Return of the King By A Cullen Wannabe

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6312308/1/

The Return of The King

It was a pitch black, humid, June night. I walked up to the yellow crime scene
tape, lifting it to step under while showing my badge to the black and whites
guarding the perimeter. They nodded solemnly, shifting their gazes back to watch
around them. The flashing blue and reds illuminated my way down the small hill
toward the tree line with a dizzying strobe of alternating color as I cursed myself
for not grabbing my flashlight. I'd been doing this for four years now, one would
think I would be more scout-like and always be prepared.

I stumbled slightly at the bottom of the hill, as McCarty caught my arm with a
chuckle. "Careful there, Swan, don't want to have to haul you off tonight as well."

I rolled my eyes and yanked my arm away in a huff. "Quit the shit and tell me
what we've got."

Agent McCarty schooled his face quickly, his boy-like charm disappearing to make
way for his professional side. He had been on the team back when I started four
years before, but passed up the opportunity to lead the squad when the offer
presented itself. He claimed his strengths rested solely in investigation, not
paperwork and kowtowing to the bosses. When he turned down the job, they
then offered the position to me. Honestly, I was shocked. While I had the second
highest seniority within our group, I was still not much more than a rookie myself
when I was handed the mantle of leadership three months ago. It was different
being the boss, but for some reason the position seemed to be a good fit for me.

McCarty handed me a spare flashlight from his waistband as he led me toward
the place where our victim lay just inside the line of trees lit by large mobile
spotlights. "We have an unidentified Caucasian female, about five foot eight and
approximately eighteen to twenty two years of age. She was found in this
location approximately two hours ago by a passing motorist who had a flat tire.
When they stopped the car, their dog jumped out and ran straight to the
remains. We have no official time of death, but Whitlock and Brandon estimate
due to the degree of decomposition that the victim has been deceased for
approximately 72 hours, possibly more. There has been nearly zero animal
disturbance of the remains which they find suspect, and indications have been
found at the scene to suggest the body was placed post mortem. At first glance,
cause of death appears to be a knife wound to the neck, but with the lack of
animal disturbance, the squints suspect potential chemical contamination as well,
but we won't know more about that until they can examine the samples and the
body in the lab."

We reached the small circle of outfitted CSI scouring the area for clues as the
photographer's camera flashed at a place on the ground several yards away
where a tech directed for documentation of something he or she had found. As
we reached the group, Jasper Whitlock and Alice Brandon were chattering
excitedly over something they were examining in a plastic bag while Rosalie Hale
leaned over the body with a scowl, examining the physical wounds more closely. I
knew that look. This victim had been sexually violated; something that always
affected Rosalie quite strongly considering her own past history. Unfortunately, a
great number of our cases involved similar atrocities. I often wondered how she
found the strength to come to work every day.

Back behind the group, standing alone was the new kid, Edward Cullen. Well, I
say new kid, but in reality, he's actually a year older than me, and a whole hell of
a lot smarter with a doctorate in Psychology and a master's in Criminal Justice.
He was brought into the team to fill out the position when our former leader, who
just so happened to be his father, retired, leaving a hole in the team when I
stepped up to lead our squad. His eyes scanned the area, as his amazing mind
worked, piecing together the scene with his uncanny ability to reconstruct the
events to what has been proven time and time again a nearly perfect semblance
of the actual event. I had never seen such an adept profiler. I had been known as
being gifted, but Cullen was like a savant.

Cullen's apple green eyes reflected off the floodlights set up just a few feet away
as he scanned the area again before his eyes focused on me. His expression
changed ever so slightly as he gave me a nod of acknowledgement, to which I
nodded back before kneeling down beside Hale to get a closer look and see if she
had discovered anything disturbing. At this point, the body had not been moved
at all in order to best preserve the scene.

"What ya got for me, Hale?" I asked as I slid on the pair of latex gloves McCarty
handed me over my shoulder as I nodded up in thanks.

Hale pointed her chin toward the lower extremities as she began talking quickly.
"Her hands and feet were bound by what appears to be some kind of rough hewn
rope or tie back. She appears to have a great deal of atrophy in her legs which
would suggest that she either was tied up for an extended amount of time, or had
some sort of condition which would not allow extensive use of her legs. I will
discover more once we get her back to the lab. She has bruising on her inner
thighs and hips, which might suggest sexual assault. In addition, she had several
scars on her arms and a large cut on her neck, which sliced her jugular. There
doesn't seem to be nearly enough blood on her body to suggest that she bled
out, but since she has been moved, there is a possibility it was wiped away

before the transition, or she had been positioned at the time that the wound was
made so as to make the blood drain away from her body. It could also be
possible that the wound was inflicted post mortem, which would then minimize
the amount of blood spilled. She also has a vertical incision on her abdomen that
appears to be from a very recent surgical procedure. I'll know more once I can
examine her more closely. Identification will be most difficult as her facial
structure was broken beyond recognition, her teeth removed, as well as her
fingertips."

I stood up, moving around the body to examine the things she pointed out.
"Good, good, Hale. Thank you. Have they completed processing the scene yet? I
would really like to examine the rest of her body and get back to the lab before
the storm cell reaches us."

Lightening illuminated the sky to the west, punctuating my desire to move the
body as quickly as possible as I looked up at McCarty.

"Yes, I believe that they are done." He looked around locking eyes with several
workers who nodded back.

I looked back up to see Whitlock and Brandon packing up their supplies, leaving a
few things out in case there was more evidence underneath the body to be
collected, as Hale repositioned herself in order to examine the body after the
move. I glanced over to see Cullen looking at me intently, his brow furrowed
deeply. I gestured for him to come talk to me as I moved to ask the
photographer to get a close up of something that looked off to me before we
repositioned the poor girl's naked form.

I jumped when I turned back around to find Cullen standing next to me. It never
ceased to surprise me how stealthily he moved. I shook off my fright as he tried
to hide an amused smirk. I rolled my eyes at him before looking him square in
the eyes.

"I haven't known you long, Dr. Cullen, but I can tell something is bothering you.
What's wrong?"

He sighed, glancing around him again before looking back at me solemnly.
"Something is off. There's something I'm missing, something more…"

Just then, McCarty and two other techs he asked to assist shifted the body to
expose the victim's back as the group gasped and Hale let out an uncharacteristic
scream. Cullen and I dashed to her side to see what moving the body had
uncovered, the sight making my stomach boil with bitter bile.

On the back of the victim words were carved into her flesh along with an intricate
rose stained black with congealed blood, under the body, a purple and blue infant
lay curled into the fetal position, it's neck having the same wound as the woman
lying over it, and the same rose carved into its back.

Hale turned and ran for the tree line, vomiting into the underbrush as McCarty
ran after her, while Brandon melted into Whitlock's chest, quiet cries coming from
her chest. At some point, I had fallen to my knees at the sight before us, as
Cullen knelt beside me, his arm around my shoulder.

"Is this?"

I nodded mutely, staring at the words taunting us all from the back of the
innocent bystander in his sick, twisted mindgame.

Okay Team,

Let's see if you can catch

the RIGHT MAN this time.

One year was enough of a vacation,

Time for the real work to begin.

XOXO

The King

"Do you think he's had her ever since?"

I nodded slowly, trying to control my reactions. We dealt with death almost every
day, by this point we had learned to separate our emotions from the job, but this
was personal. This girl died because we got it wrong…or at least someone wanted
us to believe we did.

"Bella?"

I turned away from the blood freezing scene to look up at the new guy as he
stared down at me with worry etched in his features.

"Are you okay?"

I froze looking at him before looking back at the body and then to him again
before I shook my head no. With gentle hands, he helped me up and led me
away from the scene. As we passed, I noticed that the photographer was
standing in shock as well. I touched his arm and gestured with my head toward
the newly revealed scene as way of order. He shook his head to clear it before
moving forward to document the new development.

Cullen led me to a dark area just out of view of everyone and turned me toward
him, hugging me to his chest. It only took a part of a second before I began to
cry. He comforted me as I cried, stroking my hair, and humming quietly. After
several long minutes, I began to regain control, pushing away to look up at him,
feeling embarrassed about how I was acting. I was a professional and the leader.
I wasn't supposed to succumb to the pressures. I was supposed to be the
example.

"I…I'm sorry Dr. Cullen. I.."

"Edward," he replied quietly. I looked up in surprise as he smiled back down at
me. "Please, call me Edward."

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay, but not while working."

He nodded knowingly before running a hand down my arm. "Are you okay now?
Do you feel like you are ready to go back out there?"

I nodded. "Thank you, Edward."

He smiled kindly. "You're welcome, Bella."

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders before returning to the scene. I
barely looked toward the two victims as I began barking out orders. Whitlock and
Brandon gathered more samples and swabs before the two bodies were bagged

and loaded to be taken back to the lab where Hale, Whitlock, and Brandon would
work to get the details and try to get a lock on the poor girl's identity. As the
scene slowly emptied of people, I ascended the small hill toward the roadside,
pausing to look around one last time. The area had been trampled, but once it
was cleared, one last thing that had not been obvious before was highly visible
from this higher perspective now that the area was cleared of people and the
bodies. The orange flags still in the ground to mark each piece of evidence
documented for the case arched in defined lines around the epicenter where the
bodies lay, creating a macabre facsimile of the roses carved into the skin of the
two victims, reminding us once again that with The King, there are absolutely no
coincidences.

~*~

The ride back to the lab was not a pleasant one, as I was the one who had to call
and wake the bosses up at two in the morning to inform them that a copycat of
our most heinous captured serial killer was on the loose. To say that they were
unhappy was an understatement, and the term shooting the messenger never hit
so close to home. I closed my phone and rubbed my forehead, wondering how
Carlisle did this for thirty years.

The rain was falling hard as Edward pulled my car in front of the lab, reaching
over to squeeze my hand gently as a show of support before we exited the car.
My stomach dropped as I saw two figures standing under the overhang, obviously
in a heated debate. I ran through the pouring rain to join them as my former
boss stood arguing with my star medical examiner. At least he took the brunt of
that blow for me, because I had already mentally prepared myself for delivering
that news next.

"Rosalie, you know you can't work on this case. This is linked to Royce King and
you were King's very first assault victim. Your further involvement in this case
gives his lawyers grounds to throw out all of the collected evidence. Not only
that, it is entirely probable that you are a focus of this copycat. We need to put
you into protective custody as soon as possible."

Rosalie shook her head in a halo of whipping blonde hair as her arms crossed
tighter across her chest. "No, Carlisle!"

Edward and I reached them at that moment, just as McCarty walked up behind
us, taking a protective stance behind Rosalie. I reached my hand out to rest on
her arm.

"Rose, sweetie, Carlisle is right. You can't be part of this as much as we all might
want you to be. Do you want to risk him getting out on a technicality?"

The fury melted from Rose as a tear fell from her right eye and her shoulders
slumped. "Of course not," she whispered, "I just hate feeling helpless. I want to
help figure this out."

I stepped forward pulling her into a hug. "I know, sweetie, but this time you
can't. Please go home and try to get some rest. I'd send McCarty, but I need him
here. He's my best investigator. Who do you think you'd feel most comfortable
going with you tonight?"

Rose turned to look sadly at McCarty with a sigh before turning back to look at
me. "Is Sam available? I really trust Sam."

I nodded with a smile before glancing over her shoulder to McCarty who frowned,
but nodded gravely before disappearing into the building. "Uley's team will be on
your detail until further notice. Okay, sweetie?"

Rose let out a defeated sigh before turning to follow McCarty into the building,
leaving Carlisle, Edward, and me standing in the damp, cool night air. Carlisle
looked at Edward with a small smile and a nod.

"How are you doing tonight, son?"

Edward shrugged with a confused frown. "Okay. Um, what are you doing here,
Dad? I thought you and Mom were going to Europe."

Carlisle looked at the ground sadly with a shrug. "She understands. I…I can't
leave with this out there. Not until I know King's case is secure."

Edward's frown deepened as he gazed at his father, crossing his arms. "You have
to put your foot down somewhere, Dad. There will always be something if you let
it. Mom's been waiting for years and years for this."

Carlisle sighed, looking properly abashed. "I know, son. I know."

When their conversation died, I turned to Carlisle in confusion. "So, um, what are
you exactly doing here? I mean, are you stepping back into my shoes or…"

Carlisle smiled apologetically at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I would
never do that to you, Bella. You are doing a very good job here. I would never
presume to come in here and try to take over. I'm strictly a consultant during this
case. I do what you ask of me and I help as much as I can. That's it."

I nodded with a small smile and a long sigh of relief. "To be honest, Carlisle, I'm
glad that you're here. I can use all the help I can get."

I glanced at Edward, who sighed, before moving to hold the door open for me.
Carlisle followed me with Edward bringing up the rear. As we reached the
elevator banks, we found Rosalie standing between McCarty and Uley as they
talked intently, Rose pouting between then. She sent me a sad smile as we
passed before returning her attention to the men before her.

We climbed into the elevator before riding in silence to the twelfth floor where we
slid our ID's through the reader in order to gain access to the floor. The doors slid
open slowly revealing the lab and offices beyond, my in-house team already
busily at work cataloguing the evidence uncovered from the crime scene, while
Brandon and Whitlock were already beginning examining the evidence placed into
the system.

On the elevated platform, the two bodies were already situated on the exam
tables, one long body bag to the left and a child sized one with a tiny lump inside
to the right. I swallowed deeply and looked away as I led Carlisle to the room
that had once been his office but had transformed quite significantly since his
departure three months before.

I walked straight to the door, scanning my card through the reader and pushing
the door open as I flicked on the lights. I gestured inside with a smile as Edward
and Carlisle stepped past me into what we now affectionately called the War
Room.

Carlisle's eyes widened in surprise as he saw how his once dignified and daintily
decorated office had been transformed in his absence. I was always a visual
person, and I found that the more a case was laid out before me, the quicker I
was able to piece together the puzzle. After Carlisle left, I placed the ridiculous
requisition that led to the current setup of my office, and was stunned when,
after a short phone call from my boss asking why I was asking for such an
outlandish purchase, the request was approved.

