Deputy Ben Dover POV - by TheSpoiltOne
I tried not to let Emmett get a rise out of me as he was making jokes at my name. Every time I saw Emmett he was always cracking jokes.
I was always one big fucking joke.
"So, Emmett, can you give me your account of the evening?" I started the line of questioning.
"I got here late with Rosie." He started bouncing in his seat ready for another comedy performance, no doubt, when Rose kicked him harder in the shins. "Ouch, it is Carlisle's birthday party, end of story."
I tried not to roll my eyes at him, "So when was the last time you saw Tanya?"
"Oh," he smirked finally getting what I was asking him, "In the conservatory where the party started."
Rose tutted and crossed her arms over her chest, "Have something to add Rosalie?" I turned to her.
"Nope, just thought I would state for the record that she is a skank." Rose spoke with venom.
"Was a skank, Rose! Was a skank!" Emmett tried correcting his wife. Wow, they really liked Tanya.
"So, you did hear anything strange in the room next to the library whilst you were in there with Edward, Emmett?" I tried to get the questioning moving again. This was going to take days at the rate we were going.
"Oh, I hadn't met up with Edward," Emmett said as a matter of fact and proud of himself, "I bumped into Bob!"
I looked around the room and tried to figure out who Bob was. "Who is Bob, Emmett?" expecting him to tell me it was the friendly ghost or some magical pet he had. Emmett always surprised me with the bullshit that came out of his mouth.
"Henderson of course," he said like we should all know.
Everyone in the room turned to look at the butler who nodded his head in agreement and I turned back to Emmett who was trying to have a conversation with Rose who was getting louder and louder.
"I thought you went to talk to Edward?" Rose said clearly annoyed at her husband.
"Rose, Emmett, please cut it out," Esme interrupted the bickering, "sort that out later, please."
Everyone immediately quietened down and turned to Esme. I was a little shocked she spoke up, I had never heard her tell her own flesh and blood off before.
She sat there shaking her head at them, clearly disappointed in their behaviour.
"Esme, sorry, Mrs Cullen," I turned to her, "was Tanya invited here tonight?"
She scoffed and said, "Most certainly not. I would not have her under my roof."
"Can you tell me where you were before they found the body?" I said making notes on my little pad. There were so many people here I needed to keep track.
"I was going to the kitchen, trying to hurry dinner along and there was no one there," she said looking annoyed at Lauren who looked guiltily down to the ground, "So I went in search of Lauren."
"Thank you Mrs Cullen," I said and turned back to Lauren, knowing she was wandering around trying to catch her husband in the act with Tanya.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bella yawn and look at Edward and shake her head. Interesting... What was that about?
"Bella, when was the last time you saw Tanya?" I started questioning her as Charlie stood up and looked like he was about to deck me.
Bella POV - by Crimsonmarie
I lay sprawled out on the couch, not really giving a damn if my dress ended up wrinkled or if my arms over my eyes screwed with the minimal amount of make-up that I'd applied for the evening."We're gonna be late if you don't get out of that bathroom right the fuck now!" I yelled, listening as Edward shuffled around down the hallway.
He was worse than any other woman that I'd ever met in my entire damn life. He spent so much time working on his hair - to achieve that I just rolled out of bed and really don't care how I look - look that it was absolutely insane.
"I'm almost done!"
"I've heard that before!"
Fifteen minutes ago, to be exact.
"I hate ties! Why the hell did mom insist on formal wear?" he whined.
I grunted and pushed myself off the couch, straightening the death trap Alice had deemed perfect enough for the night, and slipped out of the heels that had made me cringe when she'd proudly given them to me a few days ago.
"Because your father is turning into an old man," I sighed heavily as I made my way into our spacious bathroom.
I couldn't cover up the snort that made its way out of my mouth when I saw that he had the damn thing wrapped twice around his neck, one of his fingers was caught where the knot was supposed to be and the look on his face was beyond words.
It wasn't often that my husband was frazzled and I took every opportunity that presented itself when he was. He was always so put together and calm that seeing him freaking out about something as small as tying a tie would keep me amused for the rest of the night.
"He's already an old man," Edward grumbled, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror as I stepped behind him. "Help."
I snickered and stepped in front of him, untying the tie from around his neck and straightening it out in my hands.
