Chapter 10

My heart stopped after hearing Tyler say he found something on Drew. I said a silent prayer that it wasn’t anything horrible. I saw how much Tommy liked her, and I didn’t want to be the one to break his heart. I sat in the car and put the cell phone on speaker. Bella looked at me curiously. “What did he find?”

“Drew’s prints brought up an arrest for Bayleigh Campbell in Mansfield, Texas. She was arrested in June of 2003 for assault and battery. She was never convicted. She is listed as a person of interest in a murder investigation as well. I called the Mansfield Police and talked with a Detective Brad Daughtry. He said a local drug dealer and a Ms. Abby Carrington were found dead in a local park. The drug dealer had been shot twice in the chest. Ms. Carrington had been strangled by the drug dealer. Witnesses had placed Bayleigh at the scene. The police couldn’t find evidence to prove she shot the drug dealer, but Detective Daughtry believed she killed him. After the police declared it a cold case, Ms. Campbell disappeared.”

I was in shock. Drew didn’t seem capable of murder. “So, Drew is really Bayleigh Campbell?” I asked.

“So it seems. I dug a little deeper and found out that Ms. Campbell was abandoned at a hospital in Dallas, Texas, a few days after her birth. The hospital has no idea who her parents are. They put the date of her arrival at the hospital, October 19, 1985, as her date of birth. She grew up in the Baptist Children’s Home in a suburb thirty miles south of Dallas. She was constantly in trouble at school. Her record shows at least two suspensions per year.”

I glanced at Bella and saw tears building in her eyes. I grabbed her hand and gently squeezed it. She gave me a sad smile.

“Tyler, how were we able to find so much information on Drew Sinclair when we ran her background check? Wouldn’t an alias like that turn up nothing?”

“That is the interesting part, Edward. Drew Sinclair is a real person. She is a patient at the West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital. She has been there since June of 2005 after she had a nervous breakdown. She claims that her family was tortured and killed in front of her. She showed up in the ER one night suffering from dehydration, malnutrition, and bruises covering sixty percent of her body. The police never found any evidence that supported her claims. It appears that her parents and sister just disappeared.”

I was amazed at the amount of information Tyler had already found. He really was good at his job. “How can three people just disappear? Was Drew able to give the police a description of the person who did this to her and her family?”

“Yes, Drew did give the police a description. The description of her attacker matches James Hunter. It looks like this was where he picked up after Bella escaped him in Phoenix. I just wonder why he chose this family and how Drew was able to escape alive. Now that James is dead we will never know.”

I sighed. “Have you tried to talk with the real Drew Sinclair?”

“I haven’t been able to get near her. That mental hospital has some pretty tight security. Even if I can’t get much information out of her, I would love to tell her that the son of a bitch who killed her family and tortured her is dead.” I could hear the smile in Tyler’s voice.

“Any luck finding anything out about Victoria?” Bella asked. I could tell this was more of a concern to her.

“I haven’t had time to really look into Victoria yet. I will concentrate on her starting tomorrow,” Tyler assured her.

“Thanks so much for being so quick to get information on Drew. Just let us know as soon as you know anything about Victoria. I would love a description so we know who to look out for.”

“No problem, Edward. I’ll call the minute I know anything,” Tyler said before hanging up.

“I can’t believe Drew, I mean Bayleigh, might have killed someone. This is going to kill Tommy.” Bella was shaking her head.

“I can’t either, love. Let’s go home and figure out what to do next.” Bella agreed and we made our way home.

We found Emmett and Jasper playing video games in the entertainment room and Alice, Rose, and Mom talking around the kitchen table. We had everyone gather in the living room and told them everything Tyler had told us.

“Oh my God. I can’t believe it. Tommy is going to be so heartbroken when he finds out,” Alice said, horrified.

“I know gave him a hard time over Christmas, but I never wanted to see him go through something like this.” Emmett looked crushed.

“I don’t think we should tell him over the phone. I’m afraid we’ll have to take another trip to Forks.” Bella had tears rolling down her cheeks. I pulled her close to my side.

“We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Can we leave tonight? I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight until I talk to him.”

“Of course we can, love. Why don’t we head out after dinner? I want a chance to talk with Carlisle before we leave.” Bella nodded her head in agreement.

Bella and the girls helped Mom make dinner. Dad made it home a few minutes before dinner was ready. We enjoyed a nice family meal. The conversation was kept light. Dad laughed and told everyone about Bella skipping in down the hall in her cast. Emmett roared with laughter at that.

“Bellie?”

“Emmie?”

“Did you have any tequila before you went to visit the good doctor?”

Bella’s face turned red with anger and she glared at him. I was glad it was my brother and not me on the receiving end of that look. I never wanted to see that directed at me.

“No, Emmett, I didn’t. I was just happy to be getting rid of a cast,” she spat.

Rose glared at Emmett. “Sorry. I was just curious.”

When dinner was done, Bella and I went to Dad’s study and told him everything Tyler found out. Dad said he would try to pull some strings in the medical community and find out more about the real Drew Sinclair. He thought he might be able to visit her. That made Bella happy. She felt so much sympathy for this poor girl. I had a feeling the two them could help each other heal from the hell James put them through.