I moved across the room to settle into my chair behind my desk in front of the
windows at the far end of the room, as Edward sat across from me with a
crooked smile, plopping into one of the two black leather sofas situated so that it
would allow the other walls to be seen as well as facilitate conversations within
the team. Carlisle looked around the room in shock before plopping down on the
couch across from Edward and looked my way for answers.

I chuckled, gesturing to the three walls covered in nothing but white boards from
floor to ceiling, including both sides of the doorway into my office and even the
two feet between the top of the door and the ceiling.

"I always told you that I thought we needed more white board space to plot out
all of the information so we could see it as a whole. This was my first requisition
once I was put in here and I was pleasantly surprised when it was granted. I
know I work better this way and the rest of the team seems to as well. We
organize every piece of information into sections on the boards and when we're
done, we have a comprehensive timeline, evidence roster, and list of suspects,
witnesses, victim bios, and so on. We've only used it twice since I took over, but
it seems to be a really good system."

Carlisle looked over at me with a beaming smile that oozed a sort of fatherly
pride. He took me under his wing straight out of the academy and has been like a
father to me ever since. Thanks to this familiarity, I was also very close to his
wife and was more than excited to get Edward on our team when he applied.
Thanks to his work on the opposite end of the nation throughout my friendship
with the Cullen's, I hadn't actually met him before he started working for me, but
I sure felt like I had.

"I'm so pleased with how you have made this position your own, Bella. I knew
you were the perfect person for this job, and Edward has done nothing but sing
your praises ever since he started working for you."

My eyes instantly jumped toward Edward in surprise as his fell to the floor, his
cheeks flushing pink. I smothered a smile and ignored the little flutter in my
chest as I looked back to Carlisle with a smile.

"Well that is high praise from your son, Carlisle. He is the most brilliant profiler I
have ever met. He certainly didn't fall far from the tree."

Carlisle chuckled as he glanced at Edward who blushed a shade deeper before
grabbing the file from in front of him and flipping through the pages to examine
his own notes.

Carlisle smirked his way before looking back at me with a wink. "So when do I
see the magic start happening in here? I have a feeling it's going to be poetry in
motion."

I smiled proudly. "With my team, it certainly is, but we don't really have a whole
lot to go off of now. We need to get the crime scene photos processed and the
evidence reviewed before we can really start making much progress here. I'll
probably start by having your son over there, with the photographic memory,

sketch out the crime scene on the board on the left wall. Then I'll add the
numbered points where the evidence was gathered. As we were walking out, I
looked back and noticed that the evidence flags formed a perfect flower design
around the bodies. That was no mistake and I want to know exactly where every
piece was laid out, because I'm guessing there's a pretty big clue waiting right
there."

Carlisle nodded, shifting in his seat as he leaned back with his head resting
against the back of the couch. "Mind telling me where you moved the coffee pot?
I have a feeling I'm going to be needing a pot an hour to keep up with you kids.
I'm getting too old for this."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes before reaching under my desk and grabbing a Red
Bull out of the small fridge I had tucked there. I whistled before tossing it in his
direction. "Start with that, old timer. That will give you the head start you need in
order to only need a half pot an hour from here on out."

Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head as he examined the can curiously.

"Trust me, Dad," Edward said without looking up from the file in his hand. "If you
want to keep up with her, you're going to need it."

Carlisle looked at his son smirking down at his papers before darting his eyes
back at me, mirth dancing behind the sky blue irises. He took a deep breath
before popping the top and taking a sip, pulling the can away with a cringe. He
smacked his lips a few times while reading the nutritional information before
taking another hesitant sip and looking back at me.

"So who are you calling in to take over for Rose?"

I sighed a deep breath, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I grumbled down at
the desk top before me. "I called in Jane Paynor on the way here. She should be
here in the next hour or so."

I didn't look up, but I could hear Carlisle's attempts to stifle his chuckling as he
took another sip of the overly sweet liquid I had given him to help him stay
awake. Carlisle knew better than anyone the less than ideal history I had with
'Jane the Pain.'

Chapter 3

As time passed in a blur of phone calls for me, Carlisle grimaced through his Red
Bull while Edward updated him on everything he had observed. My attentions
were divided as I found myself listening closer to Edward than the parade of big
wigs demanding answers that we were nowhere near ready to give. One of the
worst things about our job is that most people don't realize how much time it
takes to sort through evidence and draw conclusions. Just because the writers of
the top TV shows in the country manage to resolve the case in an hour does not
mean it works that way in real life. Some cases take a handful of hours while
others take weeks and weeks.

Once the line finally went silent, I glanced at the clock with a frown. Two and a
half hours had passed, and Jane had yet to check in, even though I requested she
arrive immediately and come to the War Room to be briefed. Carlisle glanced
toward me before his eyes darted to his watch and then back up to me. His lips

twitched slightly as his eyes narrowed, standing to follow me as I jumped up and
rushed to the door.

I opened it to see Jane suited up and already beginning to examine the bodies.

"Wait, Jane! Not yet!" I yelled, jogging quickly to the stairs that led to the
platform where the autopsies would be performed. I quickly slid my badge to
deactivate the security system before rushing to her level.

Jane looked at me with a bored roll of her eyes. "I've come to work. I'm a highly
sought after forensic examiner. I do not need a kindergarten level talk by a new
leader high on the power of a new post before I begin my examination. Now
scurry off to look at fact sheets and let me begin my work."

She reached forward with her scalpel as my hand shot out to stop her from
making her first incision. "Jane, there are things you need to know about this
case. Things you need to be particularly vigilant in documenting. I do not like
your attitude or your disregard of my authority in this case. Now I expect you to
put down that scalpel and come to be briefed this very instant."

Jane's ice blue eyes turned arctic as she glared at me. "And what do you plan to
do about it? You were a poor excuse for an agent when I met you and you still
are. I am contracted and thus do not answer to you, Isabella. You can either let
me do what I'm here to do, or I'll just leave."

I felt the fire flash in my eyes, my nostrils flaring in my struggle to retain self-
control. I nodded slowly before reaching out to take the scalpel from her palm
and laying it on the tray before her and dropping her hand. "Then be my guest,
Jane. I cannot have people on my team who do not respect me or the way this
division is run. If you do not have the capacity to be professional, even when
teamed with someone you dislike, then you have no business being on this highly
important case, under intense scrutiny by the director himself. I do not look
forward to explaining to him why we will be further delayed by your absence as
we wait for Dr. Saroyan from the Smithsonian to come back from her vacation,
but I will do what needs to be done to make sure this case is treated with the
utmost care and due diligence."

Jane's eyes widened as I undeniably informed her that not only is this the most
important case she has ever worked on, but that I would be more than willing to
feed her to the dogs. I watched as her tongue grazed over her teeth behind her
closed lips before she finally stripped her gloves and gown and stalked off the
platform and in the direction of the War Room.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before following her, trying to reign in
every reaction boiling within me. As I crossed Carlisle, he beamed at me, winking
as I caught his eye, and resting a hand on my shoulder. Edward chuckled quietly,
shaking his head as he fell into line behind Carlisle and I as we strode back to my
office.

When I walked in, Jane was sitting on one of the couches, turning her hand to
admire the large diamond on her finger with a smug smile. I swallowed the bitter
taste in my mouth before crossing to my seat behind the desk, Carlisle and
Edward sitting across from her, both taking in her actions with annoyance.

"Before you begin, I was asked by Michael to send you his best wishes. He says
he misses working with you, but our life in suburbs makes a regular commute
quite difficult. He's working at a medical testing lab near our house in White
Ridge. I told you we built a house, didn't I? Yes, we started construction just
before the wedding and moved in about a year or so ago. Beautiful panoramic

views and we even included a recording studio in the basement for Michael's little
garage band."

I bit my cheek and stifled my emotions as I listened to a girl I once thought was
my friend gloat about her life with my former live in boyfriend. Mike and I met in
college and were living together about a year later. I thought we had an idyllic
life. We both got hired around the same time, me working with Jane in Carlisle's
division, while Mike worked a few doors down in another division. I should have
noticed something was going on, but I trusted Mike, completely. Six months
later, Mike moved out and moved in with my "friend" Jane who flipped a switch
that very same day and became the biggest bitch I had ever met. It was then I
discovered her entire friendship was just an act to get close with Mike, and it
worked, flawlessly. She came from money and before I knew it, they were
engaged, building a house in the burbs, and Mike suddenly had a high paying job
near where they lived, and as far away from me as possible without uprooting her
own career.

I glanced at an angry Carlisle and a confused Edward as Jane droned on another
few minutes before she finally finished. I took a drink of coffee before leaning
back in my seat with a mask of indifference.

"That's all very nice, Jane. Now if you're done attempting to belittle me with you
pathetic excuse for a marital situation, I would very much like to brief you on this
murder that appears to be linked by theKing Serial Murders so that you can get
back to your job and get us some answers."

Jane's eyes grew wide as she swallowed hard past the lump that appeared to
have formed in her throat at the mention of the Serial Murderer and the links in
the case that point to his deeds. Her face blanched as I explained what was found
etched into the girl's back, a place she had not seen since the corpse had been
positioned on the table already by the time she arrived. I asked Edward to fill in
any blanks he could and by the time he was done, Jane's professionalism had
finally made an appearance.

She looked intently at Carlisle as she spoke, explaining she would do her best.
Carlisle just frowned before leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"I am here as a consultant, like you, your oaths should be directed toward the
woman behind the desk who is in charge of this operation now, and doing a damn
fine job of it as well, from what I have seen. In my mind, Agent Swan has been
considerably lenient with your displays here today, but I assure you that if I see
you put even one toe out of line the rest of this case, I will be calling my good
friend, Director Arogani. I will inform him that your services are not as
impeccable as they once were, with or without the sanction of Agent Swan, and
see that you are no longer on the FBI's list of professional consultants. Are we
clear Dr. Paynor?"

Jane's eyes grew as wide as saucers before she nodded and glanced at me. "I'll
get to work right away, Agent Swan."

With that, she disappeared out the door and went straight to work, adding extra
cameras and two assistants to help her be as detailed as possible in her
assessments. As soon as she was gone, I groaned, letting my head drop to my
hand and massaging my temples gently. I could hear Edward question Carlisle as
Carlisle hushed him and explained it was private. I made a note of informing
Edward since everyone else in the office already knew the full story later, after
my pounding headache went away.

The pain wasn't so much about Mike. The second he pulled that whole mess, I
knew I was better off without him. The problem I had was that I never did well
with bullies in school and now I was going to have to be in direct charge of one of
the biggest bullies I had ever met. The thought was not a pleasant one. I had
hoped I'd never have to deal with that woman again, and with the entry of
Rosalie who was a better examiner and a better all around person, I didn't have
to, until now.

Edward and Carlisle left the room, with excuses of work to do in other areas and
wanting to check on Alice and Jasper, but I knew the real reason was to give me
some space. They weren't gone long when a knock came at the door.

I called for the petitioner to come in, only to be surprised to see the face of Jacob
Black pop through the opening, a concerned expression on his face. I shot him a
weak smile and told him to come in before pushing back from the desk and
moving across the room to meet him. The second he reached me, he enveloped
me in his arms and buried his nose in my neck. I sighed and melted into his
warm comforting embrace.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on Rose's detail."

The warm rumble of his voice through the wall of his chest made me smile. "I
don't go on until six, so I thought I'd better drop in when I found out Jane was
here. How are you holding up?"

I sighed, resting my forehead against his sternum. "Fine, I guess. She's already
been up to her usual tricks. I had to threaten to tattle tell in order to get her to
come get briefed as to the seriousness of the case, and then Carlisle had to set
her straight too. I'm already exhausted and this has only just begun."

His warm fingers slid under my chin, lifting my face up to his. He pressed a soft
kiss on my lips before repeating them on my cheeks, eyes and forehead. "Don't
let her get to you, Bells. You're worth ten Jane Paynor's."

I sigh, not really feeling it, but not willing to argue either. Jake gazed down at me
with is warm black stare. In the days following Mike's departure, Jake held me
up. He was my best friend. Then, when my heart started to mend a bit, he
became my friends with benefits, then my sort of boyfriend, and then back to my
best friend ever with wonderful benefits when we realized while we loved each
other, neither of us were IN love with each other. We were human though, and
there were times when you just need that human contact with someone you
trust. If you don't have a romantically special person in your life, then why not
rely on your best friend?

Jake continued to comfort me, helping the stress recede, until the door to my
office opened after a brief knock, Emmett followed by Carlisle and Edward rushing
in soon after. Jake and I broke apart, but not before everyone that entered saw
we were in an intimate embrace. I felt my face heat, unable to miss the look of
hurt in Edward's eyes, which confused me a bit, before I thanked Jake and told
him I would see him later.

I took my seat, to find Emmett's normally happy mood completely gone, an
angry gorilla like being taking his place.

Chapter 4

"This makes absolutely no fucking sense!" Emmett stalked up slamming a file on
my desk. I frowned up at him, as much in curiosity at what had him so upset.

"The tests were run on the infant's DNA and checked against CODIS, and he is a
genetic match for Royce King, but there's no fucking way. King has been in
solitary the majority of his stay in the pen since his conviction thirteen months
ago. I double checked the prison visit records, and he has had no visitors, much
less conjugal visits in order to impregnate this young girl within the last thirty to
forty five weeks. It's in-fucking-possible, yet the DNA tests are conclusive. It
came back as a 98.99% match for paternity. How the fuck?"

I rubbed my temples feeling the building weight of my frustrations. The evidence
was incontrovertible. Royce King was responsible for the string of murders, which
all connected back to our Rosalie, his first rape victim. We had an airtight case,
mostly based on DNA evidence. If he chose to appeal now, the new evidence
coming in, that seemed to suggest the impossible, would inspire his jackass
group of high dollar lawyers to jump on it like a pack of rabid dogs on a fresh T-
bone steak. The worst part is that it could potentially seed just enough
reasonable doubt to get him off, which would be an absolute nightmare.

