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Author's Notes: Hi, everyone! Thank you so much for coming back and sticking with my story. I know it's been awhile. I'd like to call these authors notes: "How Horizon77 Got Her Groove Back." I'm going to be honest, here. The last five months or so have been incredibly difficult. At the last minute, I had to switch from teaching sixth grade to kindergarten, which was a huge challenge for me. Just when I finally had some time to write again in November, my grandma suffered sudden heart failure. We spent a few weeks thinking we were going to lose her at any moment, but miraculously, she pulled through when the doctors had told us that she was too weak to ever recover. Needless to say, I was in something of a tailspin for awhile and not really in the mood to write. I'm happy to say that my grandma's recovery paired with my reassignment back to middle school for the second semester was enough to lift my spirits and push me towards brushing the dust off this chapter and finishing it.
I greatly appreciate the messages you guys sent to check up on me…I hope I can update with more frequency now that the dust has settled a little.
To all my readers, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support. This fandom is one of the best around! Thank you to my reviewers and those of you who favorited! Great big Emmett-sized hugs to my awesome beta, yoda5683, for giving me feedback in the middle of a very busy week. You're the best, lady! Thanks also to Jencat for bringing her red pen down on this chapter!
From Chapter Two: Nothing to Hide…
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.
Chapter 3 – The Longest Day
ChPOV - March 2011
I turned my car off of the 101, happy to finally be on a different road. The trip to Olympia from Forks wasn't really so bad, but it sure felt like a long damn time stuck on the same road for over a hundred miles. On the other hand, I wasn't exactly in any hurry to get to where I was going.
Despite what I promised myself, I hadn't actually gone down to Olympia the morning after I talked to Jake. In fact, it had taken me three whole days to finally make the trip. It started out by just needing to work up the courage to bring all those memories back up to the surface, but then two days ago I got called back into the station early from my leave. The guys needed my help to wrap up the investigation of yet another unexplained mystery in Forks. To tell the truth, I was getting pretty sick and tired of those.
For almost a year now, some strange stuff had been going on around Forks, not the least of which were the huge boulders that had been appearing randomly on the 101 and 110. It had happened three times, now. Twice they had crushed cars flat beneath them. The last fatal accident had been two days before Billy's death.
Thing was, there was never any damage to the surrounding area, no crush patterns that would indicate the boulder's trajectory. Each time, it was as though the thing literally fell from the sky. This one had taken a family of four with it – two of them small children. Dealing with the parents' sorrow on top of Billy's declining health had sent me into the tailspin — and that had only been made worse by my friend's death and post-mortem letter.
So here I was — finally en route to the Washington State Troopers station, not knowing quite what to expect. The conversation I'd had with Jake was on a constant loop in my memory. I turned the radio on and cranked the volume a few dozen miles back because I just couldn't shake his voice from my mind.
Hearing voices, again…You're losin' it, old man.
That's how it felt, anyway. I had just driven for hours because a 21-year-old kid told me to. I wasn't sure what I would find in that file that I hadn't noticed before, but Jake seemed adamant that something wasn't right. In all my years as a cop, I'd learned a bunch of life lessons. One of the most important was to always go with your gut, and I had a gut feeling today that Jake was right. I just didn't know what the hell that meant.
"Charlie Swan for Jim Rink, please," I said flashing my badge at the trooper behind the window.
Jim was a high-ranking trooper in the Investigations Division for the Washington State Patrol. He was born and raised in Sequim and was an officer for a few years in Forks before leaving us for the big boys in the state patrol. Even though Jim left not too long after my rookie year, we'd remained in contact over the years. We'd called on each other for favors more than a handful of times, and a few days ago, I'd called him with the biggest one I'd ever had. I needed as much of the information in the WSP's file on the kids' accident as I could get. Jim was a good guy, and I knew if anyone would help me here, it was gonna be him. My Forks badge didn't mean much here without his assistance.
"He'll be right down," the trooper on the other side of the glass told me as he laid his phone back down on its base. "So you're chief up there in Forks, huh? I thought you looked familiar. Got any new leads on those boulders?"
I felt my lips pull into a scowl. "Not a one, uh…Stevens," I answered using the name off his name plate. "Doesn't surprise me. Never gotten one before."
