Chapter 41

Song for this Chapter: Some of It by Eric Church

Mama4Dukes, was gracious enough to Beta this chapter for me, and I can't thank her enough! Love you girlie

Izzy's POV

We all stayed quiet for a while. Dad and I had our dinner at around midnight. I was lost in my thoughts. So, a wolf that died from a beating? I remembered what the pack had been like. They'd bang their heads against trees just to see who would pass out first. Anything to win a bet or a dare.

Dad had to shoot Paul straight through his brain stem to end him. I watched the others as they, too, were lost in their own thoughts. I stepped outside, and Jasper followed me. We both lit up and just stared at the stars above us.

"That day… The day I was turned, I remember driving in the car towards the committee meeting. Thinking about how the trees we were passing had been there since before I was born and how they'd still be there long after I was gone… When I look up and see the stars, it reminds me of those thoughts."

Jasper wrapped his arms around my waist. Rested his head on top of mine.

"Just remember that stars fall from the sky all the time… So do trees. Their rotting stems led to new growth. Everything happens for a reason, Sunshine." He kissed the top of my head and led the way into the house.

Charlotte, Peter, and Dad were now back in the dining room. I watched as Dad moved one sheet of paper and moved on to the next section of stacks.

I could see 'Chief Swan' as he tried to pull all the different leads he had to follow. It made me smile. I picked up my laptop and sat in my chair, ready to start a search when one was needed. And I didn't have to wait long.

"Bells, do you have our old family tree downloaded onto that thing?"

"No, but I can get an Ancestry account pretty quickly." At his nod, I quickly started my 7-day free trial.

"Start with Thomas Lee Swan, born September 20th,1927, and see what pops up."

I looked at the page and there was a leaf with the name and birthday of my grandfather. An old granny photo of his work badge showed up. My grandmother's name and picture showed up as well. Betty Marie Swan, She'd been a beautiful woman.

I nodded in Dad's direction.

"Does my dad have any leaves next to his name?" I nodded again and clicked it.

"It shows that he had two siblings. Bret Thomas Swan was killed in WW2. It only shows that he was born in 1922 and that he died in 1945." My dad nodded his head.

"Does it mention anything about Molly?"

"Hold on, let me go back and click her leaf."

I went back and clicked her leaf. I nodded. "Found her."

"Okay, does her name just say the year?"

"No, she was born March 12th, 1915. And she died on April 5th,1968. That's the same day Levi died, right?"

"Yeah, it is…" My dad was thinking pretty hard for a second, then said.

"Is there another leaf on her page?"

"Yep."

"What does it say?"

"Son, Quil Ateara Jr. born March 31st, 1968. He died…"

We both said the date at the same time.

"June 1st, 1985."

"He died right before high school graduation. I lost my dad less than three weeks after that. Lost my mom that October. When I met your Mom that November, I well, you were born that following year."

"So your Aunt Molly had a baby at 52 years old. And she and Levi Uley, a shifter, both died on the same day?" Peter questioned.

"That's what it says here," I pointed towards my computer.

"Blunt force trauma to the head, we know what will take out a wolf… Paul…" my dad whispered.

"What would have had to happen to Levi to cause his death in such a matter?"

Peter replied, "Another wolf or someone who knew a wolf?"

I had to look at the board. "Why would James Ateara kill a wolf?"

Jasper started talking then, "Let me see Alice's folder again. Sunshine, do me a favor and look up anything you can on Dr. David Limon, PsyD, on that thing."

So, I quickly left Ancestry and went to Google.

After quickly typing in his name, a bunch of newspaper articles from the 1920s popped up. I glanced at an article from the Biloxi Herald.

"Dr Limon, a lifelong resident of the Biloxi area, was found dead near Olympia, WA, this past weekend. Though he'd been under investigation for alleged crimes at the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum (MSLA) for many years. There are only small details being released by the authorities in Washington State at this time…"

"It's dated right before Christmas, December 21st, 1939."

"I wish I could find something out about the date that Ruth Mehta-Ateara died…"

"Bingo, I found it. December 20th, 1939. That's what Jenk's investigators found. They don't have an exact DOB, but she was born in 1924. So she too was only 16 when she got married."

