Disclaimer: Any recognizable Twilight characters and ideas are property of Stephenie Meyer. I am not profiting from the distribution of this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: Yes, that's right…I'm back! My apologies for being away so long. Life got a little hectic with issues I won't trouble you with. I'm just happy to have found the time and desire to write, again. I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, and an even bigger thanks to all of you who reviewed and/or favorited. It's greatly appreciated!

I couldn't have gotten this submitted without the help of the incomparable yoda5683 as my beta extraordinaire. Thanks for all you do, hon! Huge thanks also to my editing beta, JenCat, and her scary virtual red pen, and Wendy Ann, my awesome Twilighted junior validation beta.

Just as a reminder for anyone new to my little corner of the Twilight universe, this is a sequel to my one-shot, Look After You. Reading it first is recommended!

Chapter 2 – Something to Hide

ChPOV - March 2011

Familiar trees reached out from the side of the road towards my squad car as I guided it around the winding roads that led to the small house Paul and Rachel shared. I wondered exactly how many times I'd been by these same trees in the past – walking, driving, biking, even crawling that one time. Good God, we were drunk off our asses that night!

La Push. It hadn't changed much since I was younger. Trees were the same. Roads were the same. Folks were the same. Never thought I'd be driving to ask my best friend's daughter what she knew about some cryptic letter from her dad, but I wasn't one to put too much past Billy.

His letter stirred up a lot of memories I'd made here that I hadn't thought about in years. I couldn't stop thinking about the first time Billy had mentioned his mistrust of the Cullens. They'd only been in town for a little while, but already Billy had a prejudice against them…

March 2003

Ichiro lifted his bat high in the air, and I couldn't help smiling like a fool at the television screen. I'd missed my Mariners in the off-season. I lifted my beer and took a satisfying swig. God bless spring training.

Suddenly, the announcers' voices got lost under all the racket coming from my right. Billy had started coughing up a damn lung for the hundredth time this afternoon. I didn't like the sound of it buried too deeply in his chest. Just as I was about to sound off on my concern…again…he manage to choke out, "Save it, Charlie," before reaching for his inhaler.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why Billy wouldn't go get a second opinion on that cough. Bronchitis my ass. Bronchitis would have cleared up by now.

Eyes watery, Billy tried taking a huge breath. When no more coughs followed, he turned to me and teased, "So, you heard from Bella lately?"

I rolled my eyes—I'd caught that smart ass emphasis on my daughter's nickname. Renee had been using it for a few years, but not me. She'd always been Isabella, a name that was about three sizes too big for my klutzy girl, but one that would be perfect for her some day. I swear she was looking more and more like her mom every day; she was going to be beautiful.

But the last time I took her to California for vacation, she turned beat red at dinner one night and told me she preferred Bella, now. Poor kid was so embarrassed to have to correct me. I really had no choice but to at least try out the "Bella" thing, much as I didn't love it.

"Yes, I've heard from Bella, smart ass. She made the high honor roll for the first semester."

Billy smirked. "See? Been telling you for years that kid was sharp as a tack. Got her smarts from her old man."

I shrugged and ran a hand through my hair. "Uh, yeah, I don't think that's it."

"Well she sure as hell didn't get 'em from Renee," Billy chuckled.

I shot a glare Billy's way. He knew better than that. Renee still was off-limits, even after all these years. Holding up his hands, Billy said, "Hey-hey! Keep that look to yourself. I know. I know."

Billy wasn't Renee's biggest fan. Never really was. But he didn't have to be so out there with it. She was still my daughter's mom.

Before I could give him crap about it, Billy started in with that cough, again. I tossed my hands up. "Aw, come on! Will you listen to yourself?"

He tried to frown at me, but the coughing made it way less affective. "Billy, man…Go to the hospital in Forks, will ya? They'll-"

"No."

"Why? Why 'no?'"

More coughing. "You've been sick since before Valentine's Day, and it's still getting worse. The inhaler they gave you isn't doing anything for you," I said.

"Dad?" called a confused voice from down the hall.

Jake stumbled down the short hallway into the living room, clearly just waking up from an afternoon nap. It was pretty funny to watch him try to move these days—body made up of all arms and legs like young almost-teenage boys can get. He asked his dad, "You okay?"

