Chapter 4 “Rabbit Holes”

Cullen POV

"Jesus, Mary, mother of holy fucking shit!"

I whirled around and shined the flashlight at the noise that had just scared the living goddamn shit out of me.

Rabbit, it's a fucking rabbit, dumb ass.

Jesus.

I rolled my eyes at myself as I dragged a hand through my hair because, let's fucking face it, I've gotta be the only goddamn black belt, gun wielding private eye on the planet scared of fucking bunnies.

I whistled again, listening while I checked my watch.

It was past goddamn midnight and there I was, looking for that fucking dog that I didn't want in the first fucking place.

"He needs a home, Edward, he's your dog, Edward," I said, mocking Swan's words from way back when.

My dog, my ass.

"This is bullshit."

I pulled out the big guns.

Bacon.

If anything was gonna get Pup's attention and bring him home, it was bacon, he couldn't resist that shit, it was like his fucking homing bacon.

I chuckled a little as I shook the bag…'cause, you know… Homing Bacon…then I whistled a little more and sure enough, it didn't take long for him to come running.

Or rather, limping.

My eyebrows met as I bent my knees to meet him when he got to me, shaking like a motherfucker and I held a piece of the greasy goodness out for him.

"Some goddamn protection you are," I told him.

What?

I was joking.

Sorta.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

I pet him as he ate the meat and noticed, he was really shaking…like, scared shaking. I hadn't seen him like that since the night we met.

"What the fuck did he do to you, Pup? Huh?" I asked him as I picked him up, checked him out and wrapped him up inside my jacket, taking him back to the house.

He whimpered a little and I grinded my teeth just a fucking tad, refusing to let my mind imagine what in the hell James had pulled with my goddamn dog.

When I got back to the house, I punched in the code to disable the piece of shit, apparently lets any goodamn low life gun for hire into the house alarm system and then re-armed that fucker before I took Pup down the hall.

At least if someone was gonna have the balls to enter the sanctitude of the bat cave at this point, I'd get some sorta warning.

Fucking hopefully, that is.

Bella was out cold, drooling all over our recently washed sheets, so I cleaned up the non-protecting protection mutt, made sure he didn't have any major injuries and put him into the bed next to her where he liked to sleep. Even though it pissed me right the fuck off most nights, I was okay with it this time.

Seein' how I wouldn't be gettin' much shut eye, anyway.

I waved a hand. "If she wakes up...just...act natural," I told him as I left him there with her and he sneezed, putting his head down onto her belly...right about where I wished I could put a little somethin' something, if ya know what I'm sayin', but unfortunately, there wasn't time and I doubted very highly that Pup woulda let me have any fun anyway.

He's such a goddamn drama queen.

I closed the door to the office and sat down at the desk that was designated as mine, logged on to our filing system and read over the information that Mendez had originally given Swan and I as I dialed up the Jazz meister.

I didn't think twice about ringing his ass at the ungodly hour, he was up.

Birds of a fucking feather, or…whatever.

He was up, alright?

He was always up.

And apparently, my sister was now answering his goddamn phone.

"Ya know, I kinda thought that now that you had Bella in your life, you'd actually have a life, Edward."

Funny.

"And I kinda thought that when I called this fucking number I'd be getting my go to guy, not his answering service."

Wah-bam.

"Ha, ha, Edward...anyway, he's…busy."

I closed my eyes tight, hearing the smile in her voice, trying not to envision what the fuck she was talking about and said, "Well, he needs to be un-busy…this is kinda fucking important, Alice."

She paused, thinking about whether or not she was gonna hang up on my ass or not, probably and then finally answered me.

"Hold on, party pooper."

I heard metal clanging and some Alice giggling and then the Texas twang I'd called to fucking listen to, finally.

"Cullen, you've got…impeccable timin', my friend."

"So I hear, listen, I need some data, and I need it tonight."

Jasper was a good man. He didn't let me down, as per fucking usual. He got on it right away and even though I knew my sister was screwin' with him all the while and that he was probably goddamn naked as a Jay Bird during our conversation, I pushed passed that disturbing image, knowing the end result of this phone call would be my pay off.

In the end, though, all he could really give me was a list of shipment dates, the number of shipments, weight of the shipments and where they went.

It was enough.

Because based on the consistency of the packages, how many there were and who the fuck was behind that shit, I was pretty goddamn certain "air delivery" was just a fancy way of saying "drug run" and why the fucking DCPD hadn't picked up on that shit was beyond me but hell, it wouldn't have been the first time they'd turned a blind eye.

