CHAPTER 22

It had been an anxious few weeks, but as the end of March approached, the news they'd been waiting for was confirmed – in return for a much reduced pay off, James had agreed to take no further action.

Edward was positively beaming as he thanked Jenks and disconnected the call and Bella flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, then danced all around the room in celebration, before sitting back down at the kitchen table.

'Oh, that's such a relief. I can't wait to let everyone know the good news. How about a celebratory drink at the pub later?'

'I'm definitely up for that. I feel like a huge weight's just dropped off my shoulders.'

When they walked into The Sailor's Rest Emmett immediately hurried over and slapped Edward on the back, before enveloping them both in a giant hug.

When Bella emerged, with red cheeks and her hair all over her face, she spotted Rosalie waving at her from a table in the corner where more of their friends were sitting and she quickly went and joined her, while Emmett and Edward got the drinks in.

Rosalie couldn't wait to hear all the details, 'So James has completely given in then?'

'Not completely, we've still had to pay him off and Edward's annoyed about that. But we were worried he might take us to court anyway, just out of spite.'

'I'm sorry he's turned out to be such a complete wanker. Really I had no idea.'

Bella held her tongue, there was no use trying to convince Rosalie how much worse than just a wanker she suspected James really was and at least Rose was slowly beginning to see the light.

Bella also managed to avoid revealing exactly how much they'd had to pay him – a sizeable chunk of the proceeds from the sale of Edward's London flat. But the whole village would probably know the smallest details by the morning anyway.

'So, the value of the house must have plummeted since the reports came in?'

'Yes, we got them this morning and I'd love to have seen James's face when Jenks emailed them over.'

'I don't understand why such an old building wasn't already protected though.'

'It's such a mishmash and there's nothing really architecturally outstanding. I suppose at a pinch James could still have got away with major renovations, if the bat roost and habitat were properly protected and the plans were totally re-drawn, but it would have reduced the profits a lot.'

'So what put the final nail in the coffin?'

'Convincing Edward to splash out on a full eco survey. They found a rare plant growing along the drive and a couple more under the trees and on the cliff, which ruled out bringing in any heavy machinery, or multiple occupation of the site.'

'And having bats in the attic is going to put a lot of people off buying the house, so that must have brought the value down some more. I'm surprised James didn't just drop the whole thing.'

'Well, like I said, we were worried his attitude would be sort of 'If I'm not getting what I want, I'll make bloody sure no one else does'. Especially as it's Edward. I'm fairly certain James hates Edward as much as Edward hates him.'

Rose and Bella smiled at Edward and Emmett as they appeared back at the table, handed some drinks round, then went back to get the rest.

'Anyway, we took Jenks's advice and after a lot of negotiation, James accepted our reduced offer as full and final settlement.'

'Well, cheers to seeing the back of James then.'

Rosalie raised her glass as Edward and Emmett rejoined them, but Edward still looked annoyed.

'Not quite the last, James is insisting on personally picking up the settlement, in cash, from Jenks's office on Friday.'

Bella wasn't going to let that news spoil her evening, 'I'm not looking forward to knowing he's here again. But at least that means he'll have to sign the declaration.'

'Absolutely. There's no way I'm letting Jenks hand over a penny without confirmation that James has no further claim on Carlisle's estate.'

'Ok, so that's fine then. Come and sit down and forget about James, we'll be at Lauren and Toby's wedding on Friday anyway.'

And rather grudgingly, Edward let Bella pull him down into the seat next to hers and they all raised their glasses to the toast proposed by Emmett 'To fucking finally getting shot of James.'

-ooo-

The rest of the week went very slowly, not helped by the fact that the cold Bella had come down with a fortnight before, had turned into a nasty cough which she couldn't seem to shake off. It was no surprise really, after all the stress and sleepless nights over Carlisle, then James and the house, she'd been feeling under the weather for a while.

Having something to concentrate her mind on had helped keep the exhaustion at bay, but now that everything was more or less resolved, she suddenly felt completely wrung out.

She tried not to make a big deal of it though, because Edward had his own problems. The discovery of the hidden room underneath the eaves had really knocked him for six and Bella knew that every time she found him sitting staring into space he'd disappeared into the past and it wasn't a comfortable place to be.

She tried encouraging him to talk, but he only turned a blank stare on her and changed the subject. And really he'd told her all there was to know about Alice. It was the not knowing which would always be the problem and the fact that James might or might not have got away with god knows what.

