A/N: These ladies make TLC the absolute best it can be: SSHG316, SavageWoman and Irritable Grizzzly. I would probably look very foolish if it weren't for the expertise they each bring to making this story great. Much love and affection to Nicnicd, who is pinch-hitting for SavageWoman while she's on the mend.
"A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone."
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, Ch. 3
Chapter 34 — Things Fall Apart
After having spent an idyllic weekend experiencing the sensory wipeout that was her fiancé, Bella rode to work on Monday morning with Rosalie and thanked her profusely for their hospitality...again.
"Edward and I owe you and Emmett big-time for this weekend. Thanks so much."
Rosalie waved her off. "It was nothing. We had a great time, too. Em was missing his best friend, and you've kind of grown on me..." She tried hard to look impassively nonchalant, but Bella detected the beginnings of an embarrassed smirk on her face.
Her friend's discomfort with her gushing thanks aside, Bella couldn't resist ribbing her. "Why Rosalie Hale McCarty, I'm touched."
"It was the least I could do. You were in serious need of some Edward therapy, chica."
Bella agreed wholeheartedly. "And how."
As they pulled into the Center parking lot, dispatch was asking Rosalie to respond to a physical altercation between two youths on the property. Bella saw Sean and Maria's cars already in the lot.
"If you want to go on and take care of that, I'll be fine. Looks like Sean and Maria are already here."
"I'll sit here until you get to the door." Rosalie could be Edward's twin when it came to following safety protocol.
"Okay," Bella said, smiling ruefully. "But hurry—some of my kids could be in trouble." She grabbed her purse and briefcase, quickly exited the cruiser, and was about fifteen feet from her office door when she waved Rosalie away. There was a flashing of red and blue lights, the crunch of tires on the pavement, and then she sped off.
Bella was about to put her key into her office door when she looked up and saw James running toward her with a very determined look on his face. Time seemed to go into slow motion. Fear gripped her as her heart pounded into overdrive. Her eyes widened and her skin prickled involuntarily. Had she been wrong about him?
"Bella, get down!" he screamed.
Like hitting fast-forward on a remote, several things happened simultaneously. First, she glanced in the other direction and saw Laurent and a blond, greasy-haired man approaching. Instinctively, she got the door open and literally fell into her office. James took a flying leap and kicked her two would-be assailants to the ground, and Maria and Sean came running into her office to see what all the commotion was about.
Bella struggled to stand and moved further into the office on her knees as she heard the landing of blows. She wasn't at all sure who was besting whom, but she couldn't stop to find out as she quickly speed-dialed Edward. As the phone rang, she yelled to Sean, "Help James if you can, but be careful!"
Maria began hurling what could only be expletives in Portuguese, and Sean ran out of the door, locking and closing it behind him. Maria offered Bella a hand, but she waved her off. "I'm all right. Just make sure the common room door is locked. "
Bella had almost forgotten she'd dialed Edward until she heard him screaming her name. She quickly put the phone back to her ear. "Baby, please come. Laurent and some guy are here...James and Sean are fighting with them outside..."
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, then began barking orders and running as he waited for her response.
"No, I'm fine. Hurry. I don't want James and Sean to get hurt."
"I'm on my way..." he assured her, and the phone went dead.
Maria came back as she was hoisting herself up off the floor, and she helped Bella over to the bench against the wall. They sat huddled together, terrified, listening to the sounds of struggling interspersed with foul language on the other side of the door. A few seconds later, there was the sound of a siren. It was too soon for it to be Edward, but maybe it was Rosalie. Bella hoped she was bringing backup.
Suddenly, there was the distinct sound of a gunshot, and a window in the common room shattering. Bella felt her blood run cold, but she wouldn't let the fear overtake her. The precautions instilled in her as a former cop's daughter kicked in, and she dropped to the floor, bringing Maria with her. Then Demetri yelled, "Hey, hey, hey..." and there was more scuffling.
