Given what Billy had said during the game the previous night, I decided to keep a closer eye on my daughter.
It felt wrong, in a way, to be watching Bells without her knowing, but I needed to know if she really was secretly spending time with that Cullen boy -- and besides, I'd told Billy I'd look into it.
It really wasn't all that hard, seeing as teenagers don't seem to have much on their minds besides each other when they're together. All it took was pulling off down a side street shortly after leaving for work, parking in the shade of an elm, and keeping low. Within five minutes, I saw a silver car drive down the street our house was on, and another two minutes after that saw the same car drive the other direction, towards the school, with a new, brown-haired passenger.
I recognized the car as one of the Cullens' -- most residents of Forks didn't have that kind of money, or if they did, they'd buy something a little more country -- and when I made the half minute trip back home, I saw that Bell's truck was still sitting in the driveway.
The front door was locked, and when I popped inside, the house was empty.
So Bells was getting rides to school with Edward Cullen. Well, I expected her to be popular with the boys at school, though I was a little hurt that she felt the need to keep it a secret from me. Maybe Jake had said something about me and Billy's little tiff over Carlisle or something. I'd just make sure to be available to chat whenever Bella felt ready to talk to her old man about her dating life. Driving to the station, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself; I realized that was actually quite the ask.
My mind was quickly diverted from thoughts of my daughter and her potential boyfriend, however, because the first thing on my desk that morning was another homicide report; though this one was a lot closer to Forks.
"Shit, Charlie," Jim said, sipping a coffee and leaning over my shoulder. "Shelton hasn't seen a homicide in what, five years? The boys over there must be scramblin'."
"Yeah, well, it's not like we'd be faring much better," I said. Shelton was still three hours southeast of Forks, but the dread of Seattle's troubles having made their way into the Olympic National Park region sent shivers down my spine.
"If whoever the hell this killer is makes his way into our town, you'd best believe he'd get one of these straight between the eyes," Jim said, patting his side-arm. I put the report down and swiveled my chair to look at him. Today was not the day for this shit.
"Goddamnit Jim, listen. I know you're eager and all, but what is the one thing I've been trying to drill into your head about our duty as officers of the law?"
"Only as last resort..." Jim mumbled, looking down and away from me.
"You're damn right only as last resort. I don't want you, or any of you for that matter," I said, standing now, speaking to the other two deputies who happened to be in the station at the time, "to ever feel like it's your instinct to go for your weapon, you hear me? I've spent 15 years on the force and never once have I had to fire, let alone draw, this weapon. We are keepers of the peace, first and foremost, and these things, these tools, are the opposite of peace. They are death, and harm, and hurt. You got that?" The two deputies nodded their heads. They'd heard this lecture a few times before. I turned to Jim.
"If you signed up for this job just to get to carry one of those around on your side, James, then you tell me right now so I can reassign you to some other PD. We will not have trigger-happy officers in this department. We are better than that. You are better than that."
"Charlie, it's a serial killer we're talking about he-"
"Damn it Jim, it's not up to us to decide who lives and who dies, though. You get that, right? It's our job to arrest and charge, as dutifully and as harmlessly as possible, so that the courts can have their due process. I know that even then it's not exactly a fair system, by any means, but to needlessly take a life as an officer during an arrest is nothing short of murder. And you can bet your ass that any one of you will be facing a full investigation if that ever were to happen. I get that that's not how things are usually done in other PD's in this state, or, hell, in this whole damn country, but this is the way we do things here. We can strive to be at least a little bit better here, got it?"
Jim nodded. "Got it, Charlie. I was just talking out my ass, is all. You know I ain't like that. Hell, I transferred here because I was sick of the corrupt ways of my last department." When he said that, the other deputies nodded their heads in agreement. I knew they'd seen the same mess in their own units before transferring.
"Yeah, well, it's a big problem that needs more than a few officers in Forks to fix," I said, sitting back down. "But until the whole damn system can get a much-needed reform, all we can do is be the best we can be out here in our own little corner of the state -- and that includes a no-harm, shoot-last approach."