Part of Edward would always be trapped in the past, haunted by childhood nightmares and the uncertainty of what had really happened, while James remained unpunished and unrepentant. But there was nothing anyone could do about that. Alice certainly couldn't help Edward now and all Bella could do was wait for the crisis to pass.

At night he clung to her and made love with such fierce concentration that she felt as if she was floating free of time and place. But even as she lay safe in his arms, enthralled by the magic in his touch and the flame that burned in the depths of his eyes, shadows seemed to be hovering around them and sadness flowed through the empty rooms, like the incoming tide sweeping across the beach.

Dosed up with cold remedies and painkillers, Bella dragged herself through her shifts at the pub, then found herself wandering around the house at odd hours of the day and night when she should have been asleep. And Edward was concerned when he came home from work for the third time in a row, to find her curled up under a duvet on a sofa in the small sitting room, too exhausted to get up.

But she stubbornly refused to take any time off work and sometimes she felt so tired that she was literally almost asleep on her feet and she began to wonder again if she was going slightly mad. At one point she'd been absolutely certain that Alice was haunting the house and on another afternoon she'd woken in a panic, convinced she was being watched and that objects in the house had started moving around again.

However by the time Lauren's wedding day arrived Bella was finally beginning to feel a little better. Even the sun was shining for once and it seemed like everyone would be there. But first Edward had to deal with something much less appealing, and just before lunch he'd disappeared into the village, having decided to personally hand over the money to James.

When he arrived back, Bella could tell from his closed expression and clenched jaw that the meeting hadn't been an enjoyable one.

'The bastard did his best to rile me up as much as he possibly could. It was a good job Jenks was there and that I'm an upstanding member of the legal profession myself, otherwise I'd have slammed his face through the fucking window at one point.'

'Did he at least sign the agreement?'

'Eventually,' Edward's jaw tightened again and his eyes flashed with anger.

'Well, you know you've done everything you can and with a bit of luck that'll be the end of it and we'll never have to see him again.'

Edward ran a hand through his hair and tried to calm down for Bella's sake, 'We might still need to borrow money for repairs though. And don't drop the hunt for buried treasure just yet - I've been going through the heating bills for last winter.'

Bella ran a consoling hand over his back and sighed as he wound his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, 'I know it's frustrating when we could have made such good use of the money ourselves. But we'll manage, and the main thing was to get rid of James.'

'But why does it always have to feel as if he's getting away with murder and I can't do a damn thing about it?'

-ooo-

In the end Bella decided she just didn't feel well enough to go to the wedding and in any case she needed to check through her essay one last time and print everything off, ready to post in the morning. Plus she still wasn't entirely happy with the last paragraph and wanted to have another go at re-writing it if she could.

Edward was reluctant to go on his own, but Bella insisted he'd only distract her if he stayed at home. So after a lot of discussion he finally left and Bella immediately settled down to work. She'd wasted a lot of time in the last few weeks and this was her final chance to make sure she'd done herself justice.

At least she wouldn't have to go in to work later, because she'd booked the day off weeks ago. Jess was going to the wedding too and they'd both been pleased to escape, because a couple of Eastern European trawlers were due in, which always meant a rowdy evening, followed by a high stakes poker game.

Bella couldn't help hoping that Mike would be rushed off his feet without them. She knew it was mean, but really he was the most annoying person. Although his behaviour had improved since she'd told him off in front of Jessica, it hadn't been nearly enough and she still had no idea what Jess could possibly see in him.

It was another bonus that there was no chance she'd run into James now. He'd sent her several grovelling texts over the last few days, begging her to forgive him for hitting her and trying to blame his behaviour on being totally distraught over Carlisle's death. But Bella had deleted all his texts without bothering to reply.

She didn't want to see his smirking face, or listen to his smarmy voice pretending they were still the best of friends. And suspecting that he'd timed his arrival to coincide with either Lauren's wedding, or more likely the big poker game at The Sailor's Rest tonight, she hoped he'd lose every penny of the money Edward had been forced to hand over to him.

By the early evening she'd finished everything she'd wanted to get done and was feeling quite pleased with herself as she slid her completed dissertation into a large envelope and left it ready for the morning. Luckily the post office also did binding, so she wouldn't have to trek into Falmouth, and once she'd posted the finished copy off tomorrow that would finally be the end of three years of really hard work.

