AN: Here's a long one for you all. This should clear up a few things. If you still have questions or are confused about something after this, let me know! I can answer them in the next chapter.

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Chapter 55- Confessions

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They all settled in front of the desk where the computer was set up and waited… and waited... and waited.

The sound of a car door opening had the entire room snapping to attention.

The side of agent Clearwater's head appeared briefly in view on the screen, as he entered the car and sat down in the driver's seat. It wasn't the two-way video link Bella had hoped for, but at least the transmission speed, resolution and audio quality were top notch. If Clearwater was to develop gray hair from the stress of this whole ordeal, they would be able see it the very instant it happened. That's how sharp the resolution was. At the moment his hair was as black as it had always been though. Not to say he didn't seem a little, well, jittery, the way his head was bobbing up and down and back and fort.

Agent Clearwater's back slicked hair, only took up a small fraction of the screen though. The way the camera was angled the focus rested on empty passenger seat beside him. Hopefully, it wouldn't be empty much longer, which was what the waiting was all about.

One minute passed, then another one… Bella had seen Seth make their pre-agreed hand sign for 'ok' when he first entered the car, so she knew things were going according to plans, but the waiting was still unbearable.

Alice was fidgeting in her seat, unable to keep still. Carlisle was whispering quietly with Jasper and Edward was staring straight ahead with a strained expression on his face. The rest of the Cullens were probably right outside the room with their ears pressed against the door.

Another minute passed and then they finally heard Seth mutter a quiet "here we go," and turn the key in the ignition.

He set the car in motion and drove it straight across the street and up to the curb, where he stopped to pick up his passengers. Among them was of course Maria Nahuel but also police detective Emily Young, from the Seattle Police department.

Young was the compromise they had settled for. While she wasn't the FBI profiler Bella would have preferred to have on site, she had to give the woman credit for immersing herself in the case with a speed and an absorption that was almost frightening. Also it didn't hurt that she came with credentials in criminal psychology and a reputation of being intuitive, but also calm and highly detail driven. In this she rather differed from Clearwater, of whom otherwise she was the female counterpart.

They heard detective Young respond to Seth's greeting, but with her taking a seat in the back of the car, the most they could see of her was the left-arm sleeve of her uniform. What they could see clearly however, was a nervous looking, red haired woman slide into the passenger seat.

"She's colored her hair," Jasper pointed out, unnecessarily. The color was one no one could ever mistake for natural. "It's Maria Nahuel for sure, but she has altered her appearance."

"That would explain the much-too-big, black rimmed glasses," Bella agreed, reaching for her notepad, jotting down a few quick notes. "Notice how the scarf she's wearing is covering her tattoo perfectly."

The car was rolling again. Seth drove in silence for about five minutes, before he pulled into the parking lot of an old garage and killed the engine.

"I'm going to park here. Is this alright?" he asked, turning to the woman in the seat beside him.

"Yeah, this is much better," she nodded, her eyes darting out the window. "I'm sorry for being difficult. I just didn't feel comfortable doing this…" she made a vague hand gesture, "…outside the coffee shop where anyone could see us… I used to work there, you know..."

"Yes, we're aware of that. Now, Ms. Nahuel, this is as secluded as it gets, without us bringing you in for an official questioning. As I told you before, we'd like to have a little chat with you and ask a few questions. If that's alright with you, of course?"

She nodded again, almost absently this time. "I knew someone would come looking for me. The minute I heard what happened to her… to Angie, I knew someone would come looking for answers." As she spoke, she unzipped her jacket a little and pulled out a wallet-sized photograph. "It took longer than I though it would, but when you showed me this, I knew it was time." She looked at the picture briefly before handing it to Seth. "You want it back?"

"Nah, you keep it," Seth waved her off and jumped right into the questions. " So, tell us, how well did you know Angela Weber?"

"Pretty well," the woman answered, picking at the corner of the photograph with her fingernails. "Is it recent? The picture? He looks different… like bigger or something."

She sounded genuine, but Alice, apparently, wasn't totally convinced.

"That's because we feed him well and treat him right," she muttered to the redhead on the screen, only to be hushed instantly by both her father and her brother. The conversation in the car was far too important to be 'sidetracked' by anything Alice might have to say.

On the screen Seth nodded and made a humming sort of noise. "I believe it is recent, yes. I have more pictures I can show you, but first you need to tell me more about your friend Angela," he said, making it sound like a simple trade off. "You knew her pretty well, you say… Well enough to know her full name?"

