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DESIGNATED VISITING HOURS: CHAPTER 6 - Patrol
When Charlie slipped past the southern edge of Shuwah heading south on Highway 101 toward Forks, the speed limit picked up, and Charlie gunned the engine. He glanced in the rearview mirror at the headlights receding behind him. The Crown Vic Interceptor gained speed slowly, despite the promise the growling 250 horse-power engine made. While the cruiser would never win a quarter mile, the car was made to hang tough and take the punishment police work occasionally dished out. Charlie's 2001 Interceptor could catch and conquer almost anything that was street legal. Almost anything anyone in Forks owned. Almost.
Charlie knew his chances of catching Cullen and the Volvo on the open road were slim, but the thought of writing that overly polite teenager a traffic citation practically made Charlie drool. Listening to the Interceptor's engine, Charlie imagined a high-speed pursuit that would culminate in an apprehension.
Dispatch, this is Sheriff Swan. I'm in a pursuit of a silver Volvo. The vehicle is turning north onto Russell Road from South Forks. The driver is wanted for kidnapping and larceny. . .
In Charlie's imagination, he bumps the Volvo, sending it skidding into a ditch. Leaping out of the police car, Charlie drags a dazed Edward Cullen out of his crumpled vehicle. Then, Charlie tosses Edward across the hood of the Crown Vic and ratchets the handcuffs down on his pale wrists in a flash.
You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. Yada, yada, yada.
The idea of being able to handcuff the delinquent and throw him in the back of the cruiser made Charlie want to dance. Unfortunately, Charlie rarely saw Edward's car anywhere in Forks other than in the school parking lot . . . and in front of Charlie's house. It was like the kid and his car disappeared the moment they hit the 101.
Charlie sighed. He didn't think Edward would intentionally drive in an unsafe manner with Bella in the car; the kid was too busy polishing his goody-two-shoes image to show off. Okay, when the boy isn't packing up and moving to the big city or meandering off to South America, he does seem to be genuinely concerned with Bella's welfare.
However, Charlie figured Bella's presence in the Volvo would increase the odds that Cullen would get distracted and blow a red light or roll through a stop sign. As a result, a time or two each week, Charlie made it a point to run radar close to Forks High School around the time students were arriving or being dismissed. The high school was usually in session from 8:15 to 3:15, but students were being released at noon today. Some teacher's union thing or whatever.
Charlie looked at his watch and called the dispatcher for a radio check. It was a reminder to the deputy on duty, who would be monitoring the radio, of course, that she should soon be pulling over near the intersection of East Division and Spartan to turn on the flashing warning lights atop the school crossing sign. Then, she'd park nearby where anyone driving past could see the patrol car. After the accident that almost killed Bella, Charlie started keeping a deputy near the schools to discourage speeders.
Another set of eyes on the lookout for the silver Volvo.
Charlie grinned. He didn't explicitly give instructions to that effect, but he grumbled about Edward and his expensive car often enough that everyone at down at the police station knew there were brownie points to be had for the deputy catching Bella's boyfriend doing something wrong. Jaywalking would do.
Charlie slowed down when he got close to La Push Road. He was tempted to hang a right and drive out to the Black's. Charlie had been delivering notes to Billy, who in turn passed them to Jacob. . . for weeks. Meanwhile, Billy was discouraging any direct response, at least, not until the right amount of pressure seemed to have built up. Now, Charlie and Billy figured the situation had taken about all the primer it could handle; and they hoped Bella's new freedom would be the spark that yanked Bella back to reality, and helped her see Jacob was a whole lot better for her than Edward could ever be.
The upcoming prom was still on Charlie's mind. Charlie and Billy thought they had devised the fool-proof plan for preventing Edward from taking Bella to the prom: Billy would throw a little party at his place. Charlie believed that Bella would be wary of plans with Edward on the night of the prom, so she would lean toward visiting her friends at La Push.
When Charlie mentioned the invitation from Billy for the upcoming weekend, Charlie was disappointed that Bella didn't seem even the tiniest bit excited; but the disappointment was nothing compared to the realization that Charlie and Billy's planning and scheming had provided an opportunity for Edward to carry Bella away for the weekend. When Edward raised the subject of a weekend trip to Jacksonville, Charlie was so mad at Edward that Charlie immediately attacked Bella, who played the move-out card. Get out of jail free.
Maybe Renée will scare Edward. Charlie visualized Edward struggling to swallow Renée's half-baked culinary concoctions, while he sat on the floor pillows in her bohemian dining room. Charlie couldn't imagine what Renée's dining room in Jacksonville looked like, so he tried to think of style that described Renée and made Charlie cringe. Even if Edward was an adopted child, he was from a rich family and the rich only tolerated bohemian as a lifestyle for the duration of their child's post-secondary art education.
