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Jason was able to stand on his own long enough to take a shohich he said was the best one he&039;d taken in his life When he was clean and s intowel, I went all over him with Neosporin I used up a whole tube on the bites They see clean already, but I could not stop s to do for him He&039;d had hot chocolate, and he&039;d eaten soht was an odd choice, but he said all Felton had brought him to eat had been barely cooked ht for Eric (too big, but the drawstring waist helped), and he&039;d put on a baggy old T-shirt I&039;d gotten when I&039;d done the Walk for Life two years before He kept touching the hted to be dressed

He see I put hilance at the closet, which Eric had left all askew, I told ht on and leave the door cracked a little It cost Jason to ask that, so I didn&039;t say a word I just did as he&039;d requested

Sa a cup of hot tea He looked up fro the steam of it and smiled at me "How is he?"

I sank down into ht he would be," I said "Considering he spent the whole ti bitten every day"

"I wonder how long Felton would have kept hiuess Then Felton would&039;ve found out if he&039;d succeeded or not" I felt a little sick

"I checked your calendar He&039;s got a couple of weeks"

"Good Give Jason ti else to face" I rested my head in my hands for a minute "I have to call the police"

"To let the?"

"Yep"

"Have you made up your mind what to say? Did Jason irl had kidnapped him?" Actually, that was sort of true

"The cops would want to knohere he&039;d been held If he&039;d gotten away on his own, they&039;d want to kno, and they&039;d be sure he&039;d have h brainpower left to think I stared blankly at the table: the faht at a craft fair, and the sugar bowl, and the salt- and pepper-shakers shaped like a rooster and a hen I noticed so had been tucked under the saltshaker

It was a check for 50,000, signed by Eric Northest tip of ently "Oh, boy" I looked at it for ait correctly I passed it across the table to Sa Eric?" Sam looked up at h the bank, first thing toer term than that"

"Just relax It&039;ll just relax me to have it To know that" To ain Das have been tight recently, I take it" I nodded, and Saan, and then couldn&039;t finish his sentence

"Thanks, but I can&039;t do that to people," I said firmly "Gran always said that was the surest way to end a friendship"

"You could sell this land, buy a house in town, have neighbors," Sa to say that for months

"Move out of this house?" Some member of my family had lived in this house continuously for over a hundred and fifty years Of course, that didn&039;t , and the house had been added to andin a small modern house with level floors and up-to-date bathroos No exposed water heater Lots of blown-in insulation in the attic A carport!

Dazzled at the vision, I sed "I&039;ll consider it," I said, feeling greatly daring to even entertain the idea "But I can&039;t think of anything h toht of the policefor Jason Suddenly I was so tired, I just couldn&039;t make an atteo to bed," Sam said astutely

I could only nod "Thank you, Sa It turned into a longer hug than I&039;d planned, because hugging hiht," I said "Please drive careful going back" I thought briefly of offering him one of the beds upstairs, but I kept that floor shut off and it would be awfully cold up there; and I&039;d have to go up andthe short drive home, even in the snow

"I will," he said, and released h thank-yous," he said Eric had put a couple of nails in the front door to hold it shut, until I could get a dead bolt put on I locked the back door behind Sae into a nightgown before I crawled inwas check on ht of day, I could clearly see the effects of his i of stubble Even in his sleep, he looked older There were bruises here and there, and that was just on his face and ar at hi in the room They stopped when they came to my face

"I didn&039;t dreaot o"

"Yes"

"So what&039;s been happening while I was gone?" he asked next "Wait, can I go to the bathrooet a cup of coffee before you tell(a Jason trait, telling), and I was glad to tell hiet the coffee Jason see of coffee and sugar, and prop himself up on the pillohile we talked

I told him about Catfish&039;s phone call, our to-and-fro with the police, the search of the yard and un, which he inantly, after checking it over

I just stared at hiun is &039;spose to," he said slowly "Since you&039;re sitting here looking pretty ain," I said

He nodded

"Noe have to think of a story for the police"

"I guess we can&039;t just tell them the truth"

"Sure, Jason, let&039;s tell thee of Hotshot is full of were-panthers, and that since you slept with one, her boyfriend wanted to make you a were-panther, too, so she wouldn&039;t prefer you over hied into a panther and bit you every day"

There was a long pause

"I can just see Andy Bellefleur&039;s face," Jason said in a subdued kind of way "He still can&039;t get over irls last year He&039;d love to getdelusional Catfish would have to fire me, and I don&039;t think I&039;d like it at theopportunities would sure be liirl! You warned me But I was so bowled over by her And she turns out to be a you know"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Jason, she&039;s a shape-shifter Don&039;t go on like she&039;s the creature fro"

"Sook, you know a lot of stuff we don&039;t know, don&039;t you? I&039;uess so"

"Besides vaht"

"There&039;s lots else"

"I tried to tell you"

"I believed what you said, but I just didn&039;t get it Some people I know - I mean besides Crystal - they&039;re not always people, huh?"