A familiar voice joining the fray was both comforting and problematic. She was thankful that more help had arrived, but was afraid of another person being put in harm's way. Hopefully no one had been shot, and Demetri was helping James and Sean to subdue their attackers. It was agonizing hearing all that was going on outside, as she sat paralyzed by fear and worry. It seemed like forever before the sirens overwhelmed the melee.
"James..." Maria cried plaintively and tried to pull away, but Bella wouldn't let her go.
She was worried about James too, but they needed to keep a level head. "We should stay put until Rosalie or Edward give us the all clear," she said with a calmness that belied her true feelings.
Maria stopped struggling, and they sat side-by-side on the floor in front of the bench. Their fear was palpable, and Bella wondered if everyone they loved and cared about would survive this ordeal unscathed. Her adrenaline was so ramped up she was trembling, but Maria was almost hyperventilating.
"Breathe deeply," Bella instructed as she rubbed Maria's back. "James is a professional martial artist—he can take care of himself."
"I know," Maria said helplessly. "I just feel responsible. I asked him to come today so we could tell you something."
Despite the chaos surrounding them, she heard something in Maria's tone and grabbed onto the distraction. "Oh yeah?"
"James and I have been dating since a few days after your birthday."
Now Maria's strange behavior over the last several weeks made perfect sense. Bella was relieved that they'd finally followed her advice and gotten together. "Why were you afraid to tell me?"
"Because you broke up with Policia Cullen and you were so sad. I didn't want to rub it in."
"I think it's great news about you and James. Not to mention his coming here today probably kept us all from being hurt, or worse."
Finally, there was a key in the lock, and Bella and Maria scrambled up off the floor. Rosalie entered first, followed by a stern-looking Edward and a disheveled, but no-worse-for-the-wear, James. Bella ran to Edward as Maria flung herself into James's arms, whispering what sounded like urgent Portuguese endearments. Rosalie turned and went back outside, locking the door behind her.
"Is everyone okay?" Bella asked frantically.
Edward held her away and looked her over as if to make sure she was all right, and she appraised him in much the same way. "Yeah. Sean is being treated by the paramedics for some cuts and bruises, and Demetri is fine. He got here just in time to help. Rosalie and Officers Ricks and Cole from Indianhead acres responded about the same time and got everything under control."
"So, no one got shot?"
"No," Edward assured her. "James kicked the gun out of Laurent's hand and deflected the bullet. It just took out a window in the common room."
"I'm so glad the kids weren't here yet."
"I think he planned on you being here alone, given how early it was. The call to Rosalie was a hoax to make her leave before the other volunteers arrived."
They looked over at James and Maria, who were huddled together on the bench. Maria had grabbed a tissue off Bella's desk and was wetting the corner of it with her tongue and wiping smudges off James's face. They looked like there was no one in the world besides the two of them.
"Looks like someone's been busy since your birthday," Edward said with a grin.
"Apparently." Bella beamed and hugged him close again.
She felt overwhelming relief that everyone was okay. Her concern for Sean was tempered by the blessing that he'd come away without any life-threatening wounds, thanks to Demetri. She thanked God for looking out for the love of her life, and her friends.
The Center had been a crime scene twice in as many days, and Bella hoped the reign of fear was over. As she walked with Edward through the cacophony of the post-incident scene, she saw that a small crowd had amassed on the Center lawn, cordoned off behind the crime scene tape. Demetri nodded at her and Edward from where he was talking to one of the officers, undoubtedly giving his statement. Bella smiled and mouthed, "Thank you," to him as they went to the paramedics' wagon to check on Sean. Felix, the big guy who'd taken care of Alice, was putting some butterfly bandages on his forehead.
Bella went from station to station with Edward as he made sure that statements were taken, evidence gathered, perpetrators hauled off to jail, and the injured received medical care. She held his hand a little tighter, afraid that if she let it go, it would all dissipate as a vaguely-remembered dream.
Sensing her unease, he held her closer and planted kisses in her hair and on her temple. He seemed unconcerned if anyone saw them now, since the perpetrators had been taken into custody. Edward hadn't let her down yet, and she knew she'd made the right choice to marry this man who would always love and protect her.
