Chapter Four

Bella

It didn't take much to ignite Jake's interest, he loved puzzles and mysteries so I got out Renee's book and started to explain what I'd read to him.

"So what are you saying Bella? That your mum left Charlie because she was afraid of something?"

"Yes and I want to know what".

"OK but where do we start?"

I'd written a list of what I thought were important points and I handed it over to him.

were happy and excited to be getting married. Everything fine until a few weeks before the wedding.

2. Renee was worried about something.

3. I think she saw something and she was being threatened about it.

4. Strange cryptic phrases

The Cold Ones

Hiding in Plain Sight

5. Bella find out what lies beneath.

He started to read then froze,

"What Jake? Do you see something?"

"Where did you get this phrase?" He pointed to the Cold Ones.

"She wrote it in the book"

"Just that?"

"Yes why do you know what it means?"

He shook his head but I didn't believe him

"Jake you know what that means, tell me"

He shook his head, "No. I have to go see Billy" and he left at a run.

After waiting over an hour I gave up and drove home. Charlie was smiling when I got there,

"Have a good time with Jake?"

"No he left me in his garage and disappeared. I didn't see him again so I got fed up and drove home".

He looked puzzled,

"That's not like Jake. You want me to ring Billy?".

I shook my head.

"No it doesn't matter, I'm going up to do my homework".

In my bedroom I sat looking through Renee's book again. The person or people in the photo must have some significance, was she telling me to ask them or him for help or was she warning me to stay away from them and who were they? They'd be much older by now I thought, the photo must be at least twenty years old and the man looked about twenty, so would I recognise him now? He'd be at least Thirty Five and people change. What did the bit about beneath her mean? What was beneath me? When had she written it? The writing looked much fresher than the rest of the book and I wondered if she'd written it in the last few months. If she had, and she knew she was dying, where did she think I would be when I read it? If she died soon and I think she knew she was close then she would have thought I would come back here to Forks and live with Charlie. It was the only thing I could do. So she wrote this expecting me to find it, she left it out where Phil would see it in the hopes he would pass it on. Neither of us had seen it before but he was sentimental and would have known I would want it. So if I was supposed to read it in Forks then whatever was hidden beneath was here in Forks too or was I reading too much into it.

If it had all been written recently I would have dismissed it as a figment of her imagination but it had been written so long ago when she was a young woman. So I would work on the assumption that there was something for me to find, or find out, and it was here in Forks. She knew I'd be here at Charlie's so was it hidden in the house? If she wanted me to know something why didn't she leave the pages in the diary. No she didn't want anyone else reading it because it concerned me. But then maybe I was wrong, maybe it wasn't something tangible that was hidden but something below the surface, Hiding in Plain Sight. These thoughts whirled around in my head as I flicked the pages once more. There were doodles in the margins on some pages, mainly the early ones, before things had gone so terribly wrong. I decided to go to the library next opportunity I got and look up the local press for any strange happenings in Forks around the time things changed, maybe that would give me a hint what I was looking for. In the event it didn't, there was nothing in the local papers for Forks or Port Angeles that threw a light on what Renee had seen or done. I needed another avenue to explore, but what?

Jake

I went straight to Billy about what Bella had read in Renee's book but he didn't seem surprised, just concerned,

"Jake you need to understand that Renee was a very strange girl, unusual in her outlook. She loved the mystery of our legends and spent a lot of time talking to Harry and myself. What she failed to see was that they were just that, stories made up in the past. A way to make the tribe more interesting."

"So that's where she got the Cold Ones from?"

"Yes and I have no doubt there are passages about the wolf men in the book too if Bella looked hard enough. You really shouldn't be encouraging her to waste time on her mothers fancies or she'll end up as strange as Renee."

Something didn't ring quite true with Billy's words but on the other hand Bella herself has said Renee was odd. Perhaps she got caught up in her own fantasies and that's what the book was all about, especially when she started to get ill. It was someone to blame for her sickness but why involve Bella in it? Just a sick woman's fancy? I agreed to try to discourage Bella from putting too much stock in her mothers strange ideas but I wouldn't stop helping her altogether, she was fun and I liked her very much. It was a good excuse to see her and be close to her.

Billy

After Jake went out I rang Harry,

"We have a problem."

"What kind of problem? Is it Jake?"

"No Renee Swan."

"But she's dead Billy. It's all over now."

"No. She wrote a kind of diary and Bella has it now."

"What kind of diary Billy? What does she mention?"

"The Cold Ones and hints of strangeness in Forks before she left. Bella is quite intrigued and Jake has been roped in to help her out."

"Well at least we can keep an eye on what she's doing."

"What if she discovers something? Jake says some of the pages are missing, what if they explain what happened and Bella finds them?"

"Chances are she destroyed them years ago. People think she was a bit crazy anyway. I don't think Bella will find anything but have Jake keep an eye on her just in case"

"And if she does?"

"Then we'll speak again Billy. But I wouldn't worry too much, after all these years what can Bella possibly find?"