She felt relieved and sad all at the same time. She'd enjoyed the course, but it had been a struggle to keep going against all the odds and as she settled down in front of the TV it seemed a bit of an anticlimax to be celebrating with just an early night, but that was all she had the energy for at the moment.

When Edward rang at eight o'clock, she couldn't help yawning as she answered the phone,' Hi, you just caught me. I was about to go to bed.'

'Everything done?'

'Yep, all ready to post off in the morning. How's it going over there?'

His reply was drowned out by a loud burst of music as the disco kicked off in the background and she smiled when his head and shoulders were suddenly overlaid by a swirling kaleidoscope of colours.

Someone turned the volume down a bit and Edward waited for her to repeat her question.

'I take it supper's finished and the party's starting then?'

Before Edward could reply, Emmett's face suddenly replaced his on the screen, 'Hi Bells, you have to see this. Hold on a minute.'

The view panned towards the dance floor and zoomed in on Mrs Cope dancing energetically to a hip hop beat, while the two red-faced and mortified great nephews she'd dragged onto the floor with her, looked away, silently begging to be rescued.

Bella could hardly drag her eyes off them, 'Oh my god that's hilarious.'

'Classic. Definitely keeping a vid of that one.'

Bella's laughter turned into a coughing fit and Edward's concerned face appeared back on the screen. 'Are you ok? I can come straight back if you need me to?'

Bella took a couple of breaths and risked speaking again, 'Please don't. I know how much you were looking forward to seeing some of your old friends. Honestly, there's no need. I'd probably be fast asleep before you even got here.'

He still sounded reluctant, but decided to take her word for it. 'Ok then, but I'll try not to be too late.'

Bella smiled at that - she knew what Edward and Emmett were like once they started drinking.

Rosalie and Jess appeared on the screen next, waving and making hand hearts. The screen wobbled downwards, revealing the large collection of drinks which were already on the table. They were kidding themselves if any of them thought they'd be home before lunchtime tomorrow.

The phone pointed up again just in time to catch Lauren and Toby walking past. Someone must have called them over. Lauren looked beautiful in her bridal gown and was positively glowing.

Bella had forgiven Lauren long ago for pretending she was seeing Edward. She'd had no idea how much trouble it would cause and she'd only done it to give Toby a kick up the ass and make him think he had some competition.

Well that had worked anyway, Toby was grinning at Lauren like an idiot and after shouting congrats and good luck at them, which made her cough again, Bella said goodbye to everyone. And after another more private goodbye to Edward, which nevertheless provoked a hail of catcalls at his end, she rang off.

Then still coughing intermittently, Bella tidied up a bit, switched off all the lights downstairs and went to bed.

-ooo-

But she just couldn't get to sleep. She thought it would be nice to stretch out in the big bed all on her own for once, but she tossed and turned for ages trying to get comfortable, flinging blankets off because she felt hot, then pulling them back again when she got cold, until the bed was such a mess that she had to get out and completely re-make it.

She decided she felt thirsty next, so she grabbed Edward's dressing gown and went to get a glass of water from the kitchen, then wandered around for half an hour, thinking about changes they could make to some of the rooms with a lick of paint and some new fabrics - that wouldn't be too expensive at all.

When she got back into bed she switched the light on and picked up a book, but after reading the same page three times she gave up and reached for her box of treasures in the bedside cabinet instead. She took out Percy's snuff box then ran her fingers over the inscription around the sides and the faint outlines of the shells across the top, before staring at Lady Mary's picture inside for the thousandth time.

She'd filled the snuffbox with the shells and sea glass Edward had left her after their first night together and she raked through them with her index finger, until she found the piece of green glass which was almost the colour of Edward's eyes. She felt warm inside as she closed the box and put it under her pillow, remembering how his eyes gleamed when he told her he loved her and how he always smiled and kissed her when he said it, as if he couldn't quite believe how happy he was.

She missed him now and the sound of the sea had got into her head again. She couldn't stop listening to the noise the waves made as they tumbled onto the rocks and curled across the beach, and the longer she lay there trying not to think about it, the more insistent and annoying it got. She sat up and looked around for her headphones to block out the sound. Damn it, they weren't there.

Gritting her teeth with annoyance, she padded downstairs into the sitting room, then the kitchen, but there was still no sign of the headphones. She realised she must have left them in the attic room when she'd put all the documents away earlier, she'd taken them off when they got caught in the filing drawers once too often.