"Larissa Angelica Grey, or Weber after her mother got remarried." The answer came without a blink.

"Would you say you were close friends?" detective Young followed up.

Maria Nahuel half turned towards the back seat and answered, "You know when you meet someone online and think you could have TOTALLY been besties with that person in RL if you had met in like high school or something.… You know, if you had met when you were younger and life was less complicated. Well, that was Angie."

"I wouldn't call my high school years uncomplicated," Young laughed, "…but sure, I know what you mean. Some people you just click with, or you feel you could click with, if the circumstances were right."

"Exactly! She was younger than me and she really wasn't the type to have close pals and confidants, but I think we could have been close, if we had met sooner and under different circumstances."

"So, you first started talking to her online?" Seth interjected, trying to move the conversation along.

"Yes, completely randomly, about music and lyrics and stuff. We were both big fans of Eddie Mason. It must have been at least six years ago now."

"How long before you met up in person?"

"You make it sound like we met on a dating site," she laughed. "That was obviously not the case. I don't remember how long, three months maybe and once we met up, we did become good friends, just not über close, or anything."

"But close enough to keep in touch?"

"Yeah, we didn't hang out in the same circles, but we e-mailed and texted and spoke on the phone occasionally."

"It's my understanding that she lived with you for a while, before she left for New York?"

"Well, that's correct, yes," she answered, hesitating for a moment. "It's no secret that she stayed on my couch for a while. Her family situation was a bit of a mess. They weren't supportive of her life choices. She went like, six month, or something, without a tangible income. I have a feeling she slept in many strange places during that time. I tried to help her when I could. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Were you aware of her mental health issues at that time?"

"Sort of, yeah."

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?"

"I knew her as a very anxious and restless individual. Sometimes she would be really intense and focused, and very present in the moment, but there were other times when she would just zone out and go on autopilot for lengthy chunks of time. It wasn't unusual not to hear from her for a few weeks when she was like that."

"Did you know what her actual diagnosis was?" Seth asked.

"Look agent…whatever your name is, if you want her medical history you should speak with her mother."

"It's special agent Clearwater, but please call me Seth." There was a rustle of movement as he pulled out his badge and placed it on the center console so that she could see it. "Now, let me clarify. We already know of Angela Weber's medical history. I was just wondering how much you knew about it when she lived with you."

"Oh, okay…" The redhead's eyes seemed to wander a bit. Uncertainty seemed to flicker over her face, as if she was trying to decide something. "They hinted at her being bipolar, at least that's what I think they were trying to tell me, "she said when she finally answered his question.

"They?"

"Her mom and the step dad. Angie, herself, made no secret of her battle with anxiety. She would even joke about the drugs she was on and all the therapy she's been through. Her mom, on the other hand, didn't take it lightly…. at all. The acted as if they thought she was incapable of having a normal life, as if she was still a small child that couldn't be left unsupervised for even one minute."

"And what did you think?"

"I think the more rules there are, the more tempting it becomes to break them. When I first met her, Angie was revolting like the late-blooming teenager she was, but so what? That's pretty normal, adolescent behavior. If you want to know what I think, I think she was doing perfectly fine most of the time. As she took her meds without mixing them with drugs or alcohol, she was fine."

Seth picked up his badge again, clipping it back on his belt. "Knowing what we know now, I think it's fair to say she wasn't fine, though."

"I didn't say she was fine ALL the time, I said most of the time. Obviously, there were things that would throw her off balance, but she always bounced back."

"Did you ever witness one of these… shall we call them 'episodes'… or times when she wasn't fine, first hand?"

"I guess I did, thought, honestly, it took me years to recognize her behavior for what it I could tell something was off, but like I said, we were close, but not über close. I didn't see her daily or even weekly and when I saw her, she would pull herself together and act all normal and shit."

"Mental health is a rather touchy subject," detective Young, commented from the back seat. "Most people would have shied away, yet you remained her friend for many years. That's commendable."

"I wasn't always a good friend to her. I was in college. I would get drunk and stoned and do crazy shit every other weekend. Our friendship became a lot less complicated, once I figured out it wasn't such a good idea to do that stuff around Angie," she shrugged, like it was nothing strange at all. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that her issues never really affected me much."

Seth responded with a disbelieving snort. "Never really affected you much? I find that hard to believe, considering the situation you're in and the conversation we're having."

