A Headless Encounter.

"Bella?" Steven cleared his throat.

"Sorry. Did I call you at a bad time?"

"No! No, not at all." He sounded much more alert now. "What's wrong?"

"You know that big case we worked on a couple of years back, the gang one?"

"Yes, what of it?" I could tell I had his attention.

"Did the gang leader ever get caught?"

"Yes. He got sent down for 36 years. No parole."

"Oh." The disappointment was evident in my voice.

"Why the sudden interest?"

"I think we have a copy cat here in Seattle."

"Really?" The shock was clear in his tone. "Can you send me a snap shot?"

"Okay, let me just put you on loud speaker." I fiddled with my iPhone and snapped a picture of the victim. "Can you hear me okay?"

"Yes Bella."

"Great. I'm sending it now." I could hear a computer whirring in the background. "Are you at work?"

"What? Oh...yes."

"Fall asleep at your desk again?" I teased.

"Something like that. Tanya kicked me out. The office is now my temporary home."

"Oh Steven..."

"Bella, it's fine. " He cut me off.

"No it's not." Steven and Tanya had been married for 25 years. It's a shame to see it go to waste. An idea struck me. "Take my bungalow."

"Excuse me?"

"Take my bungalow." I repeated. "I haven't sold it yet. You can live there, as my tennant." I heard a ding in the background.

"Oh, I see what you mean about a copy cat. Although this one seems a lot more brutal. I will send over the case file and evidence info on the gang."

"Thank you Seven, and please take the property. I don't need an answer right away, but it's a shame it's going empty."

"I will Bella. Goodbye."

"Bye." I had just hung up the phone when I heard Edward shout from the otherside of the warehouse.

"Bella! We've got another one!"

EPOV.

The metallic smell of blood grew faint as I walked away from Bella. I would give her the privacy she asked for while making her call. I wandered for a little bit, keeping my eyes open for any type of evidence I could find. It wasn't until I was nearly upon the next crime scene that I realised the tang had come back.

A woman lay sprawled, naked on the floor with multiple stab wounds to her chest.

I called out for Bella who came running around a pile of crates a couple of minutes later.

"It's like a maze in here." She panted. "What do we have?"

"Blonde female. Late twenties, early thirties. Multiple stab wounds to the upper torso."

"I will call the M.E and het more help." Bella pulled out her cell and began dialling numbers.

"I started snapping photos as Bella made her call to James. I couldn't help but eavesdrop.

"James? Yeah we're here. We're gonna need another team down here. It's a double. Very large crime scene. Yeah. Can you send the M.E aswell? Yeah I did. Sorry, but I had to make sure first. Yeah, I will. Laters." Bella frowned at her phone before shoving it back into her pants pocket.

"What did he say?" I asked, pretending like I hadn't just heard one side of the conversation.

"He's going to send Jasper and Lauren over. The M.E is already on his way."

"It was an awful long conversation for just that."

"Drop it Edward. Let's start collecting."

I gave up questioning her and pulled open my kit.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Working. What are you doing?"

"This is not our scene Edward. We have to take the one down front."

"Bella, what was it you said earlier? Oh yeah, we've got evidence to collect and it's degrading as we speak. Go start on the other one while we wait for the others to arrive." I saw her resolve crumble and she huffed as she walked off.

I got stuck in to processing the scene. Several swabs and prints later Lauren walked around the corner.

"Hi Edward." She purred.

Kill me now.

BPOV.

"He's not quite in full rigor yet. That would put T.O.D about two to five hours ago."

"Thanks Garrett."

"No probs. I'll bag him and send him off to Doc."

I cut the cable ties attached to the vic and bagged each one separately.

"Uhm, Bella? Could you, uhh...just help me with his head?"

Oh boy.

I stood and walked to the back of the chair. I cradled the head at the base of the skull, like you would a new born baby.

"On three." Garrett puffed. "One... Two... Three!" I lifted and Garrett pulled. One sickening second later I was left holding the head of our victim in my hands, while his body was already inside the body bag.

"Uhh Garrett," I quivered, "you might want to bag this too." I thrust out my hands at him. My stomach was turning. I'm glad I passed up on lunch now.

"Gee, thanks Bella. I am sorry. I didn't expect his head to come off so easily." I waved him off and took a deep breath. "Oh hey Jasper, Lauren." Came Garretts cheerful greeting behind me.

I turned to see my collegues surveying the scene. Jasper let out a low whistle. "Looks like we got ourselves a doozy."

"Is it really necessary for four of us to be here? Whined Lauren.

"Yes actually, it is. There is another body at the back of the warehouse. Edward is there col.."

"I'll do it!" Lauren cut me off and was gone in a flash of silvery blonde hair.

I raised my eyebrows at Jasper in silent question. He just shrugged and started looking through the photos on my camera.

I'm glad I'm not Bella. Haha

To my lovely readers that are wondering when Bella is finally going to meet Charlie. It is coming, just not for a few more chapters yet. I have the entire story written down in hand, I just have to type it up.

As always let me know what you think :) x