They were so caught up in the chaos, that neither of them paid attention as one of the stalkers watched their every move with interest. A hurried text was sent to a cohort:
A local drug dealer just made our job easier.
We should be able to make our move within the week.
~888~
Captain Black, and everyone else at the precinct, felt that the case was solved, and at face-value, it looked that way to Edward as well. They'd apprehended two suspects, and all the evidence pointed to two perps. Laurent's partner, one Brad Sanders, was one of his dealers, who also happened to fit the description of the guy Edward had wounded at Emmett and Rosalie's wedding.
But the more he thought about it, and looked at the evidence, the more he had the feeling it wasn't over.
Sanders had a bullet wound, but high on his torso, and not in either shoulder. Also, he had a slight build, and might have been the person that Trey and George had gotten the letters from, but Edward doubted it. He would get them in to see if they'd pick him out of a lineup. If either one identified Brad, it would disprove the theory that one of them was female, and Edward would feel comfortable they'd caught the right men. Until that time, however, he'd remain uneasy.
Despite his misgivings, Captain Black was leaning toward declaring the case closed. Edward tried to convince him otherwise, but he wouldn't budge.
"Officer Cullen, we have Beauvoir, who assaulted Ms. Swan once, and tried unsuccessfully a second time. His associate matches the description of the guy you wounded, and who delivered the letters. Beauvoir's car is the right color, and the first few letters of his license plate are a match. If your doorman or that little boy fingers Sanders, I'm closing the case."
"If they don't, it means there were more than two suspects involved, or we've got the wrong people in custody. Beauvoir maintains that he was just going to scare Bella because I knocked his ass out at the festival, which I'm not sure I buy, given that he was in possession of a weapon. I just think we need to make sure."
"We've done all we can do here. I'm just as anxious as you are to put away the right people for this. Bella is like one of my own, but neither of us can allow our personal feelings to dictate how we handle this case. If we're wrong, the Chief will have my ass."
"This has nothing to do with my personal feelings. If we're wrong, Bella could still be in danger, or could possibly lose her life."
"I can't authorize extending this investigation simply based on some kid, and a doorman who was probably too busy to get a good look at the perp, when we already have two suspects in custody, and they fit the bill."
Edward realized that he couldn't sway Captain Black with theories. He'd have to get something concrete fast. "At the very least, I can return to duty at the Center tomorrow, right?"
"Not so fast. You know it doesn't work like that. You've got a shitload of paperwork and loose ends to tie up, so I suggest you hop to it."
~888~
When Edward entered the condo, Bella was padding around in the kitchen in her bare feet, listening to her iPod and making his grandmother's lasagna. The scene made him almost feel like things were back to normal. He wished it had always, and would always, be like this—him coming home from a day of work, seeing her happy and content, doing something she loved.
Today's events were a stark reminder that nothing was normal about the way they'd existed over the last several months. His heart had leapt into his throat earlier when he'd heard the commotion going on, and she hadn't responded right away to him calling her name. Then dispatch had reported shots fired as he'd approached the Center, and he'd struggled to retain his composure. His terror was not eased until they had secured the perimeter and he was able to ascertain that she was inside the building and most likely unharmed. Even then, he couldn't relax until he'd laid eyes on her.
That thought made him eager to hold her again, and he quickly went and hugged her from behind. She was briefly startled, but then turned eagerly into his arms. God, he loved her.
She was still jumpy from their ordeal, and he hated that the kiss they shared reflected all they'd been through that day. He vowed to remain vigilant until he was sure the right people were in custody.
He wondered how she had gotten to the condo, when he had specifically asked Rosalie to drop her off at her parents' house when he left for the precinct.
"How did you get here?"
"My dad dropped me off," she said guiltily. "I wanted to drive myself, but he wouldn't give me my keys. He thought I should stay there until you came for me, but I insisted he bring me here."
"It might have been just as well if you had stayed there..." He gestured to the stack of files on the bar he'd brought home with him.
