19

Bella and Edward shared a look before she snatched her phone out of James's hand, both rushing upstairs, past Victoria, and out to her truck.

"I should call the others."

Bella glanced at Edward before turning her attention back to the road. "Probably."

"How'd he get access to your apartment?"

"When I left, I paid out my lease. I assume they rented it to someone else."

"Oh. I thought . . . I thought maybe you'd kept it in case you ever came back."

"I was never coming back, Masen. Never." Bella pressed down on the gas pedal, using her blinker to change lanes. "Call him. Call all of them."

While Bella only heard one side of Edward's conversation with her father, she could tell from the tone of his replies that Charlie Swan wasn't happy they had been working the case on their own. Of course, Edward hadn't told him about the text messages or Bella turning to her ex-brother-in-law for help tracing Phillip Dwyer's whereabouts. No, he simply said they would explain later.

Fifteen minutes after they left James's house, Bella slammed on her brakes in front of Courtside Manor, a posh apartment complex in the heart of the city. When they decided to move in together, they looked at no less than a dozen apartments before finding one that was an equal distance from both their jobs.

After Garrett was murdered, Bella hadn't been able to handle being inside that apartment, where memories of him haunted her every moment. Packing only what was necessary, she left everything else behind.

But now, Philp Dwyer was bringing her back to the home she once shared with Garrett.

"He said we're to wait for backup."

"I'm not waiting for anyone," Bella muttered, glancing at Edward before she scrambled out of the truck and hurried into the building.

She drew her weapon as she ran up the first flight of stairs, the second, and then the third, hearing Edward following. She stopped outside of apartment 3B. Glancing over her shoulder, she lifted her foot and opened the door. A part of her expected to find Phillip Dwyer standing in the middle of the living room, his arms folded triumphantly in front of him.

But he wasn't.

The room was as barren as it had been when Bella walked out of it a year ago. Well, not entirely empty. The walls were covered with more pictures, these of a girl with long, dark hair. She was tall and thin, with dark eyes and a creamy complexion. She was young — very young. Barely out of her teens, if Bella had to guess.

"We should check the other rooms," Edward said, drawing her attention away from the pictures. "We need to clear the premises."

Bella barely nodded before she followed Edward through the living room and kitchen, down the small hallway, and finally into what was formally a guest bedroom, where they found every inch of every wall covered with pictures of their young, mystery girl.

Moving on to the master bedroom, they were unprepared for what they found.

On the far wall was a message created out of photographs of her and Garrett on their wedding day. They had chosen a small wedding, just their family, the members of her team, and a handful of guys Garrett worked with at the hospital. Her father had walked her down the aisle and placed her hand in Garrett's, who vowed to love, honor, and cherish her for the rest of his life. And he had, she thought. He had kept his vows while she put work before him time and again.

"Bee."

She couldn't look back at the sound of her father's voice. Her eyes were locked on the message on the wall.

"Tick-tock, my love."

"Bee," Charlie said again.

She inhaled a deep breath before she tore her attention away from the photos and looked at him. "She's our missing girl."

"How'd you know to come here, Bee?" Charlie asked, stepping toward her but stopping when she moved from him. "I'm not going to hurt you, honey."

"No, I know. I . . ." Bella exhaled a deep breath. "He started texting me again."

"He what?" Carlisle asked as he, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Newton, and Alice hurried into the room. "Are you fucking kidding, Bee?"

She shook her head, biting the inside of her lip. "Got the first message right after we made contact with Jessica Stanley."

"How many did he send you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Everything matters," Jasper quipped, walking over and reaching toward her back pocket.

"Get the fuck off me, Whitlock!"

"Give me your fucking phone, Bee," he demanded, once more reaching toward her back pocket. "Now!"

"Fine," she gritted through clenched teeth before she slammed her cell into his hand.

He glared before he opened her messages, his eyes widening as he read through her exchange with Phillip Dwyer. "Holy shit, Bee."

"Read them to us," Charlie ordered.

Jasper's eyes softened before he started with the first message, then her reply, as he continued reading. When finished, he pushed her phone back into her hands before stepping back. He, Emmett, Carlisle, and Rosalie stood shoulder to shoulder while Charlie glared at her as Edward inspected every inch of the photographs.

