Spitefic: Operation Twilight: Resolution
Title: Operation Twilight: Resolution
Author: afterandalasia
Fandom(s): Twilight
Rating: Probably R
Word Count: 3,294
Inspiration: Crime procedurals, Mervin's talking about the Cullens' death counts and... something. Boom, serial killer!Cullens and undercover!Bella.
Warnings: Descriptions of violence, rape and serial killer practices, and characters deep in delusion.
Summary: The string of murders has been going on for long enough. Charlie has been in deep cover to watch the Cullens, and now he's getting a partner to help take them down. And who would suspect a moody, clumsy highschooler of being a trained FBI operative who specialises in these sort of bait operations?
In part three, the Cullens are finally bought to trial, and Charlie and Bella go their separate ways.
Disclaimer: Twilight is most definitely not mine. My knowledge of police and FBI procedures is informed by the media as well as my own research, and I doubt that it's entirely accurate. But it is more fun. This story is set in 2005, approximately in line with the Twilight books.
Part One
Part Two
The arrests were timed, in my opinion, perfectly. Of course, that long tree-lined driveway up to the Cullen's house gave the FBI plenty of places to sit and wait, but it was still immaculately timed so that just as all five 'children' climbed out of their shiny silver Volvo, Dr. Carlisle Cullen was already being politely led aside at the hospital, and Esme was already sitting inside with two police officers. They were neatly put into separate police cars to be taking into custody, and almost nothing was said between them. That, if nothing else, would have made me suspicious -- no screaming, no swearing, no crying? Most teenagers busted for smoking pot reacted more than the Cullens faced with multiple murder charges -- but at least it made things slick.
The littlest one, Alice, did try to ask whether she was going to be read her Miranda Rights. I explained that they only applied when you were being interrogated, and she simply gave a sort of nod and murmur. Creepy in the extreme.
Edward glared at me with hard black eyes as he was put away. I almost wanted to drive him down myself, knowing now what he had planned for Bella, but I allowed the other officers to play their parts.
Once they were all on their way, I dialled the home phone. When Bella picked up, I didn't even bother with preliminaries. "It's done, they're in."
"We still need the conviction."
"We'll nail them."
For one of the first times since we'd been working together, I heard her laugh: a surprisingly deep, throaty, adult sound. It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did, but I couldn't help a grin. Her pleasure was infectious, and it reminded me of my Bella, still safe with her mother in Phoenix. Once this was finally over, I could go and visit and talk to them once again.
"I need to go, see them booked in. I'll be back this evening."
"I'll have dinner ready."
As if it was any other day. I pocketed my phone, and joined the calvacade making its way to the station. As I was getting into the car, I saw the Child Protection workers coming out with the baby that they had found in the house. Despite Esme's claim that it was her neice, we had our own suspicions. We just needed the DNA test to be sure.
It was a good thing, I thought as we started driving, that the cells had been emptied in preparation for this get-together. I wouldn't want to inflict sharing cells with the Cullens on drunk teenagers and shoplifters, after all.
I watched with grim satisfaction as they were booked in, their nice clothes rather spoilt by the removal of shoelaces, belts, necklaces and ties. Photographs, fingerprints, searches; then they were into their cells, still mostly silent. I couldn't help smiling, however, as the doors were closed behind them, no matter how long it was going to take.
Television series don't tend to show everything that goes on in the build-up to a trial. From the arraignment -- with bail denied and seven pleas of not guilty -- to the preliminary hearing where we started to show how much evidence we had, to the preparation for the trial itself. We tried to keep it discreet at first, quiet, but somehow it got out just how big this arrest was, and rumours started flying. Soon the Cullens were being blamed for every unsolved murder from the start of the nineties -- and though they had deaths to their names, I doubted it ran to quite that many. As long as they could find a jury, though, I figured that it would work out all right in the end.
It was rolling round to the summer by the time that the trial came to court. By then it had hit the papers: "Vampire cult turned teens into killers", one paper declared. "A trail of death" said another, with a completely wrong selection of missing persons pictures scattered across a map of America.