Quick to defend herself, Maria gave a snort of her own and said, "You don't believe me? I let her into my apartment. I let her sleep on my couch. I helped her get a job at the coffee shop, my coffee shop, while I was still working there, mind you. Would I do any of that, if I thought she was fucked up in the head and a nutcase to be around?"

"One would think not," Seth agreed without sounding too convinced. "However, just minutes ago you more or less admitted you knew something wasn't quite right about her. Why didn't you contact her parents? Surely, you knew they were looking for her. She was out on control, no way you didn't see the signs… "

That did it. "I saw no such thing!" Maria interrupted in a very defensive manner. "I'm not going to sit here and have you bash me when I've done nothing wrong. I don't have to take this."

"She's right," detective Young was quick to step in and try and mediate. "I think we should leave this subject for now. It is a bit unfair to ask Ms. Nahuel to take responsibility for someone else's actions. Besides this is not what we came here to discuss."

"No, I think this is exactly what we came here to discuss," Seth disagreed, with an exaggerated tone of authority. "There are certain actions that Ms. Nahuel most definitely should be, and will be, held responsible for," he barked, only to contradict himself in the next breath, by adding "However, I do agree that it is a subject we can revisit later."

This generated some surprised and confused noises, most of which didn't come from inside the car, but from the room where the others were following the exchange through the video feed.

"Why isn't he putting more pressure on her?" Jasper wanted to know. "I'm no expert, but isn't it obvious that she's through her teeth?!"

"On the contrary, I think she's been surprisingly open with us," Bella disagreed, without looking up from the screen. "The next part will be more damning and not so easily dismissed. You'll see….," she added, leaning forward to give Edward's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Edward was the only one that had been warned in advance about what was to come next. That didn't mean it would be any easier for him to hear it, though. She could tell he was already distressed, by the way his jaws were locked together, and his hands were clenched together making fists.

"Remember, this doesn't change how we feel about you, how I fell about you," she told him quietly, knowing that he was incredibly vulnerable at the moment.

In the car, Seth cleared his throat and everyone's attention was once more brought back to what was happening on the screen.

"Now, Maria… I hope its okay I call you that?" He didn't wait for her to respond. "We still need to discuss the boy and what you know about him, but first there is something I'd like to show you. There are some documents in the glove compartment… "

"Documents?" she sounded utterly disinterested, though there was a definite edge to her voice.

"Yes, there is a stack of folders in there. Get the top one out and tell me what you see."

"What if I decide I don't want to do this anymore? I don't have to talk to you if I don't want to," she spat, but not before opening the hatch to peer inside at the folders he had mentioned.

"Then I suppose I'll have to lock the doors and force you to listen while I read them to you."

"Read what to me? What is this?" she asked, grabbing the first folder and flipping the cover of it open. "Bank statements?" she guessed, as she skimmed over the contents.

"Not just any bank statements, they are your bank statements, Maria. In fact what you have in your hands are the records of all your bank account activities over the past six months."

"How did you get these?" The disinterest was gone now, replaced by an alarmed tone of voice.

Seth chose not to acknowledge her question. Instead he countered with, "How do you know Jamie T Wilson?"

Someone gasped, Alice most likely. Though it was rare for her to be caught by surprise, this had obviously done it.

Edward looked absolutely green. Only his reaction had little to do with surprise, nor was he physically ill, just ill at ease at the mere mention of that particular name.

"Who?" Maria deadpan, her tone revealed nothing, but her eyes scanned the document in her hand again with rapt attention.

"Jamie T Wilson, also known as James Turner. And don't say you don't know him, because looking at these bank statements, we both know that's not true."

"I… I only know him as Jay. He's Angela's brother, but I don't 'know him' know him. Not even remotely,"

"Then what's the money for?"

Maria sat up straighter, almost rigid. "I thought you were going to ask questions about Anthony," her voice was suddenly sharp. "I only agreed to do this for Tony."

"We're getting there, but first you need to tell me about these monthly transactions," Seth pressed on.

"I haven't done anything wrong," she insisted, her hand was inching towards the door handle. "The money was for Angela, to cover her share of the rent, groceries and utilities, that's all I'm going to say on the matter without a lawyer present. You haven't read me my rights, but I know I have the right to remain silent."