"I know what you mean," Stevens said. He sat back in his chair. God, he looked like he was still in high school. Couldn't they afford actual cops down here? "My buddy and I went up there a few months back responding to a road blockage in the middle of the 101. That thing was pretty big – like four feet high and right in the middle of the lane. We had no idea where it came from."
I nodded. "I was there that morning, too. Damnedest thing."
"At least that one didn't hurt anybody."
"At least that."
Before Stevens could say anything more, I heard the security door pop open behind me. I turned towards the sound and saw a familiar face.
"Officer Swan," Jim said with a smirk as he quickly approached me.
I grabbed his extended hand tightly and replied, "That's Chief Swan to you, Jim."
"Heh, I suppose it is. Come on up," Jim said. He gestured towards the elevators behind the security entrance.
As he keyed in the code to the heavy door, I caught sight of the manila envelope tucked closely to his chest. There was no writing on the front and no wear from frequent use. It was just like any other manila envelope I'd seen before. Except this one held all the documents that made what happened out in those woods official, which made it anything but ordinary to me.
"Right this way, Charlie."
I liked Jim, I did. But I just couldn't focus on all the small talk as he led me down the short hallway towards the elevators. The envelope swaying back and forth next to him was like a pendulum, and damn it all if I couldn't stop watching it. I just hoped I was "Mmm-hmm"-ing in the right places.
The elevator ride to the second floor was over quickly, and as the doors opened, Jim gestured to follow him. "I've got an empty office set up for you. It hasn't been used for awhile — well at least not for business — so no one should bother you."
"'At least not for business?'" I repeated back. I didn't know if I liked the sound of that.
Jim laughed off my worries. "Just some after hours poker games. Not that cops would ever play for money, right Charlie?"
I tried to laugh, but I'm not sure how convincing it actually came off. Now wasn't the time for joking around. I just really wanted that damn file.
Sensing my frustration, Jim lifted the envelope in his hand. "Here's everything that we still had in hard copy. We've gone digital in the last couple years, and some of the hard copies were tossed when the information was transferred into the database." He dropped the envelope back down at his side. "Like I said on the phone, man, I can't let you see anything that isn't in this envelope – absolutely nothing off the digital mainframe…Forks badge or no Forks badge. And speaking of which, when you walk out of that office, you never saw this stuff, Charlie. I'm serious."
"Don't know what you're talking about, Jim. I'm just looking over some evidence about that boulder you boys investigated back around Thanksgiving. Tryin' to connect it up to the one we found a few days ago. That's all," I replied. "I might be from a Podunk town, but I'm not stupid."
"I know you're not, Charlie. You're a good cop," Jim replied. "I'm just worried is all."
I scoffed. "Well, like I said—"
"Not about the damn file, Charlie. About why you're really here. This is a little messed up, don't you think? For God's sake, if it had been my daughter—"
"Your daughter's going to graduate from UDub this year. It was not your daughter," I interrupted, my cheeks growing hot.
Jim gave me a moment to collect myself. I muttered an apology I didn't completely mean, and he repeated, "If it had been my daughter, I wouldn't be touching this stuff with a twenty foot pole. It would be too horrible. Besides, don't I remember you looking at all this years ago? Why are you torturing yourself with it now?"
Great. What the hell was I supposed to say to that?
Because my best friend told me my daughter's still alive out there.
Because his son's cryptic shit and his daughter's begging me not to just egged me on all the more.
Because if Bella's out there somewhere, I'd be damned if I wasn't going to move every mountain it took to find her...or at least find out what really happened to her.
Of course, none of those reasons made me sound the least bit sane and wouldn't help my getting into that office with the file as fast as I could. I gave Jim the best answer I had. "I guess I just needed to see it one last time."
With a shrug, Jim replied, "Well okay, man. You got it." He thrust the envelope towards me. "But we're even after this, got it? I'm not putting my ass on the line like this again any time soon."
"You would if I asked you to, old man," I said, allowing myself a little smirk.
Jim held the envelope out to me and chuckled softly. "Yeah, you're probably right."
I grabbed the file and turned to enter the room, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me from taking any further steps. "Charlie, I should tell you that I did a little digging, and I was able to find the recording of the interviews you wanted. They're on a CD in there for you."
'Absolutely nothing off the digital mainframe,' my ass, Jim.
