Rose's calm, composed demeanor. It was so different from the one she'd seen only moments before, looking frantic as she held the knife that had killed her husband.
"Absolutely." The tone of her voice left little room for doubt or argument as Rose all but pushed the other woman out the door. Bella, wondering what happened as she looked at the closed door in front of her, had nothing else to do but go to her room and dress for breakfast.
Meanwhile, the men had a head start; their day attire being much less challenging to don than that of the fairer sex. Jasper and Edward met at the top of the stairs about half an hour later, as the enticing smells of breakfast already started to seep out of the belly of the house.
"It's strange but I'm actually famished," Jasper announced as they made their way down the ornate staircase at a leisurely pace, their footsteps muffled by the thick, Persian rug.
"Well, there's plenty to go around," a voice announced, the matching body appearing from behind as huge potted plant as the men arrived downstairs. It was the servant girl, Jessica, providing them with some much needed refreshments. "Mrs. Cope was awfully torn up about Ms. Brandon's death so she spent most of the night in the kitchen, cooking her heart out. Poor thing took it like she had a death in her own family."
Edward, curious about what the girl knew about the inner workings of the house, forgot to be perturbed by the maid's staggeringly forward behavior and joined her. "Have you been working here for long?"
Jessica shook her head. "I joined the household a couple of weeks ago, when Mr. Cullen started to get worse and Ms. Platt had to take up nursing him full time. Before that, she used to do a lot of the duties that fell down to me."
"And do you like it here?" Jasper asked, quickly catching on to Edward's amateur detective scheme.
"It's okay." Jessica shrugged, before adding with a coy smile, "It's a lot better now that we have company, though. Things tend to get a bit lonely out here, what with me being the only one under thirty and both Mrs. Cope and Mr. Uley being a bit strange."
Edward, playing into his role of being interested, leaned in a little closer as he asked, "A bit strange?"
Jessica nodded, coming alive under the attention of two charming gentlemen and the opportunity to gossip. "I think it's this place. It's so quiet and remote. Nothing ever happens here—well apart from last night, of course. It tends to mess with your mind, I guess, and makes you a bit too focused on yourself. I hear the man who used to own this place went completely mad and they found him floating in the water, stark naked and with a knife in his hands."
Jasper nodded pensively. "We heard Uley disappeared sometime last night. Do you know where he's off to?"
"I have no idea," Jessica replied. "But if there was another boat and he made off with it, I'm going to kill him. I can't wait to get away from this place, what with all the scary things going on here and everyone being at each other's throats all the time." She needed little urging from the men to explain herself, the words flowing virtually unstoppable since she had an opportunity to get them out. "Mrs. Cope is a dear, sweet lady but she can't think further out than the next two meals, which constantly annoys Mr. Uley. He thinks himself only a university degree away from utter brilliance, but then again, everything annoys that man! He's upset at Mrs. Cope for being a bit slow, at Ms. Platt for rising above herself ever since Mr. Cullen took an interest in her, and with Mr. Cullen for not being some snooty English Earl. And now Ms. Platt and Mr. Cullen are fighting, as well!"
"You don't say!" Creeping closer, Jasper was all attention as he and Edward shared a look of understanding. Both of them were determined to get to the bottom of the situation they reluctantly found themselves in.
"They had an almighty argument last night," Jessica told them. "I don't know the details about it but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Ms. Brandon. Then, of course, poor Ms. Brandon went and died on us and I heard Mr. Cullen swear to Ms. Plat to never breathe a word about their argument to another living soul."
Again, the two men caught each other's eye, both of them surprised to hear of Carlisle somehow being mixed up in the sinister turn of events. Before they could ask any more questions, a sharp voice called out from one of the hidden doors that separated the servants from that of the guests.
"I've got to go," Jessica breathed, blushing with the embarrassment of being caught slacking by her superior. "By the way, do either of you know who went into the kitchen last night before dinner?" As the men shook their heads, she added. "I saw someone rummaging around in the pantry just before dinner and now Mrs. Cope thinks I upset her shelves!" Sighing deeply, Jessica turned on her heels and dashed out of sight as the bodiless voice called out again.
"Do you think—" Edward didn't finish his sentence. There was no need for it, as both men understood the other perfectly without words.
With every piece of information they found out about what had happened under the castle's roof during the past twenty-four hours, it was becoming more and more clear that Emmett hadn't been the first person to fall victim to a ruthless murderer.
That, in itself, should have been enough to shock them to the core.
What really hit home, however, was that every time they unveiled another piece of the puzzle, the list of suspects seemed to be growing.
Thoughts?