"I'll watch you work until it's time for bed. I just didn't want to be away from you another minute, now that the stalkers have been apprehended."
She looked so happy, he hated to ruin it, but he had to tell her. "Baby, I don't think we have all of them."
Fear returned to her eyes. "What?"
He told her about Trey and George's assessment of the perp who'd delivered the letter, and how the bullet wound to Laurent's partner wasn't in the right place.
Bella listened attentively as he warned her that they still needed to be careful, and the security protocol wouldn't change much until they could be sure. She was scared, of course, but he hoped that her knowing he was looking out for her would make her feel marginally better. He would move heaven and earth to keep her safe.
Sliding her arms around his waist, she said, "I trust your judgment, baby. I want us to be sure." Then she stepped back. "Oh no! I need to call my mom and tell her not to order those invitations."
Edward grinned in spite of himself. He much preferred this change of subject, if only to see her happy again. She'd taken his suggestion to heart and had actually begun the process of planning their wedding. "What date did you two settle on?"
Bella blushed. "New Year's Day," she said, and then hastened to add, "That's exactly two months from now."
"Let's keep it," he said. "It'll be my incentive to wrap this up even quicker."
After he showered, they sat down to dinner alone for the first time in more than a month. It felt close-to-normal again, but somehow he knew they weren't quite there. Even so, he was happy they were finally getting a chance to move in that direction. They had overcome so many obstacles in the time they'd been together, and this gave him hope that they would return quickly to the routine they'd established before.
He offered to clean up the kitchen, but Bella insisted he get on with his work.
He went into his office and dove in, finishing up the majority of the paperwork by ten P.M. Earlier, he'd asked George to come by the police station the next day to see if he could pick Sanders out of a lineup. He'd also called Trey's mother and asked her to bring him by after school.
Convinced neither of them would say it was Sanders, he decided to explore a different approach. Assuming it was a woman in her mid-twenties as Trey and George had described, he figured it might be the daughter of someone from one of his former cases, out for revenge. He began the tedious process of narrowing them down.
He found a grand total of three possibilities. One was a small-time mobster he'd taken down in Terre Haute, but his daughter was a brunette, and Amazonian. Then there was a dirty lawyer who'd murdered his wife and his law partner after discovering their affair. His daughter was Bree. She was the right age, twenty-six, though he wasn't sure about her hair color.
The final one was his most recent case, Bishop Aro Volturi, former Cult Leader for The Church of the Greater Son. His daughter, Jane, was twenty-seven, and most definitely blonde. When he was thirteen and a member of COGS, she was the one they'd paired him up with to be his future wife. He was thankful for escaping that fiasco when he was shipped off to live with his father. It was funny how you could dodge one bullet in life only to be nailed by another. He could finally see what Paul and Bella wanted him to see. He would gladly go through all that shit again knowing he'd find Bella in the end.
He decided to call in a favor from some of his law enforcement buddies in Indiana to help him get a report on what Jane and Bree had been up to. In the meantime, he would glean as much information as he could from the internet.
It was after midnight when Bella found him in his office trolling the internet for information on Jane Volturi and Bree Tanner. He'd found tons of information on Bree, but hadn't been able to pinpoint where she was currently residing. Her last known address was in Gainesville.
Jane Volturi was an intern at a hospital in Chicago. Her facebook and MySpace, pages appeared sparse compared to others that had been up for the same amount of time.
He sighed, rubbing his eyes, and decided to get Alvin to help him with it tomorrow—he was tired and his beautiful fiancée was now standing behind him and running her fingers through his hair.
Edward swiveled around and saw her squinting at the computer screen.
"So that's Aro Volturi's daughter," she said. "She looks rather angelic to be the daughter of a gun-trafficking, money-laundering former cult leader."
"She's in medical school in Illinois, apparently. Maybe the apple really has fallen far away from the tree."
Bella reached over his shoulder and, with a click of the mouse, closed the screen. "I can think of so many other things we could be doing right now besides looking up daughters of people you've arrested, and they're a lot more fun."