Billy nodded, and Jake moved across the room to plop down on the side of the couch closest to his dad's chair. "Hey, Charlie," he said.

"Heya, Jake," I answered.

Jake was a good kid and genuinely concerned about his dad. Whenever I saw them together like this, my mind would wander off and start wishing that Bella lived closer to Forks than Phoenix.

But I didn't really want to dwell on that particular thought today, so I tried asking Billy again, "Why are you being so stubborn about this? I mean, we all know you're bullheaded, but this is getting ridiculous."

Just out of Billy's line of sight, I caught Jake sighing and rolling his eyes. Apparently he'd heard his dad's rationale before.

"It's that new doctor, Charlie. I don't trust him."

Of all the things Billy could have had against the hospital, I definitely didn't see that one coming. I tried to think of any new doctors at Forks Community Hospital that might fit the bill, but I could only come up with one. "New doctor? You mean Dr. Cullen?"

Dr. Cullen was the only new doctor in town and was in emergency medicine. Billy couldn't have been talking about him, though. The doc was a good guy from what I'd been able to make of our few run-ins. Besides, how the hell did Billy even know him? He only ever came to Forks to see me.

But sure enough, Billy was nodding. "Yeah, him. And his whole family."

"Billy, he's usually in the ER. You wouldn't even have to see him if it's that big of a problem. Dr. Cullen gets the real problems that come in, not the stubborn fools who wait forever to go back to the damn doctor."

Billy met my eyes, lips pressed into a hard line. Finally he said, "I will not have anything to do with a hospital that hires someone like him."

Wait– what?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake try to cover a smirk at whatever expression had crossed my face. I'm sure it was a Kodak moment. This had just gotten bizarre, even for Billy. "What?"

"Dad doesn't trust the doctor's family. He thinks they're dangerous," Jake explained. "He's been going on and on about it for weeks. Harry, too."

"Jacob—" Billy cut in.

Jake ignored his dad. "Some of us don't get their obsession over it."

"Jacob," Billy said a little louder this time. "Go back to your room. I need to talk this out with Charlie for a bit."

A couple more coughs and one less pre-teen later, Billy turned back to me. "You really shouldn't trust the Cullens, Charlie. Please just take my word for it."

It didn't make sense. The Cullens had been nothing but friendly since moving to Forks a few months back. Great family. Heartwarming story. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen had already become stand-up citizens in the community, and all five of those kids had kept their noses clean. I just didn't get the problem.

"Why?"

"Because you don't know the whole story."

"What story?" I asked over more of Billy's coughing.

Billy cleared his throat loudly. When he'd recovered, he completely ignored my question. "I don't care what it looks like from the outside with them. I'm not going into that hospital. And none of 'em are welcome here at the Reservation."

"Come on, now! Don't you think that's a little much?"

Billy shook his head. "We protect ours. The doctor understands."

"You actually told him that?" I asked, letting myself fall back into the armchair.

Billy wasn't a judgmental man by nature. Just the opposite, really. If I didn't already know the Cullens, I'd probably be inclined to hear him out. But I was getting tired of this business from the whole town. Everyone was so damned suspicious of them just because they hadn't been here for three generations.

I realized that Billy hadn't responded to my question yet. He was good at avoiding things he didn't want to talk about, but I wasn't letting him off the hook this time. When I looked back up, I found that he had wheeled himself to sit directly across from me. I'd known Billy for a long time, but I'd never seen him quite so worked up about something before.

"Okay. You've gotta throw me a bone or somethin' here…Why? Why can't you trust them?"

"Because I can't, Charlie. Please just stay away from Dr. Cullen. Those kids, too," Billy said, coughing a little at the end.

"You know 'those kids' haven't so much as put a toe outta line since they got here. The ladies in the school's front office tell me they all have perfect GPAs so far."

One of the best perks of being chief of police? Dirt—and lots of it. I'd gotten that little gem picking up some milk at the store.

Billy nodded slowly for a few moments as he processed the information. When he finally replied, it felt like he was talking more to himself than to me. "That makes a lot of sense. I don't doubt they're trying to keep as low a profile as they can."

I snorted. "Well, I don't know if they're doing a great job of that, Billy. Have you seen them?"

