Chapter 3 : Missing Wife

Rosalie led Edward to the truck, and showed him its wheels. He knelt to examine them closer.

"Look at the tires," Rosalie told him. "They're brand new."

"You're right."

"I'm always right."

After a short pause, she continued :

"Anyway, let's head to Charles' house to search it."

They ran to the house, and were standing on the doorstep of the house, when they realized they had forgotten to steal Charles' keys.

"Nevermind, let's pick the lock," Rose said.

Edward hesitated a little. He was usually against anything against the law - such as breaking into someone's house - but this time he let it go for Esme's sake.

"Right," Rosalie said once they were in. "We've only got one hour tops until Charles comes back from the police station, so we better hurry."

"You go upstairs and search the bedroom, I'll start in the living room," Edward suggested.

"Okay," Rose agreed. "Call me if you find anything that might give us a clue."

He nodded, and she climbed the stairs.

"Let's go," she sighed to herself, reaching for the door handle of what had once been Esme's room.

It was tidy, not small but not big either. The open window let in the warm air of this summer night. The bed was made. There were two night tables, one by each side of it. Rosalie first searched the one furthest to the door, on the right side. On top of it, there was only a little alarm clock. Rose opened its drawer : it contained a few photos and a ring. Esme's wedding

ring ! Rosalie realized. She had most likely taken it off after her talk with Rose the week before. This proved that Esme had intended to divorce Charles. Rose pocketed the ring.

She then grabbed the pictures. On the first one, Esme and Edward, aged approximately six, were laughing in the sunlight.

"Aw…" sighed Rosalie.

The second one showed Rosalie and Esme. Esme was older on this one. Rose remembered it was taken on their first day of middle school by her mother. The girls had an arm around each other's waist and were smiling widely.

A wave of nostalgia hit Rosalie. She stifled it. Now was not the time. Later. She'd grieve later. Once Esme was avenged.

The third picture represented Edward, Rosalie and Esme together at the mall. They were in their late teens now, and were making goofy faces at the camera. Rosalie was definitely taking the photos, if not only for Edward's hilarious expression on this one.

The last picture was the only one which included someone Rosalie did not know. It was the most recent. In fact, it looked like it had been taken only a few months ago at most. Esme was holding hands with a blond guy, about Esme's age, with kind blue eyes. An amused smile floated on his lips and Esme was laughing. Rose guessed he had just told her a funny joke. But who was this guy ? And how come Esme had never told her about him ? Were he and Esme secretly dating ? Rosalie would all figure it out later. She put the photographs in her purse with Esme's ring, and moved on to Charles' night table.

Nothing on the top. Rosalie opened the drawer. It was empty except for one thing : a folded piece of paper. Rose picked it up and unfolded it. It was a letter.

"Holy shit," she gasped. "I can't believe it…"

She was torn between wanting to laugh, cry or puke.

Charles, my roaring tiger, it began ("Ugh," Rosalie groaned."),

I'm delighted to hear you'll soon get rid of your wife ! Believe me, life will be so much better now. We'll live happily ever after, alone and unbothered in your large house ! You chose the right thing, my ferocious lion, by deciding to eliminate her. You'll feel amazing with me. I can't wait to become the new Mrs Evenson ! Honestly, I don't understand why you married that bitch in the first place. She doesn't (or didn't, now, I guess ? serves her well) deserve an amazing man like you, so much higher in wealth and in society.

I look forward to seeing you real soon (tomorrow after work ?)

Your wild kitty,

Lauren

Rose was beyond appalled. Charles had killed Esme for Lauren ? And what was it with all these animal pet names ? 'My ferocious lion" ? "Your wild kitty" ? Seriously ? Esme had been right after all. Charles was cheating on her with Lauren Mallory, the new secretary. Rosalie shook her head sadly, then frowned. But had Esme been cheating on Charles too ? With the blond-haired man from the photograph ? Rose took it out of her bag and observed it closely.

Esme had her eyes closed because she was laughing, but he was looking at her with - was that love in his eyes ? Did he love Esme ? If he did, was Esme aware of it ? Was she in love with him too ? Were they together ? Rosalie huffed, She had no way to answer any of these questions. Unless… I could ask Edward. Maybe Esme told him. Oh, and I have to show him the letter.

"Edward ?" she called.

"Yeah ," she heard his faint answer.

"Can you come up here ?"