"All I can think is that possibly King donated his sperm. Check with area sperm
banks. He most likely used an alias, so be sure to send photographs for them to
look at."

Emmett nodded, looking frustrated and not entirely convinced. Honestly, neither
was I. Even if she was some random female who happened to end up with the
convicted criminal's sperm sample; that certainly didn't explain why she was
kidnapped and killed. Not only that, sperm bank records are kept under lock and
key, so how would a copycat know who she was and what she carried. It would
help if we could get an ID on the female, but whoever dumped her body was
smart as hell. Her fingerprints had been removed, her teeth had been pulled, and
her face had been beaten enough times that her bones had healed at odd angles
even making facial recognition software stumble. Our only hope was for us to find
a top of the line facial reconstruction expert to help us fill in the gaps.

Normally, we would all look to the Smithsonian. Dr. Brennan and her team had
helped us on countless occasions, but we had already tried there, and Brenan's
entire team was currently dispersed across the globe, taking an extended hiatus,
with the exception of Dr. Saroyan who was on a short vacation in California.
Thus, we were forced to go with the second best, in which case we expected a
two day wait for the team to arrive, then even more time for them to examine
the remains, and reconstruct facial representation to help Identify the girl since
her DNA did not bring up a match in CODIS. Until then, the poor girl would
remain nameless.

Emmett was getting up to leave when a frantic looking Jasper and Alice came
flying in, tossing more folders in my lap.

"This is impossible! No Way!"

I rolled my eyes. "Appears this is the day for impossibilities…what did you find?"

Alice was pacing like a madwoman as Jasper leaned on my desk. "The physical
evidence…the hairs, the skin under the nails, the semen found on the victim, it

ALL matches Royce King. Impossible, right? He's in solitary right now and has
been for more than a month. It's not fucking possible!"

I blinked in shock as Emmett's face matched mine from where he sat on the
couch. Carlisle and Edward also appeared equally as dumbfounded. It didn't make
any sense at all. They were both right. It was impossible.

I shook my head, my mind running a million miles a minute. "Whitlock, double
check the samples, also look for signs of degradation that might point to them
being older samples that were planted by a copycat. Brandon, you double check
Whitlock's findings, and while he's running the first batch, I want you on the fiber
samples and trying to rush that ID. McCarty, I want you and Cullen to bring in all
of the prison employees with any contact with King. I'm talking guards,
maintenance, cooks, laundry workers, anybody that came within ten feet of
anything to do with King needs to be interviewed. There's a possibility he has
some sort of a smuggler, except in his case, the goods may be going out instead
of coming in. Before you leave, place a second guard on Hale. King has always
been obsessed with her, if he's pulling strings on the outside, then she might be a
target. I want her under 24 hour guard with backup. Carlisle will stay here with
me to keep an eye on Dr. Paynor's findings and make a few calls to his contacts
in the King case. We need to brief them in case this thing hits the fan."

Emmett nodded, looking grateful for my protection detail assignment for Rose.
Not only would I function better knowing she was protected, but that would go
double for Emmett. The room quickly emptied of bodies, save for Carlisle who
stared at the files on my desk in bewilderment.

"How is this even possible, Bella? I mean…" He shook his head, the strain of
everything written in every line of his face. Carlisle always looked so young for
his age, but in that moment, he looked every bit of his sixty-one years.

I sighed, yanking the folders off the end of my desk and stacking them in front of
me to review once more. "I know, Carlisle, I know. Let's just do our best to figure
this out. There has to be a rational explanation."

Carlisle nodded, picking up his file to flip through it once more before excusing
himself to go check on Jane and get an update.

Once the room was clear and I was alone, the full weight of this case hit me like a
ton of bricks. I had long ago gotten over the need to cry over my job, built the
necessary tough outter skin, and had refused to let the cases that I've dealt with
affect me so profoundly, but this…this was just too much.

I leaned my elbow on the desk, gripping the bridge of my nose and squeezed,
getting angry that my vision kept growing more and more blurry as I looked over
the reports, one after another, after another. In the right set of hands, these few
sheets of paper would end up spelling an almost certain appeal, with a high
likelihood of repealing his life sentence. The thought alone, knowing all I knew
about what he had personally done to Rosalie, not to mention the other girls that
we were so certain he had abused and murdered, brought a sob bubbling up in
my chest. The burden lay on my shoulders to find the answers. In the end, the
team supported me, but I was where the buck stopped. If he went free, it would
be my failure and my failure alone. I couldn't let my failings allow that man to
wander the streets once more and destroy more innocent girls. The pressure was
nearly unbearable.

After a good cry followed by an ice cold soda from the fridge under my desk, I
dried my eyes, picked up the folders, and moved across the room to climb the
step ladder in front of the specimen result board and began jotting down the

results and DNA match ups from the investigation. Already the pieces were
starting to come together in a troubling manner.

Once I was done with the information, I stood staring at the notes, my brain
working overtime, searching for a possible explanation and finding none. There
had to be a reasonable explanation, but whatever it was, it was not readily
apparent.

Over the next few hours, bits of information began to trickle in. Carlisle came
back in to update me on Jane's results. More or less, she had only confirmed that
the girl had given birth to the infant via a crude cesarean section. In addition the
girl's body had been completely drained of blood, thus complicating her ability to
pinpoint a time of death since the lack of blood caused the liver to grow cold
much more quickly than in a typical corpse. Jane had commented that the girl
showed signs of malnutrition, and had contusions and lesions on her body that
seemed to indicate she had been tied somewhere and forced to spend long, long
periods of time in a sitting or lying position.

Due to the malnutrition of the mother, it was difficult to tell the gestational age of
the equally emaciated baby, but Jane suspected he was not full term, his lungs
showing signs of immaturity that could be a result of lack of nutrition, but more
likely due to prematurity. Considering the physical state of the mother, Jane
suggested that the mother's body would have been incapable of reaching full
term and most likely went into early labor, although there was no physical proof
of her theory.

Jasper and Alice were still slowly repeating their tests to confirm and were only
half way through the samples, but thus far, their results had been consistent in
reaffirming their first round of testing. In addition, Jasper had found no signs of
degradation of the samples. They appeared to be recent.

My chest ached as I began making more notes on the white board, word after
word linking these two deaths even more closely to the impossible suspect, Royce
King. I wanted so badly to wake up, for this to be a twisted dream worked up by
my overworked psyche, but it was real and there was no waking up from this
nightmare.

Dawn rose, flooding my office with light as calls began coming in again. Rose
called to see what was happening, knowing full well I could not reveal any facts in
the case to her, but insisting on trying to coerce them out of me anyway. The
director called twice, demanding answers that I still did not have.

Emmett and Edward called to inform me that they had the list of interviewees in
hand and were making arrangements to have them scheduled to come to the
floor below the lab where the two way mirrors and stark interview rooms waited
for the endless procession of suspected conspirators. I would be spending the
rest of this new day observing interviews between phone calls, and in some cases
questioning some of the workers myself.

Monotony lay ahead for all of us, but it was just one more part of the job, and
with any luck we would find some answers somewhere in the stack of faceless
employees and hopefully a link that would shed some light on how in the hell this
was even remotely possible.

Chapter 5

The interviews stretched on for two days. By the end of the first, Carlisle insisted
I go home for some rest. Instead, I compromised by showering in the women's
locker room four floors below us and then taking some time to nap on one of the
couches in the war room. Carlisle protested, but in the end, I won the battle.

Five hours later, I was dressed again in a fresh suit Alice had stopped in to pick
up for me on her way back to the office after an overnight at home. I returned to
the observation room, watching in fascination as Edward interviewed yet another
staff member, the answers always the same, but yet, in each and every one, he
managed to pull out something that spoke directly of their character. He had a
phenomenal talent for psychoanalysis, and he utilized it to make sure he left no
stone unturned.

Getting tired of sitting back and just watching, I decided to take the reins and
give Edward a break once the guards were pulled in. We were relatively certain,
knowing the Volturi brothers, that the guards would be squeaky clean, but even
the slightest link in the chain could be through one of them.

One after another, I kept hitting the same brick wall as Edward. There were no
breaches we could find and I was growing more apprehensive with each passing
hour. Finally, I reached the last of the guards, smiling at the small young lady
who stood out amongst the rest of the bulky guards.

"Thank you for coming, Miss Sartin. I'm Agent Swan, and I just need to ask you a
few questions." I gestured to the chair across from me, which she slid into
casually and reached to shake my hand.

"Please, call me Chelsea. I'd love to help if I had any idea why I am even here."

I nodded. "We have reason to believe that there is a copycat on the loose
emulating Royce King. We have reason to believe that he may be interacting with
this copycat, possibly even smuggling items and information back and forth with
him, and we are researching all connected in any way with King to ferret out the
source."

Chelsea's eyes grew wide as she sucked in a slow breath, her brows furrowing in
concentration. I smiled apologetically before continuing.

"You are the guard in charge of screening correspondence, correct?"

She nodded slowly, her lips pulling into a thin line as she studied her fingers,
apparently lost in thought.

"Can you please tell me what kind of mail and packages you have seen coming
and going for King?"

She sighed, twiddling her thumbs and chewing on her lips. "He doesn't get much
mail at all, and I have yet to see him send any. The only correspondence he
receives is from his mission outreach pen pal."

My ears perked at this one very small lead. "Mission outreach pen pal? May I ask
what you remember about them?"

She nodded. "If you want the name and address, we keep a list on file of all
individuals whom communicate with our inmates. I've never read anything that
seemed amiss in them though. The letters come from a man who lives in

Baltimore. The return address has the last name Castor, no first, and he signs all
of his letters with the initials J.C. He was paired with Inmate King through a
congregation known as Blessed Crown of Thorns Free Church, apparently based
out of Baltimore."

I scribbled on my note pad as she spoke, feeling in my bones that this was our
big break. I lifted my head as she paused. "I am going to request my coworkers
gain access to the database to gain the rest of the information regarding this pen
pal. Could you possibly tell me any more about the nature of their
correspondence? What does this JC say to Inmate King?"

She shook her head, her brow furrowing. "Nothing that really sticks in my mind,
he usually quotes a lot of bible verses and talks about justice for the slighted and
forgiveness for those that walk in the light. He also talked a lot about his wife
who was pregnant with their firstborn. His last letter came just yesterday. It said
that the little boy was born early due to complications, and that mother and son
were both resting peacefully, and had already been consecrated. I assumed that
meant that the baby had already been baptized."

My heart was pounding as she continued speaking, my instincts as both an
investigator and psychological profiler were screaming. This was it. This was our
lead.

"Did JC mention anything about his wife's name?"

She narrowed her eyes in thought before they lit with recognition. "Bree, JC
referred to her as Bree."

About this time, Carlisle came in with a file. He nodded solemnly at the young girl
before me as he sat the file in front of me and then left. I opened it to read his
hurriedly scrawled note. "The database brought up the address, which is a post
office box in Baltimore. There is no church by the name she mentioned. Missing
Person's had a hit for a Bree Winchester, gone missing at the age of nineteen
from the University of Boston campus approximately ten months ago. She would
have just turned twenty two months ago. Her height, hair color, and blood type
do match up with our victim, although until the team finishes the facial
reconstruction, we won't know for sure. It is about halfway completed. Have
ordered a check of King's cell for any copies of the correspondence, although I
doubt we will find anything. This is the best lead we have so far. I doubt she can
give you much more."

I closed the file and stood, stretching out my hand to Chelsea. "Thank you. You
have been a huge help. If you think of anything else, anything at all, please call
me at this number."

She shook my hand as I handed her a business card with my personal cell phone
number written on the back.

"Also, if you get any new letters from this pen pal, please turn them over to us
immediately."

She nodded deeply. "Absolutely."

I led her down the hall to the elevator, riding with her to the bottom floor to say
goodbye one last time before returning to the War Room to add my notes to the
white board and begin to brainstorm with my team. Everyone was prepared for
me when I entered, most of my notes already added to the quickly growing lines
of scribbles on the walls of white.

I fell into my seat behind my desk and scuffed my forehead with my palm, trying
to force my brain to function more efficiently.

"Let's start with a fact review. Cullen, I'm extremely curious to hear your
impressions of Miss Sartin."

Edward chewed his lip a moment before turning his deep green eyes on me. The
intensity and pure intelligence there made my heart flutter a moment, a reaction
I immediately shut down. We were in the middle of a murder investigation,
possibly the most important one I'd ever had since it could lead to the fall of a
serial case. I admonished myself internally before focusing on Edward's words.

"Miss Sartin seemed genuine. I think she is trustworthy. She also appeared
genuinely concerned that she had missed the possible undercurrents of the
correspondence between King and the Un Sub."

"So you are convinced that this JC is our Un Sub?"

He closed his eyes with a sigh and nodded. I could see his eyes darting behind his
lids and smiled knowing he was hard at work in that photographic memory of his
to confirm his assumption.

"In addition, I think there is a possibility that this Un Sub could be King's twin.
The surname Castor could be a reference to the Gemini Constellation and the
twin stars Castor and Pollux. In this case, this twin is most probably the
submissive of the coupling, as indicated by his choice of Castor, the mortal twin
in Greek Mythology, giving King the moniker of Pollux, the immortal.
Furthermore, he probably reveres King in every way, possibly feeling that he
owes him his life, since in the legend, Pollux gave up his immortality to save
Castor and allowing them to be together, turning them into the constellation."

Emmett sat forward, a deep frown on his face. "But King was an only child. He
had no brother."

"That we know of," I interrupted. "It would explain an awful lot, including the
DNA results if they were somehow identical twins. McCarty, look further into
King's background. Play close attention to anything that might indicate an
adoption, either legal or illegal. If King really does have a twin, there must have
been an adoption of some sort. Alternatively, see if you can find hospital records
from the birth. Perhaps, the mother gave birth to two sons but only kept one.
There could be many permutations, but it's imperative that we find out these
answers as soon as possible and find this Un Sub."