"What would you do without me?" I cooed, wrapping the tie around his neck and straightening it out on his chest.
"I'd still have some of my pride left."
"Who needs something like that?"
"Gee, Bella, I dunno."
I raised an eyebrow at him as I looped one end of the tie through the other, tightening the knot a little more than necessary. He coughed, smirked sheepishly at me and then bent down to kiss me quickly.
"I love you."
"As you should."
I patted the tie flat against his chest and grinned up at him.
"Have I told you that you look amazing?" he whispered, leaning down again to brush his lips across mine.
"As as matter of fact, no, you haven't."
"You look amazing."
"You're not so bad, either."
"We don't really have to go," he mumbled, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me against him.
"Your mother will kill us if we don't." I wrapped my arms around his neck anyway, tilting my head up and kissing him. "We really need to get going."
He sighed heavily and nodded, dropping his forehead onto mine and kissing me once more before backing away and holding out his hand for me. I slid my fingers through his and he led me back into the living room where I slipped the torture devices Alice called shoes back onto my feet, grabbing Carlisle's gift from the bench in the foyer as we made it to the front door. We were in the car a few minutes later, the radio blaring one of Edward's beloved classical music pieces as we flew down the road towards his parents' manor.
We arrived within ten minutes and I briefly wondered why I should've been worried about being late. Edward never drove the damn speed limit and no matter how many times Charlie had stopped him, I swear he'd only really paid for three. Father-in-law or not, he could charm the pants off of anyone I knew and he did it often.
"See? Perfect timing," he quipped before he climbed out of the car.
I laughed and shook my head, watching as he rounded the front of the car on his way to my door. When we'd first started dating, I had been informed that I would never open another car door in my life. So far, he'd been right about it because not only did he pout and grumble when I did, it was nice to have someone wait on me for a bit.
God knows I'd done it enough when I lived with my mother.
I grabbed the gift from the floorboards by my feet and stepped out carefully once the door was open. Edward grabbed my hand, helping me up before closing the door and wrapping an arm around my waist as we walked up to the front door. I knocked on it, shifting uncomfortably in the shoes and leaning heavily against Edward as we waited to be permitted entrance.
I never really understood why we couldn't just walk right in to a house that his family owned and lived in, but hey, I'd never had as much money as Esme and Carlisle did. What did I know about rich-people etiquette?
"How do you feel about keeping those shoes on for later tonight?" he whispered into my ear, gently pulling the bottom of it in between his teeth.
My stomach turned into liquid and I grunted, fisting my hand into the back of his suit jacket and closing my eyes.
"Sure," I breathed out.
"I'm sure we'll be able to leave early," he whispered again, trailing his lips down my neck.
I tilted my head to the side, biting my bottom lip and moaning quietly.
I jumped five feet in the air when I heard a throat clear and opened my eyes to see the Cullen's ancient and friendly butler, Henderson, standing in the open doorway looking as uncomfortable as I felt.
How did I get myself into these situations?
"Hey, Henderson!" Edward exclaimed enthusiastically, reaching in front of him to clap him on the shoulder. "How are things?"
Oh, right, I married Edward.
"Just fine, sir," Henderson stated, nodding once. "Everyone's in the conservatory. May I bring you two drinks?"
"Wine," I croaked out.
"Red?"
I nodded, staring down at my feet and timidly following Edward as he stepped into the foyer and closed the door behind us.
"Scotch on the rocks, please."
"Right away."
He nodded and was gone before I could blink, much less try to feel less embarrassed about what had just happened. I smacked the gift into Edward's stomach and he coughed, glaring over at me.
"What?" he wheezed.
"You know what."
"Like he hasn't seen worse."
I narrowed an eye at him and he smirked, holding onto the present tightly before leading me towards the conservatory. I sighed heavily and leaned my head on his shoulder briefly, our arms still around each other as we entered the huge room.
"Edward!" Carlisle exclaimed, holding up a tumbler of dark liquid - probably whiskey, his favorite - and beckoning him over. "Bella!"
"Bella!" Alice exclaimed, waving madly at me from where she was talking to Esme.
"Soon," Edward breathed into my ear before placing a kiss against my cheek and moving his arm from around my waist.
A thrill ran up my spine and I grinned at him, dropping my arm from the back of his jacket before making my way over to Alice and Esme.