"Why did you think Dwyer was here, Bee?" Charlie asked, raising an eyebrow. "You went to him, didn't you?"

"I did," she admitted. "Figured it was worth the risk."

"Oh, yeah, because we don't have the technology to legally trace Dwyer's signal at the FBI. Definitely should have gone to a goddamn, common criminal."

"He worked faster than the lab would," she quipped, which turned out to be the wrong thing to say, seeing as Charlie grabbed her by the arm, dragged her out of the room, and out into the hallway, where he all but slammed her against the wall. "Get your fucking hand off me."

He released her arm. "Your attitude needs major adjusting, Bee."

"My attitude was perfectly fine when I was in Belcourt, North Dakota."

Charlie sighed, shaking his head. "I'm getting really tired of hearing that same bullshit out of your mouth. I may have sent Masen after you, Bee, but you decided to stay. Stop acting like you're not in this until the end, for God's sake, and start trusting us."

"Trusting you?" Bella scoffed. "I don't trust you, Dad. Not a single one of you. You've held back information from me and told the others to do the same. Not one of you took the time to train Masen to do anything other than scut work, but I'm supposed to trust you? The only person I trust right now faced a fucking blizzard for me!" she yelled, and a moment later, one of her old neighbors, a woman named Shelly Cope, poked her head out.

"Bella, dear, is that really you?" Shelly cooed, stepping into the hallway pulling on the front of her T-shirt.

"Hello, Mrs. Cope. Sorry if . . . if we bothered you."

"You're not bothering me, dear. I'm just surprised to see you here. I thought you moved."

"I did."

"Well, I wish that man who took over your apartment after you left would move."

"Who?" Charlie asked. "Did you ever get a name?"

"No, sir. I tried to talk to him right after he moved in, him and his girlfriend, but he told me to mind my own business. He was quite hateful about it, too. Poor girl was so embarrassed. She tried to apologize for his behavior, but he told her to keep her mouth shut and get inside. I complained to the office, but they never did anything about him."

"How long did they live here?" Bella asked before her father could.

"As far as I know, they still do. I haven't seen her in a while, but he was here last night." Shelly reached out, pulling Bella into an awkward hug. As much as she had learned to tolerate the woman, she had never understood her constant need to hug. "I've miss you, sweet girl."

"You too, Mrs. Cope." Bella pried herself out of the woman's embrace. "What did he look like? The man who rents the apartment, I mean?"

"Oh, well, let me think. He was tall, kind of big. Lots of muscles, I mean. He, um, he had dark eyes and dark hair. It was short when he first moved in, but now, it's longer. Almost to his shoulders."

Bella bit the inside of her lip as she opened her photos on her phone, scrolling until she found one of Phillip Dwyer. Exhaling slowly, she turned her cell toward the woman and said, "Is this the man who took over my apartment?"

"That's him."

"Did you ever get the name of the woman with him?"

"That was the weird part."

"Why?" Bella asked.

"Well, because her name was Bella, too. What are the odds of two women who, if I am honest, look similar and have the same name?"

"He called her Bella? Or did she call herself Bella?" she asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, he was the only one who referred to her by that name. She didn't seem to like it, either. I used to hear her crying through the walls."

"When was the last time you saw her here?"

"Almost a week, maybe longer. I don't know, Bella. I stopped paying attention to them."

"Thanks, Mrs. Cope."

Shelly nodded before she turned and headed back into her apartment. The second her door was shut, Bella felt her father place his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged off his touch and stepped away from him, leaning against the wall.

"Bee."

"It's all because of me, Dad. All because of me."

Sliding to the floor, she wrapped her arms around her knees, and for the first time since she was a little girl, she cried in front of her father.

—^—

Charlie attempted to soothe her, but he had never been good at dealing with her emotional outbursts. Even as a little girl, he would tell her crying was for babies, that she had to be stronger, braver, and more logical than other children. Never lose control, always keep the upper hand, he would tell her.

"Hey."

Bella tilted her head back, finding Carlisle leaning against the doorframe. "Leave me alone."

