Edward's POV
Everybody loved Bella; but Charlie and I… it was different for us.
Maybe that's why I could connect to the man. In the first few days after Bella was taken, Charlie questioned me several times, occasionally growing frustrated with my lack of answers and the fact that I had been the last to see her as she walked away from me. But he never blamed me, and as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months… my trips to the Forks Police Station became a regular occurrence as I searched for updates, and the man eventually just gave in, keeping me up on any leads or any stalemates. Eventually, we grew as close as Charlie would let anyone get to him. We both shared a common interest, and as the searches ended and the rest of the family began to move forward – never forgetting, but unable to do anything else… Charlie and I stuck together, revisiting old files and going over the details of that day, thousands of times. The day that Bella disappeared, I walked away from my own childhood… ready to find the girl that I had lost.
Hearing Charlie tell me that he trusted me with both his daughter and his grand-daughter meant more to me than he would ever know.
A little less than an hour following Charlie's call from Anita, and he was pulling into the Forks station, his hands gripping the wheel so tightly, that I could see his knuckles literally turning white. I knew that he was both angry and anxious… the same way that I was.
During the drive I had spoken to Bella who had demanded that we pick her up and bring her in with us. Charlie was the one who finally convinced her to wait, telling her that when it was time we could have Esme or Emmett bring her in for an identification and statement. A few minutes after that, my Mom sent me a text, letting me know that she would talk to Bella… help her deal with the sudden situation.
By the time that Charlie, myself, and Detective Spears entered the interrogation room, my nerves were shot, my mouth dry, and my head pounding. After all of these years… this was the one I had been waiting for… I needed answers.
"For the record, please state your name." Detective Spears had come in from Washington State and was running the interrogation for integrity purposes. It was probably a good thing because I knew that both Charlie and I were speechless - neither of us has said a word since entering the room and sitting down in the back.
Victoria was very clearly not the same as the dance instructor Ms. Vicky that I remembered. The woman sitting across the table now appeared much older… worn out and haggard looking, and obviously using; her arms covered in track marks as she scratched at them nervously. Her red hair was the only thing even remotely similar about this woman… still flying wildly around her head like a fiery inferno as her eyes darted around the room.
"I go by Vicky Tremont." She whispered out, her eyes still constantly moving, her hands never stopping as she scratched and rubbed at her arms. "But my real name is Victoria Jane Sutherland." She said and I had to stifle a groan. There was no way that I was going to let this woman make me feel anything but anger towards her.
"Do you, Victoria Jane Sutherland acknowledge that you have been read your rights, and that you have the right to an attorney, and as of the time of this interrogation, have willfully and without coercion declined the right to counsel?"
"I don't want no lawyer."
"And why have you come to the Forks Police Station today?" Detective Spears continued patiently while I sat, clenching the arm rest on my chair.
"To turn myself in." She whispered quickly, her eyes looking up and staring right at Charlie for a minute, before she continued the endless movement.
"What are you turning yourself in for?"
"For taking the girl Bella from the fair twelve years ago."
"Are you referring at this time to the abduction of Isabella Marie Swan, aged 10 years old, on the Thirteenth of September in the year two-thousand and five?"
"Yeah…. Yeah… I took Bella… I convinced her to get in my car."
"Did you know who Isabella Swan was prior to taking her?"
"Yeah… I taught her ballet… I lived in Forks so I knew the Chief and his wife… I knew Bella real good."
"And what led you to the decision to abduct Isabella Swan?"
I had to close my eyes. This was it… I wasn't sure that I was ready to hear all of the details, but I also felt that after twelve years I had to know.
"James Foster." She muttered, her voice hoarse.
"What was your relationship to Mr. Foster?" Detective Spears pushed.
"It's a long story." She muttered again before closing her eyes and taking a breath.
"My sister Alexandra got mixed up with him…" She began and I searched my head for her file. Charlie and I had dug through Victoria's family history once Bella had been found. I of course remembered Victoria who had taught the girls dance… but I also vaguely knew her younger sister Alexandra. At the time they had both still lived at home with their parents and had seemed like a decent family – Mr. Sutherland was an accountant, and Mrs. Sutherland worked at the garden centre – Victoria had been a perfect student and had excelled in her dance career. The only one in the family who seemed to have any issues at all was the sister Alexandra who had been picked up multiple times for drug-related issues, DUI's, and eventually for prostitution. But nothing had ever connected any of them directly to James Foster, and when they left town because of Mr. Sutherland's career about a year after Bella left… there was nothing suspicious that stood out.
"When Alexandra was about fifteen, I had just come back to Forks from college and was starting to teach at the school… but I could tell Alex was different from before I left. She was always out late and she came home high as a kite most nights – and then I saw her fight with Mom and Dad, and that wasn't right… before I had left she had been a good kid, never said anything bad about anyone. But when I came back… it was like my sister was gone." She began and I shifted impatiently.
"Turned out she met one of James's many friends one night and they got her hooked on a cocktail of shit. She started doin' favours for his friends and him… and she was stuck. She couldn't get out of it." She kept going and I rolled my eyes. I had no interest in pity right now. "James bounced around a lot back then and he had a lot of guys workin' for him all over. They liked the shit he could provide. One night one of his guys beat the crap outta Alex… I went to him and tried to make him cut her loose but of course he wouldn't listen to me." She stopped and shuddered, her head twitching as she looked up at Spears.
"After I went to him… he started showin' up all the time, looking for me. One night he had a friend grab me after class and throw me in his car… they took me down to Port Angeles and he told me he'd let my sister go if I worked for him." She continued and I shook my head, trying to shake away my anger. "I told him no at first and I came in here once… I talked to Old Beau…" She said looking up at Charlie. I felt the colour drain from my own face and watched as Charlie turned beet red.