"Hello, Bella," Esme smiled, hugging me with one arm as she balanced a champagne flute in her other hand. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks. So do you, as always."
I'd never felt the awkwardness that goes along with having in-laws. I'd never had to deal with any of the horror stories that so many people had told me about when it came to Edward's parents. They were two of the most genuine people that I'd ever met in my entire life and I adored them almost as much as I adored my own parents. Speaking of, I found Charlie standing in the corner of the room, his cell phone clutched in his hand and I waited for him to look up. I grinned at him and waved, only mildly confused when he offered a pathetic smile in my direction before pressing a button on his cell phone and pacing to another corner of the room.
I loved him with my whole heart, but he was one of the strangest men I'd ever known.
I stood with Alice and Esme while the men congregated near one of the huge picture windows on the other side of the room. Esme left to finally greet Edward and stuck to the group over there until Emmett and Rosalie finally walked in. More greetings were said, more hugs were given and finally Rose joined our little group over in the corner of the huge room, complaining that Emmett couldn't keep his hands to himself for longer than few seconds.
Her words contradicted the sly smile on her face, as it always did, and when the other side of the room erupted into laughter a few moments later, we made our way over to them. I immediately gravitated towards Edward and he wrapped his free arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side and kissing the side of my head.
I looked up when I heard another knock on the door and looked quickly back to Edward, raising an eyebrow. Everyone was already here. There shouldn't be anyone else showing up.
We all stared at the doorway and my blood ran cold, my hand tightening on the wine glass that had shown up a few minutes after I'd walked in, when I saw Tanya fucking Denali slide into the room with a shit-eating grin on her face.
There weren't many people in this world that I literally wanted to kill. Hell, there weren't many people in the world that I hated as much as I hated her.
But this... thing - she wasn't worthy of a title such as woman - needed to keep her fucking hands off my husband and my brother-in-laws. Plus every other male that helped populate the rest of Forks. She was disgusting, vile, conniving and every other word that I could possibly think of.
I hated her with a fiery passion and for the life of me, I don't know why the hell she was here.
Rose was pissed, that much was noticeable. When she stormed off out of the room, I almost went after her, but stopped when I saw Tanya move from her perch in the entryway and started making her rounds.
She was not coming anywhere near Edward without me attached to his fucking side and I don't give a shit what he said about it. Yes, she worked with them. Yes, I had to be semi-nice to her because of that.
It didn't mean that I couldn't stand here, glare daggers at her, smile as tightly as possible and never leave her alone to get her hands on Edward like she'd been trying to do since she started working for them. It was a non-stop issue and it only pissed me off when Edward would say that he only had eyes for me.
Yeah, sure, that's great and all, but knowing that she'd fucked everything with a dick within a twenty-mile radius didn't calm the urge to want to rip her fucking throat out whenever I saw her making eyes at my husband.
"Edward," Tanya purred as she strolled up to us. "You look handsome tonight."
"Doesn't he?" I asked, smiling tightly and tilting my head to the side as I stepped even closer to him.
"Bella," she stated, her voice dull and her eyes narrowing at me. "You look nice."
"Yes, I do. Thanks."
I heard Edward cough and looked up at him to see that he'd choked on his drink and smiled satisfactorily to myself, turning back to look at Tanya.
"Guess I'll catch you later."
She winked at him and my foot was raised in the air to go after her before Edward's arm completely circled my waist and pulled me back to his side.
"Breathe," he whispered into my ear.
"You fucking breathe," I hissed, watching as she saddled up to Emmett. "I just don't fucking understand why the hell you keep her around. She's nothing but a royal pain in the ass."
"Come take a walk with me," he whispered, his lips ghosting against my neck.
"Edward..."
"Just a quick walk, love. Get your mind off all of this for a little bit."
My eyes narrowed when I watched Tanya pinch Emmett's ass and I think I growled, my hand still clutched tightly around the wine glass.
"Rose will take care of it."
I looked over in the direction of the entryway to find my sister-in-law marching her way over to Emmett, pure rage contorting her beautiful features.
"What about Alice and Jasper? She'll..."
"You know damn well that Alice can take care of the both of them just fine. Kind of like you can take care of me just fine." I tried to resist the shiver that ran down my spine as he placed his open mouth on my exposed shoulder and failed miserably. "A quick walk, Bella, that's all I'm asking of you."