What mattered, though, was that things had caught up with the Cullens.
I wasn't called upon to give evidence. That meant that I could watch, however long it took, however grisly the evidence became.
I could watch as the child was proven to be that of the woman found murdered less than a year ago now, listen to the pathologist describe how she was still alive when her belly was cut open and the child removed. Ariadne Johnston, that had been her name, twenty-five and engaged and expecting her first child. Her fiancé-widower, now reunited with his daughter, cried when he spoke about the day that she and her best friend had gone out to picnic in the local woodlands and gone missing. A day that coincided with one of the Cullens' many missed days of school.
Other, similar stories came out. Nita Torina, twenty, also from Washington; vanished almost two years ago now, two weeks before her due date, semi-skeletal remains now having been found and identified as belonging to her. Her body had been two decayed to give much evidence, but nicks on her vertebrae suggested that her throat had been cut, and no indication of the remains of her child had been found. So far, no match had been found in the lists of abandoned children of around that age, but we hadn't given up hope yet.
Further back: Harriet Friedland, Alaska, twenty-two and expecting her second child when she vanished twenty-eight months ago. Marcie Nicklas, from Montana but on holiday in Alaska, twenty-three and just entering her third trimester when she disappeared, thirty months ago. A child born that early wouldn't have a good chance of survival without medical help. Eve Knell, Alaska, nineteen when she disappeared though she would have been twenty-two by now. Then further back still, into different states, for over ten years. Some of the earlier ones had more signs of trauma: pubic bones nicked by scalpel blades; Monteggia fractures that looked like defensive wounds; and in one terrible case a bite mark, preserved by the near mummification of the body in the Tennessee heat, that could still be matched to Jasper Cullen.
Or, I should say, Hale Whitlock.
That was one of the things that we hadn't been expecting.
Hale Jasper Whitlock, and his wife Mary Alice, had been under suspicion of the rape and murder of a woman in Texas, twelve years ago now, but there had never been any proof and they had been reluctantly released. The case had gone cold and been closed, but bringing CODIS into the mix had bought Hale and Mary back into the FBI's sights. The murdered woman's name was Louisa Ivery; she had been beaten, burnt and raped both vaginally and anally before being strangled. Crosses had been carved into the palms of her hands, and she had been stabbed through both eyes. Incredibly, two sets of DNA had been recovered from her pelvic area, and they belonged to the people now presented to us as Jasper and Alice Cullen.
Then, of course, we had the other three bodies. One of the rapes was difficult to prove; in the case of the second, a single hair with follicle still attached, found to also contain 'Jasper's' DNA. Both had their throats cut right-to-left, as might have been expected by a left-handed attacker. The third body, the one which had also been tortured, had injury patterns that matched Louisa Ivery. The thick stitches that had sewn her hands together were found to have been made by heavy-duty needles and suture of the sort owned by the Cullens and accessible by any of them, but more DNA in one of the wounds matched 'Alice'.
It also became quickly apparent that all of the Cullens, but particularly Alice, were obsessed with Christianity and Christian imagery. During her imprisonment, Alice would apparently frequently go into 'trances', or at least fugues, and quote Bible passages or speak in Biblical language. At one point, she tried to attack a prison guard, scratching a cross into the man's face with her nails. His testimony probably helped show how deep it ran.
The prosecution was just about to start on Emmett Cullen when one of them broke.
Of all of them, I probably wouldn't have expected it to be Rosalie. Or, as her fingerprints had revealed, Mary-Rose Lee, now twenty-three, of New York. We didn't have that much against Emmett -- Emmett McCarty, known in Tennessee until four years ago and with only minor public order offences and some 'malicious mischief' to his name -- and it would have focussed on conspiracy forthe most part, but something in it broke Rosalie down.