She wound her arms around his shoulders, making her breasts level with his face. He nuzzled closer to his favorite part of her anatomy as she moved in-between his legs and said, "What do you have in mind, Ms. Swan... soon to be Mrs. Cullen?"
She pulled away and stepped back, beckoning to him with her index finger. Her come-hither look lasted only a second before she giggled and ran. "Catch me and I just might let you find out."
Edward, hot on her heels, dove into the bed seconds after her.
~888~
Neither George nor Trey was able to identify Brad Sanders in the lineup. Edward wasn't surprised. However, TPD was still able to hold the suspects until they were arraigned, because Sanders and Beauvoir were identified by no less than five other people from the Center for the current alleged assaults. Edward had no doubt that although Beauvoir and Sanders might have other accomplices, they were up to no good when they'd shown up the day before.
Alvin Shoals took all the information from Edward about Bree Tanner and Jane Volturi. If they had connections to Beauvoir or Sanders, Alvin would find them. Edward made sure that Rosalie was briefed about what he suspected, and was glad when she agreed to stay on the alert despite the recent arrests. Edward asked her not mention it to the other volunteers. He still wasn't comfortable with how close the stalkers had been able to get to Bella, and wasn't sure if they could all be trusted with this new information just yet.
On Thursday, as his shift was ending, he got a call from his mother.
"You must really be enjoying your stay in Indianapolis. I've only heard from you a grand total of three times," he teased.
"Your phone works the same as mine, son. At least I've made an effort."
He chuckled. "You've got me there. You know I was going to call you, but I've been busy tying up some loose ends surrounding the investigation," he said as he gathered his things and walked out to his car.
"That's why I'm calling. I had to hear from Esme that you'd caught the stalkers, and she and Alice are on their way back to Tallahassee tomorrow."
"I wish Jasper and Uncle Carlisle had waited, but I know they miss their wives and couldn't keep flying to Seattle every weekend to see them."
"So, when where you planning on approving my return?"
"Give me a few more days, Mom. I'll call you, okay?"
It wasn't lost on her that he actually called her "Mom" and not the stuffy "Mother" he'd been using for years. Of course, she couldn't help asking him the same question she always did right before they'd hang up: "Don't you want to say hello to your father?"
His answer was the same: "No."
"He really has changed, Edward. He asked me if you'd read the letters he sent when you got out of the Marines. I didn't lie to him—I told him they were still in your room at my house."
"Why have you become his advocate all of a sudden?"
"He's made his peace with God, and now he just wants to make peace with his son."
"So, his prognosis isn't good?"
"No. He needs a liver transplant. The doctor's given him six months, barring finding a match within that time."
Edward wasn't prepared for how that bit of information got to him more than it should have. He pulled into the Center and parked, and they were both silent for a few moments, the weight of the conversation affecting each in their own way.
It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to hear how his father was suffering, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he didn't care. Bella had been such a shining example of forgiveness over the past several months, he couldn't help but feel what had to be compassion. In spite of himself, every time he'd spoken to his mother, he'd been feeling more sympathetic, especially now that she'd dropped this bombshell. He wanted to talk more, but would have to save it for a later time.
"Mom, I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'm escorting Bella to her class at FSU, but I'll talk to you right after, okay?"
"Okay, but just one more quick thing before you go. I ran into Caius Volturi at a gala here. He wasn't congenial, which didn't surprise me considering the parts we played in what happened to his brother, but he did tell me something interesting."
Edward watched as Bella walked out with the rest of the volunteers, and kept his eyes peeled for any movement in the shadows. "What's that?"
"Jane, Aro's daughter, has been in Tallahassee for quite some time, supposedly fighting for her father's estate, but I told him we weren't aware of this. She was a nice girl and almost finished medical school, but I'm sure the seizure of Aro's property severely hindered her ability to remain living in Chicago in the manner to which she'd become accustomed. Caius tells me she's engaged to a hometown Tallahassee boy, too."