Jim frowned and continued, "But look, you might not want to listen to it…I remember Michael telling me that you were pretty messed up that day, man. Looking at the file is one thing. Playing the tape?" He shook his head and sighed. "And just because it's an extra copy of the interviews certainly doesn't mean that CD's going home with you. You hearing me?"
"I do…And I'll think about not playing the CD, Jim. I will. Thanks."
As I walked into the small room, I heard the door close softly behind me. The furniture in the room was sparse with just a table, two desk chairs, and a CD player. I sat down on one of the chairs and laid the envelope on the table.
It was now or never.
I carefully upended the envelope and dumped the contents onto the table. An olive file folder marked "Cullen, Bella/Edward" fell out first, followed by a CD in a thin paper sleeve. After laying the manila envelope to the side, I picked up the folder and quickly opened it before I could change my mind.
A standard report greeted me first. Nothing out of the ordinary. If I ignored the names on the top of the page, I could almost be impartial. Almost.
The report detailed the condition of the scene and the evidence discovered there. I skimmed the descriptions but wasn't finding anything new. The campsite had been torn up in the area where they'd been storing the food, and there were signs of a struggle. All of their personal belongings were there completely untouched. Hair and scraps of clothes had been found, as well as bear fur, tracks and blood.
Forensics reports were next in the folder. My eyes caught something about female blood on the scraps of clothes before I quickly flipped the page. I kept turning the pages until I'd gotten past everything forensics had to say. I didn't really need to read about what parts of my daughter they'd found on her clothing.
Pictures of the scene and evidence were the next and final pieces in the folder. Not looking at those either.
I rubbed my face roughly with both hands and took a shaky breath. I knew the worst was yet to come. Jim had meant well warning me against playing the CD, but I had to listen to it. Jake told me to use all the resources I could find. If this CD could help jog my memory from that God awful day, then so be it.
"Here goes nothing," I whispered as I hit play.
State Trooper Michael Lee's voice came through the speakers, even and professional – everything I wasn't that morning. And just like that, I was thrown back into the worst day of my life.
August 27, 2006
Forks Police Department
This wasn't happening.
This couldn't be real.
How could I be here – in the same station I'd spent my entire career in – doing…this?
I paced.
I stood against the wall with my arms crossed.
I paced again.
How could I be here?
The shittiest part was that I'd known it. The second I opened the door and saw two uniforms standing on my front step, I knew that something terrible had happened. Unis don't show up at your door overnight unless something terrible happened. Unless they're sure.
Bella and Edward had gone missing from their campsite sometime between eleven and midnight. Alice had apparently called the police when they discovered bloody scraps of clothing matching the shirt Bella had been wearing.
Nothing about this was fair. She just got married. They just got married. They were eighteen, for Christ's sake. What the hell kinda sick-ass universe sends in a bear to attack eighteen-year-old kids?
A surge of anger rolled though my body. I spun around before I could get a lid on it and punched the wall closest to me. "GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled.
Flakes of white paint and powdery drywall covered my knuckles. My breaths were coming hard and fast, panting even, but somehow I felt myself able to quickly calm down in spite of the anger I could still feel trembling through my body.
"Charlie," said a voice quietly from behind me.
Carlisle's voice drew my attention to the set of cheap plastic chairs that made up the waiting area at the Forks PD station. Sitting huddled on those chairs looking about as out of place as could be were the Cullens. Some of 'em, anyway. Alice and the blond boy were curled up on one chair – she was clinging to him on his lap. The skin under her eyes was stained with eye makeup that had come off with her tears. At least she wasn't crying for now. Don't know that I could have handled Alice's tears.
On their right were Esme and Carlisle. Esme had kept her head buried against her husband's shoulder the whole time I'd been here. Even though I knew that Esme was hurting like I was, I hated that she'd clearly given up. This wasn't over. They could still be out there. It was going to be alright. Damn it, it was going to be alright.
But it had been Carlisle's eyes that had originally made me uncomfortable the minute I came barreling into the station. I hadn't been able to make eye contact with him since, and I definitely didn't dare to look now even though he'd called my name. His eyes – it was like they'd held nothing. I knew that look. I'd seen it on too many dads before. He was a father who'd just lost a child and looking at him was kind of like looking into my future. I knew Carlisle had already accepted the unacceptable, but I just wasn't giving up that damn easily.
I didn't respond to Carlisle. I couldn't. This wasn't happening, after all. None of this was real.