"Fine."
He leaned over me and kissed my cheek, taking my wine glass from my hand and placing it on the table adorned with Carlisle's presents. He placed one hand on the small of my back and began to lead me towards the double doors in the back of the room.
"Edward! A word?" Carlisle asked, appearing out of nowhere.
We both sighed heavily and I leaned up to kiss his cheek before he disappeared with his father. I found Alice standing protectively next to Jasper as she eyed down Tanya's retreating back and slowly walked over to her.
"Whore," I mumbled into her ear, grabbing the half-full glass of champagne she had in her hand and downing it.
"That's one word for her," she grumbled back, taking back the empty glass and handing it over to Jasper.
"Tell me how you really feel about her, girls," Jasper laughed, peeking over Alice's head.
I smirked at him and reached behind her to smack his arm. Alice excused herself to go to the bathroom, disappearing out of the room and Jasper had declared that there was something he'd left in the car that he needed to get. Henderson walked into the room a few minutes later, declaring that dinner was almost finished and that we needed to take our seats. I looked over at the corner of the room where Edward and Carlisle were hidden amongst the flashy curtains, biting my bottom lip when I saw them walk out of the doors that we'd been headed towards. Rose had already stomped her way out of the room, her hands clenched into fists as she went. When she was pissed, it was best to leave her alone. I'd learned that the hard way.
Sighing heavily, I squared my shoulders and started out of the room.
"Bells!"
I looked behind me when I heard my father's voice and smiled, stopping and waiting for him to catch up with me. He hooked an arm around my shoulders and placed a quick kiss to my temple.
"Hi, daddy."
"How's my girl?" He pulled me against his chest and I readily wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my cheek on his chest and closing my eyes. He smelled like cedar. "I've missed you."
"I know. Things have been pretty crazy for everyone lately." I looked up at him and grinned again, reaching up with one hand to trace the wrinkles on his forehead. "Worried about something?"
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." He smiled and dropped a kiss onto my forehead. "Save me a seat next to you at the table, will you? I need to use the restroom."
I nodded and kissed his cheek as he pulled back from me and started off in the direction of one of the many bathrooms that were in this damn place. I started to walk back towards the dining room, humming softly to myself - a habit I'd picked up from Edward - as I listened to my heels click against the marble flooring.
I stopped dead when I heard the high-pitched, terrified scream coming from the library, turning and rushing into the room as quickly as my heels would allow. Lauren was standing over Tanya's body, blood spattered on the floor and the knife sitting right next to her. I felt queasy and placed one hand over my stomach, swallowing hard.
I'd never been very fond of blood. I could handle it in small doses - usually only when the situation called for it - but this, the amount that had pooled beneath her, was way too much to deal with at once. I rushed back out of the room, gulping in deep breaths of fresh air as I listened to the hasty footsteps on the floor.
"Bella?"
I looked up when I heard Edward's voice and merely pointed to the room, shaking my head and leaning forward to rest my hands on my knees. He and Carlisle rushed into the room and it took him a few minutes to come back out. I'd calmed down by then, grateful for the clear air out in the hallway as I fell against his chest when his arms wrapped around me.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
I looked up at him and nodded, tilting my head to the side.
"Edward, for the first time since she's started working with all of you, I feel like I can breathe again." I stood up straight and smoothed my hands down the front of my dress. "That may make me a horrible person, but you can't tell me that you don't feel relieved in some aspect, too."
"Let's keep that between us, okay?" he mumbled, chuckling quietly.
"Done deal."
Deputy Ben Dover POV - TheSpoiltOne
"As if Bella would have anything to do with it, Dover!" Charlie attacked me standing up from his seat, looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel in his neck.
God, he was protective over his family, wasn't he?
"Chief, you know I have to question everyone that was here," I said trying to calm him down a bit.
"She can't even stand the sight of blood for God's sakes, this is ridiculous." He was getting redder in the face and I could see him start to draw his arm back to punch me in the face when Emmett jumped up and forced the Chief back into his seat.
"It's fine, Dad," she said and squared her shoulders looking at me.
"Last time I saw Tanya alive was with everyone else in the conservatory," she said, tugging on her Dad's arm to make him sit down.
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