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YOU HAVE TO figure out what to wear to a funeral, just like any other social occasion, even if it see on yourour brief acquaintance, so I wanted to look appropriate at his burial service, especially after Alcide&039;s co in , I phoned Tara, who told ency key was "Get whatever you need out of o into any other rooht froain"
"That&039;s what I&039;d be doing anyway," I said, trying not to sound offended Did Tara think I&039;d rue around her house just to pry?
"Of course you would, but I just feel responsible"
Suddenly, I understood that Tara was tellingin her house Maybe it was the bodyguard Mickey, , I wanted to stay far away from Mickey Only the very oldest va vaive et you," I said hastily The idea of being alone with Mickey ht in, straight out" Since I didn&039;t have any time to waste, I jumped in my car and drove into town to Tara&039;s little house It was aher own horown up
Some people should never breed; if their children have the misfortune to be born, those children should be taken away immediately That&039;s not allowed in our country, or any country that I know of, and I&039; But the Thorntons, both alcoholics, had been vicious people who should have died years earlier than they did (I forget ion when I think of therandrandmother&039;s protests, until Gran had to call the sheriff&039;s depart Myrna out Tara had run out our back door to hide in the woods behind our house when she had seen the set of her ered to our door, thank God Tara and I had been thirteen at the tirandmother&039;s face while she talked to the deputy who&039;d just put Myrna Thornton in the back of the patrol car, handcuffed and screa
"Too bad I can&039;t drop her off in the bayou on the way back to town," the deputy had said I couldn&039;t recall his name, but his words had impressed me It had taken me a minute to be sure what he meant, but once I was, I realized that other people knehat Tara and her siblings were going through These other people were all-powerful adults If they knehy didn&039;t they solve the problem?
I sort of understood now that it hadn&039;t been so siht the Thornton kids could have been spared a few years of their misery
At least Tara had this neat little house with all-new appliances, and a closet full of clothes, and a rich boyfriend I had an uneasy feeling that I didn&039;t know everything that was happening in Tara&039;s life, but on the surface of it, she was still way ahead of the predictions
As she&039;d directed, I went through the spanky-clean kitchen, turned right, and crossed a corner of the living rooh the doorway to Tara&039;s bedroo I pulled the sheets straight in a flash and made it look nice (I couldn&039;t help it) I couldn&039;t decide if that was a favor to her or not, since now she&039;d know Iain
I opened her walk-in closet I spotted exactly what I needed right away Hanging in the middle of the rear rack was a knit suit The jacket was black with creas on the lapels, er beneath it The black skirt was pleated Tara had had it he covering the garment I held the skirt up to th mirror Tara o or three inches taller than I, so the skirt fell just an inch above th for a funeral The sleeves of the jacket were a little long, but that wasn&039;t so obvious I had soloves that I&039;d tried to save for nice
Mission accomplished, in record ti with the skirt and walked straight out of the house I&039;d been in Tara&039;s place less than ten minutes In a hurry, because ofready I French braidedeverything with sorandrandmother&039;s I had some black hose, fortunately, and a black slip, and the pink of ernails at least coordinated with the pink of the jacket and shell When I heard a knock on the front door at ten, I was ready except for my shoes I stepped into my pumps on the way to the door
Jack Leeds looked openly astonished at my transformation, while Lily&039;s eyebroitched
"Please come in," I said "I&039; a friend," Jack Leeds said His coht have been sculpted fro bed?
"Not a close one Won&039;t you sit down? Can I get you anything? Coffee?"
"No, thank you," he said, his s his face
The detectives sat on the couch while I perched on the edge of the La-Z-Boy Somehow, my unaccusto Ms Pelt vanished," Leeds began "You saw her in Shreveport?"
"Yes, I was invited to the same party she was At Pah the Witch War - Pam, Eric, Clancy, the three Wiccans, and the Weres who had survived - had agreed on our story: Instead of telling the police that Debbie had left from the dilapidated and abandoned store where the witches had established their hideout, we&039;d said that we&039;d stayed the whole evening at Pam&039;s house, and Debbie had left in her car froht have testified that everyone had left earlier en ic to haze their
"Colonel Flood was there," I said "Actually, it&039;s his funeral I&039;, which was probably the equivalent of so!"
"Colonel Flood died in a car accident two days ago," I told thelanced at each other "So, were there quite a few people at this party?" Jack Leeds said I was sure he had a co in Pa room for what had been essentially a war council
"Oh, yes Quite a few I didn&039;t know them all Shreveport people" I&039;dfor the first tihtly The vampires, I&039;d known
"But you&039;dAlcide Herveaux?"