This wasn't happening.
"Yes, it is, Charlie," Carlisle said, audibly swallowing a lump in his throat.
Damn it. I said that last part out loud…and shit, my hand hurts.
I looked down at my trembling hand. When did it start shaking? Nothing felt broken, which was more than I could say about the wall. But holy crap was it gonna be sore in the morning. The knuckles had already started to swell.
"Charlie," Carlisle tried again.
"Don't, Carlisle. I'm not doing this with you — not right now."
"Charlie –"
I met his eyes – those stupid lifeless eyes. "Just stop sitting there saying my name, alright? That isn't helping me! And neither is just waiting around here. I should be out there!" I said, pointing to the windows behind the Cullens. "I can't do anything here! I can't help her here!"
Carlisle's eyes darted over to his son and mine followed his. I immediately calmed down when I saw the effect my raised voice had on Alice. The way she'd shoved her face into her boyfriend's chest made her look completely wrecked, not to mention a mirror image of her mom. I couldn't even start to think about the night she'd just had. Last thing she needed was me making it worse.
"Let me look at your hand for a second, Charlie," Carlisle said gently, pulling my attention away from Bella's best friend.
I hesitated for a moment, completely embarrassed about what I'd done to the wall, but I decided that my pride wasn't worth turning down a doctor's offer to help. When I'd reached him, Carlisle took my injured hand in his cool, free one. As he inspected it, I said, "Carlisle, I shouldn't have raised my voice. Yelling's not gonna change anything, so...I'm sorry."
"I know," Carlisle said, accepting my apology. A little life sparked behind his dark eyes for a moment as he added, "I doubt they would have wanted us to be yelling, though…or punching walls."
Past tense. Was that the way it was going to be from now on? Past tense? "Please, just…Just don't talk about them like they're already gone, Carlisle. We still don't know…"
Carlisle's eyes met mine. Clearly, he thought it was already over. He was kind enough to not comment this time, though. Instead he confirmed my diagnosis. "Nothing is broken, Charlie, but you're certainly going to have a lot of bruising. We should get some ice on it to help reduce the swelling. For what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't stop you in time when I saw you getting worked up over there."
I shrugged it off. "Well, it's not like you could've predicted that the stupid old guy was gonna punch the wall or somethin'."
Alice lifted her head from the blond's chest and said, "Charlie, I…" but her voice immediately trailed off. All the Cullens, save for Esme, were now looking past me, and Alice had hunkered down into her boyfriend's arms.
Must be time.
Sure enough, I turned and saw Michael Lee walking towards us. He was assigned to the investigation, and I couldn't have been more relieved. I'd worked with a lot of good guys from State Patrol, but I'd also worked with a bunch of cracker jacks. If I wasn't going to be allowed to officially work on this case – of all the cases in the world to not be on – I was glad Michael could take the lead for me.
Reading off his clipboard, Michael asked, "Alice Cullen?"
"Yes?" Alice responded, voice cracking.
"We're ready for you back there."
Alice caught Carlisle's attention and nodded at her father. Carlisle said to Michael, "You'll be needing to speak with my son, Jasper, too. Would it be possible to take them both at the same time? Alice is pretty shaken up by everything."
Jasper. The blond one's name is Jasper. Gotta remember that.
In response, Alice looked at Michael and turned her doe eyes up to full power. God bless her for being able to pull that look out at a time like this. To his credit, Michael resisted the urge to break protocol. "I-I'm sorry, sir. Policy's pretty specific on this. I can only take them one at a time."
Carlisle started to argue, but Alice got slowly to her feet and shook her head. "It's alright, Carlisle. I don't think anything will change his mind…I'll be okay. Promise."
In the middle of taking her first step, Alice froze and looked as though she was listening to something. I was about to ask her what was wrong when Michael sighed loudly and began, "I know this is a difficult morning for you all…Here's what I can do for you. Let me take Mr. Hale first, and then Miss Cullen can join us when we're finished. That's my best offer."
"Thank you, Mike," I whispered to him. I wasn't stupid – his decision would have been much different if I wasn't standing right in front of him.
Jasper stood and got Alice situated next to her mother before following Michael back into our little interrogation room. After grabbing myself a plastic bag full of ice, I leaned against the wall and let my mind wonder.
