Disclaimer: I do not own the twilight characters, nor do I own the LOL cats used to inspire these stories. Link to Images can be found on my profile. This chapter contains quotes from various Sherlock Holmes novels, I don't own those either.
APOV
The lights dimmed ominously as I stalked around the corner all the while keeping my prey in sight. My innocent little husband was sitting on the couch casually reading a book.
"Alice what are you doing honey?" Esme asked walking silently to my side.
"I'm gonna get the truth Esme, once and for all. Mark my words, before the day is out all the mysteries will be solved. I will find the culprit and everyone will know what truly happened to my car! "
"Oh is that why you are dressed up like Sherlock Holmes?"
"Really you think I look like a detective? Emmet said I looked like a door to door salesman."
"Oh Emmet was just trying to get to you, of course you look like a detective sweetie."
"Yay! Ok now back to work, I have to see a man about a stool pigeon."
"Can I play too?" Esme's question stopped me in my tracks. I was shocked, something that didn't happen often with the whole I-can-see-the-future thing.
"I know I normally leave you kids to yourselves and don't get involved. But reading Sherlock Holmes books is one of the few memories I have from my human life. I always loved to climb trees and have adventures. Besides, you need a Watson."
I already had a costume formed in my head. Oh this is going to be good. "Indubitably my dear Watson. Let's go get you dressed."
Five minutes later Esme was ready to go, all she was missing was a hat. I knew the perfect one but it was in Bella's closet. Since Edward and Bella moved into their cabin, their room here mostly was used for Nessie when she spent the night. I was a little surprised to open the door and find Bella curled up on the bed reading.
"Bella, what are you doing here? Where are Edward and Nessie?"
"They're with Carlisle having some Daddy-Daughter bonding time, and as for what I am doing… well I thought that was pretty obvious. I think the real interesting question here is what are you doing?"
"Esme and I are playing Sherlock Holmes. We're going to interrogate Jasper and find out who is responsible for what happened to my car."
"I thought Sherlock Holmes mostly did the evidence and clues thing not the lets beat the truth out of this guy thing."
I let out a small growl. No one is going to ruin my fun now. Bella quickly held up her hands in surrender, she knew better than to start a fight with me.
"Honest I didn't mean anything by it. Though, if you ask me, what you really need is the classic good cop bad cop routine. It works every time."
Suddenly I had a flash of Rose yelling in Jasper's face while Bella stood off to the side with a sympathetic expression.
"I was next door and I heard you guys talking, I want to play too." Rose said as she sauntered into the room followed closely by Esme. "But, only if I get to be the bad cop."
This is gonna be good.
"You know my methods Watson. Everyone else, huddle up, let's talk strategy." For the next five minutes we talked strategy, spy gadgets, code names, and escape plans in case things got messy.
"Ok everyone, operation Falcon one is a go. Everyone get into positions. On my mark Alpha team advances to the forward left flank." I said seriously looking at the map I had drawn of the house and our battle stations.
Rose rolled her eyes and breezed by me.
"Hey you can't do that you're breaking formation!"
"I'm the bad cop I get to do whatever I want." She flung over her shoulder as she pranced down the stairs.
Bella shrugged and Esme patted my shoulder sympathetically before turning to follow her lead. With a sigh I quickly made my way down stairs and joined the group as we surrounded the couch and coffee table with Jasper included in the middle. He didn't seem to notice us but we all knew he was purposely ignoring us as he casually turned a page of his book.
"It's not going to work," Jasper said without looking up, "I'll never talk."
"We'll see about that." Rose said as she viscously ripped the book from his hands.
I took the book from Rose and placed it gently on the coffee table. "Let us retire to the kitchen; I believe the table in there will better suit our purposes."
With a sigh Jasper stood and followed the rest of us through to the kitchen table. He sat with his back to the wall, the table between us and him.
"Before I say anything, I want a guarantee of full immunity for any and all things revealed in this interview."
Rose growled and leaned on the table encroaching on Jasper's personal space. "We don't give immunity to dirty little criminals. Now we can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way. Personally I prefer the hard way, it involves pain, lots of pain."