Emmett nodded, dashing from the room to begin his research.

I looked to Carlisle. "Please go light a fire under the reconstruction team if you
can. We need a positive ID."

He nodded and left, Alice and Jasper following them. Jasper explained as he left
that he was going to take a closer look at the DNA samples. Identical twins have
DNA so similar that they usually show up as positive match, but often express
themselves differently in phenotype, such as finger prints and things of that
nature. Thus being so, he wanted to look over all the evidence one last time with
our new information filtering what he was seeing, hoping to find something he
missed before.

Once the room cleared, Edward and I were left alone, staring at each other in the
quiet of the room.

"You are one hell of a profiler, Edward. I am amazed every day by you."

He smiled, his eyes darkening noticeably. "I could say the same about you, Bella.
You are amazing."

I felt the heat in my face as the butterflies began to tango in my belly again. I
swallowed hard and sucked in a deep breath, the intake of oxygen making me
downright dizzy. The exhausted feeling reminded me of how tired I was, which in
turn reminded me that I had yet to see Edward rest at all.

"When was the last time you got some sleep, Edward?"

He smiled. "I don't require much sleep, Bella. I did, however, take a short nap
while you rested last night. I will probably take another one in the next few
hours. You look as though you might need another one as well."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Nah, we're too close now. I don't think I could
sleep even if I tried."

Edward nodded before gesturing to the couch across from him. "How about if we
both took a couch and just let our bodies have a break in the calm before the
storm then? You're going to need your energy when Emmett returns. I have a
sneaking suspicion we're heading back out to the field once he gets back."

I nodded in agreement before crossing the room to melt onto the couch, tossing
my foot up on the arm rest and my right arm over my eyes. Edward stretched out
on the other couch after flipping off the light and we both enjoyed the silence
together. After a long moment, Edward spoke in whispers across the room.

"Bella, are you involved with Agent Black?"

I swallowed before answering in a whisper of my own. "Not anymore. We tried
the relationship thing once and realize we were better off as friends."

I heard his sigh beside me before he took in another slow breath. "Bella?"

I waited a moment in the silence before replying. "Yeah?"

He cleared his throat and shifted, the leather of the couch squeaking under his
body. "Would you be offended if I asked you to have dinner with me?"

The butterflies lurched in my stomach. "Offended? No. I wouldn't be offended."

He was silent again before finally turning with a squeak toward me, I turned my
face toward him, seeing the outline of his features in the dim light shining
through the office windows.

"I…I find myself drawn to you. I've resisted for some time now, but I'm finding
that more impossible with each passing day. When this is all over, would you do
me the honor of letting me take you out to a nice restaurant for the evening?"

I smiled, my heart pounding in my chest as I sucked in a breath. "That sounds
wonderful, Edward. I would love that."

The smile that spread across his face nearly crushed my pounding heart. I saw
what looked like a tiny fist pump in the shadows before he rolled back to his back
and rested his arm across his eyes as I had done earlier, but his wide smile never
disappeared from his lips.

Chapter 6

I must have drifted off at some point, but not before the panic started to set in
about accepting a date with Edward. I told myself after what happened with Mike
and then Jake that I was going to stay completely professional from that point
on, especially now that I was the boss. Yeah, that lasted all of three months until
Edward Cullen waltzed in and hatched a whole fleet of butterflies in my stomach,
apparently psychotropic ones since I seemed to lose all sense of reality when
they took flight in his presence.

I had castigated myself for a full hour before darkness claimed me, the whole
time Edward continued to smile across from me while I plotted for a way to let
him down easy. I'm not sure how long I slept, but I did know I was greeted by a
rude awakening when Carlisle flew in all wide eyed and yelling. It took me a few
seconds to process what he was telling me, but the second his words sunk in, my
blood froze rock solid in my veins…Rosalie's on duty guards were killed, throats
slit and left to bleed to death, and Rosalie was nowhere to be found.

I jumped from the couch in a panic, feeling lost and not knowing what to do. This
was the last thing I suspected would happen. I expected her to be a target, but
that was why she had two federally trained agents on her at all times, and even
then, this asshole had gotten to her…our Rosalie. My eyes flew wide as I sprinted
to the white board looking at the diagram of the first victim, the rose design
outlined in red flags screaming in front of my eyes like a neon sign. I had
suspected Rose was a possible target, but how did I not see she was the primary
target all along? There's no such thing as a coincidence with The King. I knew
that.

Chaos was building behind me as I stared at the depiction in horror. It was my
fault; my shortcoming…Rose was in the hands of that sadistic psychopath
because of me. I had utterly and completely failed her.

I didn't even realize I was speaking out loud until I felt Edward's hands on my
shoulders. "You haven't failed her yet. None of us saw this, Bella. You can't blame
yourself for missing it, but if you get lost in your own self flagellation and don't
get her out, then, and only then, will you have failed her."

I swallowed hard, glancing back at him through my teary eyes and nodding my
head in agreement. Then I realized that someone very important didn't know yet.
I turned to Carlisle in a panic.

"Emmett!" His eyes bulged before he took off out the door in search of our
investigator. Not only did someone need to be with him, but his information was
even more crucial now. We needed that research in our hands yesterday.

I snapped into boss mode, ordering Jasper and Alice to hurry the reconstruction
team, so we had our positive ID, in hopes it might help us find another link to
this Unsub. At this point, we were fighting an even more fierce battle against the
clock to find Rosalie. The fixation King had with Rosalie would no doubt be
duplicated in this copycat, just as all the other aspects of his MO had been. My
only hope was that he would follow King's example and spare her life as King
had. It was an irrational hope though, seeing as how it was later ascertained that
losing his grasp on Rose was what led to King turning from simply raping and
torturing to killing his subjects so they would never escape him as Rose had. In
addition, there was no telling what atrocities would befall her in the time it would
take to find her. It was imperative we find her as soon as humanly possible.

It was less than ten minutes later that Alice and Jasper stormed in with the head
of the reconstruction team, who then revealed the face of Bree Winchester. The
positive ID had been made and it was time to pursue her connections full force.
From the time we learned of the possible link to her disappearance, we had one
of the analysts begin looking into her life and acquaintances. From there, we
would jump in feet first and hope to unearth an immediate link to the unsub from
her life and movements.

I made the appropriate calls, taking the responsibilities upon my own shoulders
to inform Director Arogani of our failure to protect Rosalie, as well as the positive
ID on our first victim. He was livid that we had missed the obvious sign earlier,
and gave me an earful before hanging up on me. I knew I would suffer a review
later at the very least for my fuck up.

Just as I hung up the phone, Emmett came in looking frantic as he handed over
his research. I skimmed the contents before slamming the file on my desk in a
fury. "How in the hell did we miss this the first time around?"

Emmett and Carlisle both shook their heads in bewilderment, still reeling from the
shock as Edward, Jasper, and Alice looked on in confusion. I huffed before turning
to them to explain, holding up the folder.

"According to this, King had a twin brother who suffered some sort of trauma
during child birth. Believing that he would be permanently disabled, the wealthy,
snobbish King family gave him away to the state, throwing a hefty amount of
cash at them to pay for his care. The boy grew up in a children's hospital where
he had no visitors and no permanent role models or loved ones in his life.
Ultimately, he was released into the system when he was five, only suffering from
some physical malformations, but no other major disabilities. In fact, his IQ was
off the charts. He floated from foster home to foster home under the name of
James Caulfield until he turned eighteen and seemed to just disappear off the
face of the earth."

Alice and Jasper looked in shock while Edward's eyes looked shrewd as he
processed the new information, melding it with his current known data about the
unsub to see if the profiles aligned. After a few moments, he looked up at me
with a resigned expression. It fit. It All fit. The DNA, the initials, the hero worship,
everything. We had a face to go with the unsub, now we needed a current alias
and location.

Emmett hung the picture on the white board with trembling hands. The picture
was about ten years old, the last taken of James Caulfield before he disappeared
from the DCFS system. I felt myself shudder slightly at the image, the narrowed
eyes full of anger and intelligence, the dirty blonde hair, so similar to King's and
yet, not quite the same.

Upon first glance, one would not notice the resemblance between the twin
brothers, but upon further inspection, the similarity in the lips, the thin, evil smile
was identical. The shape of Caulfield's eyes and the way he looked out of them
were eerily similar to that of his brother.

The only real difference between them was a startling one, making them appear
completely different, when under other circumstances they would have been
identical mirror images of one another. Where Royce King had a long, straight,
noble looking nose, James Caulfield was cursed with a bumpy, stubbed
alternative, with large nostrils that made that part of his face look nearly skeletal.
In addition, a large bump protruding from his forehead, further modified his
features to remove all immediate notice of resemblance between the pair.

There was one benefit of having this picture to work with. Unless he had gotten
extensive plastic surgery, which we could not rule out if he had any substantial
contact with his extremely wealthy twin after his disappearance from the system,
he would not be too incredibly difficult to find in a crowd.

In the end, I had to cling to that hope, because so far, we still had no idea where
James Caulfield had taken our friend and loved one.

Chapter 7

The squints scattered like roaches in all directions after the briefing, their
assignments in hand. After some consideration, we broke up all the information
we needed into many small packets and called in all the forensic techs the FBI
had within a thirty minute radius of HQ. In addition, we had also pulled in a ton of
agents to help scour Bree Winchester's life to see what we could find. With a few
last minute instructions, I left the squints in Carlisle's more than capable hands
before piling into a whole fleet of cars filled with agents to make our way to the
Baltimore region, which was not only James Caulfield's base of operations, but
also where Bree Winchester had been attending college before her abduction.

One of the other agents drove while Emmett sat in the front seat, gripping the
dashboard as if he were trying to propel it forward by pushing. Meanwhile,
Edward and I sat alone in the back seat, both of us searching for any information
we could find on our computers as we traveled.

The longer it took to get there, the more my knee jumped in anxiety. I didn't
even realize I was doing it until Edward reached a steady hand over to rest on it,
giving it a comforting squeeze and leaving it resting there. It shouldn't have been
as much assistance as it was as I stared at his long tapered fingers. I don't even
remember making the conscious decision before my hand slid off the keyboard of
my laptop to rest on top of his for a moment before I looked over at him. He
flipped his hand under mine and squeezed it as he stared into my eyes and
nodded. I mashed my lips together, trying to keep my emotions under control as
I stared at him. Eventually I nodded back. He squeezed my hand one more time
before releasing it hesitantly and replacing it upon his keyboard. I took a deep
breath and did the same, resuming my search.

One hour and forty-five minutes later, we pulled onto the University of Baltimore
campus and began spreading out, each set of agents seeking out specific
information assigned to them by Edward and me. Meanwhile, Edward, Emmett,
Sam, who had been off shift when Rose was taken, and I made our way toward
the dormitory in which our victim had lived.

When we reached the doors, we first found our way to the Resident Hall Assistant
in charge of the dorm, flashing our badges and explaining why we were there.
The poor girl looked stricken when we informed her that Bree was dead, agreeing
tearfully to lead us to her room. As we traversed, the Assistant told us that Bree's
roommate Vicky was still living in the same room and could probably tell us far
more than she could.

When we reached the fourth floor, we heard the music blaring long before we
reached the door that had once been Bree Winchester's. The Assistant knocked
politely twice before Emmett growled and pushed her aside, pounding loud
enough to rouse the attention of the coeds living up and down the hall. Young
heads poked out of nondescript brown doorways with wide, scared looking eyes.

If it weren't for the severity of the situation, I would have chuckled, knowing that
the intimidating size and strength of Emmett would most definitely make me
uncomfortable if he were banging on one of my neighbor's doors so late at night.

Emmett banged two more times before a tall girl with kinky red hair opened the
door wearing nothing more than a tank top and a pair of boyshorts. She popped
her pink bubble gum loudly as she leaned against the frame with an unimpressed
expression.

"What the fuck do you want, banging down the place? Where's the fucking fire?"

Emmett pushed his way past her looking at the disaster of a room before making
his way over to the desk that had framed pictures of Bree and her family as I
stepped forward to introduce us to the girl.

"I'm Agent Swan of the FBI. My colleagues and I are investigating the murder of
Bree Winchester and would like to ask you a few questions."

The girl paled, her eyes flashing wide before she restored her mask of
indifference and gestured for us to enter. Even after all that, she didn't bother to
dress, despite the fact that her thin tank top left absolutely nothing to the
imagination, including the fact that she was braless. She moved to her bed,
plopping back in the corner and leaning back on her pillow, one knee up, the
other down as she twirled her hair as if I was asking her about the weather
instead of her roommate's murder.

I sat across from her on the chair at her desk to try to get on her level as Edward
observed from behind me. "Could you state your full name please?"

She yawned and popped her gum again before mumbling a response. When I
asked her to speak up, she rolled her eyes before stating, "Victoria Rae Kingsley."
I paused, blinking at the likelihood before continuing to ask the bored-looking girl
more questions. She finally got frustrated and sat up on the edge of the bed,
leaning toward me with her elbows resting on her spread knees.

"Listen Lady, I knew Bree Winchester for all of a few weeks before she up and
disappeared. I knew nothing about her, but they refused to move her shit. I'd be
more than happy if you'd take her crap so I can officially have a single, but I have
nothing to tell ya."

I frowned in confusion before looking back up at the girl. "Bree has been missing
for almost a year. One school year ended and the next began, so why didn't you
move rooms after she disappeared if they refused to move her belongings or at
the very least move into a new room the next semester?"

She rolled her eyes as she popped her gum again. "Why should I move my shit? I
stay on campus through the summer on a work program since I'm an
international transfer student. For now I just ignore it, and now that she's kicked
it, maybe they'll actually close the fucking case and get her shit out of here."

I found myself even more confused. This girl didn't have a foreign accent and
seemed more New England than anything. Even her name was quite typical.
"Where did you transfer in from, Victoria?"

She huffed and popped her gum again as she investigated her nails. "London."