We passed the time waiting through Jasper's interview in silence. I don't think any of us much felt like talking. At least Esme had stopped sniffing against her husband's shoulder. Instead, she sat quietly next to her daughter with her arm around her shoulder.
Before long, Michael came back into the room and gestured towards Alice. "You're up next, Ms. Cullen. As long as your brother doesn't say anything, he's free to sit with you. Does that sound okay by you?"
Alice nodded and rose to follow him to the interview room. As I began to fall into step behind her, Michael stopped me with a firm hand on my shoulder. "Charlie," he warned, "you're the last person I need to quote procedure to. You're not listening in."
"The hell I'm not," I argued.
"We're handling the investigation, not the Forks PD. And in any case, you're one of the parents. I'm not about to let you anywhere near that room. I'm sorry."
Well that's just too damn bad. I puffed out my chest and said, "Remember exactly whose interrogation room you're using this morning. This is still my department. Don't make me flash my badge in your face, son."
Michael rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Fine. But if I catch hell for this, I'm putting it squarely on your shoulders."
As Michael led Alice down the hall, I turned to face Carlisle and Esme. "Did the two of you…I mean, if you want to listen in, too—"
"That won't be necessary," Carlisle responded automatically as Esme fell back into him. "I don't think my wife or I can…"
I nodded to him and left the waiting area without another word to go to a tiny room adjacent to where the interview was taking place. On the monitor, I could already see Michael with Alice and Jasper. He had a notepad in front of him and was speaking to the two of them. I switched on the audio feed so I could understand.
"—ington state law mandates that all interviews performed by state patrols are audio recorded. Do you understand, Ms. Cullen?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"Alright," Michael said getting down to business. "Can you please explain to me what you were doing out in the woods on August 26?"
Alice took Jasper's hand. "Yes, well, we were camping. My family loves to camp when we can, and we figured this would be our last opportunity to go before leaving for school."
"And when you say 'we,' who were you referencing?"
"Edward, Bella, Jasper, and me. We got there yesterday afternoon and set up the campsite."
Michael nodded. "Okay. When was the last time you saw your brother and his wife?"
My heart clenched hard in my chest. Hearing these questions – standard questions in a case such as this – hit too close to home. I felt my heart rate increase as I listened to Alice's response. "Maybe at 11:30 or so at night."
"What happened at 11:30?"
Alice ducked her head in a way that reminded me of my little girl – so much so that it almost looked like an exact mimic. Those two spent way too much time together. "We had been hanging out together around the campfire for awhile, but then Jasper and I…Well…"
"Miss Cullen?" Michael prodded when Alice didn't continue.
"We wanted to go for a late night swim," she finally answered. My hazy mind had difficulty figuring out where Alice was going with that at first, but the embarrassment rolling off her in waves made all the pieces click together.
Oh. "Late night swim."
"I see," Michael said. "And how long were you away from the campsite?"
Alice thought a moment. "Maybe an hour or so. Hour and a half tops."
"Were you within earshot?"
"No, we…we went down to the lake. It's probably a mile away. Maybe a little less."
Michael sat back a little in his chair. "I see. That's a little far away to be hiking in the middle of the night, don't you think?"
"We camp out that way often. Both of us know it pretty well," Alice replied.
"Alright." Michael stopped for a minute to write on his note pad. I took the break in the interview to quickly unclasp my bracelet. I needed to feel the links between my fingers, to hold on to a part of her if I was gonna make it through this.
Michael looked up from the papers in front of him and switched gears. "So you were out at the lake for approximately one to one and a half hours. What happened when you got back?"
Alice's face pinched. "I…we…" She looked to Jasper for help explaining, but he shook his head sadly. No one could help her with this right now. "They weren't anywhere around – Edward and Bella. And the bag with the food was on the ground, all torn up. I started calling their names, but then Jasper found…He…"
After bowing her head to collect herself, Alice continued, "Jasper yelled for me. He found a chunk of Bella's shirt and it looked like there was blood on it."
Even though Alice hadn't said anything I didn't already know, I still felt the room begin to spin with her description. I lifted a hand to my head and took deep breaths. The officer in me was automatically using up part of my brain to draw conclusions and determine timelines, but I didn't want to be the chief of police right now. I just wanted to be a dad for a few minutes more pretending like everything was going to be alright.
But the fact of the matter was that it just wasn't alright.
