13
"Lauren!"
Bella was startled when the door was thrown open, and Tyler Crowley rushed inside. His eyes landed on her before shifting to Lauren, who had begun to sob. Bella stepped out of the way and hurried into the hallway, stopping long enough to see Tyler fall to his knees at her bedside, clasping her face between his hands as they both cried.
She shut the door behind her, letting them have their moment of privacy. Feeling a hand come to rest on her shoulder, she shrugged it off before turning and giving her father a look that screamed not to touch her again. She was barely keeping it together as it was, and the last thing she wanted was pity.
Especially not his.
"We need to search abandoned factories, places with iron pipes. Processing plants that specialize in dairy or meat. She said there was a rotten egg, sulfur smell that lingered," Bella said, trying to keep her voice from breaking. "And he left us a clue to his next victim."
"What?" Rosalie asked.
"Initials," Bella told them. "J.A.S."
"We need to push her for more details. He left her alive for a reason, for Christ's sake!" Charlie exclaimed.
"Well, if you're going to ask her anything else, you should hurry," Peter said, drawing their attention. He was holding a piece of paper in his hands as he looked at each of them, stopping on Bella last. "She's dying."
"What? What are you talking about?" Edward asked, but Bella just stared at the doctor.
"He knew when he left her here she was dying. Son-of-a-bitch wouldn't have left her like that without some kind of assurance that she wouldn't live long." Bella clenched her hands into tight fists as she spoke. "He poisoned her, didn't he?"
Peter nodded. "She has dangerous levels of Hemlock in her system."
"Of course, because he hadn't destroyed her enough as it was."
Bella walked down the hallway, finding the first empty corridor she could find, and slid to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees to keep from screaming.
He was never going to stop.
He'd tortured that girl, forced her to look at the tattoo on his chest as he brutalized her, literally cut her body into pieces, and as if that hadn't been enough, he'd poisoned her. He wanted Bella to know about his tattoo, another reminder of how much he'd taken from her.
"Bee."
Bella tensed, looking over to find Carlisle standing at the end of the hallway. He had his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, and his tie was crooked. She used to give him so much crap about how his tie was never straight. He'd laugh and tell her he just needed a good woman to fix it for him. A constant flirt who knew she would never, ever step out on her husband. It was just the way they were until she walked away from everything and everyone.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Just checking on you," he said, leaning against the wall. "Your dad has Masen running a search on factories while Ro tries to figure out how Dwyer got his hands on Hemlock."
She nodded. "Shouldn't you be doing something useful?"
"I am." He shrugged. "I'm checking on my partner, though she seems to have traded me in for a younger model. Just like a woman," he teased. But when she didn't react, he sighed. "Sorry. Guess this isn't the time."
"You still seeing what's-her-name? Tonya?"
"Tanya, and no," he scoffed. "Bitch was crazy. Pulled a knife on me when I ended things, too."
"What the fuck, Cullen?"
"I know, I know. Last I heard, she was in Alaska with her mother." Carlisle walked over and sat on the floor next to her. "I've missed you, Bee."
She nodded.
"Why are you working with Masen and not me? We've been partners since your first day out of the academy."
"I told you. Someone has to teach him, and since none of you will, I guess I have to."
"We haven't treated him any differently than anyone else joining the team."
"Bullshit," she scoffed. "You never withheld evidence from case files with me or Ro."
"That wasn't us. That was your old man."
"So? You still knew better."
He nodded. "We did, but you know how he is. He didn't think you would come back so easily. He figured you'd do something illegal, like hack into our system. I mean, shit, Bee, you did design it."
"Didn't see the point," she quipped. "Masen wouldn't take no for an answer."
"And since when is that a legitimate excuse? Not like we all didn't try to get you to come back."
Bella rolled her eyes. "I didn't want to come back. Ever, Cullen. I'm done. I'm so fucking done with the job. Why can't you just let me be?"
"If you were done, really done, Bee, you wouldn'tbe sitting here, would you?"
And before she could refute anything he said, Carlisle was on his feet and walking away.
—^—
"Thought I might find you here."
Bella looked over at the end of the corridor, finding Edward leaning against the wall. "Did you find anything?"
"Besides you?" he asked, smiling. "We've narrowed it down to five abandoned factories located in the warehouse district. Three used to be poultry processing plants, but the other two were slaughterhouses. We're just waiting on warrants so we can search them."