Charlie planned to plant a few seeds in Edward's mind before the trip, so that he might become leery of Bella's potential for turning out just like Renée. Charlie knew he'd have to apologize to Edward for reacting badly last night. "Someday, you'll be a father . . . no strike that . . . The trouble is that I see Bella growing up too fast . . . No, the word fast didn't belong in any sentence that pertained to Bella. Charlie was going to have to give the apology more thought, but he knew just what subject he was going to bring up to make Edward feel uneasy: the fact that as soon as Edward had brought Bella home last night, she had tried to go see Jacob.
When Bella returned home after her evening with the delinquent and said she was going to La Push, Charlie hoped he could take Bella's attempt to visit La Push as a sign that Edward did not yet have Bella's undivided loyalty. Bella left, but she returned after a few minutes, reporting that her truck wouldn't start. It seemed strange, almost like an unseen force had its own agenda. Charlie sighed. In his eagerness, Charlie let his enthusiasm for the visit show by offering to let Bella take the police cruiser. Naturally, Bella declined.
Charlie hadn't talked to Billy since Bella tried to visit Jacob last night and Charlie really wanted to find out if she'd made contact with Jacob yet. This matchmaking stuff was new territory. Charlie envied the fathers who had been fortunate enough to live in times where a couple of rabbits (dead or alive) and a big, fat pig were sufficient barter for a wife. Billy seemed to take to it - matchmaking, that is - with gusto.
"Charlie, we both know that Bella's gonna go off to college and she'll forget all about Jake, but until then we gotta keep her out of Cullen's clutches."
Billy didn't have much to say about the fact that Bella and Edward were plotting to go away to college together. Charlie wondered what Billy would say about Bella's acceptance to the University of Alaska Southeast. Edward had been accepted there, too. Juneau was almost 2,000 miles away by car, a trip to Bellingham and a 3 day ocean voyage or a six hundred dollar airfare out of Sea-Tac. If Bella stayed in Forks for a couple of years, she could attend Peninsula Community and then transfer when she was sure of what career path she might follow.
Charlie passed a young man strapped under a backpack, lumbering toward Forks. He doesn't seem to sure of what path he should follow either, Charlie thought. During the warmest months of the year, the town saw its share of college students and young soldiers from Fort Lewis hoping to enjoy the outdoor activities the Olympic Peninsula. Charlie might have picked the backpacker up if he wasn't a little bugged by a car that seemed to be pacing the police cruiser. Besides, if the backpacker hadn't wanted to walk, he could have caught the Clallam Transit bus into Forks.
Charlie looked at his watch again. 12:15 p.m. He'd taken too much time chatting with the matron at the jail in Port Angeles.
Forks' small jail only housed thirty people; and it wasn't suited for handling women, so females were transported to Port Angeles. The particular prisoner that Charlie dropped off was a regular customer. She and her husband seemed to take turns beating up on each other and breaking the furniture in their house. When the neighbors called 911 the night before, Charlie's deputy had arrived to find the woman standing over her husband's prone body. Neighbors reported that a right hook took the man down. The town of Forks provided the gentleman with a ride to the hospital; his wife was given a to jail. Again.
Charlie liked to take the opportunity to catch up on local rumors or at least find out where the fish had been biting whenever he delivered a prisoner to the county jail, but no one was talking about the locals or fishing. They were more eager to chat about the recent murders in Seattle. Law enforcement scuttlebutt. Generally, a bad thing, especially when it turned out the a law enforcement officer was involved in the crime.
Charlie almost wished he'd kept Bella confined to the house a little longer. Fortunately, Charlie and Bella lived in Forks and the most dangerous things in Forks were probably in the meat case at the Thriftway. Recalls for salmonella and botulism were becoming pretty routine.
Wasn't much chance Cullen was going to catch a nasty case of E coli; he didn't eat as far as Charlie could tell. Mamma's boy. Cullen had turned his nose up at Bella's stroganoff. The dish was one of Charlie's favorites, made from his mother's recipe. Mamma's boy. The irony wasn't lost on Charlie, but he wasn't going to dwell on it.
Eventually, Bella's delinquent was going to find out that Bella could get a little snippy when it came to her cooking. 'Just eat it Dad,' Bella would say, referring to broccoli or some other vegetable that she had decided would be good for Charlie. Edward would have to start eating her cooking, too, and when he complained, he'd be laid out on the front lawn the same way the husband involved in the previous night's domestic dispute had been.
"We've been married for three years and he still runs over to his mother's house before he comes home at night," Charlie heard Bella saying.
"The truth is that I hate stroganoff," Edward confessed . . . right before Bella cold-cocked him again and sent him staggering to the floor.
The images in Charlie's head made him laugh, that is, until he really thought about Bella being married to the likes of Edward Cullen. Then, Charlie started to sweat. He hated to consider the possibility that Bella's might end up doing something that would force an early marriage, although Bella vigorously denied the possibility. Still, Charlie knew too well where intense feelings could lead. Since Cullen was really the only contender for the title of husband - Charlie gulped - and baby's daddy in Bella's life, Charlie knew he was going to have to try and see the delinquent as something other than the . . . well, the delinquent.