As much as I respected Dr. Cullen and his family, I did have to admit that their looks were a little weird. Drop dead gorgeous, sure, but weird.

A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I couldn't help laughing a little to myself before I shared it with Billy. "You know, it's a good thing Jake's not going to Forks High in a couple years. What would you have done if he came down with a case of puppy love with one of those girls?"

Billy's eyes flashed hard. "Absolutely not."

I sighed and held my hands up in surrender. "Okay, Billy. Okay."

We were going to have to agree to disagree on this one for now. No matter what Billy said, I knew the Cullens were a decent family, and I was fairly sure I could get my friend to come around. He just needed some time to get over whatever bug had crawled up his ass.

But that's the thing—he never did. Until the day he died, Billy didn't trust the Cullens. Now here I was, back on the Rez for the first time since he'd passed, and the mystery around his—and the rest of the Quileutes'—dislike of them still stood. I may not have been able to see it yet, but there had to be something to their prejudice. Because if Bella was out there somewhere like Billy said, the Cullens would had to have known something when they left.

After awhile, the trees parted and a small grouping of houses came into view. My squad car crept to a stop into front of Rachel and Paul's house. I could see Rachel peeking out the window as I shifted into park.

Here goes nothin'.

Rachel had the door open before I had even gotten completely out of the car. "So when I told you not to pursue this…"

"Look, Rachel, can we talk? Paul's not here, is he?" I asked.

"No, he's out. And the baby's asleep."

I smiled as Rachel closed the door behind her and joined me on the front porch. "Good. I'd rather just talk to you. I don't think Paul ever really cared for me much."

"Paul doesn't care for his own shadow some days. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it," Rachel returned with a smile.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed between us before Rachel's smile quickly faded. "What are you doing down here, Charlie?"

"I opened the letter, Rach. I guess I have to know if it's true."

Rachel rubbed her forehead as she thought. Without letting her hand drop, she said, "I'm not sure what you want me to tell you."

"Billy told me—"

"Charlie, please stop!" Rachel said, uncovering her eyes. "What I told you yesterday…I meant it. I really don't want to know. Just drop it."

She looked back down at the wooden porch and sighed. I immediately felt like crap for pressuring her, and I imagined that I would feel like even crappier crap in a minute, but I had to do it. My gut was talking to me, and I was going to listen. "Rachel, the letter…your dad…He said she didn't die. Do you see why I had to come to you? I mean, what am I supposed to do with that?"

No response. Rachel just kept staring at the porch breathing evenly.

At least I was right about one thing – I felt like a total jackass. What the hell was I doing here, anyway? Billy's fool's errand had me so hopped up I couldn't think straight. I may have just lost my best friend, but she had lost her father. I didn't need to be here right now.

Then Rachel lifted her head and met my eyes.

She knew.

She knew.

Her eyes found the bracelet shimmering on my wrist in the sunlight. Rachel stared at it a moment before turning her face back to mine. "Charlie, go home. Have a beer and try to forget about this. I'm so sorry for what happened to Bella…But Dad was wrong."

The look on her face now reminded me of the same one Sara would get when Billy and I would stay up all night on the porch after a full day of fishing and bullshitting. She'd come out and plead with us to knock off the male bonding and just go to bed.

And that was exactly what Rachel was doing – pleading with me. To drop it, to leave it be. I would drop it with her, for now, anyway.

"Alright, Rachel, alright. Sorry to have bugged you."

This isn't over.

I turned to leave, wondering who else might be around this afternoon who'd talk to me. I wasn't all that surprised Rachel hadn't been any help. Didn't she just try to tell me yesterday that the Blacks knew how to keep a secret? What was I thinking to—

"Charlie, wait!"

When I glanced back, Rachel was clasping and unclasping her hands together.

"Rachel…" I started.

Rachel shook her head. "Just…just…hear me out for a minute. I'm asking you to drop this, Charlie. For your own good. Please just take my word on it. We all love you."

Yeah, sure. Just not enough to quit hiding stuff from me.

But I couldn't stop the gruff voice from whispering in my head, "You really shouldn't trust the Cullens, Charlie. Please just take my word on it."