Bella nodded and turned her attention back to her phone, where she'd been searching for tattoo artists who specialized in portraits.
"Are you okay?"
"No," she admitted, watching as he walked over and sat next to her. "Are you?"
"No."
"He's sadistic, Masen. Fucking sadistic, and I don't . . . I don't know how to get inside his head in order to stop him."
"What'd she tell you? Why was she asking for you specifically?"
Bella sighed. "He has a tattoo of me on his chest."
"You?"
She nodded. "With my name and a date."
"What was the date?"
Bella tilted her head in his direction, tears burning her eyes as she said, "September thirteenth."
"What's so special about September the thirteenth?"
"It's my birthday."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"How would he know when your birthday is?"
"How does he know anything about me? He's clever, Masen. He's . . . he's smart and devious, and when he locks his sights on someone, he won't stop until he gets them."
"So if he wants you, why is he going after all these other women? Why not come for you directly?"
"Because where's the fun in that?" she asked, leaning her head to the side as she looked at him. "You don't understand him at all, do you?"
"No, I don't, and honestly, I'm okay with that."
"You can't be okay with that. Part of the job, Masen, is learning to get inside the head of our killers. Why did Phillip Dwyer suddenly start targeting women? And why women with brown hair, and brown eyes? Why virgins?"
"I don't . . . I don't know."
"You have to know. If you're going to catch him, if you are going to stop him, you have to know."
"Then tell me."
"Okay." Bella nodded and pulled her knees to her chest. "Before Dwyer took a baseball to the side of his head, he was engaged to a woman named Kate. They'd met in college, fell in love, seemed to have it all. But after he had to quit playing baseball, he changed. Within a few years, she'd broken off their engagement and all but disappeared."
"You never found Kate?"
"No, I did," Bella told him, speaking softly. "After I left, I tracked her down to a small farmhouse in Northern Iowa. She . . . she was hesitant to talk to me, of course."
"Of course, but she did, didn't she?"
Bella nodded. "She told me all the boring details about how they met. A fraternity party, she was being harassed by one of the brothers. Dwyer stopped the douche from putting his hands on her, walked her home, and as a thank you, she insisted on buying him dinner the next night. They fell in love, blah, blah, blah, and the night he got his offer to play in the minors, he got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. She said yes and started planning the wedding of her dreams. And when he got moved to the majors, they started to plan a family.
But then he took a line drive to the side of his head. She told me he changed. He became aggressive and cruel. First, she thought it was just because his career had ended, and he needed time to grieve, to adjust.
But eventually, he started abusing her. Started with verbal abuse. You know, calling her a bitch, slut, whore. Accused her of having affairs with men she worked with. Then, the abuse turned physical. He would hit her if she wasn't waiting next to the door for him when he got home. He expected her to submit to him in every possible way, and when she refused, he would beat her."
"He sexually assaulted her?"
Bella nodded. "That's when she left. Said there was a look in his eyes that scared her, a darkness that had her running. So she packed a bag and left in the middle of the night. Whether he chased after her or not, I don't know, but it wasn't long before he set his sights on Bree Tanner."
"I'm going to guess Kate was a brunette."
Bella nodded. "And she had brown eyes and was a virgin when they met. They were waiting until they were married before having sex, so when he raped her, he stole not just her dignity but her virginity, too.
"Why wasn't any of this in his file?"
"Because I was done with the case, Masen. Done until you dragged me back in."
"If you were done, you never would have sought her out in the first place," he argued.
"That's fair," she admitted. "I didn't want to end up like her, I guess."
"What do you mean?"
Bella stood. "Kate killed herself in front of me. I brought every horrible, traumatic moment of her life with him back to the forefront because I was nosy. She walked into her bedroom, pulled out a revolver she kept in the table next to the bed, put the barrel in her mouth, and pulled the trigger."
"Are you saying you want to kill yourself because I came for you?" he asked, sliding up the wall.
"I've wanted to kill myself since the night he stole my husband from me, Masen. I'm just too scared to do it. Maybe I'll get lucky, and Dwyer will finally end the game once and for all."
Standing abruptly, she then turned and walked away.