Dad wondered about James’s motives in attacking Drew’s family. I had been wondering the same thing since we found out about all of this. Was he just letting out frustration from Bella getting away? Did he feel a connection to Drew like he did Bella? I also wondered if he had killed Drew’s family and intended on killing Drew too so he could set someone up as Drew to do exactly what Bayleigh was doing now. The last speculation scared me the most. If that was his plan, it was in motion. Obviously Victoria was carrying on with his plan. I feared what the final outcome would be.

I did feel relieved that we knew all about Drew and Bayleigh. I wanted to find out everything that Bayleigh knew about Victoria’s plans. Bayleigh had me confused. This past week she seemed to really like all of us, and she seemed to really love Tommy. If those feelings were real, we could use them to our advantage. Bayleigh could help us catch Victoria. Victoria shouldn’t have a clue that we knew the truth about Drew and Bayleigh. She would never suspect anything.

Bella had called Charlie and told him we were coming back to Forks tonight. She explained that we had some new information about Drew and wanted to tell him and Tommy in person. Charlie seemed pleased and promised to be awake when we arrived. He also assured us that Tommy would be home by then as well.

The drive to Forks was peaceful. I was still feeling relieved at finally having a few answers to questions that had plagued me for months. Bella looked worried. I know she was more concerned about Tommy’s feelings and reaction to the truth. The anxiety she showed increased the closer we got to Forks. She had practically chewed her bottom lip off by the time we pulled into the driveway behind the cruiser.

Tommy threw the door open and ran out to greet us.

“Edward, Bells, what’re you guys doing back here?”

Bella sighed. “Tommy, we need to talk with you and Charlie about something important.”

“Well then, hurry up and get inside.”

Sue Clearwater, one of the widows from the LaPush Reservation had dropped off an apple pie earlier that evening. We decided to sit in the kitchen and have some pie and coffee while we talked. I started telling them everything Tyler had found. Charlie listened intently. Tommy’s expression kept going from disbelief to hurt to anger. They didn’t interrupt me and looked at us in complete shock when I finished.

“I can’t believe you guys ran her prints. Why can’t you guys just let me be happy?” Tommy was yelling.

Charlie stepped in. “Tommy, I made the call because my gut was telling me something wasn’t right. I didn’t come to that decision easily. I thought it through for a few days before I finally decided to run her prints. Son, I want you to be happy. That is the reason I finally gave in.”

Tommy let out a frustrated groan. “What do I do? I love her. Am I in love with the real Drew? Ugh, I mean Bayleigh. Oh my God, I’m so confused.”

Bella was crying again. Seeing her brother this way was tearing her apart.

“Tommy, why don’t we have her come over tomorrow morning and we’ll talk about all of this with her. Let’s hear her side of the story. She may surprise us.” I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes as he thought about my plan.

“Okay, Edward. I’ll call her now and have her be here at eight.” I nodded, and he grabbed his phone.

It had been an extremely long day and all of us were exhausted. Bella and I headed upstairs. Bella fell into a fitful sleep a few minutes after her head hit the pillow. I couldn’t fall asleep with her so restless. She whimpered and screamed a lot. I held her tight and attempted to comfort her throughout her nightmares. It was a very long night.

She finally woke up at six in the morning, and she had dark circles under her eyes. We decided to take it easy today and headed downstairs in our pajamas. Tommy and Charlie were both already up. Tommy looked like hell. He obviously didn’t sleep well either.

Charlie called Mark and filled him in on everything. Mark told him he would cover his shift so he could be here when we confronted Bayleigh. We were sitting in the living room drinking coffee when she arrived.

“Morning, baby,” she said, hugging Tommy. “You look like hell. What’s wrong?”

“I couldn’t sleep last night. You want some coffee?” She nodded, and they headed to the kitchen. Once she had her coffee, they joined us in the living room.

“What happened? You all look so upset.”

Charlie cleared his throat. “Well, we ran the prints that were collected the other day and came up with something very disturbing, Bayleigh.”

“What did you find?” She answered without a second thought. Tommy gasped. Bayleigh looked at Tommy confused.

“It’s all true,” Tommy said, defeated.

“What’s true? Would someone please tell me what is going on?”

Charlie gave me a nod signaling me to continue. “How did you avoid being charged and convicted of murder, Bayleigh?” I decided to make it a point to call her Bayleigh every chance I could.

She dropped her head in defeat. When she looked up, tears were streaming down her face. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. James and Victoria made me.”

Tommy got up and walked into the kitchen. “Son of a bitch!” he said before slamming his fist into the refrigerator. Bayleigh flinched.

“I’m so sorry, Tommy. I never wanted to do any of it. I swear.”

Tommy walked back into the living room and sat on the floor on the opposite side of the room from Bayleigh. “Why? What did James do to get you to pretend you even cared about me?”

She took in a ragged breath. “He had evidence to prove I killed that drug dealer in Texas. He said if I didn’t do what he said, then he would turn it over to the police and I would get the death penalty.”