"Coming !"

His footsteps echoed in the stairs and there he was.

"Look," Rosalie said, thrusting the picture in his hands.

"Is that Esme with… some guy ?"

"So you don't know who he is ?" she asked, disappointed.

"Nope," he said. "But maybe we could persuade Chief Swan to look for him through the police records ? Maybe he knows that guy ?"

"I doubt it," Rose sighed, "but we can always try."

Looking at his watch, Edward said :

"Besides, we have to leave. Charles could come back anytime now."

"By the way, I found a few other things," Rose said. "I'll show you later."

When Rosalie and Edward entered the police station again, they were welcomed again by Chief Swan.

"Charles Evenson just left, you've missed him by a few minutes," he told them.

"That's good," Rose said. "We've got a few things to tell you. Alone."

While on the way, she and Edward had decided to tell him everything, in hopes he might help them.

"Let's go to my office, shall we ?" the policeman suggested.

"All right, I'm listening," he said, sitting in a chair.

Rosalie and Edward sat in front of him, and Rose started talking. She told Chief Swan about the strong friendship that had united her and Esme ; that they met every Tuesday evening for dinner and a glass of wine ; how, the last time she'd seen her, she'd persuaded her to divorce her husband after Esme had confided that she thought he was cheating on her ; that Esme had decided to confront him ; and how, tonight, Esme had been missing. She explained that Esme was seldom late, and would have texted her if that had been the case or if this time she hadn't been able to come. She told him of her suspicions against Charles, how he'd clearly been lying about being worried about his 'beloved wife', that he'd never cared for Esme, that he was an enormous asshole (at that point Edward muttered "Language," but Chief Swan waved his hand to signify he didn't mind). Finally, she related her and Edward's expedition in Charles' empty house while he was here, and what she'd found in the master bedroom.

"I only had time to search his and Esme's night tables," Rose said, regretful, "but I found a few things that caught my attention."

She opened her purse and took out Esme's ring, Lauren's letter and the photographs.

"There," she pushed the ring and the letter towards Chief Swan but gave the photographs to Edward (she'd only shown him the one with the mysterious blond guy, and he hadn't seen the others).

No one talked as both men looked at what Rosalie had found.

"Hmm, this sure is interesting," Chief Swan said once he'd finished reading the letter.

He then eyed the ring.

"And this is …?"

"Esme's wedding ring," Rose answered. "She'd taken it off. This means she was going to divorce Charles."

"I think you're right," the policeman approved. "Was there something else ?" he asked.

"Right," Rosalie said. "The pictures."

She looked at Edward and realized with surprise that he was crying quietly.

"Hey, are you okay ?" she asked softly.

He was holding the oldest photo, the one with him and Esme from when they were little children.

"I'm fine," he whispered, taking a shaky breath.

Rosalie understood what he felt. She, too, had been hit by a powerful wave of nostalgia when she'd found these pictures. She, too, had grieved the loss of her most beloved friend (or, in Edward's case, his sister). She was now convinced Esme was dead.

However, she'd stayed strong. She needed to, for Esme's sake. She needed to avenge her.

Which meant Charles had to die. Rosalie would make sure his end wasn't peaceful. But before that, Rose and Edward had to find the place where the asshole had hidden his wife's corpse. And, to achieve this goal, they needed Chief Swan's help. Plus, they had to figure out who the guy in the photograph was.

Rosalie tried to communicate all of this to Edward through her gaze as she stared intently in his eyes. He seemed to understand at least some part of it, for he wiped his tears off his face and took the picture with the blond guy.

"Do you know who this is ?" he asked as he held it out to Chief Swan, who'd stayed quiet through it all.

A spark of recognition flashed in the policeman's eyes.

"The blond man is Dr Carlisle Cullen, he's worked with me a few times when I had to solve cases which necessitated medical advice. I don't know who the woman is —"

He lifted his head, and observed Edward's features for a few seconds, before looking back down at the photograph.

"— though, now that I think about it, she resembles you a lot," he told Edward. "I assume she's your sister, Esme Evenson ?" he continued.

The man was way more observant than Rosalie had given him credit for.

Edward nodded.

"You're right," he said.

"Hmm. She's holding hands with Dr Cullen. Were they secretly dating ?"

"We don't know," Rose intervened. "We didn't even know who Dr Cullen was. Esme's never told either of us about him," she added, trying with little success to hide the sourness in her voice.