But don't get me started, 'cause that shit still pisses me the fuck off and I was just recently gettin' to the point where I didn't wanna punch Muldoon in the junk when I thought about it.

Okay, I always wanted to punch that dick twat in the junk but at least I didn't act on it.

My point being, I had something to go on.

A trail to follow.

And possibly, somethin' to get this guy to talk with because apparently, answering questions from the guy he HIRED to find his fucking daughter openly and honestly just wasn't' gonna be a possi-fucking-bility with this nutless wonder.

There were still a lot of goddamn things that didn't add up for me and I was pretty sure he knew that I knew something was up.

Additionally and on fucking top of the fact that he was an ass to women.

Like the fact that there were absolutely no pictures of his wife or daughter in his office.

Or that didn't seem concerned at all with lying through his goddamn teeth about DC Metro. I mean he had to know I'd find out he hadn't gone to them.

Right?

He wasn't…couldn't have possibly just been that goddamn stupid.

Before I knew it, it was dawn and I needed a cup of fucking coffee before my eyes dried up and Swan thought she was living with a corpse, so I started a pot, took a shower and woke her ass up when it was still stupid early.

'Cause the sooner we got over to Titus Airlines, the fucking better as far as I was concerned.

...

"Swan."

I checked my watch for the umpteenth time and then pressed my thumb in between my closed eye, wishing it was a fucking ice pick while I waited for her to finish fucking with her hair.

"We're going to interrogate a suspect, Swan, not a goddamn ball."

She opened the bathroom door and glared at me.

However...

Her still glistening, clothingless fucking body, complete with hardened nipples and...shit she shaved...everywhere...spoke a different goddamn story.

One of my eyebrows did a little hop skip and a jump upward.

May father Swan forgive the fuck out of me for the dirty...dirty things I'm gonna do to his daughter later.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the nakedness...different fucking story.

One that started with something along the lines of, why didn't you wake me up earlier so we could mess the sheets up for a good reason instead of just sleeping.

Only what she didn't know was, I hadn't fucking slept yet.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" she asked, trying to keep herself from smirking and her fuck me eyes from glancing downward toward the BFF patrol.

I smiled…nicely, clearing my throat a little.

"I said, could you hurry the fuck up before we miss our opportunity to question our suspect?"

That was polite.

Right?

What?

She shut the door again.

"Be right out," she informed my ass.

It sounded like an invitation to me, though.

Did that sound like an invitation to you?

"Need help?" I teased, my head against the door, hand on the knob.

'Cause I'm always fucking prepared for a quickie...

"Just...go ahead and…start up the…thingie," she told me, after a soft giggle.

Or, not.

Crash and Burn, Cullen...crash and burn.

"Honda, Swan, it's a fucking Honda."

Was she fucking with me?

Because that's a pretty goddamn easy word, Honda, it's not like it's a fucking Mercedes, or …Ferrari for Christ's sake…it's a Honda.

I guess I shoulda been happy she was even agreeing to ride it with me, she could have very fucking well made me take her to Rose's first, which woulda been a whole other can of goddamn worms to open for the day.

Fun stuff, this livin' with someone.

Gotta say, I'm not crazy about it.

Even if the someone is the missing piece to my goddamn puzzle.

She's still a fucking pain in the ass.

Although, okay, admittedly, there were some pros to that argument.

Like Sunday morning woodie wake ups.

Her nick name, not mine.

Seriously.

And home cooked meals.

Jesus Christ could that woman cook.

And…okay, it was more than that shit, but since all that extra fluffy shit was indescribable when it came to Swan and me….I just assume go with all the physically arousing and mentally fucking astounding bonuses instead.

I stopped internally complaining 'cause in all goddamn honesty, I was lucky to have her ass.

Plus, Swan…on the back of a bike…holdin' on to my….assets…?

Win.

Every goddamn time, my friends.

…...

"When is Rose gonna have your Elizabeth done, anyway?" she screamed into my ear as we were racing passed traffic on two-seventy.

Ow, by the fucking way.

"ELLL-AH-NOR!" I screamed back over my shoulder at her, shaking my head and I coulda fucking sworn I heard a "whatever" from her, even though she musta been mumbling by then.

I mean seriously, she was fucking with me.

Right?

I squeezed and twisted the clutch, speeding up as I took our exit tight and low and I felt Swan's hands grip me around the waist like she was holdin' on for dear life which…she may very well have been doing…and I smiled.

'Cause that's what she fucking gets for not knowing her Nick goddamn Cage movies.

The good ones, at least.

Just as we were pullin' into the airport I like to call the hub of all things evil with regards to our case, I saw Mendez walking out with his blonde haired bodee guaird and I stopped the bike as close to the entry gate as I could before getting off.