"Why did you want me to look up some dead Dr from Biloxi?"

"That MSLA doctor that you read about being under investigation… That's the place that housed Alice. If he was under investigation? I'd bet my last dollar that he ran to Washington state to get out from underneath it."

"Did the paper say how the investigation started in the first place?" Dad asked.

So I read while the others started adding different names and dates to more poster boards. Our dining room was starting to look like a classroom.

My brain couldn't stand the information overload, so I stepped outside, taking my computer with me. I was in real need of a nicotine buzz, though those don't happen anymore. I guess I just couldn't function with all of that mess going on around me.

After I found what I thought they were looking for, I brought Dad a bag of blood and my computer back inside. Juggling things like this was a lot easier as a vampire.

"So it seems there were many people who died while under Dr Limon's care. Most of them are teenage girls. An anonymous source had some paperwork mailed to the newspaper with lots of evidence, and they alerted the police."

"Three guesses on who that anonymous source was… and the first two don't count," Peter said.

"Alice!" We all sound in unison.

"So she was turned into a vampire at a mental asylum in 1920…" my mind was processing. "She can see visions even before she's turned. So what? It takes her 19 years to find the doctor who tried to kill her?"

"No, I'm thinking that Alice and Rosalie might have more in common than meets the eye," Jasper spoke.

"Huh?" Both Dad and I are clueless as to what he means.

"Y'all know how Rose was changed." At our nods, he continued, "Rosalie had a flair for the dramatic…"

"I couldn't tell." I snarked.

"Understandment of the century," Charlotte bellowed.

"Anyway, Rose picked off each of those men one by one. She played cat and mouse with each of them for months at a time. She ended her play when she saved Royce as the last one."

"You think Alice toyed with the man for 19 years? And then right around 1940, decides she's done?"

"Nope. I think she chose that place and time." Peter was happy as a lark.

"Why, though? Why not just find him and kill him?" I didn't get it.

"Sunshine, listen to me. I know you're not that naive girl I left in Forks, but there are some people, some vampires, out there that are so crazy we can't understand them. Not because we're stupid or naive, but because sane people can't grasp the concept of others' insanity. That's probably the reason she didn't kill you, when you were a child…"

I could agree with him on that.

Because I was lost and needed to find a map.

"Why that time and place, though?" My dad was in his element.

My dad kept walking around the room, looking from one board to the next. His arms were folded, and his right elbow was bent. I watched as his fingers tapped his lips.

"Bells, do you think that your friend Ava might take a call from you?"

I thought for a second, shaking my head in denial.

"Dad, she knows about vampires. She knows about shapeshifters. She knows about imprints and all that goes with that. But her nephew was my attorney at the committee hearing. Mark Azalf. He told me when we were outside that he'd talked to her the day before the hearing. She told him that she knew me. He'll know that Bella Swan is dead. He'll have told her by now. So how can I just call her?"

"By picking up the phone." It was Peter who said that.

"We still have to work within the parameters of the law here, people. I just got here as a vampire. I'm not taking a chance of losing it now by doing something really stupid."

"But Izzy, listen, you said so yourself. 'She knows.'"

"I don't believe any of us are willing to lose our lives over this. But I'm with Peter and Charlie on this one, Sunshine. Call her."

"Maybe we ought to consult with Marcus first?"

All four of them yelled, "NO!"

"Okay so say I do call her. What the hell am I going to say to a senior citizen about how I'm not dead? Just technology dead?"

I don't know. Maybe I'm just not as crazy as the others are. Or maybe I'm just scared of getting rejected once again. I left the dining room and stepped outside. The pull off of my cigarette was enough to hot box it, but I didn't care.

I'd been out here about a half hour. The sun was starting to go down when Jasper came outside with a piece of loose leaf paper in his right hand and my cell in his other.

"These are the questions that your dad and Peter need answers to." I read the list. "I'll be right here with you. Either way, this has to be done. We believe you were right and that she holds the answers somehow."

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