"England?" I asked thoroughly confused.

She rolled her eyes and popped her gum again. "Do I sound English? London,
Ontario, as in Canada?"

I nodded, finally making a little more sense of her, but still not understanding
what she was doing in Baltimore. "So what made you decide to come all the way
to Baltimore for school? Surely it would be cheaper to go to school in Canada, like
maybe Toronto?"

She shrugged, cracking her gum again. "I got a full scholarship, who was I to
argue."

She didn't seem like a rocket scientist, but maybe she had some sort of
giftedness that wasn't readily obvious. I was definitely starting to get antsy as
interviewing the girl wasn't getting us anywhere in finding Rose. I was about to
question her some more when all of our phones beeped at once, a mass text. I
flipped open my phone and took in a deep breath before turning back to the girl.

"We have no further questions at this time and have urgent business to attend,
but please stay nearby, Miss Kingsley. We may have more questions for you."

She plopped back on her bed and rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Whatever, just be
sure to close the door on your way out."

With one last glance behind as I closed the door after following the rest of the
guys out, we made our way down to the small recreational room in the residence
hall to conference in privacy. As we walked, I couldn't help but wonder more
about the odd girl who had been Bree's roommate for a short stretch of time.

Edward used his phone to dial in before placing it on speakerphone and sitting it
on the table between us. Two rings later, Carlisle answered.

"Dr. Paynor was able to find more trace particulates in the tissue of the victim's
knees. As was mentioned before, it appeared the girl had been bound and forced
to spend great amounts of time on her knees. Apparently, this had been an
understatement as Dr. Paynor found the particulates under a layer of skin. Jasper
and Alice have run analysis on the trace fibers and we got very lucky as there
was only one company who used one particular fiber in the area for shag
carpeting in the mid to late 1970's. The business appears to still be owned by the
same family. Loman Family Floorings is located at 1660 East Lombard in
Baltimore. I have dispatched agents to look into it and see if they have any
records. Perhaps we can link one of the homes into which this was installed back
to James Caulfield."

"That's good progress, Carlisle, is there any other leads?" I asked, hoping for
something else to go on.

Carlisle sighed, "Not really, how about you?"

I sighed in response. "We located her dorm room and spoke with her roommate,
but I keep feeling like there was something we were missing."

I glanced toward Edward who nodded before I continued. "Carlisle, can you
please put someone onto investigating the background of Victoria Rae Kingsley,
purportedly from London, Ontario? Get back to me as soon as you can with any
information you receive."

Carlisle mumbled as he took a few notes before reading them back and saying he
was on it. Once the line was dead, I turned to Edward with expectant eyes.

He grimaced. "There's more going on with the girl than meets the eye. She's a
classic victim who hides behind her sexuality or perceived sexuality to deflect
from the true issue. I deduced from the conversation that she does not have the
IQ to have any sort of academic scholarship."

"Athletic?" I asked, trying to think of another option. Edward shook his head.
"She did not have any of the markers of an athlete either in her gait or her
expressions. In fact, she came off as not actually working toward any goal in
particular."

I turned to a way too quiet Emmett. "Any impressions, Em?"

"She's a lying bitch and I'm fighting every muscle in my body not to go right back
up there and beat the truth out of her." From the white knuckled grip that he had
on the table, I believed him.

"Also, it looked like Bree had two older brothers or brotherly figures. There was a
picture of them in a frame that said 'Brotherly Love.' It wasn't in her records, so if
we can find them, we might find more information."

I nodded before grabbing out my laptop and beginning to type away. I hated
sitting around, but until the other teams started reporting in and we got back the
info on Miss Kingsley, it was what we had to do. I skimmed my screen until I saw
two names pop up in her past history as step siblings…Dean and Sam
Winchester…location unknown.

Chapter 8

An hour later, we had more or less commandeered the room as our work area as
agent teams streamed in and out of the room. I was pleased to see a single
whiteboard in the room large enough for Edward and me to outline the info as it
came in.

The family flooring store had records going back fifty years. The agents were still
neck deep in the old records, searching for specific sales. They already had a
thousand local homes with the carpeting. I sent in two more teams to back them
up, skimming the more recent electronic records to cross reference any houses
which had replaced the older carpeting so we could eliminate them from the list
of possible locations.

Emmett was trying to find more information on Sam and Dean Winchester. They
had spotty records at best for the first nineteen or so years of their lives and then
a few years ago they both completely disappeared off the grid. When Bree first
came up missing, investigators were leaning strongly toward the brothers being
responsible, but there had been no proof in either direction to sway them.

The Winchester boys were a dead lead, which pissed Emmett off and brought out
the pacing beast again. I felt so bad for Emmett, but his extreme investment was
making it hard to justify keeping him on in Baltimore. The only thing that really
stopped me from relieving him of duty was fearing that he might go rogue and
chase Caulfield himself. I was afraid he might get himself killed, or worse, if I
didn't keep him in check.

The background analysis on Victoria Rae Kingsley came back an hour later. I
frowned as I looked it over, sliding it to Edward who took a double take at the

records. He looked up at me with tight eyes…we were on the same page. Without
a word, we both stood up and rushed out of the room, running to the stairs
leading to the fourth floor. We had left a guard outside her door and two on
perimeter duty while we worked in the activity room.

When we reached the fourth floor, the guard still stood sentry outside her door.
He shrugged as we approached. "No sign of her our here, Agent Swan….just that
awful thrash metal for the past hour."

I knocked on the door…no reply. I knocked harder. After the fourth time, I tried
to knob to find the door unlocked. I stepped into the empty room, my stomach
boiling as I glanced toward the open window. Nothing had been touched or
appeared to be taken in the ransacked room, but there was one new sealed
envelope left behind, "Agent Swan" written on the outside in that familiar script
that had been left on Bree's body.

I grabbed gloves out of my pocket and donned them quickly before carefully
opening the letter as Edward called for the agent outside to bring a bag before
calling to send agents to check on the perimeter guards. Edward reached forward
with the storage bag that materialized and allowed me to slip the envelope inside
as I unfolded the white page that was within.

"Too little, too late, team. Not gonna find little Vicky again, she's with me now,
for the time being at least. I suspect the ugly green monster will come out soon
and then she'll have to be eliminated, but until then this should get fun. I'm
disappointed Agent Swan. If you're reading this, then you didn't catch on to my
pretty little plant as I had hoped you would. He told me that you were better than
this. Guess you aren't the world's greatest after all. Too bad…I so wanted us to
meet face to face. Better hurry if you want to find The Rose alive or else you'll
have to find her buried with the orchids and other beautiful little flowers. Tick
Tock, La Bella Donna, La sua stagione di crescita sta raggiungendo è fine."

I was shaking as I read his words, not knowing Italian to translate the last line,
but knowing it was a threat to me. Edward picked it up and sucked in a breath
before looking at me with worried eyes. "Not only is he saying Rose's 'growing
season is reaching its end,' but I think he might be threatening you. We need to
get back to the conference room. I want to look something over really quickly,
but I think I'm seeing a pattern, and maybe a lead."

As we made our way back to the main floor, my knees feeling as instable as jello,
we got a call about the perimeter guards, both found unconscious. A metal ladder
leaned against the wall of the dorm leading to Victoria's window was the only
other sign anyone had been there at all. Caulfield had been here, on campus, and
helped her escape right under our noses. A chill went up my spine when I realized
that we had found not only an equal to Royce in intelligence and cunning, but
possibly even a superior. It also made me wonder if we didn't have it wrong all
along…if King was the submissive in the relationship while Caulfield was the
dominant.

I trembled as we entered the room, falling into my seat and staring blindly at the
wall. Why was I failing left and right? What was I not seeing? I was missing
something big right under my nose, and he was laughing at me and my mental
block.

Edward rushed to his computer across the room, scanning the screen before
speaking up. "It's a known pattern that King abducted women with a flower in
their names. ROSEalie LILLIAN Hale, Felicia LILLIAN Ross, DAISY Lynn West,
VIOLET Ann Rosings, HOLLY Denise Michaels, IRIS Sharee Rosenbloom, Bailey

JASMINE Ellis, and IVY Grace Rossdale were his victims before you captured him.
I just did a search for other flower names that have recently joined the missing
person's list. Among them is Breanna ROSE Winchester, OLIVIA ROSE Ashton,
and LAUREL ROSE Manning all taken from the Baltimore area since King's
incarceration, and the other two before Bree. We may have more than one victim
here. Can I see that note again?"

Emmett passed it with a shaking hand, his eyes darting to me and my heart fell
as I saw the condemnation there. He was blaming me for missing this and I
couldn't hardly blame him. I Blamed Me!

Edward read it over again with a hum before opening his computer to search
again. "He makes specific mention of being buried with the Orchids along with the
other beautiful flowers. Nobody with the name Orchid has disappeared, but
Baltimore has a conservatory in Clifton Park known for its Orchid display. I
suspect it might be a hint."

Emmett looked at me with wide eyes a second before I jumped up and ran for my
phone, making calls to the teams telling them to narrow the search for places
near Clifton Park. When the call was finished, I found myself running over to
Edward to hug around his shoulders and kiss his cheek. It broke all semblances of
professionalism but I really didn't care…I was just grateful that he had the
distance to see what the rest of us could not. I knew I was too close to the case
to be as beneficial as usual, but I was getting so frustrated with my mental
blocks. All I could think of was Rose in Caulfield's hands, and it was clouding
everything.

Edward blushed and smiled at me as Emmett and the others in the room
pretended not to notice. I looked down at him with grateful eyes. "Thank you for
being so amazing at your job. Thank you for staying objective when the rest of us
can't."

He smiled sadly with a shrug. "I've only been with the team a few months and
haven't had much interaction with Rosalie, so it's easier for me. Trust me; we're
going to get this guy, especially since I noticed one more thing just now."

I cocked my head with a frown as he nibbled his lip and looked worried.

"He referred to you as La Bella Donna. In Italian, that means The Beautiful
Woman, but Belladonna is also a flower also known as deadly nightshade. He has
convoluted your name into a flower name as well, Bella. I believe you may also
be a target now…either that or he has identified you as his biggest threat. Either
way, I fear you are in more danger than we suspected."

I sucked in a breath as the trembling returned in the same moment that my
phone began to ring. I picked it up and listened closely, my already cold blood
freezing completely in my veins as my heart skipped several beats.

"Hello, Belladonna. The time has come for us to talk."

Chapter 9

"Hello, James," I replied, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible. All three
guys in the room snapped their heads in my direction, eyes wide. I motioned for
them to be silent as I tapped the button to go to speakerphone.

"Well at least you figured out that part, Nightshade. I was beginning to think my
dear brother lied about you as an excuse for being captured."

I cleared my throat before continuing. "Well, I'm a little emotionally
compromised, considering who you have taken from us. I think it's clouding my
thinking."

He chuckled, "Oh, but you have loverboy to pick up the slack. He's quite good, I
must say…not as pretty though."

I took a deep breath and tried to steady my voice as I added an extra sharpness
in my reply. "What is it you want, James? We're a little busy trying to locate you."

He chuckled again. "Yes, yes, you're catching onto my clues expediently, but your
time is running out, Nightshade. When dawn's light strikes the home of the
orchids, the Rose shall wilt and wither. If anyone but you comes to her aid, they
will die along with her. Only you, Belladonna, can save the precious Rose. You
have a little less than six hours to find us. We'll be waiting with bells on."

I started to reply when my phone beeped indicating he had ended the call. My
stomach boiled as I stared at the rectangular device before looking up at the men
in the room, Edward looking at me with horror while Emmett, white knuckled the
table and ground his teeth. The silence was broken when the teams from the
flooring store arrived hauling in boxes of records. I stared at Edward who blinked
at me in silence, all of the color now drained from his face.

"You can't go, Bella. It's not safe."

I swallowed before rasping, "I have to. Rose is dead if I don't. At least she'll have
some kind of a chance if I go."

Edward began to shake his head jerkily. "You know as well as I do that if you go
in there alone, you're not coming back. You're his new nexus. It was never
Rose…Rose was King's obsession. Caulfield is in it for the thrill of the chase and
the defeat of the most worthy opponent. That's you, Bella. He wants to conquer
you."

I nodded shakily before standing up and moving to stare out the window. I licked
my lips slowly, gazing out into the darkness before wiping a tear away. With one
last breath, I turned toward my extended team. "I want all the concealed
weapons you can find me. Emmett, I want you to see if you can get me that
sample of Dragon Skin body armor. I want to be able to maneuver when I'm in
there. Johnson, I want to be wired in an obvious and at least two more discrete
ways. Make sure at least one is vid. Edward," I paused when I locked eyes with
him, seeing the agony on his face, "Find them for me. I need you to do this for
me. His last comment about waiting with bells on was probably another clue.
Look for addresses or complexes having something to do with bells. Also, look for
flowers and name or titles of monarchs, and assign someone to cross reference
our suspected locations with former foster homes Caulfield stayed in after he was
released from the hospital. This could be a place he spent some time in."

Edward nodded slowly before looking back down at his keyboard, but his strokes
were noticeably slower than they had been before the newest revelations. I took
a breath and lifted my phone from the table, dialing the one person I needed to
talk to most. It only took one ring before Carlisle answered. Apparently he had
already been apprised of the situation, as the first words out of his mouth were,
"You can't do this, Bella."

I almost didn't recognize my own voice as I responded in a flat monotone. "I
have no choice, Carlisle. I'm Rose's only chance."

"NO, Bella! You are not Rose's only chance. Let a strike team go in and get her.
This isn't Silence of the Lambs and you aren't Jodie Foster. This is suicide, Bella.
There's no honor in this."

"And I can't live the rest of my life knowing that I was too scared to face the
demon and not even try. I'm doing this, Carlisle, with or without approval."

Carlisle sighed. "I'm calling Arogani and the rest of the big wigs and I am on my
way there as of five minutes ago. You are not going in without any backup and I
am going to be in your ear the entire time."

I smiled and let out a slow breath. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Carlisle."