My officers nodded. They were good men and women, though given that the training to become a police officer was pitifully lacking in this country, they'd all needed a few years of additional instruction to be able to make Forks safer by their presence, rather than more dangerous as is usually, and unfortunately, the case with US officers.
Even still, the guilt of participating in an inherently corrupt system had laid heavily on me for the past decade and a half, especially seeing the way that America's law enforcement was so quick to needlessly shoot the people -- disproportionately the Black people -- that they were supposed to be protecting. It was something all of us here in Forks, and any other reasonably-minded officer of the law, should have to bear with them, day in and day out.
I also knew that the increase in Washington homicides was weighing on them just as it was weighing on me. It was why I organized the fishing trip this Saturday, so that a few of the officers could take their mind off the troubles of the world, if only for a few hours.
The rest of the work day went by without much excitement. I diverted my usual patrol route to swing by the house after lunch, and saw that Bella's truck was gone. A quick drive over to the school found it parked in the lot. I wondered whether she had picked it up from home at lunch, or if maybe the Cullen boy had convinced her to skip class for one reason or another.
When I got home from work, Bella's truck was back in its designated spot in the driveway. She was in her room, but came down quickly to start on dinner. I wanted to ask her about Edward Cullen, but I couldn't think of a way to bring it up without freaking her out, so I just waited until she felt ready to talk about it.
"You know, Dad..." she said as we were tucking into our lasagnas.
"What's that, Bell?"
"I think you're right about Seattle. I think I'll wait until Jessica or someone else can go with me."
"Oh," I said, pleasantly surprised. Maybe we could spend the day together after all -- or maybe she just wanted to stick around Forks to hang out with that Edward Cullen. "Oh, okay. So, do you want me to stay home?" I asked, eager, but predicting the answer.
"No, Dad, don't change your plans. I've got a million things to do... homework, laundry... I need to go to the library and the grocery store. I'll be in and out all day... you go and have fun."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, Dad. Besides, the freezer is getting dangerously low on fish - we're down to a two, maybe three years' supply." Okay, so she didn't want to talk about the boy. That was fine. I shot her a smile anyway, thankful that she was at least communicating about the cancelled plans.
"You're sure easy to live with, Bella," I said.
"I could say the same thing about you," She said, laughing. Her laughter sounded a little off, and I was sure that it was from the secrets she was keeping from me. Well, all teenage daughters will keep secrets from their dads. It'd be weirder if they didn't.
---
I woke up bright and early the next morning to go fishing. It was just me, Jim, and Denise out on the river, seeing as at least a few officers had to stay on duty no matter what. We were quiet, for the most part, not wanting to disturb the fish, but I could tell that the stress was melting off of them just as it was off of me as the sun rose over the pine trees that Saturday morning.
It's kind of like Billy's meditation trick -- likely something he picked up after being unable to fish like he used to. The mind goes blank, with nothing but the sound of the lines swooshing through the air, the gentle plop of the lure into the calm, slow-moving waters. Usually fishing in Forks means a raincoat and the deafening sound of raindrops pelting the river, but today was blissfully dry. The skies were cloudy, and every now and then the sun would shine through a hole, illuminating the water in a dazzling display. The river almost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, like thousands of tiny diamonds.
After a few hours on the river yielded a cooler-full of fish, we headed in for an early dinner at the local diner.
"So how's fatherhood been treatin' ya, Charlie?" Denise asked over platefuls of fries. I laughed. She and her husband had three kids, all under the age of 10.
"Well, I gotta say, teenagers are a little tough." That didn't even begin to touch the confusing ways Bella had been acting over the past two weeks back at home.
"Oh, I believe it," she said, smiling. "I'm dreading the day the kids start thinking past hunger, toilet, and TV."
"Not that any of those go away," I noted. "But yeah, it's hard to really get a grasp of what she wants from me, you know, as her dad. We used to go fishing together, go to the movies, all that, now it's like she doesn't want anything to do with me..."