Charlie tried out a few new phrases and words. Bella's boyfriend. Bella's husband. Son-in-law. Bella's ex. Charlie thought the last one had a nice ring to it. By the time Edward would be the ex - and statistically, in this day and age, that was bound to be title he'd win eventually - Charlie would be using more familiar terms again. Heartbreaker. Thief. Convict.
The Interceptor roared into Forks faster than Charlie had intended and he found himself riding the bumper of someone scooting around well under the speed limit. When the driver looked up in to the mirror and saw Charlie scowling, the man lifted his foot from the gas pedal suddenly. Fortunately, Charlie's reflexes were good enough to keep the cruiser out of the man's trunk. Charlie didn't recognize the car or the driver, so he an apology for the lapse of attention wasn't in the future. A local would have gotten some kind of an excuse. Forks was a small town, and even if the job of sheriff wasn't an elected position, disgruntled residents did have the power to persuade the town council to vamoose a corrupt or inept police chief like Charlie's predecessor had been.
Charlie would have had to follow the local into a gas station or the parking lot of the grocery store. People usually found a reason to stop driving as soon as they realized that they were being followed by a police car. Sorry to spook you, there, Mac. I didn't recognize you. Thought maybe some thief was joy riding in your car. Comments like that let the person know the town sheriff was vigilant and had a personal interest in everyone in the community.
Charlie was watchful. In fact, he knew every vehicle and face that belonged in town. He knew a little about everyone, but lately it had started to feel like people around him where saying one thing, but doing another. Charlie felt the tension rising in his neck and chalked his unease up to the unfamiliar role of custodial parent that he was still struggling to play.
Thinking about his job was more pleasant. As long as no one was hurting anyone else and no major law breaking was going on, Charlie was content to ride herd over Forks quietly.
Despite his laid back and nonchalant attitude, Charlie knew the political climate of Forks and the Clallam County criminal justice community better than anyone. The significance of the last detail increased in importance when the regional state prison facilities became the largest employers in the area. First, the correctional officers working in those facilities were a pool of potential deputies, and second, the presence of well-compensated senior administrative jobs meant that Forks city leaders would want to make sure its police chief was never lured away. Since the town participated in the state's retirement and health benefits programs, the impact of jumping employers would be minimal. That situation encouraged decision-makers to make the salary competitive. They didn't realize that it was the car that guaranteed Charlie wouldn't relinquish his job without a fight.
Charlie slowed down as he passed Newton's. Bella didn't say anything about working, but it didn't hurt to take a peek in parking lot. He pulled in; but just as he was about the park, the car Charlie had seen in his rearview mirror screamed by doing at least twenty miles over the speed limit. Charlie spun the Interceptor in the gravel and hit the blacktop. He was gaining on the gradually slowing vehicle when it finally dawned on him that the car he was following was a shiny, silver Volvo. Just like Edward Cullen's car.
Charlie's mind went blank and he couldn't remember Cullen's license tag number. Charlie hit the lights and crawled up on the Volvo. The car slid to the side of the road and stopped promptly. Charlie was shaking; he hadn't been this excited about a traffic stop since he was still a rookie.
Charlie called the plates in, but didn't wait to hear the dispatcher's verification that the Volvo was Cullen's. Charlie was sure the vehicle would come back registered to either Carlisle or Esme Cullen, so he put on his game face and walked stiffly to the driver's side of the Volvo. He tapped on the dark tinted windows, making a mental note to check and see if the tinting exceeded state tolerance. Charlie stared at the driver and his passenger, realizing immediately that, somehow, he'd been had.
Emmett Cullen and Jasper Hale stared back.
Charlie wriggled his mustache and snorted. These were not the faces that Charlie wanted to see. "Emmett Cullen, did you come all the way back to Forks just to get a ticket. Or did you forget how to drive while you were going to school back east?" Charlie was livid. He was sure Edward had something to do with this.
"Yeah, I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as should have been. I'm really sorry about that Chief Swan. I won't let it happen again. I was trying to get over to the high school to pick up my brother and sister," Emmett said.
Charlie didn't get a chance to respond before Jasper pointed. "Hey, that's Bella's truck."
Charlie turned to look at the nearby intersection where the on-coming vehicles were waiting for the traffic signal to change. The first vehicle in line was Bella's truck. It looked like Edward was driving and Bella was sitting beside him, but Charlie couldn't see Bella very well; she was too busy sucking on Edward's face. Sheesh!
Charlie whirled and beat it back to his cruiser in time to hit the siren before the light changed. Edward and Bella quickly disengaged, as Alice Cullen slowly peered up over the dashboard of the old Ford. Her hands formed blinders blocking her view of the delinquents beside her. Clearly, Alice was almost as mortified as Charlie was. Charlie felt sorry for her.
Ignoring the truck, Charlie moved the Crown Vic out onto the street and stopped next the Volvo. "You boys keep the speed down and tell your brother I want to have a word or two with him. Tonight." Charlie had a feeling that Cullen's brothers would love to deliver that message.
Charlie was canceling that apology he had planned to make.
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In the next chapter: Alice pays a visit to Charlie and Bella.