"Really, and who is going to cause that pain Rose, you? The only way you can cause me pain is with the emotions you throw off when you look in a mirror… or puddle, or any reflective surface for that matter."
Rose growled and launched herself at Jasper. Fortunately I saw it a split second before it happened and was able to hold her back in time to save Esme's table.
Bella walked quietly around the table. "Mr. Whitlock," Bella started pulling out the chair next to him. "We understand the difficult situation we are putting you in by this interview. While we can't grant you full immunity, it may be possible to bargain for a reduced sentence. However, what we are able to give you is going to depend fully on what you can give us and how well you cooperate with our investigation."
Without a word he held out his long white hand for us to proceed.
"Mr. Whitlock where were you on the night of the incident?"
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Esme and I were outside looking for evidence. We circled the garage searching each blade of grass for any indication of who might have been behind it.
Then I spotted it on the cement floor of the garage. "Watson I have found it!"
Esme came running to my side. "What is it Holmes?"
"You said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. You did not observe any. But I did—some little distance off, but fresh and clear."
"Footprints?"
"Footprints."
"A man's or a woman's?"
"They are the footprints of a gigantic hound!"
"Impossible!"
"How often have I said to you, my dear Watson, that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!"
Carlisle and Emmet walked up to us in the garage.
"Hey, Emmet, hey Carlisle," I said cheerily. "Where are Edward and Nessie?"
"They're on their way. They took the car so they are behind us by a few minutes. What are you two up to?" Carlisle asked smiling brightly at the both of us.
"We're playing detective to try to find out what happened to Alice's car." Esme said.
Emmet circled my car and laughed uncontrollably. "I don't know what you are so upset about Alice I think it suits you perfectly!" He boomed. I could see Carlisle trying hard to repress his own grin. I pouted a bit and hit Emmet when Carlisle and Esme weren't looking. I smirked as he rubbed the back of his head; it made me feel a little bit better.
We were all a little startled by a large crash from inside the house.
"What was that?" Carlisle asked a little concern creeping into his voice.
"I think it was the Xbox."
"NOT MY XBOX!" Emmet wailed. "Why would they do that?"
"Rose and Bella are inside interrogating Jasper about the car."
"Oh man I have got to see this." Emmet chuckled and raced to the door all thoughts of his Xbox temporarily forgotten.
With a chuckle we all turned and followed Emmet inside to check on Bella and Rose's progress with the suspect.
"Who are you protecting?" Rose screamed into his face as we walked into the dining room.
"What are you talking about, who says I am protecting anyone?"
"It's the only reason to not tell us the truth. Either you are protecting your own guilt, the guilt of someone you love or you are protecting yourself from retaliation from the guilty party. So which is it Mr. Whitlock?" Rose said slamming her hands on the table. I saw Esme wince out of the corner of my eye.
Jasper for his part just stubbornly set his jaw and shook his head. Bella came over and put her hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Look sweetie we just want what's best for you. We will find out eventually and it would be better for everyone involved if you just came straight out and told us what you know."
"Are you going to talk or are we going to have to send you up the river?"
Bella looked up and pranced over to Edward's side giving him a swift kiss on the cheek.
"Hey honey, I'm being the good cop. Where's Nessie?"
"She said she left something in the car, she'll be right in. What is going on here?" Edward asked smiling down at his wife.
"We're trying to get Jasper to tell Alice what happened to her car. So we have Sherlock Holmes, Watson, a good cop and a bad cop."
"Whoa, Alice set Rose on him. Her car can't be that bad." Edward sounded shocked.
"Did you see it Edward? Did you see what happened to my baby?" I choked once and started to pitifully whimper into my hands mourning my loss.
"Alice baby please don't be sad. You're making me sad! It's just a car."
"Just a car! It was never just a car, it was beautiful; a masterpiece of German engineering, exquisite in its perfection. Now sitting in its place is a shallow mockery of what once was my pride and joy."
I just continued to dry sob and sniffle into my hands.