"Well damn, Charlie. Don't feel too bad about that," Jim said, eyeing my fries after having already finished his own burger. "I left home when I was 15 -- couldn't stand the old man. The fact that she's still around is a win in my books, I'd reckon."
"Yeah, well, let's just hope she doesn't go get the same idea you had back in the day," I smiled at Jim and Denise, though the very real fear of Bella leaving sat in the pit of my stomach, just as it had ever since I'd picked her up at that airport on that rainy Sunday.
I dropped the two of them off in my cruiser at their respective houses -- each with a third of the day's spoils -- and headed home for the evening. Bells' truck was still out front when I got home, though when I walked by it I pressed an ungloved hand to the hood. It was warm, meaning that she must've been out and about somewhere while I was gone. No matter, she could have just been at the store, or the library, or any number of places she said she might be when we talked about it last night. Don't go getting your knickers in a knot, Charlie. She's home now, and safe, and that's all that ever matters.
"Bella?" I called, still unused to coming home to someone else in the house.
"In here," she said from the kitchen. I could smell some leftover lasagna.
"Can you get me some of that? I'm bushed." I wanted to give her something to do so that we could chat, to stop her from heading up to her room so soon.
"Thanks," I said as she placed my plate down on the table.
She seemed either hungry or eager to leave the table, or both, because she ate fast. She also wouldn't meet my eyes, and when she lifted up her glass of milk, her hand was trembling.
"How was your day?" she asked, her words rushed.
"Good. The fish were biting... how about you? Did you get everything done that you wanted to?" I figured she was hiding something -- had likely spent the day with the Cullen kid -- and wanted to give her the opportunity to come clean. I obviously wouldn't be mad; I just hated to see her trying (and failing) to keep a secret that didn't need to be kept.
"Not really - it was too nice out to stay indoors."
"It was a nice day," I agreed.
Bella started chugging her glass of milk, seemingly eager to be away from the obviously awkward conversation. She never was any good at keeping secrets.
"In a hurry?" I asked, smiling.
"Yeah, I'm tired. I'm going to bed early."
"You look kinda keyed up," I said.
"Do I?"
"It's Saturday." And it was only 6 pm. Even if she wasn't going to the dance tonight, I doubted that she had no plans at all. "No plans tonight?"
"No, Dad, I just want to get some sleep."
I guess I'd really need to steer the conversation to her new boyfriend.
"None of the boys in town your type, eh?" I asked.
"No, none of the boys have caught my eye yet."
"I thought maybe that Mike Newton... you said he was friendly." I figured I'd throw her something of a curveball, maybe make her bring up Edward to make me well and truly drop the idea of Mike Newton, but she didn't bite.
"He's Just a friend, Dad."
"Well, you're too good for them all, anyway. Wait till you get to college to start looking," I said. It was clear she didn't want to talk about Edward, and I wasn't about to force her to.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," she said, heading up the stairs.
"'Night, honey."
"See you in the morning, Dad," she said, before closing her bedroom door tight. Not two minutes later and she was in the washroom, showering, and evidently readying herself for bed. She came downstairs in her pajamas to say goodnight. It was only 7 pm. Either she really was tired, or she had some plans to sneak out later. The excited look on her face made me assume the latter. Well, sneaking out is typical teenage behaviour, from what I'd read. I'd just have to make sure to be awake when she got home, so we could have a little chat about open and honest communication.
Even though I stayed up later than usual that night, I didn't hear Bella trying to sneak out her window, or creep down the steps. I made sure to disconnect the battery cables on her truck, just in case. Exhausted after a long day on the river, I finally conceded around midnight, figuring that if she was willing to wait five hours to successfully sneak out, she deserved it. I peeked into her room before going to my own bed, though, and saw that she was legitimately passed out. I felt that same, cool breeze as I opened the door, so I made sure to close her window tight before calling it a night.
I was pleasantly surprised that Bells hadn't tried to sneak out to see her new boyfriend. Maybe I should put a little more trust in her, after all.
---
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