The interview continued in the other room, and I tried my best to follow, but the words were all jumbling together. My brain had finally caught up to what my cop's gut had told me the minute the uniforms explained what had happened – something terrible had happened out there in the woods.
My bracelet slipped from my hand and dropped to the floor as I let my body fall back against the wall. Was this room always so small?
Somewhere outside of the fog that was chocking me, I heard the observation room door open. The audio feed was switched off moments before I felt a woman's cool fingers brush against my wrist as she fastened the bracelet back on.
"Alice, I'm sorry that I-"
I stopped mid-sentence when I opened my eyes and realized it was actually Esme standing beside me, staring at her fingers running across the metal over and over. She wasn't saying anything, but I don't remember seeing anyone look so brokenhearted.
Jesus, is this what I look like?
"Thank you," I mumbled quietly. "How did you know that I…that I needed…?"
She finally looked up. Her husband's eyes had been so distant out in the waiting area, but Esme's eyes mirrored the anguish I was trying so hard – and failing – to keep bottled up. I wanted so badly to believe that Bella was going to be okay somehow, but it was hard as hell to hold onto that looking at Esme now. "I knew you were in here by yourself, and I couldn't imagine what you might be listening to. I didn't want you to hear that alone."
Esme moved her hand from my bracelet further down to take my hand in hers. "Charlie, I am so, so sorry."
Present Day
Esme stood with me in the small observation room for the rest of Alice's interview. I still don't know how she drummed up the strength to do that for me. It hadn't been fair of me, but I let her comfort me without being able to do the same for her.
Alice's voice continued to speak through the CD speakers describing the process of calling for help – both from the police and her father. To be honest, I was only half-listening. Maybe Jim had been right. This was obviously too much for any father to sit through.
I pressed pause on the CD player. Alice's voice was only drumming up bad memories of standing in that stiflingly small room losing hope of ever seeing my little girl again. I needed to focus and get a hold of myself if I was still going to be useful.
To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was even looking for. Everything seemed legit in the all the reports. But Jake told me to look closer at the files. He seemed so damn sure. What the hell did that kid know?
I took the report back out and sat forward in my chair. This time, I was going to look at it from a more objective prospective. Like a cop. Jake was suspicious about the accident. If Bella wasn't killed by a bear in those woods, what could have happened?
As unlikely as that sounded to me coming from the law-abiding-to-a-fault Cullen family, I needed to approach this like a cover-up. When Billy told me that Bella didn't die, I had to wonder if he meant that she didn't die that day or at all. What would I be looking for if this were a murder? Or a kidnapping? What didn't add up?
The report was impersonal enough if I let it be. Problem I had the first time through had come in the letting it be part. Think like an officer, Charlie. Come on, man. You're not getting this opportunity again.
Evidence described long, brunette hair discovered throughout the scene and into the woods surrounding the campsite. Unknown substances on the hair had been noted the last time I read the report five years ago, but they'd been identified since then. Hairspray – and a lot of it.
I grabbed a little notepad out of my back packet and jotted that down. My little girl had loved many different things, but clothes and hair stuff just hadn't been up her alley. While I didn't put it past Alice to do her hair – even just for camping – it was still something to consider. Hadn't Jake told me to look for anything that didn't seem right?
No male hair was discovered at the scene. Scraps of clothing – some covered in blood – were. Bear fur. Traces of animal blood on a branch in the campsite. Muddy bear paw prints on ground and food packages.
"Huh," I said under my breath. Now here's something weird…
One of the investigators who'd been at the scene noted that the K-9 unit refused to track the scent from one of Edward's shirts into the woods. The dog had willingly and successfully followed Bella's scent into the woods about two hundred yards before losing it, but according to the report it wouldn't do the same with Edward's scent. After sniffing his shirt, the dog took a couple steps away and put the brakes on when his officer tried to guide it forward. The investigators tried one more time, but the dog "freaked out" and tried to get away.
I had no idea what the hell that meant, but it was going on my list. In all my years as a cop, I had never heard of a highly trained K-9 unit refusing to work like that. The investigators in the report chalked it up to the scent of the bear, but I wasn't convinced.
There was nothing more in the report as far as I could tell, so I moved onto the forensics reports. I tried to read the first one, then quickly changed my mind. Still wasn't strong enough for that.