Well They&039;d certainly done their ho Alcide" My face was as smooth and impassive as Lily&039;s I&039;d had lots of practice in keeping secrets
"You stayed with him once at the Herveaux apartment in Jackson?"
I started to blurt out that we&039;d stayed in separate bedrooms, but it really wasn&039;t their business "Yes," I said with a certain edge to ht in Jackson at a club called Josephine&039;s?"
"Yes, she was celebrating her engage happen between you that night?"
"Yes" I wondered whoiven the detectives a lot of information that they shouldn&039;t have "She came over to the table, made a few remarks to us"
"And you also went to see Alcide at the Herveaux office a feeeks ago? You tere at a crime scene that afternoon?"
They&039;d done way too much homework "Yes," I said
"And you told the officers at that cried?"
Lies will come back to bite you in the butt "I think it was Alcide who said that," I said, trying to look thoughtful
"And was his state that I was the most erratic woman he&039;d ever et engaged and unengaged so adeptly could be the sensible hardworking waitress he&039;d seen the day before
She was thinking ht I was quite capable of killing Debbie Pelt, because she&039;d found people were capable of the s She and I shared e, since I&039;d heard it directly from their brains
"Yes," I said "At the tied for, like, tenI al, so I felt I had LIAR printed in big letters on my forehead
Jack Leeds&039;s er&039;s fifty-five-hour e didn&039;t make a dent in Lily Bard Leeds
"Ms Pelt object to your seeing Alcide?"
"Oh, yes" I was glad I&039;d had years of practice of hiding s "But Alcide didn&039;t want to ry with you?"
"Yes," I said, since undoubtedly they knew the truth of that "Yes, you could say that She called me some names You&039;ve probably heard that Debbie didn&039;t believe in hiding her emotions"
"So when did you last see her?"
"I last saw her" (with half her head gone, sprawled on s of a chair) "Let ht She walked off into the dark by herself" Not froether; one full of dead bodies, with blood splashed on the walls "I just assued
"She didn&039;t coht off the interstate on her return route"
"I can&039;t iine why she would She didn&039;t knock on my door" She&039;d broken in
"You didn&039;t see her after the party?"
"I have not seen her since that night" Now, that was the absolute truth
"You&039;ve seen Mr Herveaux?"
"Yes, I have"
"Are you engaged now?"
I smiled "Not that I know of," I said
I wasn&039;t surprised when the wouard to find out how suspicious the detectives were, so I knew she wanted to have a more extensive look at my house I showed her to the bathroom in the hall, not the one insuspicious in either of them
"What about her car?" Jack Leeds asked limpse of the clock on the mantel over the fireplace, because I wanted to be sure the duo were gone before Alcide picked me up for the funeral
"Hmm?" I&039;d lost track of the conversation
"Debbie Pelt&039;s car"
"What about it?"
"Do you have any idea where it is?"
"Not an idea in the world," I said with co room, he asked, "Ms Stackhouse, just out of curiosity, what do you think happened to Debbie Pelt?"