"You're, right," Seth held his hands up in a disarming manner. "You don't have to say anything. The car is unlocked; you can leave at any time you choose. However, you should know that if you were to leave now, the next time we see each other, it will be in a more official setting. And with official setting I mean, we'll be in a proper interrogation room, doing a proper interrogation, where everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…. If you get my drift…"

"Are you threatening me?" she asked. "Because I don't have to take this… I've done nothing wrong…"

"No, I'm just being honest. It's quite the situation you've gotten yourself into. How about we try something different here. To save us time, how about we tell you what we already know, what we're missing and where you can help us? Alright?!"

He got no verbal response to his suggestion. The woman really did look like she was seconds away from bolting.

"Agent Clearwater is right." Trying to defuse the situation, detective Young spoke up, "You don't have to say another word, but I think you should hear us out, before you decide how you want to proceed."

"Fine," Maria relented. "I'll listen to what you have to say. Only YOU, though, not him. I'll give you another thee minutes, then I'm out of here."

"I'll try and keep this short and to the point," Young agreed to the terms without hesitation and Seth didn't object either.

"So… these are the things we know so far, "she started, only to pause to make some rustling noises, as if looking for something. "I have some notes, give me a second… There! So, as I was saying.. We know Jamie T Wilson is notorious for producing pornographic materials for commercial use. We know he has a previous conviction for sexual assault. His sister testified against him, something brother dearest wasn't too happy about, as you can imagine. Harassment and death threats followed, hence the sudden name change. Larissa Grey became Angela Weber."

"Death threats?!" Maria interrupted. "All I ever heard about this, is that Angie's mother got remarried and that she wasn't allowed to have any contact with her brother, because her step dad thought he was bad news."

"Which he was, undoubtedly," Young agreed, before she continued. "We know Angela grew up in what most people would call a troubled childhood environment. Her biological father was, just like her brother, a convicted criminal, who was more absent than present in her life. Her mother was left struggling to raise her as a single parent."

"She didn't do a very good job."

"No, she didn't. Angela had special needs, needs that weren't being met, neither at school, nor at home. As a result the girl was in and out of mental health programs until she turned 18. Angela, eventually and not too surprisingly, cut all ties with her family. We know she relocated from Seattle to New York and in hindsight it appears that the sole reason for this move was for Angela to get herself reacquainted with a certain Edward Cullen."

"You skipped the part where she squeezed out a baby and then freeloaded on her good pal here for a long ass time," Seth cut in when Young paused to take a breath.

"Wait, I'm getting to that… But first, who was Edward Cullen to Angela? This is where you could help us, Maria. We believe he was her teenage love, but we don't understand where her obsession with him came from. Why did she go to such extremes to get his attention?"

"Why do birds fly? Why is the sky blue?" Maria laughed, trying but failing to cover it up as a cough. "Seriously? I only know she had the biggest crush on him. She stumbled upon him, heard his music and fell head over heels for the guy. However, this all happened when she was like sixteen or something, way before I knew her, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help."

"Right, but I think you know that she more than crushed on the guy, though. Clearly she was obsessed to the point of stalking and wishing harm and danger on her competition."

"I've heard the rumors, but I swear, I didn't know that's what she was up to."

"Yeah, yeah, you knew nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing… Let's continue," Seth interrupted impatiently.

"Maria, we know little Anthony was left in your care for lengthy periods of times," detective Young stated. "There are hospital ER records of you making urgent medical decisions on his behalf, and we know you've been picking up prescription medicine for him."

"Angie never liked doctors and hospitals, is that so strange?" she shrugged.

"We've spoken with your landlord; we know the child more or less lived permanently with you, even after your friend moved out."

Another shrug. "It was a temporary arrangement. She just needed time to get herself set up with a decent job and an apartment before she could take on the responsibility of having Tony with her full time again."

"And then she died and you realized two things… Firstly, that you'd lost your milk cow, your biggest source of income and secondly, that you were stuck with a sick, whiney child that no one knew anything about…. Am I right? " Seth asked, evidently pleased with her dumbstruck expression.

"I wont even dignify that with an answer."

"We know you're the one that carried the boy inside the St. Joseph's Catholic Church and left him there. We have multiple eyewitnesses that tie you to the location. Also, you left fingerprints inside the church. You were handed pamphlets that you made the mistake of leaving behind."

She shrugged. "I still maintain that I've done nothing wrong."

"Then why are you're planning on leaving town. You just picked up your final paycheck at the coffee shop. We know you've given your landlord your notice. Is it James? Is he blaming you for what happened to his sister? Does he want his money back?"

Again it was Seth that took on the devil's advocate role, seeking to engage her in an argumentative discussion. And this time the tactic was successful.