Edward's skin began to crawl. "Jane is here?"
"Yes, dear. Didn't you hear anything I said?"
"Damn!"
"What's wrong—?"
"You've got to get me the fiancé's name, okay? Call Caius immediately, and call me back as soon as you find out."
"Okay, I'll see what I can do. Hopefully he's still at his church, since that's the only number I have for him."
"Thanks. Listen, Bella's here. I'll talk to you later."
Bella knocked on the window, and he powered it down as he hung up the phone. Even though his gut was roiling, he put on a brilliant smile for her.
"I'm taking Orange Avenue to Lake Bradford to get to school tonight. There's too much construction on Gaines Street."
Captain Black had rescinded her pass for riding in the cruiser, but Edward would take his breaks, his lunch hour, or vacation time if he had to, to make sure she was safe.
"Okay, baby, I'll be right behind you," he said. She got into her car, started it up, and pulled out of the parking lot and onto Texas Street. Within a few minutes, they were on Orange Avenue headed to FSU.
It took a while to find a parking spot at the Williams Building, but finally she did and Edward pulled his cruiser behind her. He put his emergency lights on and walked her to her class like he'd been doing since Tuesday night. This time her classmates didn't gawk too much when he kissed her goodbye at the door.
"I'll be back at nine to escort you home. Don't leave this classroom without me, okay?"
"Okay." She gave him a reassuring smile and went to take her seat.
Once he'd checked the perimeter and felt confident she was as safe as she could be, Edward ran back to his cruiser. He was going back to the precinct to make some calls and wait for his mother to call him back with a name.
~888~
Bella's classmates had taken out their papers and stacked them on the corner of the desk, waiting for the professor to show up. Anita, the woman who sat next to her, leaned over and said, "If I had a boyfriend who looked like yours, I'd probably forget to turn in my paper, too."
"Oh! Right. Thank you." Bella pulled her briefcase up off the floor. "It's in my briefcase here... somewhere." She rummaged through once, twice, then three times, annoyed. This paper was a third of her grade for the semester, and she simply couldn't have misplaced it. She'd finished it just before the children arrived, printed it out, slid it into a report jacket, and put it in her briefcase. She thought hard. Was it there when I put in my laptop before leaving the office? She hadn't looked, assuming that it was, and now it was probably on the floor next to her desk.
All the color drained from her face.
"What?" Anita asked.
"My paper's not here; but I know I put it in here earlier today."
"Did you have it on your laptop? Maybe you can show the professor, and he'll let you send him a printed copy later."
"I have it on a USB drive..." She rummaged again, but it wasn't there either.
"Oh no! Could I have left it in the desktop?" In all the excitement that happened today, maybe she'd been distracted. She stood up and grabbed her things. "I'm going back to the Center to get it. I'll be back. Please let Professor Davidoff know, okay?"
Anita said she would and Bella quickly ran out to her car, mentally berating herself on the way. She called Edward, but it went straight to voicemail. "Hey baby, I'm going back to the Center to get my paper. I wouldn't do this if it didn't count toward so much of my grade. I promise to be in and out in a few seconds, and…don't freak out."
She parked haphazardly in the empty lot and ran to her office door. She got it open quickly and locked it, then went straight to her computer, but there was no USB drive. Then she went to her desk chair and pulled it out, looking around on the floor, and eventually getting down on her hands and knees to inspect under the desk. Nothing. She looked under the credenza. Still no luck. She even checked in the bathroom. Nada.
In her last act of desperation, she went to the common room, scanning all the tables and the floor. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up when a shadowed figure appeared from the hallway near the children's bathroom. He was holding her report in one hand, and her USB drive in the other.
"Looking for these?"
Bella hoped this was some freaky coincidence, but the look on his face convinced her otherwise. He had taken them so she would have to come back.
E/N: OMG, OMG, I'm finally at the prologue scene. Arrggghhh! Next chapter the culprits will be revealed! Stay tuned. You should have some very concrete guesses now, people. Hit that review button. I want to hear your theories.