The teams dove in head first, working away while I stared out the window and
tried to wrap my mind about what I was about to do. Suddenly, the room got
quiet and I saw the reflection of Edward moving toward me before I felt his heat
behind me. It was like the world was moving in slow motion as his hand moved
out to touch my arm at the time that his face lowered to my shoulder. He placed
a soft kiss before sliding his hand down my arm to twine his fingers with mine.

"I just found you…I don't want to lose you," Edward whispered into my ear as I
leaned into the warmth of his chest, no longer caring about professionalism. I
needed this personal connection before I walked directly into hell. I took a deep
breath before turning toward him, wrapping his arm around my waist as I
twisted.

I rested my hand on his chest, feeling his heart hammering away under his
sternum. "I don't want to either, but I meant what I said, if I don't try, I won't be
able to live with myself."

He pulled me closer with his arm around my waist, his free hand moving up to
grasp my hand on his chest, squeezing lightly. We stared at each other for one
very long moment before he leaned in and softly brushed his lips across mine. I
gasped as my heart jumped hard in my chest, threatening to beat right out of my
ribs in response to his touch.

Our kiss deepened as we moved closer, my hand sliding up to wrap around his
neck, as his slid up my arm to tangle in my hair. Without conscious thought, my
lips parted and I took a small shared breath with him before they fell together
again, this time my tongue peeking out to taste his lower lip. Edward hummed
before reaching out to brush my tongue with his, causing my heart to clench with
bittersweet joy. Our kiss did not break until the rattle of the door knob warned us
we had company and we jumped apart, still staring as we struggled to catch our
breath.

Through the door marched Carlisle, another small army of agents following him in
with armloads of supplies. He took in Edward and my condition with a smirk
before barking out orders at his entourage. Everything I had requested had been
brought along with the new crew and more. I now had everything I needed to
enter the lion's den…now I just needed to muster that last bit of courage.

Just as I was slipping on the last piece of Dragon Skin armor, an agent dashed in,
laying something out on the table. "We missed it at first because we were looking
for installations on a Bell or Belle Avenue. It wasn't until Uley was looking at the
map that he realized that there were lots of installations on corners. We found

this one on the corner of Ellerslie and Belle Terre Avenues, and it was also one of
the homes Caulfield was placed in toward the end of his time in the system."

I picked up the picture and looked at the cute little blue three-story Victorian
home with white trim, a chill running up my back. It was within relative close
proximity to Clifton Park, had the right carpeting unless it had been replaced by
another dealer in the years since it was first installed, and it had a connection
with Caulfield. It looked too pretty to be the ninth circle of hell, but then again,
King never looked like the devil incarnate either.

All was in place and we had two hours to go…I just prayed that I could find a way
to get us both out alive.

Chapter 10

An hour before the deadline, I carefully approached the steps that led from the
street to the blue Victorian we had discovered in our search. All I could do was
pray that we were right, or else Rose was doomed. Armed with eight concealed
weapons in addition to the .45 in my hands, I had one traditional wire taped
between my breasts, one video feed in a lapel pin that said FBI on my shirt, a
GPS tracker in my shoe and in my bra, and another audio feed pinned to my
underwear. I held onto the hope that Caulfield wouldn't find them all if I were
searched and my team, who were less than a block away, could still keep tabs on
me after I entered the house.

I knocked on the door when I reached it, only to have it open to find an
unfurnished house. My stomach dropped in fear that we were wrong. I carefully
moved around the first floor using the light from my flashlight to navigate, before
checking the upstairs and then coming back down to find the door that led to the
basement. I knew there was a basement because small rectangular windows
lined the foundation of the house, not something done when there is just a crawl
space beneath.

From my earpiece, I could her Carlisle's smooth, calm voice. "Talk to me, Bella.
We have good feed, but I want to know how you're doing."

I swallowed, only realizing how hard I was breathing when it was interrupted by
the quiet of the motion. "I'm okay, Carlisle. I noticed there was a basement, I'm
trying to find the door that leads to it now."

I finally found the doorway in the kitchen. I groaned at the stale, musty scent
that rose from the inky black below. Rickety wooden steps disappeared into the
darkness beyond the small illumination my flashlight provided.

"I'm going down."

"Copy that," Carlisle replied.

I slowly descended into the dark, bare concrete basement walls constructed of
cinderblock and nothing more. The thought occurred to me that I hadn't seen the
shag carpeting and kicked myself, realizing that we must have had it all wrong.

I walked the room again before cursing into the earpiece. "Shit! There's nothing
here, Carlisle. Damn it, we got it wrong. I'm coming out…split the crews up and

start knocking doors of all the other residences who had the flooring. It's our last
chance."

Carlisle's voice, crackled a bit as he responded, our signal being interrupted by
something as I made my way back toward the stairs, tripping over something on
my way.

"Actually, Bella, we just got a call that Rose was found alive at the Conservatory.
Caulfield must have realized we were getting close and took off to play another
day. I've sent two teams to go get her and document the scene. I'm heading out
now. Edward is staying behind with Uley and Stephens to take you there too."

I nodded, looking down at what had tripped me, not able to make it out in the
dark. "Copy…you go ahead. Tell them I'll be right there."

There was no reply. I bent down to examine what had tripped me, my heart
pounding when I realized it was the edge of a trap door concealed under the large
pieces of ceramic tile flooring. I leaned down closer and tried to grip the small
ridge.

"Are you guys seeing this? I want to check it out."

Silence.

"Hello?"

Nothing.

"Edward?"

I stood up to go up the stairs and get the guys, but as I reached the bottom of
the staircase, the door leading down slammed shut seconds before a cloth filled
hand covered my nose and mouth. I thrashed and fought, but felt my body
growing heavy seconds before the little bit of the light in the room disappeared
and I no longer heard or felt anything.

I woke up in a bright room, a strange texture under my prone body. My heart
froze mid beat when I opened my eyes to see a sea of tan shag carpeting under
me. The smell of sweat and urine made me gag as I tried to move my hands to
sit up, but they were tied behind me. I struggled to try to stand, but found myself
bound too tightly; all I could do was sit on my knees.

I perched myself up and looked around the windowless room that was nothing
but white cinder block walls and a sea of tan carpet. One door bisected the wall
before me and in it stood a smirking James Caulfield, facial deformities replaced
with smooth lines. He still didn't look like a replica of his brother, but it was now
easy to tell that they were related.

I was shed of all my clothing except for my underwear. I thanked God for small
favors and prayed that the team would find my signal soon. My hope only lasted
a few seconds before I remembered the radio silence right before I was taken.
Caulfield was blocking my signal. They had no clue where I was.

I coughed before finding a weak voice. "Where are we?"

He laughed, his cocky jubilation over his triumph radiating from him in waves.
"Why, my house, my dear. I was so disappointed when you almost missed the
trap door, but you didn't fail me in the end. You almost let the cat out of the bag,
though, and that would have ruined the whole surprise."

I swallowed, taking a deep breath of the putrid air. "Rose?"

He scoffed as he moved across the room to adjust something on the far wall. "I
do not see what enamored my brother so with her. I do have to admit that she
was a fighter though…and quite intelligent, but not as intelligent as you, my
Belladonna." He smiled as he ran a finger down my cheek. "You and I are going
to have so much fun! Time for phase one…you have two hours to find a way out
of your restraints. If you succeed, you get a reward. If you don't, you've failed
me and I'll have to place you with the other lovely flowers…so don't fail me,
Nightshade. Pleasant scurrying."

With that, he closed the door, the bright lights in the ceiling extinguishing soon
after, dropping me into total darkness. I struggled to catch my breath, fighting
that nagging sense of claustrophobia before self preservation kicked in. I had two
hours and I needed to make the best of them!

Chapter 11

It was quiet in the darkness...so quiet that all I could hear was my labored
breathing and the clank of the chains that bound me. I struggled against my
restraints, hoping for a weakness, knowing it would be nearly impossible to
escape in my current position. If I could free my hands, then I'd have a much
better chance.

I fought until my wrists were raw and finally gave up. Once I became used to the
darkness, I did notice there was a very faint green led light in the upper right
hand corner of the room…most likely night vision video surveillance. If my hands
had been free, I would have flipped the fucker off, but instead I glared before
positioning myself to scoot across the floor, attempting to examine the chain and
the place where it connected to the floor.

I felt tears floating along my lower lids when I realized that the chain was thick
and strong, as was the u-shaped metal that was sunk directly into the concrete I
found under the shag carpeting. This was not going to be any point of weakness
to exploit. It was hard to feel my way around, having to lie on my side to expose
my hands to the floor below. I shifted the carpet a bit more to see if I could find
anything hidden beneath when I heard the muted sound of something shifting to
my right in the carpet. I lifted the carpet a little higher, hearing the sound again.

I fought to wriggle my way in the direction of the sound, feeling around the deep
nap of the carpeting with my face, trying not to gag at the cloying smell. I nearly
yelled in triumph when my nose came in contact with something long and metal.
I nudged it a few more times before using my mouth to pick it up, letting out a
cheer when I saw it was a key…I just hoped it was a key to something for me.

Getting my hands free was nearly impossible. I had been so relieved when I
finally managed to get the key into my hand by dropping it on the floor and
rolling on my side again to pick it up. The lock was even angled a little so that I
was able to slide the key into the hole after a lot of adjusting, but turning the key
without turning the whole lock turned out to be the hardest part.

I had no sense of time while I was fighting with the key and the lock, but finally a
loud click and the sudden release in tension on my left wrist told me that I had

managed to unlock the extremely heavy metal u-shaped lock from the
rectangular base. A few grunts and wiggles later, the hand restraints fell free,
allowing me to move my aching arms to the front of my body. My legs were so
stiff from being forced into that same position for so long, as well as my
shoulders from the strain of being wrenched behind my back, that I couldn't
resist the tears.

I lay flat a few moments, panting before sitting up to see why my legs were still
restrained. I noticed that it had been a smaller chain linking my arms to my legs
and another, larger pad lock kept my bound together. I knew it was a waste of
effort, but still yanked the key from the first lock and tried it on the larger lock,
but with no luck. With a whimper, I shifted back over on my hands and knees and
began shuffling around on the carpet, sweeping my hands back and forth in
search of a second key. I found two more planted keys, but neither fit the lock.

The stress and the dark were starting to be too much, my panic that my time was
running out starting to take over, when suddenly something changed. I didn't
even realize that there was another sound in the room until it was missing. I
glanced up toward the light to see it had been extinguished, along with the small
whirring sound of some sort of ventilation system. I couldn't help but smirk to
myself. Either it was my lucky day, or my boys sorted out that my signal was
being blocked and forced an electrical shutdown, but either way, Caulfield's
jammer was no doubt out of commission. I only had to hope that we weren't so
far underground that my GPS signal wouldn't be able to penetrate.

Feeling a sense of renewed strength, I began testing the edges of the carpet all
around the room. A loud rumble started down the hall moments before the
ventilation restarted as well as the light in the corner. I had made it down two
walls, checking the edge of the carpet as I went. I was just about to give up
when the shag raised under my hand. I felt in the dark and did a fist pump when
I laid fingers on a larger metal key.

Seconds later, I was free of the foot shackles and trying to stand, the intense
tingling in my feet making it nearly impossible to keep my footing. I leaned
against the wall, bringing along the shorter chain that had bound my hands so I
had some sort of weapon, as I shuffled toward the door, keeping a mental picture
of where I left the other keys in case one of them is needed to open it. When I
reached the door, however, I was surprised to find it unlocked. I opened the door
to find a dimly lit corridor of concrete waiting for me.

I wrapped the chain around my right hand twice, leaving a good eight inches of
chain hanging down to use at a distance if necessary and leaned against the wall
as I shuffled to the right, hoping I was headed out, but also knowing he was
probably watching every move I made. The first door I came to was dark inside,
the overwhelming stench of excrement told me that it was most likely another
cell, one I certainly didn't want to be stuck in. I shut the door quickly and
continued on my way.

I came to a utilitarian bathroom, a living room that looked as though it stepped
right out of the 1960's, complete with hideous colored furniture and an ancient TV
with bunny ears, which no doubt picked up no signal at all. There were even fake
window frames in this particular room, fading pictures of a green lawn stretching
out to meet a blue sky mounted behind the frames. It actually was more chilling
to me than the cell I had been in for whatever reason.

The next door led to a supply room, the ladder leading up I the far right corner of
the room making me smile with the hope that I had found the way out. I checked
over my shoulder before moving to stand at the bottom of the ladder. As quietly

as I could, I moved up the steps and braced my hand against the heavy trap
door, only to have nothing happen. I stepped a little higher, bracing my shoulder
against the door, but not even the slightest budge of the gray metal.

My breathing began to speed and the tears began to fall before I even took my
first step down, my worst nightmare growing more and more real with every
passing moment. My vision was so blurred with my tears, and my thoughts so
distracted, I hadn't even known he was behind me until his arms wrapped around
my waist his hot breath brushing the skin under my ear as one hand slid up my
sternum to grip my chin roughly and tip my head back.

"I knew you wouldn't disappoint me, Belladonna. You were always meant to be
mine…to be here with me. I have a dream, Bella, a dream to have the perfect
family, the perfect life…I just needed the perfect woman. I went through a lot of
ladies before I found you. It started long before I met Royce, but together we
helped each other grow. He helped me present a better face to the world, and I…I
taught him how to execute the perfect abduction and how to get away with
it…time and time again."

I was trembling, trying not to do anything too rash until I had a better
opportunity as he licked my neck and pawed at my body. Either he hadn't noticed
the chain or didn't think I could do anything with it. Either way, I wasn't going to
bring attention to it…at least not yet. I let him lead me further away from the
stairs and press me against a wall as he continued talking, so smug in his
perfection, so convinced that he had it all mapped out. He explained how he'd
been shown this place by his foster father, the man who built the bunker during
the paranoia that followed World War II. As the cold war waged on, the man
made another discovery…his safe place also made for the perfect safe place to
take his victims, the children he tortured and abused, scaring them into never
telling the authorities what had happened to them. Then one day he met young
Jamie Caulfield, underestimating him immediately due to his size and
appearance. James Caulfield was the last child to ever enter the front doors of
that house, and the foster parents suddenly became hermits, paying their bills
through channels and having food delivered so they didn't have to be seen…so
nobody would see that they were no longer living above ground at all. They
stayed there for years until they finally died from captivity and were buried in the
back yard, under the wife's prize flowers.