Of the bike.

Pervs.

"Mendez! Got a minute?" I yelled over to him as I took my helmet off but as soon as he saw us, he said something to the blonde boy wonder and then bolted for his personal jet faster than a cat can lick its own ass.

I watched him, then my attention was taken back to the blonde and the look that guy was giving me.

"Mother. Fuck!"

"It's okay, Edward, we'll just get him another time," Swan assured me and I don't know if she actually expected me to just take that shit lying down or…riding a bike…but fuck if I was lettin' it go.

"Like Hell! He did that shit on fucking purpose."

We were silent for about a fucking heart beat.

And that's a long goddamn time for me, if ya know what I'm sayin.

I headed for the gate…that was fucking locked. "I'm goin'."

"Edward…you said…"

"Stay here."

"CULLEN!"

The single engine was already as far down the runway as it could get before going air born but that didn't mean the bodee guairde wasn't gonna get his ASS kicked for fucking with my case.

I was over the fence in about two point two seconds and still managed to hear Swan behind me cursing at my manly idiocy but hell if I was passin' up an oppor-fucking-tunity to punch that dick again.

Alec slithered into the building pretty quickly but didn't bother locking up behind himself and I followed, pulling the Colt out, just in case and saw him just as he rounded a corner at the end of the hallway inside.

I looked around and into the several offices that I passed on the way, noticing something odd for that time of day.

"Not many people workin' today, huh?"

I wasn't really talking to anyone, unless you count the hidden security cameras that were no goddamn doubt surrounding me with every turn I took.

I stopped for a minute when I didn't see my little white rabbit anymore and listened.

A door closed and I followed the sound but when I got to the destination, it was locked.

"Fuck."

Then I saw an exit door to my left and went that way, figuring he'd no doubt be trying to get the fuck outta dodge too and sure enough, when I was outside again, in the back of the building, there he was, hurtling toward a fucking Mercedes.

"Figures," I Iaughed and upped my speed, barely getting to him before he was in the car and I mighta kinda sorrta slammed his ass up against the car.

What?

I was making a fucking point.

"In a hurry?"

"Get off me!"

"Fuck you, prick, where's your boss goin', huh? Off to give a play by play to Aro?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" At least, that's what he mighta said, I mean there was no way to be a hundred percent sure, I couldn't really fucking tell with his face smashed up against the window and all.

I pulled his head back by the hairs on the back of his neck and slammed him against the window again.

"Mendez settin' me up? Alec?" I asked him into his ear.

"You're crazy."

"Ya got that goddamn right, shit head…now tell me why he was in such a hurry to get outta here when you saw Swan and I….scared we learned the truth already?"

I got nothin', so I added another question to the pot.

"How much is he paying James Damond to do his dirty work?"

He was hysterical by then. "What?" he choked. I think I mighta been cutting his air pipe off or something. Again, I couldn't be a hundred percent sure.

I didn't let up as he answered me.

And I knee'd him in the back to give him a fucking message.

One that said, "If you fucking lie to me, I'm breaking your goddamn spine."

"I'm paid to protect him from people that are going to cause him stress...he's got a…unnnff! Weak heart!" he grunted out as I shoved the Colt into his rib cage.

"Why would I cause him stress, he hired me."

Dumb ass.

"You had a look in your eye."

Seriously?

"And you saw that from about a half a fucking football field away, how?"

"I'm also paid to have good eye sight Mr. Cullen."

I let him go but held the Colt on him.

"Why'd he lie to us?"

"I don't know what you…"

I cocked the goddamn gun and he held his hands up.

"H…he didn't think you'd take the case if you knew he'd skipped the proper channels."

"And he would be fucking correct in that assumption but that still doesn't tell me why."

"W…why what?" he asked, eyeballin' the Colt.

He had good reason to be a scared fuck, sometimes, the Colt had a goddamn mind of its own, there was no tellin' if it might go off on its own, leaving him with a pretty flesh wound to deal with.

Or worse.

Depending on my mood.

I moved closer to him, the Colt's barrel just inches from his ugly as fuck face and said very slowly and very deliberately, "Why. Didn't. He. Go. To. The. Cops."

He swallowed.

"H…he doesn't t…trust them…he knows some of them are paid hands of Aro's."

Okay, this was a true fact…didn't mean shit though.

"What does Mendez's shipments have to do with Arrow Shipping?"

"That's his story to tell you, not mine."