"Nope." He sat next to her, bending his knees. "I can still see Garrett inside there. Hear him telling me not to steal his woman away. Like I ever had a chance."

Bella hummed but didn't reply.

"You used to trust me above anyone else, Bee. Anyone. Now, now . . . you can't even look me in the eye."

"Why didn't you train Masen?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she tilted her head upward. "Why, Cullen? The man I used to partner with would never have treated a noob like that."

"Most noobs wouldn't have put up with it." Carlisle sighed. "I wanted to give the kid a chance, Bee, but he's annoying. All he did was talk about you, about your cases, about how you would do things differently."

"He really talked about me like that?"

Carlisle nodded. "In case you haven't noticed, Masen has a crush, Bee."

Bella bit the inside of her lip.

"Oh, I see."

"You see what?"

Carlisle leaned his head to the side. "You have a little crush on him."

"No, I don't," she scoffed, but when he laughed, she said, "I don't!"

"Okay, whatever you say." Carlisle stood. "Garrett wouldn't want you to wallow away for him, Bee. As annoying as I find Masen, you could do a lot worse." than that noob."

"I don't have feelings for him, Cullen, so shut the fuck up."

Smirking, Carlisle moseyed back into the apartment. Bella, though, couldn't handle being back inside there, so as the forensic team arrived to process the scene, she walked outside, sitting on the tailgate of her truck. After a couple of minutes, Edward joined her, though he didn't speak.

A few minutes of silence passed before she said, "Did he yell at you?"

"No."

"No?"

He shook his head. "Said we'd discuss it later. This wasn't the right time or place, but I need to get my priorities straight."

"Asshole," she scoffed. "I'm sorry. I should never have put you in the middle of my beef with my father."

Edward smiled. "You didn't. I'm the one who won't leave you alone, remember?"

"Masen," she whispered.

"You looked beautiful," he said, causing her to tilt her head in confusion. "On your wedding day, I mean. You . . . you were a beautiful bride."

"Oh, well, thanks, I guess." She dragged her hand through her hair. "Garrett wanted a wedding, not me. I wanted to get married at city hall, just us, but he wanted a wedding, so we . . . we had one. I felt like a fraud, but as soon as I saw him, I just . . . I wanted to be his wife."

Edward frowned.

"Not what you wanted to hear, is it?"

"It's not that."

"Then what is it?"

Edward shrugged. "Just . . . just seems to me that if he loved you the way he claimed, he wouldn't ask you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable."

"You didn't know him, Masen. You didn't . . . family was important to him."

"Okay."

Bella stood and turned to face him. "Don't say okay like you fucking knew him!"

"You're right, I didn't know him. But I would never ask you to put yourself out there when it's clear you're uncomfortable."

"Didn't you? When you came to Belcourt, I told you I didn't want to come back; I told you I was done. But you practically got on your knees and begged me to come back and save the fucking day."

"Because you're the only person who can get inside Dwyer's head and figure out his next step. Hiding won't bring Garrett justice. Or Bree, Jane, Chelsea, Gianna, Lauren, Heidi, or the girl whose pictures cover those walls. They deserve justice, don't you think?"

"Of course I do. I just . . ." Bella curled her hands into tight fists. "How do I stop him when he keeps changing the rules, Masen?"

"We have to figure out how to make him play our game."

But before she could press Edward for more details on his plan, the rest of their team trickled out of the building, gathering around the two of them with scowls on their faces. Sooner or later, they were going to have to sit and work out their issues, but right now, stopping Phillip Dwyer was their top priority. At least, that's what she told herself.

"They're still processing the scene, but it doesn't look like we're going to get much," Rosalie said, folding her arms. "Thanks to the noob pushing for us to look at missing girls, we think we have an ID on the one in the pictures, though."

"Who is she?" Bella asked. "What's her name?"

Emmett and Jasper shared a look before he said, "Webber. Angela Webber."

Bella put her hand up. "Wait, Webber? Wasn't that the name of one of Marcus Henderson's victims? Her first name was Mary, though. Mary Webber."

Jasper nodded. "Angela is her daughter."

Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! Big thank you to Sunflower Fran for being an awesome beta. I'm just going to go hide . . .