In the middle of the courtroom, with Emmett just about to take the stand, she pled guilty to the charges of murder in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, and conspiracy to everything else that the other Cullens had done. Or, in her words, "everything". Her only other words were that Emmett had never been involved in any of it, that it had been her influencing him, and that all he had ever done was hunt animals with the rest of them for food.
The courtroom fell into complete chaos. As the judge called recess, I could hear reporters calling out and see their cameras flashing, even as Rosalie broke down into tears and Emmett ran over to comfort her. I had to leave the courtroom like everyone else, though, and I only heard later on what had happened.
Rosalie told them everything. The others believed that they were vampires, she said, but she didn't. She had just wanted to escape from her life after a brutal rape at age sixteen had left her infertile and traumatised. At the time, the Cullens had a young child with them and had seemed nice, friendly; she had helped Esme to bring up the baby until it reached about eighteen months old, when Esme lost interest. It was then, she said, that she realised where the child came from. They had abandoned that baby, and Esme and Carlisle had gone out to find a pregnant woman, kill her and take that child instead. When that child had died after just a few weeks, Rosalie had been bought along to 'pick' the next baby. That, she said, was how they had continued.
She didn't have much evidence against Carlisle, just a confirmation of what we already knew. She was able to give rough months and years of when she and Esme had 'chosen' any particular child, and described how when the child either died or became old enough to start talking and walking -- and, I suspected, start being inconvenient -- they would give it up and take another instead.
Carlisle believed that he was a vampire, and had 'turned' the others. All of them, except Rosalie, believed him. We had found lotions and creams in their house which, apparently, Carlisle said would protect them from the sun. They turned out to be bleaching creams. Although they ate human food, they also believed that they needed animal blood to survive, and would spend most weekends hunting for animals because of this. None of them had a licence, so it was illegal, but even as those charges were added we knew that was the least of our worries. Although Emmett was part of this, and knew about everything else that went on, she kept insisting that he had never killed a person and that he only stayed because of her. I was inclined to believe her, but the jury would be the judge of that.
We were most interested in what she had to say about Edward, Jasper and Alice. Edward, she said, had been with Carlisle since before he even met Esme. He was Carlisle's son, and currently twenty-seven years old. As a child he had tortured animals and lit fires, and still enjoyed doing so. He also had an obsession with high school girls, declaring himself 'in love' with one every year since he was eighteen, then usually attempting to 'turn her' only to be 'gripped by bloodlust' and kill her instead. Of all of them, he clung most doggedly to his claims of vampirism, and of being able to read minds -- although, strangely, not mine or Bella's.
Jasper and Alice had called themselves that when they joined the Cullens three years ago, she said. They hadn't spoken about their past, but it was them who had bought the real height of violence. They had believed Carlisle's declaration that they were vampires as well, and treated him like a god. Jasper would 'try to restrain' himself from killing, but every so often would snap, only to abduct, rape and kill a woman who he liked the look of. On many of these occaions, Alice would go into one of her fugues and attempt to 'sanctify' the bodies of those that she had 'seen' going to heaven.
Once the press got hold of her statements, it spread like wildfire. Once the jury heard her testimony, it was all over.
"On twelve charges of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On eight charges of theft in the first degree, of medical supplies, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty.
"On four charges of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On four charges of kidnapping in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty.
"On nine counts of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of stalking, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of voyeurism, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty.
"On two counts of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee, also known as Rosalie Cullen, guilty. On two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee guilty.
"On seven charges of aggravated murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock, also known as Jasper Cullen, guilty. On four charges of assault in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of rape in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of sexual violation of human remains, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of concealment of a body, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty.
"On the charge of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock, also known as Alice Cullen, not guilty. On four charges of assault in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of concealment of a body, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty.
"On the charge of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty, also known as Emmett Cullen, not guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty guilty."
I knew that it still wasn't everything. But it was enough, and more, to see them put away. Life terms for most, and the death penalty for Hale Jasper Whitlock. Mary-Rose Lee, for her guilty plea, was given the opportunity of parole, and some of the minor charges against her were dropped. Headlines raged across the country as one of the highest-profile cases in years came to a close.