"That&039;s right"

"Like how many?"

I counted up the two-natured I&039;d seen in the bar: Sa Jason and Hoyt drinks a couple of weeks ago "At least three," I said

"How do you know all this?"

I just stared at hi moently

"Are you sure?"

"No, and on&039;t be sure for a couple of weeks," I said "But Calvin&039;ll help you if you need it"

"I won&039;t take help fro, and he looked positively feverish

"You don&039;t have a choice," I said, trying not to snap "And Calvin didn&039;t know you were there He&039;s an okay guy But it&039;s not even tiure out what to tell the police right now"

For at least an hour ent over and over our stories, trying to find threads of truth to help us stitch together a fabrication

Finally, I called the police station The day-shift dispatcher was tired of hearingto be nice "Sookie, like I told you yesterday, hon, we&039;ll call you e find out so to suppress the note of exasperation beneath her soothing tone

"I&039;ve got him," I said

"You - WHAT?" The shriek caot hiht over"

"Good," I said, though I didn&039;t et the nails out of the front door before the police got there I didn&039;t want the what had happened to it Jason had looked at ot out the hammer, but he didn&039;t say a word

"Where&039;s your car?" Andy Bellefleur asked first thing

"It&039;s at Merlotte&039;s"

"Why?"

"Can I just tell you and Alcee, together, one ti up the front steps He and Andy ca wrapped up on my couch, they both stopped dead in their tracks I knew then that they&039;d never expected to see Jason alive again

"Glad to see you safe and sound, man," Andy said, and shook Jason&039;s hand Alcee Beck followed on his heels They sat down, Andy in Gran&039;s recliner and Alcee in the armchair I usually took, and I perched on the couch beside Jason&039;s feet "We&039;re glad you&039;re in the land of the living, Jason, but we need to knohere you&039;ve been and what happened to you"

"I have no idea," Jason said

And he stuck to it for hours

There had been no believable story Jason could tell that could account for everything: his absence, his poor physical condition, the bite marks, his sudden reappearance The only possible line he could take was to say the last thing he remembered, he&039;d heard a funny noise outside while he was entertaining Crystal, and when he&039;d gone to investigate, he&039;d been hit on the head He didn&039;t re until somehow he&039;d felt hiht before I&039;d found hiht me home from work I&039;d ridden home with Sam because I was scared to drive in the snow

Of course, we&039;d cleared this with Sareed, reluctantly, that it was the best we could come up with I knew Sam didn&039;t like to lie, and I didn&039;t either, but we had to keep that particular can of worms closed

The beauty of this story was its si as Jason could resist the temptation to embroider, he&039;d be safe I&039;d known that would be hard for Jason; he loved to talk, and he loved to talk big But as long as I was sitting there, reed to restrain hiet him another cup of coffee - the law back in the living rooht he reave him a very plain look, and he said, "But you know,I drearier and angrier "I just can&039;t understand you two," he said His voice was alrowl "Sookie, I know you worried about hilad to have him back" I patted my brother&039;s foot under the blanket

"And you, you didn&039;t want to be wherever you were, right? You missed work, you cost the parish thousands of dollars froet to search for you, and you disrupted the lives of hundreds of people And you&039;re sitting here lying to us!" Andy&039;s voice was alht you show up, thisvampire on all the posters called the police in Shreveport to say he&039;s recovering froe fire in Shreveport with all kinds of bodies recovered! And you&039;re trying to tell aped at each other Actually, there was no connection between Jason and Eric It just hadn&039;t occurred to e that would look

"What vaood, I almost believed him myself

"Let&039;s leave, Alcee," Andy said He slapped his notebook shut He put his pen back in his shirt pocket with such an emphatic thrust that I was surprised he had a pocket left "This bastard won&039;t even tell us the truth"

"Don&039;t you think I&039;d tell you if I could?" Jason said "Don&039;t you think I&039;d like to lay hands on whoever did this to me?" He sounded absolutely, one hundred percent sincere, because he was The two detectives were shaken in their disbelief, especially Alcee Beck But they still left unhappy with the two of us I felt sorry for it, but there was nothing I could do

Later that day, Arlene picked me up so I could fetch my car froave hi "You had your sister some kind of worried, you rascal," she said, with ain"

"I&039;ll do uish sood sister to me"

"Now, that&039;s God&039;s truth," I said, a little sourly "When I bringbrother"

Jason looked scared for a , and after hours by hiht be even harder