Instead, I began flipping through the pictures. When I came across one of the shredded food bags, I stopped on it for a second and shook my head. The Cullens were such experienced
campers, so it must have been Bella that left the food on the ground. I could feel the old anger coming on. You would have thought one of the three of them would have reminded Bella to keep the food up high, for Christ's sake.
I'd barely finished that thought when another picture caught my eye. It was a small, almost insignificant detail – a picture of Bella's wallet. Both hers and Edward's wallets had been discovered at the scene, along with their cell phones. Somewhere in the file there'd also be photos of the wallets and phones at the campsite where they'd been left, but this picture spoke louder to me than anything else I'd turned up.
The picture was from when the evidence was brought in and was meant to illustrate that no cash or credit cards – particularly in Edward's case – had been taken. But looking at this picture of Bella's open wallet, I started to wonder if something had been taken, after all.
Bella had kept a ratty picture of Renee and I on our wedding day with her ever since she'd been old enough for a wallet. I'd seen it a handful of times on our yearly two weeks together, both in Forks and California, but I'd kept my mouth shut. Preteens and actual teens are like ticking time bombs, so my goal during those trips was to avoid talking about anything that might embarrass her or make her think twice about coming back up to see her old man the following year.
Once Bella had been living with me for a while, I finally felt okay asking her about it. She'd made a stink about paying for pizza that night with money she'd earned at her new job with the Newtons, and I'd noticed the picture when she went to pay the delivery guy.
"I don't know, Dad," Bella had said as she was working on the dishes. "I guess I just like having it with me. I actually don't really remember not having it. Renee still claims to this day that I stole it from one of her drawers when I was little." She smiled and shrugged. "You guys look so happy in it. Back when I didn't see you that much, I used to look at it before I went to sleep. Made me feel better."
I remember her blushing and shrugging her shoulders again before lecturing me about how much of the pizza I'd inhaled that night. That was all Bella was going to say about the picture, but the message had been pretty clear. It meant a lot to her, and she liked to keep it close.
The picture in my hands showed that the plastic photo insert was still in Bella's wallet, but the wedding picture had been replaced by one of the school photos Renee had taken each year as a teacher. The wedding photo was gone. "Well, I'll be damned," I whispered.
This had to be it – the sign I'd been waiting for since I got to Olympia. I tried to beat back the hope overtaking me, but it was like playing Whack-a-Mole. Every time I pushed a bit down, more just kept popping up. Billy was right. Jake was right. Bella was out there, and she took her favorite picture of Renee and me with her.
I got outta my chair and began to pace. My heart felt like it was going to beat right through my damn chest. Hope was still Whack-a-Moleing away in me, and I needed to get a grip fast. I was getting way too ahead off myself.
Once again, finding out new information had left me with far more questions than answers. I sat back down and tried to put my cop's hat back on.
Just what the hell happened that night? If Bella and Edward hadn't been involved in a bear attack out in those woods, then whoever had laid out the evidence had done a damn good job. Expert, even. They'd known exactly what cops would look for. The case had been declared a fatal bear attack without hesitation.
That meant that I couldn't use any official lines of investigation from here on out. If I went into the FPD claiming that the Cullens had faked Bella's death and maybe even Edward's, I'd be locked up faster than I could say "Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs."
Problem was I had no idea where to go next, and I had a lot of unanswered questions. Why'd Bella do it? What was so terrible that Bella felt she couldn't tell me? Did the Cullens force her into staging an elaborate death? Would that have even been possible? How the hell did Jake and Billy get wrapped up all in this?
Most importantly, I needed to find out whatever the hell I could about the Cullens. They had to have known something. No one could have pulled off a stunt like that in the woods without some serious resources. And it would explain the funny look in Carlisle's eyes the day of the funeral – the one I've never been able to forget.
But where in the name of God could I even start?
Suddenly, I felt very alone. Jake couldn't help beyond what he'd already given me. Something – or someone – was holding him back. But what he hadn't said was more important than what he had. Never once did he discredit his father's claims. He knew it was true. It was all true.
I looked at the list, paper trembling in my unsteady hands. I finally had proof. Not a hell of a lot to stand on, but it was something. And after twenty years of being cop, I could work with something.
A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm so embarrassed about the wait. Please take some time to let me know what you thought!
Coming up next – Chapter 4: Everybody Lies