I pushed the Colt up into his nose but he wasn't budging. "Sorry, Mr. Cullen, you're gonna have to shoot me, I'm not betraying his confidence, he's been good to me over the years and besides…I…"

He trailed off at that last word and it got my curiosity peaked.

"Besides, what?"

"I…"

"My patience meter is running on fucking empty, Alec, you might not want play the stalling card."

"I love her."

My brow creased.

Head…aching….

Monkey wrench.

Important case.

And What the fuck?

"You…"

"We were seeing each other, Mr. Mendez doesn't know."

Yeah, I bet.

I was still trying to get my mouth to work while he spoke some more.

"I'd do anything for her...and her father."

Uh...huh.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it."

Finally, I pulled the Colt away from fuck twat's face and put him away, telling him, "Tell ya what, when I catch up with Mendez, we'll just see how much he does, and doesn't know, then I'll decide whether I'm pulling that ace out or not."

"Fair enough," he said as he cleared his throat and straightened himself up again.

I eyed the guy. His words seemed true enough. Maybe he was seeing the girl, maybe not, but what I did know, was that this shit was apparently getting peeled back one foul smelling onion layer at a time.

And Mendez's daughter didn't nece-fucking-sarily have that kinda goddamn time.

I asked him a few more questions, like where Mendez was headin' and when he was expected back and after I finished up with our good friend the idiot patrol, I headed back to where I'd left Swan.

Watching her lean up against the Honda, fiddling with her iPhone like that, like I wasn't in harms goddamn way or anything, it made ma wanna jump her bones right then and there.

She was the epitome of everything I never knew I wanted.

Until lately.

If ya get what the fuck I'm sayin'.

She arched an eyebrow at me, seeming to know just exactly what was running through my head and that's when I noticed that, mysteriously, the gate was unlocked and I had to wonder if she'd picked it and done some investigating of her own while I'd been gone but I didn't get the chance to ask her about it like I wanted because we were suddenly, out of fucking nowhere, interrupted .

Very rudely.

"Mr. Cullen?"

By someone who knew who I was, it seemed.

I looked at the woman with a scowl as Swan became aware that I was back and pushed off of the bike, getting her shit together.

"You are, Edward Cullen, right?" the shorter, darker haired woman asked.

Notebook in one hand.

Pencil in the other.

Quirky little gleam in her eyes underneath the equally quirky glasses she wore.

Reporter.

Great.

"You wanna tell me how the hell you coincidentally showed up here today where my partner and I just happened to be and simultaneously happen to fucking know my goddamn name?"

Because aside from being a goddamn psychic, I didn't wanna fucking think about how she would know that shit.

I'd never met this woman in my life.

I think.

Actually, even the psychic thing was a little disturbing, to be quite goddamn honest with you. Not that anything about this case wasn't, so far.

"It's my job to know who you are, Mr. Cullen, and I'm here today because I got a tip, that's how things work in my line of business."

Who was this chick?

She smiled. I think she was trying to be coy or some shit but I'd already pissed the Swan off with my coy retorts for the fucking week.

"Who the fuck are you?"

She smiled a little more. "Oh," she giggled a little, holding her hand out. "Angela, Angela Weber, Washington Post."

Air escaped me like it was my last and I closed my eyes. I was fucking tired already and this shit was just that extra little bit of bullshit I needed to push me over the edge.

"The fucking Post."

"Yeah, I was a pretty good friend…and colleague…of Lauren's…" the name sent a shot of cold up my spine. She didn't seem to be pushing my buttons or anything, she was just establishing familiarity…but still.

Fucking pisses me off.

"She um…told me a lot about you…you know, before she…"

"Was murdered brutally and left to fucking rot over by the monument? Yeah, excellent use of bridging to intro-fucking-duce yourself with, lady."

No sense in beating around the rose bush.

Right?

That left her a little speechless and I eyed Swan who was just kinda takin' everything in.

I knew what she was thinking. She'd questioned me about mine and Lauren's relationship before and now, with cryptic woman speaking in tongues, she was probably wondering if I'd fucking told her the truth about that relationship.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"How'd this shit get into the press, anyway? It's not public yet."

She didn't look like she wanted to divulge her sources…like I didn't fucking know 'em already…but Swan was the one who called her out.

"Did Muldoon ask you to keep it on the Q.T. and you're working rogue or did he send you here himself to mess with our mojo?"

I couldn't help but grin at her ass.

Nicely done.

Damn.

"I didn't say that…"

"You didn't have to, there's only a few people that even know Cullen and I are on this situation."

They locked eyes and I mindlessly wondered if I was about to see a fucking cat fight.

Rawr.

But then Angela let it go.

Which, you know, was just my fucking luck.