"Ok fine, I can't take it anymore! I did it! It was me… and Jacob in the garage with the paintbrush!"
There was an audible gasp from everyone in the room. My head snapped up and I locked eyes with my guilty husband.
"It was you all along! Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked feeling betrayal and shock swirling through my system tempered by the sweet peace being in Jasper's presence always brings me.
"'Cause it wasn't his fault, it was all my idea." A tiny voice said from behind us. Carlisle and Edward moved aside to reveal Nessie looking sadly up at the group.
"Nessie!" The strangled cry came from Bella who, along with Edward, looked shocked and a little disappointed.
"How could you? You know better than that young lady." Edward said sternly.
Nessie couldn't look her father in the face. Instead she stared fixedly at her feet. "I'm sorry Auntie Alice I thought it would be pretty. It was a present for your birthday, I made a card too." Her tiny hand held out an oversized card that was obviously homemade with her elegant little script scrawled across the front. Her entire frame was shaking and the poor thing looked like she was about to cry. Instantly all anger and bad thoughts were swept out the door more effectively than Jasper could have ever done it. I crouched down so I could look her in the eye. "Hey hey now, come here." She looked up at me tentatively and then ran over into my waiting arms. She pressed her tiny hand to my cheek to tell me how sorry she was; she really wanted me to like it. My head was still spinning from the revelation, all this time I had thought it was some horrible prank and really it was supposed to be a sweet gesture of love by my precious niece.
"Aww, it's ok sweetie, I understand. How about this? Let's take a drive, just the two of us. We can go and show Grandpa Charlie the new paint job and take some pictures. Then when we get home you can help me paint my car back to the original color."
"Really?" I nodded in response and hugged her tightly one last time.
"Oh thank you Auntie Alice! But, I have to do something first."
I nodded and put her down as she wiggled out of my hug. She ran over to her parents and looked up at them with her big brown eyes. "Mommy, Daddy I'm sorry. I should have known better." Edward and Bella looked at each other having a conversation with their eyes. Finally Edward was the one to break the silence.
"We understand sweetie. Just please think twice before you do something like this again ok? And ask an adult first." Edward said shooting a look over my shoulder at my sheepish husband.
"I promise."
She gave each parent a hug and a kiss. Man it's still so weird to think of Edward as a dad. Parent, Father, Dad, Daddy, Papa, Edward, nope still weird. Nessie twirled and looked like she was going to run back to me but she blew right past me and jumped into Jasper's lap.
"Uncle Jazzy I'm sorry." She said with her face buried tightly into his shirt.
"You don't have anything to be sorry about Nessie. I'm the one who should be sorry. I told you I would keep it a secret and I blew it."
"It's ok you didn't have a choice, and I should be sorry. I got you in trouble."
"Don't worry about it, squirt. I love you and besides, we had fun didn't we?"
She giggled quietly. "Yeah, I liked it when Jacob started chasing the squirrels while he was all covered in paint! That was funny." Huh, so that explains the hot pink squirrel I saw yesterday. Go figure.
"There is still one thing I don't understand." I said as I waited for Nessie by the door. "How did you guys manage to keep me from seeing any of this?"
Nessie smiled conspiratorially at Jasper and turned to me with a wink. "I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson."
"Nessie, Esme is Watson I'm Sherlock Holmes." I said.
"Would that make Jake the Hound of the Baskervilles?" She smirked.
"Indubitably my dear Nessie." She giggled and bounced towards my once yellow Porsche 911 turbo. It was now painted in a variety of colors displaying a meadow scene complete with baby blue sky, green grass, flowers, fairies and a few giant pink wolf paw prints.
Then it hit me. "Wait Nessie what does that mean? You know my habits? How did you get by my visions? Nessie?" From inside I could hear my entire family laughing at the situation. Oh dear she is entirely too much like her mother.
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Author's Note:
Sorry for the delay it took me longer than I thought it would to get adjusted to being back in the US. I have another chapter that is close to done, unfortunately I am moving again on Monday. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and adding my story as a favorite. I promise I will try to get it out sooner this time.