It was the end of August when it finished, and Bella went home. Well, I say home; I don't really know where she was going to. But as far as anybody who cared was concerned, she was going back to her mother -- who could blame her, after being courted by a boy who turned out to be a serial killer of a man? It had been almost nine months, and no-one but myself and Billy Black had needed to know.
She packed up, and I drove her to the airport to say goodbye. The sun was out today, though it wasn't particularly hot, and Bella was smiling at the sunlight. When we got to the check-in, I removed her bag from the trunk, and we paused awkwardly. Less awkwardly than the beginning of the year, sure, but still awkward enough.
"It was nice to see you, Charlie," she said after a moment, with another of her proper, adult smiles. It was a little sadder than her usual ones, but I think that I liked it more.
"It was nice to get to know you, Bella," I replied. I extended one hand, intending for a handshake, but she paused for a moment before stepping in and hugging me instead. I hugged back, without thinking, then let her go as she stepped away once again. "Any chance of an email?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Probably not."
I knew what she meant. Her job was done, and soon Bella Swan would be gone, to be replaced by whoever she was about to become. After god only knew how many years, the Cullens were finally taken down; it was probably going to be one of the largest things that I was ever going to be involved in. It was just another job for Bella.
"In any case, thank you."
Bella nodded, gave me one more enigmatic smile, and turned to leave. I watched her head into SEA-TAC airport, then got back into my car and drove on before I caused too much of a traffic jam. On the way back home, I turned on the radio and rolled down the windows, already thinking of booking tickets down to Arizona. After everything that had happened, I was about ready to see my daughter again, give her a tight hug, and feel happier knowing that another group of predators were where they needed to be, and she was that bit safer than before.
Author: afterandalasia
Fandom(s): Twilight
Rating: Probably R
Word Count: 3,294
Inspiration: Crime procedurals, Mervin's talking about the Cullens' death counts and... something. Boom, serial killer!Cullens and undercover!Bella.
Warnings: Descriptions of violence, rape and serial killer practices, and characters deep in delusion.
Summary: The string of murders has been going on for long enough. Charlie has been in deep cover to watch the Cullens, and now he's getting a partner to help take them down. And who would suspect a moody, clumsy highschooler of being a trained FBI operative who specialises in these sort of bait operations?
In part three, the Cullens are finally bought to trial, and Charlie and Bella go their separate ways.
Disclaimer: Twilight is most definitely not mine. My knowledge of police and FBI procedures is informed by the media as well as my own research, and I doubt that it's entirely accurate. But it is more fun. This story is set in 2005, approximately in line with the Twilight books.
Part One
Part Two
The arrests were timed, in my opinion, perfectly. Of course, that long tree-lined driveway up to the Cullen's house gave the FBI plenty of places to sit and wait, but it was still immaculately timed so that just as all five 'children' climbed out of their shiny silver Volvo, Dr. Carlisle Cullen was already being politely led aside at the hospital, and Esme was already sitting inside with two police officers. They were neatly put into separate police cars to be taking into custody, and almost nothing was said between them. That, if nothing else, would have made me suspicious -- no screaming, no swearing, no crying? Most teenagers busted for smoking pot reacted more than the Cullens faced with multiple murder charges -- but at least it made things slick.
The littlest one, Alice, did try to ask whether she was going to be read her Miranda Rights. I explained that they only applied when you were being interrogated, and she simply gave a sort of nod and murmur. Creepy in the extreme.
Edward glared at me with hard black eyes as he was put away. I almost wanted to drive him down myself, knowing now what he had planned for Bella, but I allowed the other officers to play their parts.
Once they were all on their way, I dialled the home phone. When Bella picked up, I didn't even bother with preliminaries. "It's done, they're in."
"We still need the conviction."
"We'll nail them."