It was no secret that the Chief had a beef with the former officer. Old Beau had been a staple in the community of Forks from the time that I was little… but everybody knew that he was as redneck as they came, his views often sexist, racist, and outright out-dated. When Charlie finally pushed for his retirement, he had kicked back at Charlie and the two had gone head-to-head several times before Beau eventually agreed to retire. That was only two years before Charlie brought me on full time and Beau had died six months later… heart attack.
"He turned me away… told me a buncha bull about women and knowing our place and to stop makin' a big deal outta nothing. Told me if I came back again, he'd teach me a lesson himself." She said and I shook my head. As old-school as Beau had been, I couldn't believe that he was that callous and corrupt… that this wasn't just another layer of pity she was slathering on.
"I worked hard to convince Alex to stay away from James… and she did… but it pissed him off. She was doin' good for a few weeks. She was back at school and tryin' not to use so much… my mom and dad were happier cuz they could see the change. Then one day she didn't show up to school… some kid from the reservation found her out at first beach… she was barely alive." She told us and I nodded. I remembered hearing about it at the time… drug overdose, she had barely pulled out of it.
"Mom and Dad sent Alex to a rehab centre in Seattle after that… she never told anyone what happened… even me… but James did. He came to see me when she was still in the hospital, he bragged about how easy it was for him to make it look like an accident. Him and his guys… they worked this whole area back then… they had connections everywhere. After that… I gave in and started to work for him and he left my sister alone after that." She stopped talking. Sitting back… her eyes still flitting nervously around the room, never settling for more than a moment at a time. She still looked rough… but she also looked resigned… finished.
"What type of work did you do for Mr. Foster?" Detective Spears asked after a minute and I felt my eyes roll. I wasn't sure how much of this I could take… this story seemed like it was designed to waste our time and feel pity for the washed up woman sitting in front of us.
"Hold on a second Frank." Charlie surprised me, standing up and moving towards the table where Spears was sitting across from Victoria.
"I have to ask this. If James Foster was running this massive organisation… spanning multiple areas and encompassing a large number of people working under him… how do you supposed that this has never come up before now?" He asked, his skepticism matching my own. Victoria didn't balk though. Instead sitting taller and staring right at him.
"Back then he never stopped moving. He had his favourites… and he never liked to lose someone that he got hooked. For him it was a game… but he was the only one who knew the rules. Most of the people that he had workin' for him didn't even know his name. He made sure of it." She stated, her voice suddenly cold.
"That's where he put me in. He had me collectin' money and other things from some of his employees… I did odd jobs… and he knew all the ways to stay low. Never met anyone twice. Never went to the same meet spot twice. Never got attached to no one… he knew how to use my sister against me. And I pretended that I wasn't doin' nothin'! I kept dancing. I kept pretending everything was just dandy." She stated again and I shook my head. This was bullshit. All of it. The longer I sat here and listened to her sob story, the angrier I got.
"One day Chief Swan picked him up after on a speeding ticket that turned into a drug charge… it was minor shit… a little weed or something stupid. He was out in a day… but he was pissed that Old Beau couldn't convince the Chief to drop it totally off his record. That's when I found out how loyal Old Beau really was to James. He did what he could… but the Chief was always stuck to the law like it was the Bible." She said and I felt my head beginning to spin.
"After that day… James popped into Forks more often and watched the Swans… then… he was obsessed with her." Victoria looked up at me then, recognition flashing in her eyes as she looked me up and down. "Bella Swan".
"I said no." She continued. "I didn't want to take the girl… it wasn't right. But I was in too deep with him at that point. I didn't have a choice and I tried to talk him outta it, but once he made up his mind 'bout somethin' nothing could change it. I put it off… til one day he and his guy Laurent showed up. Laurent and me tailed the Swan family and their friends down to Port Angeles. It was actually crazy how it worked together. James wanted me to bring the girl to the cabin outside of Port… they were already goin' to that fair…"
I heard Charlie's groan as he stood up. Looking up at the man I watched as he started to pace the room and I could tell that like me, the ability to control his temper was fading quickly.
"I had no choice… James said it was going to be a day or two… just until he could ask for ransom… just to get back at the Chief. And then he pushed me out… made me go home. But I kept coming back. He never let on to anyone that he had her… he never asked for money to give her back. I couldn't let him hurt her. I wanted to go to the cops… I wanted to come in again… but Laurent was always there or sometimes even Old Beau… and the two of them… James and Laurent… it got so bad for me… but I always asked Bella… and she told me that neither of them touched her aside from moving her in the cabin." She continued and I had to physically hold myself in the chair. I couldn't understand this woman and her actions… I couldn't understand why she hadn't sought out help and protection. She had known where Bella was and had never said a word to anyone.
"He had too many friends back then." She whispered again and I shook my head. Not good enough.
"He went crazy though… he stopped all his other business… he stopped asking me to do stuff for him. He told me he was moving Bella to Forks about a year after she went missing… He was obsessed with the girl… nothing else mattered anymore. I couldn't do it no more though. I couldn't take knowin' and still living here… teaching ballet and never saying nothin'. He was always threatening me and Alexandra and I needed to get us out… my dad got a job in Indiana and I convinced my whole family to take it and go… I knew it was the only way out… they never knew none of this.
"Laurent followed me and after Mom and Dad and Alex got settled, I left them. Eventually even Laurent stopped appearing though… and I stopped thinking about it. I started using… doing what I could to numb myself out to what I done to that girl… I convinced myself he probably killed her after I left." She kept going and I needed her to stop. Pushing myself up out of the chair I didn't hesitate, pulling the door open and not stopping until I was outside. I needed space. I needed to breathe. I needed to kill that woman.
I needed to see Bella.