James took up permanent residence in this place after that, coming and going
through the back door I had been trying to escape through that eventually came
out in a shed in the back yard. He captured women and brought them here, to
test them, to see if they were worthy, and when they weren't, they too were
buried with the owners of the house. There were already ten bodies out there
before Royce King ever found his twin, fifteen by the time James had prepared
him to go back out into the world the find 'the one that got away.' And ten more
in the past several years since James had been capable of going out into the
world to find more suitable, and yet still unworthy, prospects. My heart broke for
those girls as he spoke of them as nothing more than trash.

I'd almost numbed myself completely to his touch as his hands slid over my most
intimate places. It was like I was out of my own body, watching it from afar. I
could feel the shock kicking in.

"But you…oh you my Bella Donna, my truly worthy equal. You will be the bearer
of my future. We are going to make a life here and you are going to bear me the
children I know I deserve. You will adore me and love me and we will raise my
sons together to continue my legacy. They will learn to earn everything and be
worthy of all that they have and prune that which isn't worthy."

He was babbling endlessly in his self effacing soliloquy, not noticing the small
creaking sound down the hall. I took a deep breath and braced myself, tightening
my grip on the chain and trying not to vomit as I came back into my body and
felt his hands on me, touching me in ways that I would never allow. I could feel
him smiling against my neck as he spoke when I interrupted him, my voice raspy.

"There's only one problem with your plan, James. " I tensed up and brought my
chain covered hand up, making contact with his nose as I screamed out. "I'm not
a victim!"

He released me immediately and grabbed his nose, already pouring with blood as
I spun around and whipped the chain across his knees, knocking him to the floor.
I didn't give him a chance to get up before I bolted out of the room and down the
hallway toward the sound of the creak. I had to hope it was coming from the
other exit and that my boys had found me somehow. I knew there was a chance
it could be another co-conspirator, or even Victoria if she had survived, but I just
felt with the power outage that it had to be my boys.

I was almost to the source of the sound when I heard a yell behind me. I
screamed and tried to run faster, grateful that the feeling had now come back to
my legs, but wishing they would go just a bit faster still. I skidded into a dark
room where the creaking was coming from, feeling so relieved to find another set
of stairs leading to another door. I climbed up and started banging on it with the
chain, screaming for them to help. I could hear James drawing closer. I turned on
the stairs to lean against the rungs, grabbing the chain more tightly in my hand
to whip it toward him again, this time going for his face and throat. His pounding
steps were drawing closer as my heart beat faster and faster, and then with no
warning, the metal above me was wrenched up and the warm voice I'd been
begging to hear met my ears.

Emmett's loud voice quickly overpowered it. "Holy Fuck, Bella! What the?"

"Gun!" I yelled up at him. Emmett stepped at the opening of the door and pulled
me up with one hand, while training his gun down into the space with the other,
but James never showed in the room, apparently hearing their arrival.

"There's a second exit, through the shed. Send guns there too. As far as I know
these are the only two ways out."

I was shaking, still in nothing but my underwear, my wrists and ankles raw and
bleeding as Edward hugged me, taking me into a corner of the basement and
shedding his jacket to put around me before wrapping me in his arms.
Meanwhile, Emmett and two other agents disappeared down into the bunker.

"I was so scared, Bella. I was so afraid we wouldn't find you."

I just nodded and cried against his chest. I vaguely remember Carlisle coming in,
ordering some clothes be brought in for me while squints flooded the scene,
documenting and taking samples. It was always hard going through that as an
agent, but it was so much worse being the victim. Soon Rose arrived, bruised and
cut. She was trembling with fear, but insisted on coming to me, handing me
some clothes and helping me put them on with shaky hands while Edward
shielded us with his body and his coat.

"You shouldn't have done this to yourself, Rosalie. You didn't have to come back
here."

Rose had tears in her eyes as she looked at me. "You came in here to save me.
The least I can do is face this place to help you."

We both fell together with loud sobs as Edward turned to face us, looking at a
loss. Eventually he curled his arms around the both of us, calming us before
leading us back out through the house and to the waiting van, which took me to
the hospital for a more thorough checkup. I was relatively certain he had yet to
take part in carnal knowledge of my body while I was sedated, but I didn't know
for sure. I was more than a little relieved when tests confirmed that the only
thing wrong with me was a few bruised body parts and quite a bit of skin
tearing…nothing that wouldn't heal eventually. Well, the outside would heal
easily, but the rest, I wasn't so sure.

Edward stayed at my side through everything. He left the room for my exams,
but was back by my side the second the exams were over. He held my hand
while I gave my statement and went out of his way to make sure I had
everything I needed during my five hour stay.

We actually got lucky in finding the bunker. With the existence of Caulfield, there
was a chance that King's lawyers would appeal on the grounds that there was no
way to prove King was guilty when his and Caulfield's DNA was so similar, but
there was more than enough evidence in the bunker to link them both to
everything. One team coming from one end and the other coming in from the
shed, Caulfield ended up being caught, ironically enough, in my cell. With the
undeniable evidence and the over two dozen bodies found buried in the back
yard, there was no doubt in my mind that neither brother would ever see the
light of day again.

When we returned to HQ that night, everyone was exhausted. When Edward
offered to drive me home and stay with me, I jumped at the opportunity, not
wanting to be alone at night in a dark apartment. He was so sweet as he tucked
me in and kissed my forehead after I was all dressed for bed, turning to walk out
of the room and crash on my couch. He was almost to the door when I called out
to him, my voice sounding so small and weak, I would have sworn it was a small
girl instead of my own.

"Edward, would you please stay in here with me? I don't want to be alone." He
looked over his shoulder at me, a look of concern crossing his face. I knew what
he was thinking…trauma, co-dependence, post-traumatic attachment, and so on.
I smiled and shook my head.

"I would have wanted it before Baltimore. If I'm honest, I've wanted it for a long
time, but I was being stubborn about the boss/employee relationship thing…and
it's not even the FBI's rule since you're contract."

He licked his lips and stared at me a long time before cautiously crossing over to
my bed to sit on the edge before lying woodenly beside me, doing his best not to
touch me. I rolled to face him with a sigh before reaching over to take his hand
and rest it on my waist.

"I need to know that safe touching is still possible. I need to know that I can trust
this. I know I can, but I need reminding. Please, Edward."

His green eyes darted back and forth between both of mine, before he relaxed,
scooting closer and wrapping his arm around my waist, his nose nuzzling into my
hair that was resting on the pillow between us.

"Thank you, Edward."

He smiled, sadness shining in his eyes. "Anything for you, Bella…Always."

I closed my eyes and smiled softly as I let the darkness surround me, the warmth
of Edward beside me reminding me that I was home, safe and sound.

Epilogue…30 months later

The legal process to put James Caulfield away for good began three months after
he was put behind bars. Between motions, continuations, requests for changes in
venue, and so forth, it was over two years after the process began that Rose and
I found ourselves holding hands in the courtroom, Edward and Emmett on either
side of us, their arms curled around us protectively as we prepared to testify. We
were the first, only in the room for proof of presence before being led out so we
would not be swayed by one another's testimony.

It had, however, been arranged that after we had testified, we would be allowed
to sit in on the remainder of the trial, a reminder to the jury that well over two
dozen victims fell at the hands of the criminal under scrutiny, and we were the
only two that had ever escaped. Our schedules had been cleared for the
foreseeable future, as this trial was expected to drag on for weeks.

My heart was already pounding in my ears when they bailiff lead Caulfield in
wearing his orange jumpsuit and cuffs on his arms and legs. Edward's arm
tightened around my shoulder as he glared back at me, an evil crooked smirk on
his face. I swallowed and met his gaze without wavering; trying hard not to
betray the panic I was feeling inside.

I could feel myself breathing a bit harder when Edward leaned over to whisper in
my ear. "Are you okay, Bella? If this is too much for you, we can ask to delay
your testimony. You have to be careful not to over exert yourself."

I took a deep breath before turning to look into Edward's worry-filled green eyes.
I smiled as best I could, taking his hand off his lap and resting it on my stomach.
"We're fine. We're a tough lot, Daddy. We can handle it."

Edward's hand caressed my distended stomach lovingly, smiling as our little boy
kicked his hand on one of the passes. He looked up at me with glassy eyes,
resting his hand over the place where our son had just reached out to him.

"Just promise me that if this gets to be too much, you will tell us. This trial is not
worth the wellbeing of you or him." He patted his fingers over the spot twice to
emphasize his point.

I smiled and held his face in my hands. "I promise. I love you, Edward."

He smiled back, leaning forward to kiss my forehead softly. "I love you too,
Bella."

After the entire situation with Caulfield, we both decided life was too short. We
told our bosses about our relationship, allowed them to split us up at the bureau,
and never looked back. While Edward was worth his weight in gold as a profiler,
he was worth so much more as my boyfriend, and about a year later, my
husband.

The same had been true of Emmett and Rosalie. The bureau let me choose who
to keep and that was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make. In the end,
I decided I couldn't lose Emmett and Edward, so I let Rose move to the same

division as Edward while we ended up getting stuck with Jane on a permanent
basis. It wasn't too bad though, as she eventually learned her place, especially
after she made a move on Edward and got shot down and threatened to have
every string at his disposal pulled to have her cut off from the bureau for good.
She tried to call his bluff, only to realize he wasn't when he opened his phone and
made a direct call to director Arogani. Jane kissed Edward's ass and then
proceeded to be a hell of a lot more respectful to me after that as well. I wouldn't
say working with her was fun, but it was tolerable at least.

Rose and I actually got pregnant only a few months apart. She ended up having
to come back from maternity leave a week early to be part of these trials.
Leaving little Emma behind was actually the hardest part for her. Now my only
hope was that our little Parker could wait out the lengthy trial before making his
appearance. My back had been hurting a lot more in the past week or so, and I
couldn't help but worry he was already beginning to drop. I was supposed to have
eight more weeks, which I hoped was enough time for the trail to be wrapped up,
but babies didn't really pay attention to such things. All I could do was pray and
hope.

Before I knew it, the bailiff stepped forward and ordered the court to rise as he
introduced the Honorable Judge Clifford C. Wilson. Edward helped me lift my
awkward self out of the chair to stand for the Judge to tromp in looking important
before he helped me sit back down when we were instructed to be seated. For
the next two hours, we sat and listened as the judge instructed the jury before
each lawyer got to set out their opening remarks.

Finally, after the defense lawyer wrapped up his soliloquy, the judge asked for
the witnesses that would testify to leave the room. I felt another chill when
Caulfield eyed me darkly as Edward stood before turning to help me up and then
guiding me down the aisle with a soothing and rubbing my lower back.

The wait was torture. Rose paced the floors, griping that they took her phone
away in the courthouse and wondering how Emmybug was doing while I lie on my
side on the small loveseat upon Edward's insistence and watched Rose pace while
he sat in a chair at my feet, rubbing them gently. There were parts of pregnancy
that sucked, the swollen legs and ankles were just one little aspect. The docs
didn't like it either, especially since my blood pressure had been running a little
high. Edward was right to be concerned, high blood pressure could be very
dangerous during pregnancy, but I had to do my best to be here. I wanted the
jury to be reminded that there were victims, and unless the doctors flat out told
me no, or I went into labor, which we needed to hold off for another several
weeks before it would be safe for the baby, I was going to be right here, every
day, no matter how much of a pain in the ass the uncomfortable seats in the
court room were.

Rose was called in first. She was gone a really long time, so long in fact that
court adjourned after they were finished with her testimony. She was a sobbing
mess when the bailiff brought her back to the room. Emmett and I ran to her and
held her close, trying to calm her as she nearly hyperventilated. She wasn't
allowed to tell me about what was said, but I distinctly heard her mumble, "he's
the devil," between gasps. Very little ever rattled Rosalie Hale-McCarty, so her
emotional state left me reeling.

Once we calmed her down, Edward, Emmett, Rose, and I made our way out of
the courthouse, our husbands shielding us from the compressing sea of reporters
and photographers, hoping for any sound bite of heart rending picture they could
capture. Once we were past the worst of it, we made a dash for the cars…well as
much of a dash as a waddling pregnant woman can make. Edward kept his eye

on me as we made our way home, starting a warm shower for me before rushing
downstairs to sort out supper while I did my best to strip out of my clothes and
hose. Making a pregnant woman have to wear hose and dress shoes in her 8th
month should be against the Geneva Convention.

I sighed as I stood under the warm spray, reminding myself that I couldn't stay
in too long and risk overheating. I had to admit, I was really looking forward to
the point after delivery when I could take a bath again with a glass of wine and a
coffee chaser. I missed my vices. It was worth losing them all for my little boy,
but it was still going to be nice when I could indulge a little again.

When I finished toweling off and slipping into a robe, I left the bathroom and
shuffled through the house to find my handsome, caring husband sitting a large
colorful salad in the middle of the table. He looked up and smiled before pulling
out a chair for me to sit in. Our meal was quiet and Edward's eyes on me the
whole time was more than a little frustrating, but at the same time, I was
grateful that he cared so much.

We tucked in early, Edward snuggled up to my back and I struggled to get my
body pillow just right in order to support my stomach and rest between my
knees. I smiled as I felt him kissing my shoulders before burying his nose in my
hair and drifting off into a steady, even breathing pattern.