For one of the first times since we'd been working together, I heard her laugh: a surprisingly deep, throaty, adult sound. It shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did, but I couldn't help a grin. Her pleasure was infectious, and it reminded me of my Bella, still safe with her mother in Phoenix. Once this was finally over, I could go and visit and talk to them once again.
"I need to go, see them booked in. I'll be back this evening."
"I'll have dinner ready."
As if it was any other day. I pocketed my phone, and joined the calvacade making its way to the station. As I was getting into the car, I saw the Child Protection workers coming out with the baby that they had found in the house. Despite Esme's claim that it was her neice, we had our own suspicions. We just needed the DNA test to be sure.
It was a good thing, I thought as we started driving, that the cells had been emptied in preparation for this get-together. I wouldn't want to inflict sharing cells with the Cullens on drunk teenagers and shoplifters, after all.
I watched with grim satisfaction as they were booked in, their nice clothes rather spoilt by the removal of shoelaces, belts, necklaces and ties. Photographs, fingerprints, searches; then they were into their cells, still mostly silent. I couldn't help smiling, however, as the doors were closed behind them, no matter how long it was going to take.
Television series don't tend to show everything that goes on in the build-up to a trial. From the arraignment -- with bail denied and seven pleas of not guilty -- to the preliminary hearing where we started to show how much evidence we had, to the preparation for the trial itself. We tried to keep it discreet at first, quiet, but somehow it got out just how big this arrest was, and rumours started flying. Soon the Cullens were being blamed for every unsolved murder from the start of the nineties -- and though they had deaths to their names, I doubted it ran to quite that many. As long as they could find a jury, though, I figured that it would work out all right in the end.
It was rolling round to the summer by the time that the trial came to court. By then it had hit the papers: "Vampire cult turned teens into killers", one paper declared. "A trail of death" said another, with a completely wrong selection of missing persons pictures scattered across a map of America.
What mattered, though, was that things had caught up with the Cullens.
I wasn't called upon to give evidence. That meant that I could watch, however long it took, however grisly the evidence became.
I could watch as the child was proven to be that of the woman found murdered less than a year ago now, listen to the pathologist describe how she was still alive when her belly was cut open and the child removed. Ariadne Johnston, that had been her name, twenty-five and engaged and expecting her first child. Her fiancé-widower, now reunited with his daughter, cried when he spoke about the day that she and her best friend had gone out to picnic in the local woodlands and gone missing. A day that coincided with one of the Cullens' many missed days of school.
Other, similar stories came out. Nita Torina, twenty, also from Washington; vanished almost two years ago now, two weeks before her due date, semi-skeletal remains now having been found and identified as belonging to her. Her body had been two decayed to give much evidence, but nicks on her vertebrae suggested that her throat had been cut, and no indication of the remains of her child had been found. So far, no match had been found in the lists of abandoned children of around that age, but we hadn't given up hope yet.
Further back: Harriet Friedland, Alaska, twenty-two and expecting her second child when she vanished twenty-eight months ago. Marcie Nicklas, from Montana but on holiday in Alaska, twenty-three and just entering her third trimester when she disappeared, thirty months ago. A child born that early wouldn't have a good chance of survival without medical help. Eve Knell, Alaska, nineteen when she disappeared though she would have been twenty-two by now. Then further back still, into different states, for over ten years. Some of the earlier ones had more signs of trauma: pubic bones nicked by scalpel blades; Monteggia fractures that looked like defensive wounds; and in one terrible case a bite mark, preserved by the near mummification of the body in the Tennessee heat, that could still be matched to Jasper Cullen.
Or, I should say, Hale Whitlock.
That was one of the things that we hadn't been expecting.
Hale Jasper Whitlock, and his wife Mary Alice, had been under suspicion of the rape and murder of a woman in Texas, twelve years ago now, but there had never been any proof and they had been reluctantly released. The case had gone cold and been closed, but bringing CODIS into the mix had bought Hale and Mary back into the FBI's sights. The murdered woman's name was Louisa Ivery; she had been beaten, burnt and raped both vaginally and anally before being strangled. Crosses had been carved into the palms of her hands, and she had been stabbed through both eyes. Incredibly, two sets of DNA had been recovered from her pelvic area, and they belonged to the people now presented to us as Jasper and Alice Cullen.