Edward followed as he had been doing since she pulled him out of the middle of a blizzard. Bella tried her damnedest to keep from looking at him. Why she felt this need to be vulnerable with him was something she didn't understand. Yet, he had her spilling all her secrets, exposing her damaged soul, and almost begging him to hold her together.
"Where are we on the warrants?" she asked, clearing her throat first. "Well?"
"Calm down, Bee," Charlie said, putting his hand up. "They just came through. We're heading over now, but maybe you should stay here."
"Maybe I should have stayed in North Dakota," she quipped, then turned and pushed the door to Lauren's room open.
Tyler was lying on the bed with her. Her eyes were closed, her blood pressure and pulse were low. The effects of Hemlock, she thought.
"How is she?"
"Not good," he replied, his tone raw and emotional. "She's dying. That doctor said she's dying. He said it like . . . like it wasn't a big deal. She . . ." Tyler shook his head. "He dragged her through Hell, Agent Swan, didn't he?"
"He did."
"Why her? Why'd he go after her? Why, Agent Swan? Why?"
"I don't know." Bella walked to the other side of the bed, placing her hand on Lauren's shoulder. "Have you called her parents?"
"They should be here in the morning. Had to pay for their flights, of course," he said. "But they're her parents, and they should get the chance to . . . to say goodbye."
"I'm sorry I couldn't save her, Tyler." Bella turned and walked over to the door but paused and looked back at him, saying, "I'm going to stop him. One way or another, I'm going to stop him."
"She deserved better, Agent Swan. She deserved so much better than this."
"They all do." Bella pulled the door open and left him to soothe the love of his life as she died.
—^—
The Warehouse District was located in the eastern part of Washington, D.C. Largely abandoned, the area had been known as a hub for the homeless. With five different possible buildings to search, they were forced to split up — something that didn't sit well with Bella.
Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle, and Rosalie each led a team from D.C. Swat into the first four venues, while Edward, Charlie, and Bella led their own team. The second she entered, she knew this was where he'd held Lauren Mallory.
Not only was the smell of rotten eggs and sulfur strong, but there was a feeling of foreboding in the air, one that had her struggling to keep from retching. As they made their way through the factory, Bella kept her finger wrapped around the handle of her weapon, ready to flip off the safety and shoot on sight. Of course, she knew Dwyer wouldn't still be there. He would have known it wouldn't take much for them to figure out where he'd been holding her. All part of his game, she thought.
Bella and Edward found themselves standing in front of a thick, iron door. They shared a look before Edward reached out and turned the handle. An eerie creak echoed.
"Oh, my God," Edward grimaced and looked away.
The smell was revolting, a mixture of feces, urine, and blood.
"Man up, Masen. This is part of the fucking job," she quipped before stepping into the room.
She'd only made it halfway down the staircase when she knew this was the room where Lauren had been kept. Like she had said, it was cold and damp. It was small, only about ten feet by twelve feet, if Bella had to guess. In the far corner was the chair he'd tied her to. Wooden, iron spikes covered the seat, back, armrests, and legs. In the opposite corner was a filthy mattress stained in dark, crimson blood. Whips, chains, and rusty knives lay flat on a wooden table.
"Look," Edward said, drawing her attention to a plastic bag under the table. "Hemlock."
She picked up the bag and held it in front of her flashlight. The stems were reddish and hollow, the leaves bright green and resembled those on ferns, and each stem had tiny, white flowers arranged in small, umbrella-shaped clusters.
"Bee." She turned and looked at the bottom of the staircase where her father stood. "Something you need to see."
"I'm busy."
"Bee," he said, this time firmer. "There is something you need to see."
Sighing, she tossed the bag onto the table and followed him upstairs, down the hallway, turning left, then right, then right again before her father led her into another room; this one almost twice as big as the one he'd held Lauren Mallory inside.
"Holy fuck," she swore as she stopped and looked around.
Her eyes filled with tears — tears she tried to keep from falling but feeling the moisture cascading down her cheeks, she knew she failed.
She failed because every inch of all four walls and the ceiling were covered in pictures of her. Only, these pictures, unlike the ones he'd taken of her before he killed Garrett, were from her life in Belcourt, North Dakota.
Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! Big shout out to Sunflower Fran for being an amazing Beta and friend! If yu love all things Twilight, check out her group on Facebook: It All Started With Twilight. It's my favorite group!
As I said in The Bodyguard, I will be taking a short break from writing. I just need to focus on my mental health.