I nodded once to Rachel and left for my squad car without another word, more confused than ever. Something was going on, damn it. What secret was more important than helping me find her? Was the whole Black family really that afraid of the Cullens, enough that if Bella were out there, they still felt they couldn't tell me?

Not for the first time, I wished that Billy had just talked to me in person years ago. I had so much I wanted to ask him now.

As I started the car, I toyed for a moment with the idea of seeing if Jacob was around, but I quickly decided against it. For one, those kids usually hung around together in a group. If Paul wasn't home, odds were Jacob was out with him.

For another thing, I just couldn't face that old red house yet. I wasn't good with that sort of thing. I'd only just found the courage to go back into her room this past fall.

I drove out towards the outskirts of the reservation, pissed that I hit a brick wall. All I could do now was sit and wait for a response from the other end of the PO box. If I got one at all.

As I turned around one of the bends leading out of reservation, I realized my luck hadn't quite run out, after all. Near the side of the road, a young man leaned against a tree. Shirtless.

Jacob.

I didn't believe this was coincidental for a second, but one thing was for sure. I wasn't about to let this off the hook without some answers.

I pulled the car onto the shoulder and got out. "Jake? What are you doin' all the way out here…leaning against a tree…without a shirt?"

Jake smiled. Damn good thing to see. Last time I'd seen him, it'd been an all together different story. "Just waiting for you. Here seemed pretty appropriate."

"Here?" On the very edge of the reservation?

His smirk grew wider as he shrugged the question off, but it quickly disappeared back into the slight scowl Jake tended to wear a lot, even before his dad got sick.

"How you doin', kid? Been worried."

I hated myself the moment the question was outta my mouth. What was this compulsion to ask people who are obviously not okay how they were doing? To his credit, Jacob just nodded. "Yeah, I—… Well, I guess I've been about as good as you'd expect."

I waited for a moment, but Jake didn't continue. I sure as hell wasn't going to pursue it further. Not after asking him the very question I had hated for so long after Bella's accident, but it had been out of my mouth faster than I'd been able to stop it. Gotta focus better, Charlie.

"So, you were waiting for me. How did you know I was even down here?"

Another shrug, then Jake replied, "I'd been wondering how long it would take you to show up down here. Rachel called Paul after you left. Said you had stopped by the house. We were in the area, so I thought I would wait here for you here."

He paused and waited for me to say something. When I didn't respond, he just continued, "Rach said she brought you a letter from Dad yesterday. Guess I was curious."

Nothing like getting right to the point, eh, kid?

I took a step back. "Uh-huh, well, Rachel said a lot of things…Including all this stuff about your family being able to keep secrets. What happened to that?"

"Sure, sure, I can keep 'em, but let's just say I'm nosey when it comes to finding out new ones," Jake said with as light of a tone as he could muster through that cocky scowl.

"You knew he'd written something for me, before Rachel found the letter," I guessed.

Rachel had suggested as much when she'd been by. Jake looked down at his feet and shifted his weight. The way he could still somehow go from looking like a grown man back to the little boy from his past made me smile. "Yeah," he admitted. "But we didn't know what it said."

There he went with that "we" business, again. He had to be talking about the Shirtless Mafia. I could still hear the alarm in Bella's voice when she'd once told me about Jake's fear of the influence Sam Uley had over the teenage boys in La Push. Shortly after that, they had both begun singing different tunes about Sam and his pack of bare-chested boys. But I hadn't forgotten her initial reaction now. Maybe my "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy was in need of some revamping.

As casually as I could, I repeated, "'We?' Who's we, Jacob?"

Jake's hand both clenched and unclenched a couple times, but he didn't offer me an answer to my question. Instead, he turned his head so slightly to the left I almost missed it. Something told me there were more than bunnies and deer behind him in those woods.

"Who else knew about the letter?…Sam?" I lead.

With a nod, Jake said, "Yeah, Sam."

"And Paul? What about Seth? Quil?"

"Come on, Charlie," Jake replied simply. "We were all hanging out. I think you know how it is."

Jake pulled his lower lip in between his teeth. In fifteen years, I had never seen my best friend's son do that. Then Bella moved back to Forks, and he'd mimicked her ever since. Seeing one of her mannerisms still there in Jacob was oddly comforting. I was instantly in a better mood.