"What?! NO!" she replied snappishly, before she could help herself. "He'd never accuse me of that. Not when I had nothing to do with it."

"You sure? You see brother James is not the most patient and understanding man. He's currently wanted for numerous violent offenses, such as assault, battery and firearms violations. However, the FBI are looking for him mainly because of his alleged involvement in a particularly nasty, high profile murder case. You've probably read about it in the papers. The murder victim was the nephew of, a now-retired, Supreme Court judge."

"Wait! Do you, like, think I know where he is, or something?" At this point Maria looked like she was about to throw up, pass out, or both.

Detective Young shook her head, "No, but you don't need us to tell you how serious this is, now do you?"

"Last known sighting of James was in New Mexico about a month ago," Seth continued. "We know this because we're on his trail, breathing down his neck. We have been tracking him through the many aliases and credit cards he has been using. Now, imagine our surprise when your bank account showed up in our investigation."

Maria looked like she was about to say something, but Seth wouldn't let her. "This man is dangerous, but I think you already know this. I think that's why you're acting all skittish right now. I think that's why you're afraid to be seen talking to us. More importantly, I think that's why you're planning on relocating elsewhere."

The car was silent for a few minutes before they saw, rather than heard, Maria whisper something.

"What was that?"

"I said, all I ever did was promise too look after them," she repeated, her voice louder this time. "I don't know anything about the rest."

"Them? Angela and Anthony, you mean?"

She nodded. "That's what the money was for. I don't think they had seen each other or spoken for years, then one day Jay showed up out of the blue, wanting to make up for lost time. He offered to help her and Angie didn't seem to have any problem accepting his help and his money. I was just the middle hand, I swear that was my only involvement in all this."

"When was this? Also, did you meet him? Did you speak with him directly?"

"I told you, I don't know the guy. He made contact with Angie, she mentioned it to me and asked if she could give him my bank account number so that he could 'deposit' some money directly into my account. I don't know exactly when this was. I don't remember the specifics. It must have been after Tony turned one, but before she left for New York. You have the records; they should tell you what month it was. The first transaction happened within a week from the day he first contacted her."

Detective Young cleared her throat, "Forgive me for asking, but how did you feel about having this extra money coming your way? I've seen the numbers, it adds up to a quite generous sum. Did you feel you had earned it? And how do you feel now? Do you feel you did a good job taking care of them?"

There was a shift in atmosphere as silence pulsed through the car,

"It wasn't my bloody fault…. what happened to her," Maria finally replied. "She was an adult, and short of having her committed, there was nothing I could have done to stop her from going after the life and the man she wanted and felt she was entitled to have."

"Interesting euphemism for stalking the shit out of someone," Seth commented wryly. "What about Tony? You feel you did what you could for him?" he asked, reaching for the stack of folders again, this time pulled out the one that held THE letter. "Recognize this? It was left behind in the church with Anthony. I believe you wrote this, didn't you?"

"Don't try and pin that on me," Maria shook her head and stubbornly raised her chin, declaring, "I only acted on Angie's instructions, making sure Eddie was contacted, that's all."

"She's more defensive now," Bella noted in a low voice, her eyes flickering to Edward for the briefest of moments. "You can see it in her posture. This bothers her more than accepting that money."

"Good! It should bother her," Edward grumbled. "It's a child we're talking about, not a goldfish, or a hamster that you can keep for a while and then get rid of later when you realize how much work comes with them."

"Shhh, you two, " Alice hushed them and rightfully so, because in the car Seth was talking again.

"So you admit you're the one that took care of Anthony in Angela's absence, that you're the one that brought him to that church and named Edward Cullen as his father."

"I…. Yes, I brought him there, because that's what Angie wanted me to do."

"What about the birth certificate?"

"What about it?"

"It states that you're the boy's mother, but we've got a DNA tests that says otherwise. Care to explain?"

Maria was shaking her head again. "I never signed no birth certificate."

"Of course you didn't," Seth replied dryly. "Just so we're clear about this, Maria. You're telling us that Angela Weber was Anthony's biological mother."

On the screen Maria answered, "Yes," but it was drowned out when Edward made a loud, unhappy noise, and clutched his ears as though that admission was physically hurting him. It wasn't like he hadn't known about this beforehand. The DNA result had arrived 20 something hours ago. However knowing something in your mind was one thing, hearing it said out loud was another altogether.

