Bring Him Home - Chapter 27

I was struggling to decide what to tell them, but in the end I decided it was probably better to just relay them the information Jasper had explained to me last night. I was hoping that he would be in touch soon to let us know how his ‘contacts' had fared at the Investigators office.

"Ok I wanted to bring you up to date on what was happening and what Jasper has found so far"

At this Judy interrupted me, "you need to bring Esme in on this, it will help her if she can understand what is going on"

I looked at Rosalie and she shrugged, "Fuck I want to know everything, so Esme must be bubbling at the moment wondering what the hell is going on"

I called Esme into the office and as soon as she was comfortable I started again. I explained in detail everything that Jasper had told me and when I got to the fact that the PI was actually based on the West Coast they all reacted simultaneously.

"What the fuck!" and "Who the hell is interested in us on the West Coast"? Judy and Rosalie were both up shouting over one another and I had to let them just get it out of their systems. As they sat back down Esme finally spoke

"You know we could be looking at this all wrong, just because they are attacking the business doesn't actually mean they want to hurt just the business, maybe this is personal"

"Jasper did ask me that last night, but I couldn't think of anyone that would want to come after me"

I looked pointedly at Rosalie, "anyone else have any enemies that could want to cause damage to their employer or employment?"

"Don't look at me boss, I never leave anyone unhappy or unsatisfied" she smirked.

"We need to talk to everyone, this could be directed at any one of us or all of us" Judy said with a confused look on her face.

"Before we go out there Bella, I need to tell you that my ex husband is in prison on the west coast" Esme looked absolutely shattered and I just wanted to give her a hug.

"While he might be on the west coast he certainly hasn't got access to the internet has he" I didn't want here worrying but I needed to pass that onto Jasper.

We moved out into the main studio and gathered everyone together, I went through the information again and asked them all the question I had asked minutes earlier

"anyone here have any enemies that could want to cause damage to their employment?"

I elaborated on the question, " I know it's been a while for some, some of you have been here a few years now, but have any of you recently pinched a client from your old employer, pissed off a supplier, fallen out with a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, Nanny, anyone?"

Everyone was looking at each other and I suddenly realised if I wasn't careful I could turn my staff against each other, the last thing I wanted was them being suspicious of each other.

"Please remember that we don't know anything for sure, everything so far is just us trying to make some sense of what's happening. We need to stick together and look after one another"

For the first time I was a little scared, it had suddenly gone from some silly video that could have been on a telly show winning me $ 500 to being something far more sinister.

"I don't like to ask Bella but this all started around the time you first acknowledged Jacob, do you think he is capable of this?"  Irina asked.

"Oh come on girl, Jacob wouldn't be able to tie his own shoelaces, never mind spell some of the words used on the clips" Rosalie was her usual subtle self.

"I'll let Jasper know to check him out if he can, I must admit it never occurred to me about Jacob and his cronies" here I was wondering about everyone in the office and I had a would be stalker.

"I know he has been coming on a bit strong lately but I really think he is just some little spoilt boy who doesn't understand no. I will deal with him though I promise and I will tell Jasper about him"

By the time we had finished talking it was time for our refresher session at the gym, I would have tried to dodge it but I wanted all of us to be ‘ready' and to be safe.

Emmett still wasn't back at work full time, so he wasn't about for our session, that made the day a little rougher, if I couldn't see Edward I could have least spoken to Emmett to make sure he was doing ok. My curiosity was still kicking away at me, I needed to speak to him to see how he was. Who the hell was I kidding, yes I wanted to know how he was but what I really wanted to do was to see him again.

After our catered lunch I felt a little better, the girls were all on an exercise high and as they ate and chatted they bonded back into the close tight knit group they had been before I started to put ideas into their head. I excused myself to call Jasper while they were all distracted

"Hi Jasper, did your guy manage to find anything?"

"Bella I was just going to call you, I was waiting for you to finish your lunch actually,"

"How did you know I was having lunch?"  I looked around expecting to see a camera or something in the corner, shit I was getting paranoid.

"Bella relax, Alice just texted me"

"I'm sorry I'm a little jumpy at the moment, I want to know what is going on"

"I know I know and I am a little closer I promise. My guy has spoken to the PI but as I expected, whilst he has no problem posting the clips and trying to wreck your business, he won't give up his client, so I have to try and find out another way" he explained.

"What do you need, do you need cash to offer him or something?"

"I did think about that, but when we offered, well some people will sell to the highest bidder but he wasn't one of them. He did say something to my man about his client being a family friend, so....."

"So what next?" I asked him

"Well I am running out of favours to call in so I am going to try something that I'm not going to discuss with you now, Alice and I may have you over for dinner though one night ok"

I understood he was telling me he didn't want to talk about it over the phone so I left it at that.

As I sat at my desk the incredible feelings of loneliness washed over me again, what I wouldn't give to talk to my Dad right now, he would know what to do. I really needed to hear a friendly voice and before I could even think about it my fingers were dialling the number for Carlisle Cullen's PA.

"Hello Mr Cullen's office"

"Hi Donna, is Carlisle in?"

"May I ask who is calling please?"

"Oh I'm sorry it's Bella Swan, is he available?"

"Let me enquire for you"

I sat listening to the awful music on the ‘on hold' system before I heard a voice I wasn't expecting.

"Well this is a surprise, did you really need to talk to my Dad or will I do?" Edward asked.

"If I'm honest I needed to hear a friendly voice and I was going to ask him how you were.  I don't have any way of contacting you and I just wanted to know you were doing ok" I let out a huge breath I'd been holding for some reason and a giggle, I wasn't sure which was which.

"Didn't Emmett give you my new number?  Dad sorted me out a new cell phone and he was supposed to pass my number on to you."

"I've hardly seen Emmett to be honest, he isn't back at work yet full time is he?"

"No between them I think they are still watching me to make sure I don't disappear again, they don't seem to be able to understand I wasn't away by choice" he explained

"Oh" it was all I could really say because I didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

"Well you said you needed to hear a friendly voice so I'm guessing you haven't had a good day so far. If you ever need to escape and fancy a change of scenery you could always meet me for lunch, what do you think?" he was so calm and collected, it seemed a lifetime ago he was standing in the rain looking at me.

 "So long as I don't have to face another burrito for a while I should be ok, and it would be good to see you again" I don't know where my courage and boldness had suddenly come from but as the saying goes' if you don't ask, you don't get!

"Bella I'd love to have lunch with you, are you sure your ‘friend' won't mind?"

"What friend? Do you mean that idiot Jacob? As I said before Edward, I am not engaged, not getting married and definitely not even seeing anyone" I said it with as much force as I dare.

"Well then what about tomorrow? I can come and get you and we can take a walk or if you prefer I'll book somewhere so you can let people know where we are eating" I could hear the apprehension in his voice and it puzzled me.

"Why don't I book somewhere and I'll text you the time and place, that way we can meet there and you can walk me back to the office afterwards?" I wanted to take the decision away from him, I could sense the unease in his voice.

"That's great, I'll see you tomorrow Bella, I'm really looking forward to it already"

"Me too Edward, me too"

With that he was gone and so was that horrible feeling of loneliness that had been stuck in my chest.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Yeah finally they are starting to open up to one another.

As ever thanks to AJG and edlovesme.