Then, of course, we had the other three bodies. One of the rapes was difficult to prove; in the case of the second, a single hair with follicle still attached, found to also contain 'Jasper's' DNA. Both had their throats cut right-to-left, as might have been expected by a left-handed attacker. The third body, the one which had also been tortured, had injury patterns that matched Louisa Ivery. The thick stitches that had sewn her hands together were found to have been made by heavy-duty needles and suture of the sort owned by the Cullens and accessible by any of them, but more DNA in one of the wounds matched 'Alice'.
It also became quickly apparent that all of the Cullens, but particularly Alice, were obsessed with Christianity and Christian imagery. During her imprisonment, Alice would apparently frequently go into 'trances', or at least fugues, and quote Bible passages or speak in Biblical language. At one point, she tried to attack a prison guard, scratching a cross into the man's face with her nails. His testimony probably helped show how deep it ran.
The prosecution was just about to start on Emmett Cullen when one of them broke.
Of all of them, I probably wouldn't have expected it to be Rosalie. Or, as her fingerprints had revealed, Mary-Rose Lee, now twenty-three, of New York. We didn't have that much against Emmett -- Emmett McCarty, known in Tennessee until four years ago and with only minor public order offences and some 'malicious mischief' to his name -- and it would have focussed on conspiracy forthe most part, but something in it broke Rosalie down.
In the middle of the courtroom, with Emmett just about to take the stand, she pled guilty to the charges of murder in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, and conspiracy to everything else that the other Cullens had done. Or, in her words, "everything". Her only other words were that Emmett had never been involved in any of it, that it had been her influencing him, and that all he had ever done was hunt animals with the rest of them for food.
The courtroom fell into complete chaos. As the judge called recess, I could hear reporters calling out and see their cameras flashing, even as Rosalie broke down into tears and Emmett ran over to comfort her. I had to leave the courtroom like everyone else, though, and I only heard later on what had happened.
Rosalie told them everything. The others believed that they were vampires, she said, but she didn't. She had just wanted to escape from her life after a brutal rape at age sixteen had left her infertile and traumatised. At the time, the Cullens had a young child with them and had seemed nice, friendly; she had helped Esme to bring up the baby until it reached about eighteen months old, when Esme lost interest. It was then, she said, that she realised where the child came from. They had abandoned that baby, and Esme and Carlisle had gone out to find a pregnant woman, kill her and take that child instead. When that child had died after just a few weeks, Rosalie had been bought along to 'pick' the next baby. That, she said, was how they had continued.
She didn't have much evidence against Carlisle, just a confirmation of what we already knew. She was able to give rough months and years of when she and Esme had 'chosen' any particular child, and described how when the child either died or became old enough to start talking and walking -- and, I suspected, start being inconvenient -- they would give it up and take another instead.
Carlisle believed that he was a vampire, and had 'turned' the others. All of them, except Rosalie, believed him. We had found lotions and creams in their house which, apparently, Carlisle said would protect them from the sun. They turned out to be bleaching creams. Although they ate human food, they also believed that they needed animal blood to survive, and would spend most weekends hunting for animals because of this. None of them had a licence, so it was illegal, but even as those charges were added we knew that was the least of our worries. Although Emmett was part of this, and knew about everything else that went on, she kept insisting that he had never killed a person and that he only stayed because of her. I was inclined to believe her, but the jury would be the judge of that.
We were most interested in what she had to say about Edward, Jasper and Alice. Edward, she said, had been with Carlisle since before he even met Esme. He was Carlisle's son, and currently twenty-seven years old. As a child he had tortured animals and lit fires, and still enjoyed doing so. He also had an obsession with high school girls, declaring himself 'in love' with one every year since he was eighteen, then usually attempting to 'turn her' only to be 'gripped by bloodlust' and kill her instead. Of all of them, he clung most doggedly to his claims of vampirism, and of being able to read minds -- although, strangely, not mine or Bella's.