Worried glances were exchanged, but Edward shrugged them off angrily, muttering that he was fine. Keeping a formidable scowl across his face, he sank lower in his chair and went back to staring unblinkingandsilently at the screen again, as if his outburst never happened.

The conversation in the car had not moved much. The woman was still trying, but more or less failing to explain her reasoning.

"…was afraid what would happen to him if there was ever a situation where she couldn't take care of the boy herself. She didn't want him to end up in foster care, or worse, with her mother. Look, she trusted me. She basically made me Tony's godmother. She instructed me, that in the case of an emergency, I was to either take care of him myself, or make sure the father was contacted. So that's what I did, I took care of Anthony the best I could. Once I learned Angie was dead and wouldn't come back for him, I contacted Eddie, just like she asked me to."

"Technically, you waited several months, before you did anything, though. Not to mention, you decided on a very unorthodox way to go about things."

"It wasn't like she left me with a phone number to call," Maria huffed. She had a pretty pissed off look on her face and the tone in her voice was getting increasingly agitated. "It was a little bit more complicated than that."

"How did you find out about her passing?" detective Young asked.

Maria's shoulders sank. "I knew something had happened to her when I didn't hear from her for three whole weeks. I waited another ten days and then I contacted a few people asking if they'd heard from her. Three days later I got my suspicions confirmed. I mean, I never suspected she would off herself, but…. yeah, I just knew something bad had happened to her…"

"Who did you contact?" Seth inquired.

"That's not important. I contacted someone, who contacted Maria's family. Let's just leave it at that."

"They didn't know about Anthony, did they?" It was more a statement, than a question.

"No, I don't think anyone knew she went through a pregnancy." She must have realized how strange that sounded because she hurried to explain, "Anyone from her 'old' life, I mean. Angie was afraid she wouldn't be allowed to keep her baby. She was paranoid that her mother would turn everyone against her. She was paranoid, period. I guess, she had to stop taking a lot of her meds because of her pregnancy."

"You said no one knew about her pregnancy, but you obviously knew, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but only because she showed up on my doorstep one night when she was about six or seven months along. She was in a pretty rough state so I took pity on her and let her in. I gave her food, and some clean clothes. She took a shower and slept on my couch. She only stayed that one night. She was gone again the next morning."

"She was aware she was pregnant, though, right?" detective Young inquired. "Did you ask her about it? Sometimes when a woman isn't mentally equipped to handle the situations, she'll go into denial …."

"No, it wasn't like that. I asked, but she didn't want to talk about it. There was no denying she was knocked up, though. The evidence was right there," Maria motioned her hand in front of her stomach. " She carried quite high, and all out front."

"What happened next? Why didn't you tell anyone that you had seen her? You must have known her family had reported her missing at that point?"

"Look, she stayed away of her own free will. She was an adult and it was her own wish to have no contact with her family. Frankly, she was better off away from her mother."

"Right, but you really thought your friend fit to take care of another human being? Having a child is a huge commitment; emotionally, mentally and financially…"

"I know that she wasn't exactly grade A mother material, but I really did feel that she deserved a chance to prove that she could do it."

"And you still felt that way even after you learned that she had put your name was on Anthony's birth certificate?"

"By the time I found out about that little detail, it was too late do anything about it. You know, without risking her loosing Anthony. I couldn't do that to her."

"How did she do it?" Seth interrupted.

"Do what?"

"She didn't just forge your signature on the certificate. She gave birth in a hospital, the Swedish Medical Center, where she was admitted at under your name. That's either fraud or identity theft, depending on how involved you were in the whole thing."

"I had no involvement in that what so ever. I didn't know about it until I received a very unexpected letter from my insurance company with some info regarding my recent hospital stay."

"Did you contact your insurance company?"

"No, I threw the letter in the trash. I figured they had me confused with someone else. I've never stayed overnight in a hospital. But then there was another letter, this time with a mention of a newborn boy by the name of Jamison Anthony Eduarte Nahuel. I knew then… The name alone had me suspicious. I made some inquires and a few days later Angie turned up on my door step."

"What do you mean, you made some inquires?"

"On the Eddie Mason message board."

"The internet message board where you first got talking," Seth guessed, though he sounded a bit confused. "I know Eddie Mason is the stage name Cullen uses, but why would you communicate through a message board? That seems a bit juvenile."

"I know… It makes us sound like two school girls, with nothing better to do than to swoon over some teen idol, but it was by far the fastest way to get a hold of Angie when she wouldn't answer phone calls or emails. No matter where she was, or what she was doing, she would always keep an eye out for news about Eddie."