"Look, I really need this story, my boss is about to…"

I held a hand up. "I think I speak for my partner and I both when I say, we really don't give a shit about your column, Angela, and any information we might have that ends up on the front page of the fucking Post is gonna ruin any chances we might currently have of finding this girl alive, so…"

Swan smirked.

Whatever I'd said to bring it on, I was glad for it, 'cause to be quite goddamn honest I was getting' a little worried I was losin' her ass to whatever crazy notions that were flyin' around in that perfectly un-predictable head of hers.

We started to leave and our new friend tried again.

"Wait."

I scratched at my head a little, turning to her with only a little bit of fucking frustration building.

Okay, a lot of fucking frustration, but she didn't need to know that.

Or maybe she did.

"What."

You know how I said it, I don't need to explain this shit.

Right?

"I…"

She bit her lip, but not like Swan's, I really want fuck the shit out of you biting her lip, it was more like, what can I say to this guy to make this go my way kinda thing.

And in her defense, it wasn't that bad.

"How about if I hold off on the print till after the case is closed, it'll be an exclusive, and I'll only print what pertains to the case."

Her eyes shifted to Swan and then back to me again but I knew what the hell she meant.

I scratched at my face a little, thinking.

"I'll keep your names anonymous, public, whatever you want."

Maybe she was working for Muldoon, but then again, maybe I could make this work in my fucking favor.

Especially if she wasn't gonna go to print till after the case.

Expose the DCPD's disgustingly bad habits, maybe?

Show the precinct for it really was…less Emmett somehow….

Hmmm.

I'd have to work on that one.

"I tell ya what…" I started, and noticed the infinitesimal shift in Swan's body language.

She didn't get it.

Yet.

Angela's inexperienced eyes looked up at me with hope and excitement and just about everything else you could think of that went along with a green reporter who thought she was about to get the biggest break of her career.

"Stay out our way, take what we give you, write a good story at the end…AFTER, we solve this shit, and we'll talk about you going to print with it."

"Deal!" she screamed but I wasn't fucking finished yet.

"If I get one mili-goddamn-meter's worth of a funny feelin' that you're screwin' us over, deals off and I'll destroy your ass."

I wasn't blinking and the smiled faded some from her highly inexperienced face.

"I…"

"It's a fair deal, Angela, think you can handle it?"

I still didn't smile, though.

I don't smile at reporters.

No matter how cute they think they are.

"Um…"

Swan interjected then. "You won't get a second chance at accepting the offer, hon. I'd take it."

I could hear the smug in her voice.

She knows me too well, that one.

"Okay, so how do I…." she shrugged a little…"Get in touch with you?"

I gave her a half grimace and said, "We'll get in touch with you…gimme your card."

"Card?"

"Your number?"

What, did she just fucking start at the paper that day or something?

"OH!"

She dug through her bag and pulled a scrap piece of paper out and I questioned my own goddamn ignorance over entrusting our thoughts and processes to someone who clearly didn't know what the fuck she was doing, but the old dogs in the business weren't trustworthy, that was for fucking sure…so….Angela it was.

What the fuck was I thinking?

She scribbled her number down and started to hand it to me when Swan took it from her.

"We'll be in touch," she said and just stared her ass down till Angela was smart enough to leave on her own.

I laughed silently as we got back onto the bike and put our helmets on, finally.

"Not funny, Cullen, what in the hell are you thinking anyway?"

Good goddamn question.

"I'm thinkin' she's gonna be a pain in our asses."

"Better her than someone unfamiliar, I guess."

A-goddamn-men to that.

"Yeah."

I was still watching the building, wondering if Alec had just witnessed…or rather, how much Alec had just witnessed, and what he knew and why he was really protecting Mendez like a Pit Bull over raw meat.

And better still, just how many fucking rabbit holes we were gonna follow before finding the one that led us to Kate Mendez.

Jesus Christ, I needed a shot.

"Where to, now?" Swan asked in the midst of my Patron induced day dream.

"Now we go grab some lunch and wait for Mendez to get back in a nice secluded, security camera-less goddamn area of the airport."

And maybe get our freak on while we're waitin'.

"Annnd, why's that?"

"Because we're gonna follow his ass home and get some fucking answers nicely or beat it out of him…either or."

She laughed and I turned to look at her.

"What?" I asked, unable to stop myself from chuckling back at her.

"I was wondering when we'd get down to the nitty gritty," she said as she buckled her helmet up and I kick started the biketo get us on our way for another long ass night of pulling information out of someone who just didn't wanna fuckin' give it.

Story of my goddamn life.