I thought, I think she got as co to her I was a little shocked at myself Sometimes I&039; any nicer "I don&039;t know, Mr Leeds," I said "I guess I have to tell you that except for her family&039;s worry, I don&039;t really care We didn&039;t like each other She burned a hole in my shawl, she called h since he&039;s a grown-up, that&039;s his problem She liked to jerk people around She liked toa little dazed at this flow of information "So," I concluded, "that&039;s the way I feel"
"Thanks for your honesty," he said, while his wife fixed me with her pale blue eyes If I&039;d had any doubt, I understood clearly now that she was thethe depth of the investigation Jack Leeds had perfor
"Your collar is crooked," she said quietly "Let ers reached behind me and twitched the jacket until the collar lay down correctly
They left after that After I watched their car go down the driveway, I took h I hadn&039;t picked up any such intention froht be more suspicious than they&039;d sounded No, I discovered: she really was the neat freak she&039;d seemed, and she really had been unable to withstandsuspicious, I inspected the hall bathroom I hadn&039;t been in it since the last tiht and as fresh and as sparkly as a very old bathroom in a very old house can look The sink was damp, and the towel had been used and refolded, but that was all Nothing extra was there, and nothing was , and if the detective had opened the bathroom cabinet to check its contents, I just didn&039;t care
My heel caught on a hole where the flooring had worn through For about the hundredth time, I wondered if I could teach myself how to lay linoleum, because the floor could sure use a new layer I also wondered how I could conceal the fact that I&039;d killed a woman in one minute, and worry about the cracked linoleum in the bathroom the next
"She was bad," I said out loud "She was ood reason at all"
That was how I could do it I&039;d been living in a shell of guilt, but it had just cracked and fallen apart I was tired of being all angst-y over someone ould have killed me in a New York minute, someone who&039;d tried her best to cause my death I would never have lain in wait to ambush Debbie, but I hadn&039;t been prepared to let her kill me just because it suited her to have me dead
To hell with the whole subject They&039;d find her, or they wouldn&039;t No point in worrying about it either way
Suddenly, I felt a lot better
I heard a vehicle coht on tie Ram, but to my surprise he was in a dark blue Lincoln His hair was as smooth as it could be, which wasn&039;t very, and he earing a sober charcoal gray suit and a burgundy tie I gaped at hi-stones to the front porch He looked good enough to eat, and I tried not to giggle like an idiot at the e
When I opened the door, he seemed equally stunned "You look wonderful," he said after a long stare
"You, too," I said, feeling al"
"Sure, if ant to be there on time"
"We need to be there ten minutes early," he said
"Why that, exactly?" I picked up lanced in the mirror to make sure my lipstick was still fresh, and locked the front door behind h for me to leave my coat at home I didn&039;t want to cover up my outfit
"This is a Were funeral," he said in a tone of significance
"That&039;s different froular funeral how?"
"It&039;s a packmaster&039;s funeral, and that makes it more formal"
Okay, he&039;d told ular people fros about the whole thing "Are you sure I should be going to this?"
"He h at the time I hadn&039;t realized it was a title, the way Alcide made it sound now: Friend of the Pack
I had an uneasy feeling that there was a lot more to know about Colonel Flood&039;s funeral ceremony Usually I had iven subject, since I could read minds; but there weren&039;t any Weres in Bon Teanized like the wolves were Though Alcide&039;s mind was hard to read, I could tell he was preoccupied as going to happen in the church, and I could tell he orried about a Were na held at Grace Episcopal, a church in an older, affluent suburb of Shreveport The church edifice was very traditional, built of gray stone, and topped with a steeple There wasn&039;t an Episcopal church in Bon Temps, but I knew that the services were similar to those of the Catholic church Alcide had toldthe funeral, too, and that we&039;d come over from Bon Tenified enough for the day, ht," Alcide said I could tell that his father was foreetting here?" I asked
"His other car," Alcide said absently, as if he weren&039;t really listening to what I was saying I was a little shocked at the idea of one ht have a family car and a pickup, or a pickup and a four-wheeler My little shocks for the day were just beginning By the time we had reached I-20 and turned west, Alcide&039;s mood had filled up the car I wasn&039;t sure what it was, but it involved silence
"Sookie," Alcide said abruptly, his hands tightening on the wheel until his knuckles hite
"Yes?" The fact that bad stuff was coht as well have been written in blinking letters above Alcide&039;s head Mr Inner Conflict
"I need to talk to you about so suspicious about Colonel Flood&039;s death?" I should have wondered! I chided myself But the other shifters had been shot A traffic accident was such a contrast
"No," Alcide said, looking surprised "As far as I know, the accident was just an accident The other guy ran a red light"
I settled back into the leather seat "So what&039;s the deal?"
"Is there anything you want to tell ht The night of the Witch War"
Years of controlling h, though Imore He parked the car and came around to help me out, which was unnecessary but nice I&039;d decided I wouldn&039;t need to take my purse inside, so I stuck it under the seat and Alcide locked the car We started toward the front of the church Alcide took ht be a friend of the pack, but I was apparently supposed to be friendlier with one member of the pack than the others
"There&039;s Dad," Alcide said as we approached a knot of mourners Alcide&039;s father was a little shorter than Alcide, but he was a husky ray hair instead of black, and a bolder nose He had the same olive skin as Alcide Jackson looked all the darker because he was standing by a pale, delicate wo white hair
"Father," Alcide said formally, "this is Sookie Stackhouse"
"A pleasure to meet you, Sookie," Jackson Herveaux said "This is Christine Larrabee" Christine, whofro done in pastels Her eyes were a washed-out blue, her se of pink, her white hair was iht blue suit, which I personally wouldn&039;t have worn until the winter was coreat in it, for sure