"So… you got a hold of her and she showed up on your doorstep and then what? She fed you a sob story and you felt you had no other option than to take her in?"

"No, no sob story. She said she was in a good place, that she didn't need any help. I believed her. Truth be told, I just think she wanted to show off her baby boy and gush over him, like any new mom would."

"And make sure you didn't go to the police, or her parents, I would imagine. "

"Well, yeah, that too. She apologized and then returned my passport, which I hadn't even realized had gone missing."

"Your passport…" Seth spat out. If he was trying to not sound patronizing, he was failing miserably. "She had your passport, yet you say you have no clue how your name ended up on that birth certificate. "

"She obviously 'borrowed' my passport and I suspect she used my SSN number and my insurance account info too… But it's not like we looked like twins or even remotely related…"

"She stole your passport, your identity and you let her get away with it. You're beginning to sound more and more like an accomplice, you realize that right?"

"I was naive, alright. I admit that. I didn't grasp the extent of what she had done until way later. The baby looked healthy and Angie was in a good place. She seemed happy and content with life for once and I was happy for her."

"How do you know the baby was healthy? Because from what we've heard there were quite a few health concerns," Seth started, but was interrupted when detective Young cut in with a few less loaded questions on the same topic. "Did she say where they were staying, how they were getting by? Even perfectly healthy babies require a lot of necessities, like formula and diapers etc."

"She had her own place, in a basement somewhere. Before you ask, I don't know the exact address, because that's the way Angie wanted it. I just know her landlady was an elderly Vietnamese woman, who didn't mind keeping an ear out for the baby at night. Angie had found work, cleaning a shopping center during off hours when the building was empty. The way she explained it, she would either bring the baby along when she went to work, or she would let Mrs. Hoi know he was alone in the basement."

"Great!" Seth drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. "Sounds like a lovely arrangement. Explain to me how she ended up on your couch, because we know you ended up taking her in and setting her up with another job."

"Angie fell behind on rent. Even if the stay jobs she did paid good money, she simply couldn't work as many hours as she would have needed in order to cover her bills. Also, as the baby grew older he needed a proper babysitter and daycare is expensive, like really expensive."

"So, you took her in, got her a job and volunteered to look after her baby," Seth summarized. "Did I miss anything?… Ah, yeah, coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, this all happened right around the time her brother started making those monthly payments to you."

"Hey, that's not fair! The money wasn't for me, it was for Angie. Why are you asking the same questions over and over again? I agreed to this for Anthony's sake, but you've barely asked about him at all. You said I was free to leave whenever I wanted. I think I've had enough of this now… I want to leave."

"Then leave! " Seth said, pointing out the door. "Tell me one more thing though, why was Anthony malnourished when Cullen got him?"

This halted her. "What do you mean, malnourished?"

"Malnourished, as in not being fed properly. You didn't notice he was smaller than most kids his age?"

"I knew he was small, but… He was kind of a picky eater and also there were certain types of food he simply couldn't stomach, that made him sick."

"Yes, we've heard about that. What agent Clearwater is trying to ask, is if there anything in particular we should know in regards to his health?"

"No, the only concerns were the allergies. I'm obviously no expert on kids and neither was Angela. She did breastfeed him at first. I think she tried to get him to eat solids since he was about five months old or something, but he was extremely stubborn. Turns out it was because of his allergies. He had a few quite violent reactions to nuts and berries in particular, but I made sure to mention that in the… eh…. never mind…"

"You were going to say that you made sure to mention it in the letter, weren't you? Why won't you just admit you wrote that letter?"

"Because… I don't know…That was the one thing that felt like fraud to me. To write as letter that made it sound like I was his mother. There, I said it. Yes, I wrote that damn letter. Happy now?"

"Why did you sign it with Kebi? Because of your car? Because that's where the actual hookup, so to speak, took place?"

"Well, yeah. I have no idea what name she used when she spoke to Eddie that night, not her real one I'm sure, but I figured he'd remember the car. Guy's remember stuff like that, don't they."

"Were you present that night? Were you there, at the party, when they got together? Is that how you knew what info to put in the letter?"

"No, I wasn't there. I only heard about it afterwards."

"In addition to the letter, there were also a photograph and another written message, both of which were later found in the church. For someone who claims to know nothing about your friends stalker ways, you sure went trough quite a lot of trouble to copy her mannerism and cause a stir. Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure the boy ended up in the right hands. I needed to do something to make sure Eddie took the claims seriously."