My night was restless, and while I wasn't anywhere near ready to face that
courtroom, I was definitely ready to get out of bed when morning dawned. I
dressed again in the same maternity suit with a different shirt underneath. I
could only hope that if the jury did notice, they would be understanding that I
just didn't have the money to spend on a half a dozen tailored maternity suits for
this trial that I would never be able to wear again. Even when I went to have
another baby, I wouldn't wear those doggone things unless I had no other
recourse. I never really minded wearing a suit before, but these maternity ones
were a pain in the butt, tummy panels always threatening to peak out and further
remind the world that I was a whale. Thanks, but no thanks.

When we reached the court house, the DA pulled me into a conference room for
one last briefing before I took the stand. I was anxious, but I had to do it. I was
trembling as I walked into the court room and took the stand, my eyes flitting for
the briefest of moments toward Caulfield and his evil smirk before I locked eyes
on the lawyer before me and made a point to never look his way again.

Retelling my story was painful. I had always prided myself on being strong and
being able to deal with anything, and yet what I endured with Caulfield had
broken something inside me, and that weak link led to me crying more than once
on the stand…well that and pregnancy hormones. In truth it was a wonder they
could understand a single word coming out of my mouth.

I chanced a glance at the jury, most of which looked on me with pity, but there
were a few stony faces that made me worried Caulfield might somehow get out of
this after all he had pulled. My testimony took the whole morning, the lawyer for
the defense trying hard to find some kind of flaw in my story, but failed. There
was no flaw to find, because it was straight up truth.

What had seemed like three years by the time I stepped down from the podium,
ended up only being three hours. The judge dismissed the court for lunch as soon
as I was near the door. I tried to eat, but it was nearly impossible to swallow past
the bowling ball trapped in my esophagus.

After lunch, it was Edward's turn to take the stand. The DA said Rose and I were
allowed to return to the court room for the remainder of the trial. We stuck to

each others' side as we walked up to the front row and took a seat. I stared
anywhere but toward Caulfield, not looking his way, but still feeling his beady
eyes on me. It made the bitter bile rise so high in my throat I could taste the
metallic tang on my tongue. I swallowed hard to suppress the urge to vomit all
over the courtroom and focused on being strong for my husband.

The second Edward took the stand, his eyes zeroed in on me. Even in the hot
seat, I was still his first priority. I smiled and mouthed 'love you' to him just as
the bailiff approached and made his take the oath. All of my attention was
focused on him as he spoke, my heart nearly shattering into a million pieces by
the pain of his memory.

"Dr. Cullen, could you please detail to the court the sequence of events on the
day in question after Agent Swan-Cullen entered the house?"

Edward took a deep stabilizing breath, his eyes trained on me as he spoke.

"I was already anxious for her to be going in there…and before the defense can
ask, no we were not together at that time. She was just Agent Swan. We were
watching in the van as we covered the empty house, and there seemed to be
nothing there. I remember hating her going into the basement without backup,
but we didn't think we had much choice. We had taken every precaution that we
could. It's not often we send an agent in with six forms of surveillance and
tracking sensors on them. The basement seemed clear and Agent Swan said she
was exiting the premises and gave directions to expand the search to the other
leads we had in a hope to find Dr. Hale. Thankfully, we had received the report
she had been found alive at the Conservatory in the park. Agent Swan-Cullen said
she was leaving, and my father, a consultant on the case, left us behind to bring
her back to our temporary HQ and went on to check on Dr. Hale. Moments later,
the screens went blank. We lost all feeds on her, audio, video, and GPS."

He stopped to take a breath, his hands wringing together in his lap. "Agents Uley,
Johson, and I rushed inside, and down to the basement, but there was nothing
there except Agent Swan's gun, flashlight, the audio that had been taped to her
chest, and her shoes. There was no sign whatsoever of her or the suspect."

Edward paused and did not continue as he stared at me and swallowed hard, the
haunted look in his eyes making my heart pound in my chest. Eventually, the DA
persuaded him to continue.

"What was your next course of action, Dr. Cullen?"

Edward shook his head a little and glanced away from me to the lawyer and then
back to me again before looking down at his hands.

"We called my father and the rest of the unit back and then we searched
everywhere, the house, the yard, we knocked on the neighboring houses, there
was no trace of them at all. We saw no signs of struggle, no signs of Agent Swan
being dragged away from the house, which we knew had to be the case, because
she is well trained and would never have gone willingly with him, especially after
hearing Dr. Hale was safe. It didn't make any sense. Feeling frustrated and
convinced that the other surveillance equipment was our best chance in finding
her, I camped out in the van for the next several hours, watching the blank
monitors for any signs or hints of her whereabouts."

"We had more or less reasoned that there must have been some kind of jamming
signal, since Agent Swan was communicating with us moments before her signals
all went dark. Our one hope was to cut the power to the block and hope that in
doing so, it would interrupt the jamming frequency and give us another clue. It

took a long time to convince a judge that we needed the warrant and were even
at the right place, but eventually he signed the warrant. An hour later, the power
went down on the whole block and a single signal came through. It was the video
link from the FBI pin Agent Swan had worn on her vest, but it didn't tell us much.
It was in the dark with a tiny sliver of visual."

Edward swallowed and cleared his throat, his Adam's Apple bobbing hard above
his tie.

"At first nobody could make out what it was, but after staring a few minutes, I
figured it out. I didn't even say anything, for fear that we would lose feed before I
found it. Several agents and my father followed. I ran down the basement and
began walking across the large tiles of the floor, looking to see if I could find
where it was. I examined the angle of the stair risers in relation to the flooring,
and found what I thought I saw. Using my fingers, I tried to pry up the heavy
ceramic square, but I couldn't. Agent McCarty then left and returned with a
crowbar, claiming that while the neighborhood was out of power still, we had lost
signal. The other agents were searching for a generator that might have been
activated."

"Agent McCarty started prying the ceramic tile, only to realize that the tile under
his foot was also reacting to his efforts. He took a step to the side and tried
again, bringing four tiles connected by a metal rebar frame up from the floor. It
had a handle on the underside and had a hidden hinge that allowed it to swing
back and reveal a large metal trap door. On the top sat Agent Swan's pin. How it
managed to stay there and lead us to the door, I'll never know, but without it we
probably would not have found her."

His eyes were boring into me, and being his wife, I saw all the things he wasn't
saying out loud. I'd heard bits and pieces of this story before, but never in one
long sequence. The jury had no clue how panicked and desperate Edward had
felt, but I did. I saw it in every gesture, every breath. My heart ached for him,
knowing he was pondering what would have happened had they not found me
when they did.

After another long pause, the DA stepped in again. "What happened after that Dr.
Cullen?"

He took in a deep breath and smiled sadly. "The trapdoor was sealed, but Agent
McCarty, me, and the two other agents with us worked together to pry up the
door. Once we broke the seal, it was relatively easy for Agent McCarty to open
the door. We were all shocked when Agent Swan was standing on the stairs
leading up in nothing but her underwear yelling for McCarty to hand her a gun.
Instead, Agent McCarty pulled her up while aiming his weapon down the hole. I
took Agent Swan, wrapped her in my jacket as she tried to tell me things we
needed to know through chattering teeth. Agents McCarty, Uley, and Johnson
went down after Caulfield while I tended to Agent Swan. Other agents went down
the back door Agent Swan informed us of that came up in the shed and they
apprehended Caulfield while I got Agent Swan to the ambulance."

The DA shot me a look before moving between Edward and I to block his eyeline.
"What else did you discover after the apprehension of Mr. Caulfield?"

Edward cleared his throat, his voice growing strong again. He was back to the
vetted profiler I knew and loved. "Agent Swan shared some information that
Caulfield used to taunt her while in captivity. With warrant in hand, we discovered
the bodies of twenty-eight individuals buried under the flower gardens in the rear
of the house. The location had once been a foster home in which Caulfield and

lived, and true to form for a psychopathic individual burned and eventually
abused in the foster system, he took out his revenge on the man who took his
innocence and the wife who did nothing to stop it. From Agent Swan's debriefing,
we discovered that Mr. Rosenbloom, original owner of the residence at which we
discovered the bodies, utilized the bomb shelter below his home to molest his
young wards. I believe Caulfield internalized the trauma and then turned it on his
aggressor, but taking his revenge did not slake his anger, so he strived to provide
for himself the perfect life, collecting women in search of the perfect bride to
complete his mental picture. When they did not live up to his standards, he killed
and disposed of them."

The lawyer nodded and crossed the room looking cocky. "And in your professional
opinion as a world renowned Psychologist and Criminal Profiler, do you feel that
the evident supports your theories?"

Edward nodded gravely. "Yes, sir, I do."

He asked a few more questions before passing Edward on for cross examination.
The lawyer didn't have much to go on, save the repeated mention of a romantic
relationship with me. Edward was honest, and from the looks on the jury's faces,
they weren't swayed from his credibility thanks to that detail. Emmett was
brought in next before the court adjourned for the day.

I took my husband home that night and insisted he let me baby him for a change,
not that he didn't fight tooth and nail. After we cleaned up our rather large steak
supper, we made love before falling asleep in one another's arms, incredibly
grateful to have made it out the other side together.

For six more weeks the trail drug on. It was uncomfortable and frustrating, and
while all I really wanted to do was go home and put my swollen blimp-like
excuses for feet up, I was there every single day, all the way through closing
arguments. The sequestered jury went into closed deliberations. We expected it
to take a week or more, but to our great surprise, they came back with a verdict
the next afternoon.

The morning the verdict came in, I woke up feeling achy and exhausted, having
not rested well thanks to a little boy who was enjoying using my bladder as a
trampoline. My back ached as we walked up the many stairs that led to the
courthouse, and only got worse as the morning wore on while we paced in the
room we had been given to wait in away from the media and prying eyes.

Around ten in the morning, I felt my first twinge in my lower abdomen. I
shrugged it off as Braxton-Hicks contractions. When I'd had five more before
noon, I was starting to think I might need to tell Edward, but decided to wait.
They were getting stronger though, and my overprotective husband was starting
to notice.

I bit my lip and closed my eyes as one more hit hard at 1:22 in the afternoon,
just as the bailiff came in to tell us that the jury had returned with a verdict. I
wanted to cheer and cry at the same time…but in the end I reasoned first time
deliveries always take a really long time. Everyone talks about it. I might have
another twenty-four hours or more before our little boy popped out, so surely
another hour or so to hear the verdict wouldn't hurt. Right?

The jury entered and the foreman handed the piece of paper to the bailiff who
then took it to the judge. The judge read it and nodded before returning it to the
foreman to read aloud. The pain that hit in that moment was hard, making me
lean forward to brace myself on the seat in front of me as Edward leaned down
by me, whispering in concern.

"On the count of first degree murder of…"

The man's voice was drowned out by the whooshing in my ears as another pain
hit, making my eyes flash white. I managed to hear a distant "guilty" through my
pain. I would have cheered, but I was just beginning to be able to breathe
normally.

"On the count of…" I struggled to breathe as I felt a popping sensation in my
stomach seconds before the warm liquid flowed down my legs to pool at my feet.

I felt my tears welling in my eyes as I grabbed Edward's arm and hissed. "My
WATER just broke. We have to go to the hospital NOW!"

Edward looked around in a panic before looking up at the judge as the foreman
continued on. The judge cracked the first smile I had seen in over a month and
nodded before nodding toward a bailiff at the back of the room who came to help
us. Just as the door closed behind us, I heard the loud echo of the fourth "guilty."
He was going to be put away for a very long time, having been convicted of every
single charge, he was never going to be a free man again.

I paused with another contraction as Edward knelt beside me. "Holy Shit, Bella.
These are less than three minutes apart. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I gasped and gripped his arm tightly until finally the contraction passed. "It takes
forever to deliver your first. I wanted to know before I left."

He smirked at me and shook his head as the guard beside me went ash white.

"That's not entirely true, Ma'am. My firstborn was delivered less than three hours
after my wife's first contraction. You might deliver sooner than you think. Can I
please call for an ambulance for you? Between the media and everything else, it
would be much safer."

We both nodded, Edward rubbing my back lovingly as we waited. Five minutes
later, the bailiff came back, leading me to a side door where an ambulance waited
for us. As luck would have it, three camera crews were waiting, having seen the
ambulance and having a hunch.

"Agent Cullen, Why are you being taken away in an ambulance?" "Dr. Cullen, is
your wife in labor?""Agent Cullen, Did the stress of the trial make your water
break?" "Dr. Cullen, would you like to share the verdict with us?" "Agent…"

The door closed, leaving me alone in the back of the ambulance with a medic and
Edward. Another contraction hit hard, making me bend over and gasp. I felt so
much pressure between my legs, it was like I needed to push it out of the way.
The female EMT made me lay back on the gurney and then cut off my hose and
underwear, warning me she was going to check my progress and then gasping
and looking down with wide eyes.

"Jack! This baby is already crowning. I think we should deliver before we get
enroute!"

My eyes grew wide and teary as I stared at a shocked Edward. He shook his head
quickly before leaning over me, holding my hand.

"It's going to be okay, Bella. I'm here. Parker's going to be fine."

The other EMT got out of the front and came around to the back, the lady
covering me so nobody would get a show when he opened the door and stepped
inside with us. Ten minutes and a handful of pushes later, Parker Masen Cullen

was born…on the side street of the courthouse…with now seven camera crews
waiting like hawks outside the rig. When Parker let out his first cry, you could
hear the clamor of excited voices.

The female EMT, I now knew was Denise, held up a blanket to retain our privacy
as Jack went back to the front to drive us to the hospital. I held little Parker as he
looked around with wide eyes, while Edward leaned down next to us and cooed at
him between kissing me on the forehead and telling me how amazing I was.

Three hours later, Parker and I both were declared perfectly healthy and were
resting in my private room when Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, and
Esme all arrived with balloons and flowers and stories galore..not the least of
which was the final conviction of Caulfield. The judge handed down sentencing
immediately…death by lethal injection. We would never have to worry about
James Caulfield ever again.

The grandparents went first, cooing down at a happy Parker before he was
passed around to the rest of the crowd. Two hours later, we were alone again,
just the three of us, feeling much lighter knowing that we would never have to
worry about 'The King' ever again.