Esme had to stop herself from running into the hospital room where Emmett laid in a bed with bumps and bruises on his face and a cast on his arm.
When she rounded into the room she immediately noticed Carlisle and Rosalie standing at his bedside. They each looked up as she entered and she noted the concern on their faces.
"What happened?" Esme asked. She walked in, speaking quietly.
"Someone ran him over with a car last night," Rosalie explained.
"My car," Emmett said angrily. He shook his head.
"And you said you didn't see his face?" Carlisle asked him.
"No!" he said loudly, "For the fortieth freakin' time I didn't see his face."
"We need to call the police," Esme told him.
"No." Emmett said calmly.
"Somebody tried to kill you last night. We have to go to the police."
"No somebody did not try to kill me last night. If he wanted me dead he could have done it. He's just messing with us."
"Who is?" Rosalie asked.
"I don't know," Emmett told her, "Some guy in a slicker."
"Well that narrows it down," Carlisle said, strolling to the window to look out, "This being a little fishing village and all."
"Well since you bring it up..." he paused, "We all know you have a slicker."
Esme and Rosalie turned their gaze to Carlisle, who hesitated and stepped forward angrily.
"You are not going to throw this on me!" he shouted at Emmett.
"Stop it," Rosalie said to Emmett.
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Esme added, shaking her head. "Emmett, we need to call the police."
"I'm not going to the police and you're not either." Emmett told her.
"But look at us," Esme pleaded, "Emmett the secret is killing us. We could put an end to this and salvage some fraction of a life."
"And how do we do that Esme?" he went on, "How do we do that? There was no accident, it was murder... your words, remember? Murder."
Esme knew he was right. She didn't say anything back. What could she say?
"I say we find the asshole who's doing this and have a little one-on-one."
"What, like last night Emmett?" Carlisle asked.
"Shut up Carlisle!" he sat up in his bed and balled his good fist.
"No. He might be right," Rosalie told them. "Whoever is doing this isn't going to the police. We could find this guy, talk to him."
"How do we find him?" Emmett asked her.
"Well it has to be a friend or a family member of the guy we hit." She looked at Esme. "What was his name?"
Esme sighed and looked down. "Riley Biers."
"Right... Riley Biers." Rosalie paused, "We should look him up, and find out if he has any family nearby."
There wasn't much more to say. Emmett was getting out that afternoon after spending the night in the hospital to make sure his vital organs were alright. He hurried the three of them out room, noting his parents would probably be back soon after giving him the privacy he requested when visiting with friends.
"We have to figure something out," Esme said as she walked out of the small hospital with Rosalie and Carlisle.
"I don't think we should give up on James. " Carlisle asked. "Don't you think it could still be him?"
"I guess, Carlisle, but I don't know. "I mean I don't know if James has it in him to do that."
"Emmett told me he thought the guy might have been too big to be James," Rosalie added.
"Well, I don't think we should totally rule him out," Carlisle went on.
"Fine, then prove Emmett wrong if that's what you want." Esme said, not knowing where the passive-aggressive nature of her voice came from.
"I don't want that," Carlisle began, "What I want is for you and me-"
"Look, Carlisle, I need you to get something this is no you and me." Esme pushed through a door that lead down a flight of stairs and out to the street.
Carlisle looked defeated and shared a glance with Rosalie who stood there for a moment with him before pushing out the door after Esme.
When the two girls got into the car, Rosalie wanted to ask questions about Esme and Carlisle's relationship but she refrained.
"Are we going to look up the Biers family?" Rosalie asked instead.
Esme nodded. "We'll get on the computer at home and search."
"Your house?"
Esme nodded and nearly floored the gas pedal. When they arrived Esme smiled at her mother, who seemed to be pleased that Rosalie was with her.
"Rosalie!" Mrs. Platt greeted with a smile. "So nice to see you!"
"You too." She smiled and they shared a hug.
"Can I get you girls anything?"
"Oh, no thanks," Rosalie said. "I think we're just going to catch up a little if that's okay."
"Certainly. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks Mom," Esme said with a smile before the two of them hurried up the stairs to her bedroom.
She grabbed her laptop off the desk and the two of them plopped onto the bed.
Esme pulled up a Google search bar and typed in his name while saying it out loud. "Riley... Biers."
"This should bring up everything that mentions his name, right?" Rosalie asked.
"Yeah, it should."
They scanned the screen, scrolling down the list of links before Esme's eyes landed on one in particular. "July Fourth... wait..." She clicked on the URL and then began to read the article out loud. "Two years ago... what is this?" she paused and then continued to read. "Two years ago on July Fourth Riley Biers and his girlfriend, Didyme Volturi, were driving along the curve on Route 11 when he lost control of the vehicle and hit another head on. Didyme died on impact while the driver Riley Biers was unharmed." Esme hesitated and then looked at Rosalie. "He had Didyme tattooed on his arm. I saw it that night."
Rosalie let her jaw drop and the two girls sat in silence for a moment. The accident had occurred at the same spot that theirs had. It almost felt like a sick twist of fate.
"Oh my gosh..." Esme shook her head. She went back and found the article regarding Riley's death. She purposely skipped the first few paragraphs which spoke of his death as an accidental drowning and looked to the bottom of the article. "He is survived by his sister Melissa Biers of Marabel County."
"She lives in the sticks," Rosalie said. She stared at Esme, "What do you think?"
Esme reached for her car keys. "What do we have to lose?"