Prologue
Bella POV
April 14, 2006
Today was going to be just like any other day except my husband of four years, Edward Cullen, was due back from his business trip. He and my sister-in-law Esme, Carlisle’s wife of five years, were due back this evening. While they were gone, Edward didn’t want me to stay in our house while it was being worked on by the contractors from the family business. Carlisle agreed that while his wife and brother were away, I was to stay with him to put Edward at ease. I was glad to be here with him and not home alone.
I had spoken to Edward the night before last, when he called to say that he was coming home because their business was finished. I couldn’t wait to see him and tell him how much I had missed him; two weeks seemed like an eternity, even though something just didn’t feel right during our phone call. For some reason he sounded despondent and in a hurry to end the call.
I knew Carlisle felt the same way about his wife; he couldn’t wait to have her home even though they had been having problems. The other night he had confided in me by telling me he suspected that Esme was having an affair with someone in the business, but had no idea as to with whom.
I opened up to my brother-in-law and told him I was feeling the same way about Edward. He was a little surprised by my admission. All I had said was, “Carlisle, I think your brother is cheating on me. I don’t have any idea as to why he would go to someone else’s bed.”
“Bella, do you really think he would do something like that to you?”
“No but, when I talked to him the other night, he sounded like he was in a hurry to end our call. He sounded kind of bored with our conversation. Two weeks before he left to go on this trip, I caught him on the phone with someone and he was secretive about it.”
“You know now that I think about it, Esme was like that, too. You don’t… No way…They wouldn’t. Would they?”
“What are you saying? Carlisle, are you beginning to think the same as I am?”
“That my wife and brother are having an affair with each other or with other partners?”
“Yes on the affair, but as to with whom, I have no idea.”
We abandoned our theory of a possible affair between Edward and Esme and chose other topics to discuss. We were in the middle of talking about one of his patients -and him making me laugh with said patient’s antics- that I almost didn’t hear my phone ring. I picked it up and said, “Hello.”
“Bella, love, we’re on our way home.”
“Edward? Where are you?”
“We’re on the 110 and should be there in about an hour.”
“Ok, drive carefully and I’ll see you then.”
“I can’t wait to see you.” He groaned into the phone, with an underlying passion.
“I can’t wait either, see you soon.” I replied, breathlessly.
As I hung up my phone Carlisle’s ruthlessly began to ring. He picked it up and was drawn into conversation with his wife. When he hung up, we locked eyes and shrugged off our earlier conversation of them having an affair or affairs.
Charlie POV
I was sitting behind my desk when the call came in of a fatal accident on the 110.
“Swan.” I ground out.
“This is Waylon, chief; you should get to my location ASAP!”
“Bad, Waylon?”
“Yeah it is; four cars and a tanker bad, sir!”
“I’m on my way.”
Thirty minutes later, I was met with total chaos as I arrived on the scene. People were scrambling to put out the flames while others deterred onlookers from getting too close. I made my way over to the fire chief to ask, “Have any idea as to what happened here?”
“It looks like the driver of the tanker fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into the cars coming from the other direction.”
“Do we have any idea who the people in those cars are?” I asked.
“Not at the moment; we’re waiting for WSP to get here to run plates when we get the fire put out.”
“Well, I’m chief Swan of the Forks police. Let me know when they're out. I can run the plates of the vehicles and let families know about their loved ones.”
“Will do, chief.”
I began running plates approximately five minutes later as the coroner pulled up. He greeted me with a quick wave and began his assessment of the victims. When information started coming in on the vehicles I sucked in a harsh breath. I recognized the first car of the impact; just as I suspected, it was Carlisle Cullen’s car. But who was in it? I was most definitely not ready for that answer. I told Waylon I had to go to the Cullen house and tell them what was going on.