"Yeah, right…"

"No, I'm serious. What would have happened if I had just walked into a police station with the child and told the truth? Sure, Edward Cullen would have been informed about the child's existence, but the same goes for Mrs. Weber."

"Why would that be an issue when the general rule is that whenever there are competing interests, a biological parent's rights trumps those of a grandparent?"

"She would have swooped in and asked for custody of that boy right away, no questions asked. Eddie was miles and miles away and needed days to even get here. What if he had taken one look at the boy and decided he didn't want him?"

"Alright… but the way you did it, with Cullen not knowing who this child was, or who the mother of this child was, hardly comes across as ideal either. He still could have taken one look at the child and decided he wanted nothing to do with him."

"But Mrs. Weber would have been none the wiser. I never said it was ideal. Nothing about this situation is ideal," she shook her head. "Not for me, anyway. I'm pretty sure Jay doesn't want me talking to anyone about Angela and Anthony and the money that went into my bank account. This little chat here today has confirmed a lot of fears I didn't even knew I had."

"I'm sure it has," Seth sounded almost like he was smirking. "I have to ask though, how can you be so sure Edward Cullen is the boy's father? No offence, but your friend doesn't sound like she was the most reliable person."

"What do you mean? Surely, he did ask for a DNA test, right? Are you telling me he isn't the father? Because the boy look a lot, and I mean A LOT, like him."

"He did ask for a DNA test and the boy is undeniably his son. You've taken quite the risk with all of this and I was just wondering what Angela could have told you to make you that certain."

"Oh, she had no reason to lie about this. I never asked who his father was, she volunteered the information. Also, she backed it up by showing me pictures of the two of them together. Intimate pictures. They were grainy and dark, but you could see enough to determined who and what they portrayed, if you get my drift.

"She had someone snapping photos of the two of them doing naughty things together?"

"No. There was no need for that. She was good with cameras, surely you know that right?! Angie was not a tech buff, but she knew how to hook up a webcam and have it auto record upon motion detection," Maria paused, turning to look straight into the camera before she continued. "My guess is that she used something similar to the one you've got right there." As she spoke she waved her hand in front of the very small, very discreet camera, that was clipped onto the sun visor above her head. "I'm not stupid you know!"

"Damn! " Seth cursed, but it was Jasper who said what they all were thinking. "Did we just get our asses busted, torn apart and shred to pieces, or what?!"

Interestingly enough, detective Young was first to recover, "Yes, that is a camera, but no one thinks you're stupid, Maria. We wouldn't be here asking for your help, if we thought you were."

"That's good, because I'm ready to make a deal," the other woman said forcefully.

"A deal?" Seth snapped back into action, "What kind of deal and what makes you think you're in any position to suggest a deal in the first place?"

"Set me up with a good layer and a one way ticket to some place safe, warm and far away from here and I'll tell you everything you want to know about Jay."

"Nice try," Seth shook his head. "You'll have to give me more than that."

"What if It old you, I didn't tell you the truth before? What if I tell you, I did meet him in person? Two days before Angie left for New York. I can tell you what he said and give you a good description of what he looked like."

"That was more than six months ago, he could have changed his appearance many times over."

"I can lead you to him. He's watching me. He has someone following me around all the time. He's always close by. I see the same black van everywhere I go. "

"He's paying someone to watch you." Seth didn't sound impressed. "He's probably miles and miles away."

"I've got Angela's journal."

"What journal?"

"The one I found when I went through her stuff after I had learned she was gone. I saw her write in it from time to time, but when I asked about it she said she was writing down stuff for Anthony. Her meds messed with her memory a lot, sometimes she would lose whole chunks of time. So it made sense that she would write down things she didn't want to forget. Only the things she wrote in that journal wasn't things like the baby's first tooth or word."

"She wrote about James?"

She nodded. "James and Eddie and how James introduced her to Eddie. And there is more…"

"More? More what?"

"More journals. I'm about the only living soul that knows where she hid them. The same space where she hid the pot and the pills and all the other good stuff she didn't want her mother to find out about. She had a lot of secrets, my dear friend Angie, a lot of secrets."

"I'm going to step of the car and make a phone call. Don't move!" Seth barked, not sounding too pleased with the situation at the moment.

"Wouldn't dream of it." The smirk on her face said it all; in her mind Maria Nahuel had just won a major victory.

.