She glanced up at the kitchen clock. It was already past eleven, so much for an early night. Grumpily searching for a torch – there was no way she was risking being up there in complete darkness again – and pulling Edward's dressing gown more tightly around herself, she hurried towards the nursery stairs.

It didn't take Bella long to find the missing headphones, they were lying on the floor in the middle of the room. But as she stooped to pick them up, the light flickered and went out and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, as the room was plunged into complete darkness.

Thanking her lucky stars she'd brought a torch this time, she shut her eyes against the blackness and the panic, and reached into the pocket of the dressing gown. But before she could even pull the torch out, a sudden noise made her blood run cold – the doors of the lift, which hadn't been used since Carlisle died, had just clanged shut.

For a second, Bella's mind went completely blank with shock. She heard the lift motor jolt into action, then the clank and scrape as the old metal lift slowly began to ascend. The noise was loud in the stillness, but not as loud as the thumping of her heart in her chest and the rushing sound in her ears and she was suddenly trembling so much that she couldn't move.

She tried to pull herself together and think. Whoever was coming up in the lift had to be an intruder and if she didn't move, the moment he stepped out just across the hall, he'd see her standing in the middle of the room like a rabbit in headlights. The light from inside the open lift cage was already visible, maybe if she hid behind the door he'd go somewhere else first and she'd have the chance to get away.

She only had a few seconds to decide, but she'd definitely left it too late to run down the corridor towards either staircase. With shaking knees and a dry mouth she edged behind the open door and pressed herself flat against the wall, just as the lift reached the top of the shaft and shuddered to a standstill.

Bella heard two male voices then the sound of the lift doors being opened. She didn't have to strain very hard to hear anything, because they were only a few feet away, and when they started talking again she recognised their voices immediately – James and Mike.

-ooo-

What the fuck?

Bella rolled her eyes. It wasn't what she'd been expecting but she wasn't that surprised. Thinking everyone was at the wedding, James was probably checking on what they'd found in the attic and frankly he was welcome to it. The valuer had already confirmed that apart from the chandelier most of it was junk.

She wondered whether to step out now and say hello, but the memory of the hate-filled expression on James's face when she'd last seen him, stopped her in her tracks and she decided to stay where she was for the moment. Maybe once they moved away from the doorway, she'd sneak out and call the police. James had no right to be here, but he must have had a set of keys cut at some point, because there'd been no sound of a break in.

James and Mike were still standing just beside the doorway talking, much too close not to overhear every word. It sounded as if Mike was having second thoughts about being here, because he was complaining that the poker game would be starting and he needed to get back to the pub.

James's voice was harsh, 'Stop fucking whining. We'll go when I'm good and ready to. So shut the fuck up, unless you want your wife to know all about your fucking disgusting habits.'

'But I've already done what you told me to do and had a good look round all the bedrooms and Carlisle's sitting room and study again.'

'Don't even try to pretend your dirty little hands weren't in her underwear drawer for most of the time. If only you were as intent on finding missing jewellery, or even returning things to their proper places afterwards.'

Behind the door, Bella's eyes widened. The idea of Mike going anywhere near her clothes was bad enough, but all those times she'd thought things in the house were mysteriously moving around must have been due to him too, and she was absolutely furious.

Mike sounded sulky, 'Well you didn't do any better at finding anything, did you? And you were staying here for weeks.'

'The need became less pressing for a time and you forget, the property was soon to have been yielded up to me in its entirety.'

James's voice suddenly became silky smooth and Bella could picture him examining his manicured fingernails as he continued to speak, 'My dear friend, I remember I have been meaning to enquire, is 'peeping Tom' the correct expression for your other interest?'

Bella could almost hear Mike squirm as James continued to remind him who was boss. 'My knowledge of these English terms is sometimes a little hazy, although the photos of you err, pleasuring yourself, in the company of my friends are not of course. Perhaps I should consult the ladies of the village whose garments you were wearing at the time, regarding the correct terminology?'

A shadow stretched across the ceiling as James walked past the open doorway. 'But perhaps we should think about that later, for now I have an overwhelming desire to see the rest of the attic.'

Mike sounded nervous again, 'For fuck's sake James, everyone at the pub will be wondering where we've got to. Can't we just have another look in the nursery like you said, then go. If the necklace is in there it won't take us long to find it.'

'Not just yet. I am so very interested to discover what my dear cousin has done with the place, you see.'