"Yeah, Jake. Maybe I do know how it is."

My response seemed to make Jacob relax a little. "Do you think I could see it? You know, the letter?"

"I don't have it with me, son. I'm sorry," I replied straight-faced.

The lie slid easily past my lips. Being a police offer had taught me a little something about being able to play the poker face when needed—even when I had to use it on Jacob.

Of course I had the letter with me – left front pocket. But I couldn't imagine giving it over to Jacob, even for a few seconds. I was terrified that if I let it out of my sight, I wouldn't see it again. And right now, it was the only piece to the puzzle I actually had in front of me.

Jake narrowed his eyes at me. Every cell in his body must have been itching to call my bullshit. He didn't.

"Okay," Jake began slowly. "Well, what did it say?"

"It was just one sentence. 'She didn't die, Charlie.'"

Jacob's eyebrows practically hit his hairline. He looked down at the ground, and his expression quickly settled into an unreadable mask. "Nothing else? No explanation?"

"Nope. Nothing."

I watched Jacob's reaction carefully. I knew I'd caught him off guard. Billy's message obviously surprised him; that much I knew wasn't put on. But exactly what was it that surprised him?

It felt like the deeper I got into this, the more confused I got.

"So…what?" I began to grab Jake's attention back from the ground. I shrugged. "Did you know about this?"

He didn't respond right away. "Like I said, I knew there was a letter." Jake met my eyes and clarified, "We knew there was a letter. But Dad…He wouldn't tell us what was in it."

Jacob's face relaxed into a thin smile, and for a moment, I saw the smiley boy I had once known. "Believe me, we all tried to pry it outta him. Paul even grabbed it from Dad's desk drawer a couple days before his and Rachel's wedding. He would've opened it, too, if Sam hadn't stopped him at the last minute. Dad was so pissed off about it, he threatened to not walk Rach down the aisle and give her away to such a 'nosey sack of shit.'"

I couldn't help laughing at Jake's impression of Billy as he continued, "Rachel didn't know what had caused their fight, but she made Paul apologize over and over to him for being such a dumbass. Dad accepted, of course. He's stubborn as hell, but I honestly don't think he would have boycotted the wedding. He's not like that, you know?"

The image of Billy's face in the crowd at my little girl's wedding flashed behind my eyes before I had a chance to stop it. Mistrusting of the Cullens or not, he had been there. For me. To Jake, I simply nodded.

"After that, Sam told us not to bother Billy about the letter. Whatever it said wasn't meant for us to know."

I raised an eyebrow. "And it was over? Just like that?"

Jake shrugged and nodded.

Huh. Okaaay.

"So, do you believe it?" I asked.

Translation - how much are you going to tell me, kid?

Jake shifted his weight a few times. "Do I believe what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Jacob."

"I don't know, Charlie," Jake finally answered. "I know Dad honestly believed everything he said. Dad is…Dad was a respected Elder. I mean, you know that. He didn't say stuff without having his reasons."

Exactly the point I had been making to myself earlier today. "Well, what about the Cullens? He hated them from day one."

Jake's jaw tightened at the name. More darkly than before, he answered, "Well, yeah, he did. Maybe he had his reasons about that, too."

"Those being? Jake, listen to me, was there something going on with the Cullens?" Come on, Jake. Grab the worm.

But Jake wasn't biting today. "Look, I wish there was something I could say, but I can't help you with this."

"Can't or won't?"

Jake sighed. "Can't…please…"

I scoffed. "Thought you wanted to talk, son. We're talking."

"I know. I know we are…I…"

He ran a hand through his close-cropped hair and tugged on it. I was breaking him down. Just a little more, now. "So what, you get what you want from me and just leave me hung out to dry?"

"No, I want to talk to you, Charlie. I do," Jake finally said as he dropped his hands back down to his sides. "I wish I could make you understand. You have no idea how far this goes."

"Gettin' the idea, kid," I muttered. "I know Billy didn't approve of Bella and Edward's relationship, but if there was something dangerous going on, I can't believe he wouldn't have told me about it before it was…"

…too late, I finished to myself.

I didn't know what to believe right now. To me, everyone was a damn liar.

