Everyone is rightly upset over Edward's treatment, but my favorite was, 'You don't touch Edward's hair!' Bella is all over this, and we meet Charlie.
"How's it going?" Alice asked, dropping her petite frame in the booth across from me at our favorite restaurant.
I rubbed my hands over my face. "Honest? Shitty, Al, real shitty."
We each ordered a drink from the waiter, then I continued. "I got a new case last week at work, guy is real deep in tax evasion, and then decided it was a smart idea to skim off the top of his company's ledger to pay his debts. There's so much paperwork to go through, and it's all numbers."
She groaned. "I hate numbers."
"Me, too. I gave as much to my para as I could, and some was pushed off on the researchers."
"And you're not sleeping, are you?" Alice asked.
"Nope. And, of course, I'm armpit deep in an Innocence case that's gone sideways. I've asked Dad for help, that's how bad it is."
"What can he do?"
"I need someone with connections in King County, and Dad has more connections than a 1950's telephone operator."
Alice accepted her drink from the waiter before saying anything else. I took a deep drink of my margarita. "True, Charlie knows everyone, that helps him with his job. What can he do for you, though?"
"I need my inmate transferred out of the hell-hole he's stuck in. They've got a new warden, and he's a class A dickhead. Last visit, I'm there with the mother, and we waited for an eternity before they brought him in beaten, bruised all over, and his head shaved like a war criminal. DeLuca claims he was resisting the guards, and they only subdued him to protect themselves." I set my drink down with a heavy thud, shaking my head at the memory of the way he looked. Lost, like a little lost boy. His mother was beside herself, and the sadistic warden thought we were amusing. I'd love to give five minutes of alone time with Edward and that pot bellied lard-ass.
"Jesus, Bell, how do you handle that? No wonder you're not sleeping." She shook her dark head, giving me a sympathetic look.
"I… I internalize his grief, I think. It's gotten to me, he's gotten to me, more than any other case I've ever tried, any project I've worked on. But even before him, I felt like something was going to happen. Some shoe is going to drop, so to speak. I worry about how safe my apartment building is, how likely it is that someone would be able to break in." I dropped my head, running circles on the tabletop with my finger. "I sound like a crazy person."
"Bella, you've grown up with the toughest cop I have ever known. You had two older brothers to protect you. And now you're alone. You've not been alone your whole life, and now you are. It's okay for there to be an adjustment period." She covered my hand with her own; mine was cold, while hers was soft and warm. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"So you wouldn't lock me in the nut hut."
She snorted. "Give me some credit. Although Baker-acting your ass does sound like fun," she mused.
"Ha. Ha. That's a Florida law, Alice," I said dryly.
"You can't take the Florida outta me, just 'cause your brother took me outta Florida." She shrugged.
"You want a sleepover?"
"I don't think Jasper would appreciate the both of us curled up in bed with him."
She barked out a laugh. "I meant at your house, hoe. But, if you weren't his sister, he would absolutely want two women in his bed."
"But I am his sister, Alice. So, that's gross." We grinned at each other.
When I went home later in the evening, my mind wandered back to Edward again. Even once we were alone, he refused to talk about what happened. The bruises on his face were healing, but those on his neck were fresh. It just frustrated me to the point of pissed off, because I wanted to gather him up in my arms and take him out of there, and that wasn't going to happen.
I spent the week exchanging phone calls and emails with the secretary of corrections. He was launching an investigation into the OCC and it's new warden, but that couldn't help Edward while he was still in there.
The fear that he would be the center of retaliation was gut wrenching. He'd paid for my presence because DeLuca felt that we were a bunch of hacks, freeing the guilty on technicalities. He thought we were a waste of resources, that corporal punishment was the answer for felons.
If I didn't already hate him on sight, learning that would have sealed it.
We had one more week before the DNA results were back, and Judge Black had agreed to look them over and was prepared to give a ruling on whether Edward's conviction could be reversed. He was so close to his release I could practically feel it, and now he had the new, added danger of the asshole warden.
Edward told me not to come back. He told me he didn't want to see me or his mother again, that he was fine without us. He told me to quit wasting my time on him, that it was useless.
I was back to square one with him, and I didn't know how to bring him back from the brink this time.
~E~D~
On Wednesday of the following week, I received an odd letter in the mail. My name was typed on the front, and there was no stamp or postmark. Our boxes were numbered, and the only person with a key was the postal worker, a lovely older woman by the name of Julia Goff.
I didn't open it, but took it to my father the next morning. There was a single typed sheet warning me to stay away from the inmate in the Olympic Correctional Center, or I'd be sorry.
Pacing the spacious office of the police commissioner helped me to release some of my anxiety. I was pissed, I was scared, and I was confused.
"Between the misogynistic asshole running the prison thinking the IPNW is a personal attack, to the condition Edward was in the last time, and now this letter…"
He was silent, looking at the letter in his gloved hands. There was a camera on his desk, ready to take pictures after he'd studied that piece of paper as though it actually had the answers spelled out on it.
"I'm not giving up on this case, I don't care what motherfucker thinks he can scare me off," I ranted.
"Isabella Marie," my father admonished.
I stopped my pacing directly in front of his desk, staring down at him. "Don't give me that, Daddy, we're both adults. This is dead serious, and I'm not taking it like a meek little bitch. Aro DeLuca has to be stopped, and if I can't get Edward out really damn fast, then I expect to receive a transfer order for him."
He watched me, his bushy eyebrow raised. My father was in his sixties, with a mustache thick enough to make Tom Selleck weep. The lines in his forehead were from years on the streets as first a beat cop, then a detective. He continued to work his way through the ranks until he found himself appointed to push papers and make monumental decisions. My older brothers were surely the cause of the grey hairs, but they looked good on him.
"I want to put a detail on you, and I expect you to argue. I've spoken to the mayor, but it's not exactly our jurisdiction. I know you've been speaking to Varner, and that's your best bet right now. How much longer on the retest?"
"Did you also expect to slip that in there unnoticed? Em can be my detail if he's not too busy with all that silly undercover drug bust bullshit he's normally worrying about."
Charlie smiled, but it was strained. "I'll see what I can do. You know I admire your volunteer efforts, Bella, but-"
I put a hand up and spoke over him. "If the next words out of your mouth are going to be about me quitting, save it." I softened my tone. "You didn't see him, Daddy. He was covered in bruises, new and healing. His eyes were dead." I shook my head to stem the flow of tears threatening.
"I'm sorry, baby. You know I'll help in any way I can."
"Can you turn the key that will set him free? If not, then I need that transfer, yesterday."
Ms. B, AKA SarcasticBimbo and beta extraordinaire, has a fic rec blog, and it's fabulous. This week's recs are humorous, because we could all use a good laugh. Go check it out!
smutslutsandangstwhores.blogspot.com
In case anyone's curious, I'm not giving away trade secrets on Facebook, just holding hands over the cliffhangers. And posting teasers.
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