They started to move away in the opposite direction to the nursery, leaving Bella's mind buzzing. What on earth was James on about? He'd already been left all his mother's jewellery and the house had been thoroughly searched from top to bottom.

When the surveyor came Edward had even asked him to take precise measurements of every room and check there were no more concealed spaces and Emmett had insisted on going round the whole garden with a metal detector, which had brought up some interesting finds, but put paid to any lingering hopes of buried treasure.

As James and Mike's footsteps retreated further down the corridor, Bella crept out from behind the door, just as the faulty strip light above her head flickered back into life. She was blinded by the brightness for a moment and it reminded her of being in the nursery in the storm, when lightning had flashed across the room and the scary rocking horse had seemed to rear up at her. And in that moment, she realised she knew exactly where the missing necklace was.

She had no idea why James had only found out about it recently, but if those were real diamonds instead of glass, the headband draped around the rocking horse's head must be worth a fortune and she was determined not to let James have it.

She bent and took off her slippers, then peered around the doorway - she'd need to move quickly and quietly. There was no sign of James and Mike, although she could still hear them bickering. They must have gone into one of the servant's bedrooms where she'd neatly laid out all the small items for the valuer to look at.

Holding her breath, she crept out of the room and ghosted silently around the corner and along the long corridor at the front of the house. She didn't dare switch the lights on, but luckily the moon had come out from behind the clouds for a moment and the corridor was flooded with moonlight.

As she dived around the last corner into the nursery wing, the electric light came on behind her and she heard voices again. James must have got bored with annoying Mike and they were heading towards the nursery too. With her heart thumping, she quickly ran inside the room, yanked the necklace off the horse's head and ran out again, towards the nursery stairs.

If she could just get downstairs, she could find a phone to call for help, then hide, or even slip out of the house without them knowing she'd been here. But just as she reached the top of the stairs, she heard a yell and when she looked back over her shoulder, she saw James sprinting down the hallway towards her.

Panicking, she turned towards the stairs, lost her footing and fell.

-ooo-

Still clutching the necklace, Bella slowly opened her eyes. She'd fallen all the way down the stairs, crashed through the open door at the bottom and landed in the hallway outside the kitchen.

James was standing beside her outstretched arm and as she watched, he bent and prised the necklace out of her fingers.

The diamonds glittered brightly, before disappearing into his pocket.

He smirked at her as she lay on the ground, 'Thank you for saving me the trouble of searching. A very welcome parting gift.'

Finding she could move, but feeling very bruised, Bella slowly got to her feet and faced him. Her head was aching and her ribs hurt, but there was no reason to let him know that. Trying to ignore how painful it was when she breathed, Bella wondered out loud where the necklace had come from and James explained.

'Alice wore it as a child often. She claimed to have bought it from Woolworths with her pocket money. But I think perhaps not.'

The joke seemed to amuse him, 'She must have discovered it hidden somewhere in the house. When Carlisle had my mother's jewellery photographed, I noticed a similar mark on a very valuable diamond brooch inherited from her grandmother. Although of course there are many more diamonds in the necklace and they are extravagantly large.'

Bella blinked her eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing in her head, as James continued to gaze at her.

'Now, what to do with you? Perhaps it would be simplest if this fall had been fatal.'

His voice sounded vaguely regretful, but Bella had no doubt that he was capable of killing her. Still too dazed from the fall to even be scared, she was trying to think of a reason which would convince him not to, when a small movement on the stairs distracted her. They'd both forgotten about Mike.

James glared at him, 'But then you see we have a witness and I would have to deal with him also, and unfortunately I do not have the time or inclination to manage further complications.'

A smile wavered on Mike's face as he tried to pretend James had been joking, but he couldn't hide the fact that he was shaking with fear.

Bella forced herself not to flinch when James roughly took hold of her arm and made her walk a few steps, 'Hmmm, no real damage then. So I think Miss Bella Swan can safely be left to kick her heels for an hour or two, while we go back to our card game. Then afterwards I will be gone.'

He smiled. They were standing right next to the cellar door and the key was in the lock.

'Perfect,' He opened the door and gestured to Bella, 'After you.'

And knowing she had no choice, on wobbly legs and holding tightly onto the banister, Bella began to walk down the cellar steps in front of him.

Ha I bet none of you saw that coming!

Sorry I'm taking much longer than I thought to get to the end though - as you can see there is at least one more chapter to go.

Thanks for reading & reviewing.

See you in 2 weeks

x Sue