"It's not exactly like that, Charlie. The Cullens w—"

Jake suddenly stopped talking in midsentence and stood there gaping like a fish on the hook before finally closing his mouth. He dropped all pretense and turned completely around to face the woods. I wasn't sure what he was doing, but he was turning back to me before I could think too hard on it.

Jake shook his head. "Look, if Dad thought there was more to…you know…what happened, you should probably look into it. He used to drive me kinda crazy worrying about some things, but I swear it always turned out that he had some good reason for it. His methods could be a little weird, like this letter thing and not telling you until now. I totally get it if you're annoyed with him about that. I'm a little annoyed with him about that."

In a slightly firmer voice he added, "But Bella's your daughter. You have a right to know exactly what happened."

I tossed my hands up in the air. "How, Jake? What am I supposed to do?"

Jake shrugged. "Well, you're a cop, right? You've got tons of resources."

Did I? I was beginning to feel pretty foolish talking about this in the light of day. Believing an old man's superstitions and creepy warnings while in the confines of my living room was one thing. Now reality was starting to beat me over the head with its idiot stick.

"Resources? Jake, I don't know if—" I started.

"No, think about it, Charlie," Jake interrupted. "I mean, maybe they missed something at the scene."

"Jacob, do you really think I haven't personally looked at that case file before? Because I have. They had a team of pros out at that scene. I know a lot of those guys, and I'm telling you…they didn't miss anything. So all those 'resources' will tell me is what I already know. The evidence was fairly conclusive. It all points to a fatal animal attack. She died out there, Jake."

My own words socked me in the gut, but I would have plenty of time later to beat myself up for saying them out loud. Because suddenly, there it was – the signal from Jacob I'd been looking for since I pulled the car off on the shoulder.

Something had pulled at Jake's expression for only a moment, but it was there. I swear it was. He knew more. For whatever reason, he was afraid to talk about it, just like his dad had been.

Maybe Billy wasn't totally right. Neither of them might still be out there, but I was absolutely certain there was more to the story of Bella and Edward's death than anyone had let on. Jake had never been able to lie to Billy or me when he was a kid. Thank God for some things never changing.

Just like that, my head was back in this.

After letting me have my moment to think, Jake repeated, "Maybe they missed something."

My heart in my throat, I took a step towards him and asked, "Jake? Son…Are you trying to tell me that…What are you saying?"

Jake shrugged. "I'm not saying anything, Charlie. Just go find out what you can, and don't let anyone stop you. Let me know if you uncover anything…one way or the other."

He turned to leave, but caught himself. Facing me again, Jake added, "I really am sorry I can't help you anymore. You know I loved her, too. But I…It's not my decision to make."

I might not understand the whys, but I did get what Jake was trying to tell me. He wasn't calling the shots, so there was no sense in arguing. There was one more thing I needed to ask before he left, though. "Jacob?"

"Hmm?"

I took a deep breath and hoped he'd be straight with me. "I know how your dad felt. And I know Edward and you never got along. But the rest of them…the Cullens…Did you trust them?"

Now, I've known this kid since he was a handful of hours old and asleep in his mother's arms. I've seen him happy, sad, and totally pissed off. But I couldn't quite place his expression.

Jacob glared at me for a moment without answering. He pulled himself up to his full height and said, "To a point. But not with her, Charlie. Never with her."

He turned on the ball of his foot and went jogging into the woods—going God knew where in gym shoes and cutoffs. I watched Jake disappear into the trees and tried to settle myself down. I still didn't know anything, and I certainly wasn't fool enough to place my hope in the hands of a superstitious coot and his love struck son. But I had something to go on, now.

The file containing all the case information from the accident was housed at the Washington State Patrol Headquarters in Olympia. Not too far of a drive from Forks. I hadn't looked at the file since the day Alice and her...whatever the blond one was to her…gave statements to the officers. If I were being honest with myself, I didn't know if I was really ready to reopen that file. It would be like living the worst day of my life all over again.

But I'd have to get ready because first thing in the morning I was headed to Olympia.

You'd better have been on to something, Billy, I thought.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope it was worth the long wait! Please take some time to tell me what you thought if you have a moment.

Coming up next – Chapter 3: The Longest Day