Jasper and Alice had called themselves that when they joined the Cullens three years ago, she said. They hadn't spoken about their past, but it was them who had bought the real height of violence. They had believed Carlisle's declaration that they were vampires as well, and treated him like a god. Jasper would 'try to restrain' himself from killing, but every so often would snap, only to abduct, rape and kill a woman who he liked the look of. On many of these occaions, Alice would go into one of her fugues and attempt to 'sanctify' the bodies of those that she had 'seen' going to heaven.
Once the press got hold of her statements, it spread like wildfire. Once the jury heard her testimony, it was all over.
"On twelve charges of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On eight charges of theft in the first degree, of medical supplies, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Carlisle Cullen guilty.
"On four charges of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On four charges of kidnapping in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Esme Anne Cullen guilty.
"On nine counts of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of stalking, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of voyeurism, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Edward Cullen guilty.
"On two counts of murder in the first degree, we find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee, also known as Rosalie Cullen, guilty. On two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee guilty. On the charge of conspiracy, we the jury find the defendant Mary-Rose Lee guilty.
"On seven charges of aggravated murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock, also known as Jasper Cullen, guilty. On four charges of assault in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of rape in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of sexual violation of human remains, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of concealment of a body, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Hale Jasper Whitlock guilty.
"On the charge of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock, also known as Alice Cullen, not guilty. On four charges of assault in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On seven charges of concealment of a body, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Mary Alice Whitlock guilty.
"On the charge of murder in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty, also known as Emmett Cullen, not guilty. On the charge of criminal impersonation in the first degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty guilty. On the charge of unlawful hunting of big game in the second degree, we the jury find the defendant Emmett McCarty guilty."
I knew that it still wasn't everything. But it was enough, and more, to see them put away. Life terms for most, and the death penalty for Hale Jasper Whitlock. Mary-Rose Lee, for her guilty plea, was given the opportunity of parole, and some of the minor charges against her were dropped. Headlines raged across the country as one of the highest-profile cases in years came to a close.
It was the end of August when it finished, and Bella went home. Well, I say home; I don't really know where she was going to. But as far as anybody who cared was concerned, she was going back to her mother -- who could blame her, after being courted by a boy who turned out to be a serial killer of a man? It had been almost nine months, and no-one but myself and Billy Black had needed to know.
She packed up, and I drove her to the airport to say goodbye. The sun was out today, though it wasn't particularly hot, and Bella was smiling at the sunlight. When we got to the check-in, I removed her bag from the trunk, and we paused awkwardly. Less awkwardly than the beginning of the year, sure, but still awkward enough.
"It was nice to see you, Charlie," she said after a moment, with another of her proper, adult smiles. It was a little sadder than her usual ones, but I think that I liked it more.
"It was nice to get to know you, Bella," I replied. I extended one hand, intending for a handshake, but she paused for a moment before stepping in and hugging me instead. I hugged back, without thinking, then let her go as she stepped away once again. "Any chance of an email?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Probably not."
I knew what she meant. Her job was done, and soon Bella Swan would be gone, to be replaced by whoever she was about to become. After god only knew how many years, the Cullens were finally taken down; it was probably going to be one of the largest things that I was ever going to be involved in. It was just another job for Bella.
"In any case, thank you."
Bella nodded, gave me one more enigmatic smile, and turned to leave. I watched her head into SEA-TAC airport, then got back into my car and drove on before I caused too much of a traffic jam. On the way back home, I turned on the radio and rolled down the windows, already thinking of booking tickets down to Arizona. After everything that had happened, I was about ready to see my daughter again, give her a tight hug, and feel happier knowing that another group of predators were where they needed to be, and she was that bit safer than before.