"Would you mind giving us Dr Cullen's number ?" Edward enquired. "So we can contact him and ask him what was going on between my sister and him ? Besides, even if their relationship was only platonic, they seemed quite close," he said, eyeing their intertwined hands.

"Not close enough that Esme would bother telling us about him," Rose mumbled.

She knew her attitude was petty, and that there were much more serious matters to attend to, but she couldn't help it. She had always thought that there were no secrets between her and Esme ; that they always shared everything. She was hurt to discover that was not the case.

Edward ignored her and continued :

"He should know that Esme's missing."

He gulped.

"And that she's most likely dead."

Rosalie and Edward were walking slowly towards Edward's house. He had suggested Rose stayed at his house until they solved the Evenson case, and both of them had called their respective bosses to say they were sick and therefore would not be able to come to work for a few days.

Once that was over, they had decided to call Carlisle Cullen (Chief Swan had agreed to give them his number) and fix a time to meet him, after Edward had declared they couldn't possibly break the news on the phone.

After a few rings, someone picked up and an agreeable male voice said :

"Hello, this is Dr Cullen speaking. How can I help you ?"

"Good evening, Dr Cullen," Edward answered.

He'd put the call on speaker so that Rose could hear.

"This isn't a medical affair, but rather something more…personal. Do you know someone called Esme Evenson ?"

There was a silence at the other end of the line, then Dr Cullen spoke again.

"Esme ? Is she alright ? Did someone hurt her ?" he asked with anguish evident in his voice.

"What do I tell him ?" Edward mouthed to Rosalie. He didn't know how to escape the questions and ask to meet him (though they were strangers) without divulging anything.

"Say that you're Esme's brother, and you need to talk to him," Rosalie answered silently.

"I'm Esme's brother," Edward said, avoiding the questions.

"Edward ? Esme told me a lot about you. She also told me about her best friend, Rosalie Hale."

"That's me," Rosalie answered.

She was half-pleased that Esme had told him about them, and half-angry that she hadn't told them about him.

"Oh ? I'm delighted to meet you !" he exclaimed, sounding surprisingly sincere.

"So are we," assured Edward. "Actually, we were calling you to ask you if you'd be available to meet us ?"

"I'd be glad to," Dr Cullen said. "When ? I can't tomorrow, but maybe the day after ?"

"That would be perfect for us," Edward said. "Which time suits you best ?"

"Let me think… I finish my shift at 3 p.m. that day, I could meet you at 4 p.m. ?"

"Great."

Edward gave Dr Cullen his address.

"Will Esme be there ?" Dr Cullen asked anxiously.

"Uh…"

Edward considered lying to him to make sure he came, fearing he wouldn't if he told him Esme wouldn't be there, but Rosalie interrupted :

"No, Dr Cullen. I'm sorry, but she won't. We'll explain everything."

Rose hated lying, even if it was for a good cause.

"Please call me Carlisle. Is she all right ? I haven't seen her or heard from her for almost two days. She usually texts me every day. This is unlike her."

Edward and Rosalie looked at each other, shock written clearly all over their faces. Esme and Carlisle, as he had asked them to call him, obviously knew each other much better than they expected.

She texts him every single day ? Rosalie was enraged. For how long had this been going on without her noticing ? Esme was her best friend, for fuck's sake !

"Um, it's complicated," Rose said. "I promise we'll tell you everything when we see you."

"Okay," Carlisle said reluctantly. "Well, I have to get back to work. Goodbye !"

"See ya," Rosalie called.

"Have a good shift," Edward said, and he hung up.

Rose sighed, then said :

"Well, they were obviously much closer than we thought, even after seeing the photo."

"We're still not sure they're lovers," Edward said.

"Please."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"He's totally Esme's type - which is the total opposite of Charles , might I add - boy, that douchebag was Esme's biggest mistake. And that is saying something, considering she dated Marcus in high school."

"At least he was nice. You dated Royce in high school," Edward said, humour evident in his voice.

"And you dated Tanya," Rose reminded him, effectively wiping his smile off his face. "God, what a whore that girl was."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Edward sighed.

"Especially in high school," Rose laughed.

"Especially in high school," Edward agreed.

They shared a knowing smile.

I hope you enjoyed ! (Also, I know Carlisle wasn 't there in the song, but I had to include him. Carlesme forever!)