“Why did you kill him?” Bella asked.

“He killed my best friend and was trying to kill me too.”

“If it was self defense, then you might not have been convicted,” Charlie responded.

“There wasn’t a mark on me. The cops wouldn’t believe me. They were already upset that they had to drop the assault charges. They weren’t going to let me go on the murder charges.” She wrapped her arms around herself and started rocking back and forth.

Tommy sighed and moved back to Bayleigh. He wrapped his arms around her and started trying to comfort her. She melted into his embrace and started sobbing.

“Tommy, he never would’ve let me go. If I hadn’t killed him he would’ve hunted me down and killed me. I had no other choice. Please understand.”

“Shh. Please calm down.”

“Bayleigh, if it was truly self defense, then you have nothing to worry about. No one in this room will think less of you. What I’m struggling to understand is how James got the evidence to convict you.” Charlie was in full cop mode. It was quite impressive.

“James was dating my best friend. He’s the one who got her hooked on drugs. She owed the drug dealer some money, and he was going to get payment one way or another. I followed her when she went to meet him. He had already raped her and was in the process of beating her when I finally found them. I brought a gun with me because he terrified me. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was too late to save her. He had already choked the life out of her by the time I pulled the gun on him. He started to charge me, and I shot him twice in the chest. I dropped the gun and ran to my friend’s body. James had been hiding behind a tree and came out when I collapsed on the ground crying. He had watched that horrible man defile his own girlfriend and kill her. He picked up the gun and shell casings and put them in a zip lock bag. He told me that he owned me and I would do anything he wanted.” She dropped her head in shame.

“What did you do?” Bella gasped.

“James forced me to go with him when he left Texas. He dragged me to Phoenix with him. I was there the whole time. I was too terrified to leave once he moved in with you guys. He would’ve hunted me down and killed me. I don’t know what led him to Phoenix. He happened across Bella by accident shortly after we got there. He stalked you for about three months before he approached Renee the first time. That was when he made all of the home movies.” Bayleigh kept looking at Bella apologetically.

“Bayleigh, what happened after he killed Renee?” I asked.

“James was pissed. He was determined to get Bella back, so he threw all of our stuff into suitcases and we took off. We ended up in Port Angeles. James found Drew Sinclair there. She had caught his eye, so he spent weeks researching her life. He finally decided that I could easily slip into her identity if he got rid of her and her family. James wanted to use me to get close to your family. I wasn’t there, but he bragged about how he tortured Drew’s family in front of her. He killed them one by one just to torment her. He had planned on killing her too, but he was interrupted by a neighbor. He was never able to get close enough to her again to finish what he started.”

Charlie rested his elbows on his knees. “What did he do with the bodies?”

“James never told me. I wish I knew so they could get a proper burial.”

“Why did you continue with James’s plan after he was dead?” Bella shuddered.

“I didn’t have a choice. Victoria had all the evidence and forced me to continue. She was beyond pissed after James died. She’s crazier than James was.”

“So, our whole relationship has been a lie?” Tommy closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh.

“NO! It started out that way. I was just doing what had to be done to survive. I never expected to actually fall in love with you.”

Tommy’s eyes popped open and his jaw dropped. “You...um…uh…l-love me?” Bayleigh nodded her head timidly. Tommy crushed her in an Emmett-worthy hug. “I love you, too.”

“How can you still love me after all the horrible things I’ve done?” Bayleigh looked shocked.

“Bayleigh, you did what you had to in order to survive. I can’t fault you for that. Now that we know everything, do you think you can help us get Victoria?” Tommy gazed at Bayleigh with such love that it reminded me of how I look at Bella. He truly loved her.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help bring that bitch down,” Bayleigh sneered.

Tommy looked at Charlie for further instruction. “Play along with Victoria for now. Don’t let her know that you’ve been discovered. Just keep us in the loop about what her plans are. We may even give you some false information to relay to her from time to time.” Charlie was pleased with his plans.

“You can count on me,” she assured us.

“The first thing we need from you is a description of Victoria and her full name,” Charlie said, taking out his notepad.

“Her name is Victoria Anderson, and I actually have a picture of her.” Bayleigh dug through her purse and pulled out a picture with frayed edges. The woman in the picture was very pretty. She was thin and shapely with red hair that fell just below her shoulders. She had a long, narrow face and full pouty lips. Bayleigh said she was about 5’7”. I couldn’t believe we finally had a face to go with the name of the person who had been tormenting us the past month.

“Charlie, can you email a copy of that picture to Tyler for me? He can get it to the Portland Police Department. They will be more than happy to have a face to go with the name.”

“No problem, Edward. I’ll do it the minute I get to work.”

We spent the rest of the day coming up with ideas to help bring Victoria out of hiding. For the first time since James’s death, I felt like things were actually starting to go our way. The mystery of how Victoria was tracking our every move had finally been revealed. Every time we changed our numbers she got the new ones from Bayleigh.

I was excited with the recent turn of events. The tables were being turned on Victoria. She was becoming the prey and us the predators. I was definitely in the mood for a good hunt.