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THE PHONE WAS ringing I pulled et it? As the irritating noise persisted, I realized Gran an squirned With the headache and regrets of soh mine was emotional rather than alcohol induced) I stretched out a shaky hand and grabbed the receiver

"Yes?" I asked It didn’t coain "Hello?"

"Sookie?"

"Um-hum Sam?"

"Yeah Listen, cher, do me a favor?"

"What?" I was due to work today anyway, and I didn’t want to hold don’s shift and mine, too

"Go by Dawn’s place, and see what she’s up to, would you? She won’t answer her phone, and she hasn’t coot to tell these guys where to put stuff"

"Now? You want o now?" My old bed had never held on to rasp uess so," I said, feeling tired all over again at the very idea I wasn’t too crazy about Dawn, and she wasn’t too crazy about me She was convinced I’d read herabout him, which had cause him to break up with her If I took that kind of interest in Jason’s romances, I’d never have time to eat or sleep

I showered and pulled on one flat, like soda with the top left off I ate cereal and brushedwhen I tracked her down; she’d been outside planting petunias in a tub by the back door She didn’t seem to understand exactly what Ia little reat wonder since she was seventy-eight It wasand healthy, and her brain was sound as a bell

As I went on ht about how hard it must have been for Gran to raise two more children after she’d already raised her own My father, her son, had died when I was seven and Jason ten When I’d been twenty-three, Gran’s daughter, irl, Hadley, had vanished into the same subculture that had spawned the Rattrays even before Aunt Linda had passed away, and to this day we didn’t know if Hadley realizes her h, yet Gran had always been strong for us

I peered through my windshield at the three small duplexes on one side of Berry Street, a run-down block or two that ran behind the oldest part of don Bon Tereen compact, in the driveway of one of the better-kept houses, and pulled in behind it Dawn had already put a hanging basket of begonias by her front door, but they looked dry I knocked

I waited for a ain

"Sookie, you need some help?" The voice sounded fa sun Rene Lenier was standing by his pickup, parked across the street at one of the shborhood

"Well," I began, not sure if I needed help or not, or if I did that Rene could supply it "Have you seen Dawn? She didn’t come to work today, and she never called in yesterday Sam asked me to stop by"

"Sam should come do his own dirty work," Rene said, which perversely made me defend my boss

"Truck caain "Dawn," I yelled "Come let me in" I looked down at the concrete porch The pine pollen had begun falling two days ago Dawn’s porch was solid yellow Mine were the only footprints My scalp began to prickle

I barely registered the fact that Rene stood aardly by the door to his pickup, unsure whether to stay or go

Dawn’s duplex was a one-story, quite small, and the door to the other half was just feet away from Dawn’s Its little driveas empty, and there were no curtains at the s It looked as though Daas teh to hang curtains, white with dark gold flowers They were drawn, but the fabric was thin and unlined, and Dawn hadn’t shut the cheap one-inch alu roo sat on the table by a lumpy recliner and an old couch covered with a hand-crocheted afghan was pushed against the wall

"I think I’ll go around back," I called to Rene He started across the street as though I’d given hinal, and I stepped off the front porch My feet brushed the dusty grass, yelloith pine pollen, and I knew I’d have to dust offpine pollen season, everything turns yellow Cars, plants, roofs, s, all are powdered with a golden haze The ponds and pools of rainwater have yellow scues

Dawn’s bathrooh that I couldn’t see in She’d lowered the blinds in the bedroohtly I could see a little through the slats Daas in bed on her back The bedclothes were tossed around wildly Her legs were spraddled Her face ollen and discolored, and her tongue protruded fro on it

I could hear Rene co up behind me

"Go call the police," I said

"What you say, Sookie? You see her?"

"Go call the police!"

"Okay, okay!" Rene beat a hasty retreat

Some female solidarity had made me not want Rene to see Dawn like that, without Dawn’s consent And

I stood with ain in the futile hope I’dat the duplex next door to Dawn’s, maybe a scant six feet away, I wondered how its tenants could have avoided hearing Dawn’s death, which had been violent

Here caain His weatherbeaten face was puckered into an expression of deep concern, and his bright brown eyes looked suspiciously shiney

"Would you call Saed back to his place He was being ossip, Rene had always been one to help where he saw a need I re Gran’s porch swing, a random memory of a day far different from this

The duplex next door was just like Dawn’s, so I was looking directly at its bedrooma face appeared, and the as raised A tousled head poked out "What you doing, Sookie Stackhouse?" asked a slow, deep,the face, while trying not to look too closely at the fine, bare chest underneath

"JB?"

"Sure thing"

I’d gone to high school with JB du Rone In fact, some of my few dates had been with JB, as lovely but so simple that he didn’t care if I read his mind or not Even under today’s circumstances, I could appreciate JB’s beauty When your hor as h at the sight of JB’sout here?" he asked again

"So bad see if I should tell him or not "My boss sent me here to look for her when she didn’t come to work"

"She in there?" JB simply scrambled out of theHe had some shorts on, cut-offs

"Please don’t look," I asked, holding upthat a lot lately, too "She looks so awful, JB"

"Aw, honey," he said, and bless his country heart, he put an arm around me and patted me on the shoulder If there was a fe, by God, that was a priority to JB du Rone

"Dawn liked’ely, as if that would explain everything

It h?" I asked, hoping I had a tissue in my shorts pocket

I looked up at JB to see him turn a little red

"Honey, she likedaw, Sookie, you don’t need to hear this"

I had a widespread reputation for virtue, which I found somewhat ironic At the moment, it was inconvenient

"You can tell me, I worked with her," I said, and JB nodded solemnly, as if that made sense

"Well, honey, she liked men to - like, bite and hit her" JB looked weirded out by this preference of Dawn’s I must have made a face because he said, "I know, I can’t understand why sonore an opportunity to , but it see to see if I earing a bra) and then quite a bit lower (JB liked firm rear ends, I reue, but they reot there, in the persons of Kenya Jones and Kevin Prior When the town police chief had partnered Kenya and Kevin, he’d been indulging his sense of huured, for Kenya was at least five foot eleven, the color of bitter chocolate, and built to weather hurricanes Kevin possibly ht, had freckles over every visible inch of his pale body, and had the narrow, fatless build of a runner Oddly enough, the two K’s got along very well, though they’d had some memorable quarrels

Now they both looked like cops

"What’s this about, Miss Stackhouse?" Kenya asked "Rene says so happened to Dawn Green?" She’d scanned JB while she talked, and Kevin was looking at the ground all around us I had no idea why, but I was sure there was a good police reason

"My boss sent me here to find out why Dawn missed work yesterday and hadn’t shown up today," I said "I knocked on her door, and she didn’t answer, but her car was here I orried about her, so I started around the house looking in the s, and she’s in there" I pointed behind them, and the two officers turned to look at theThen they looked at each other and nodded as if they’d had a whole conversation While Kenya went over to the , Kevin went around to the back door

JB had forgotten to pat while he watched the officers work In fact, hisperfect teeth He wanted to go look through the, but he couldn’t shoulder past Kenya, who pretty much took up whatever space was available

I didn’t want uard, and listened to the thoughts of others Out of the clamor, I picked one thread and concentrated on it

Kenya Jones turned back to stare through us without seeing us She was thinking of everything she and Kevin needed to do to keep the investigation as textbook perfect as Bon Te she’d heard bad things about Dawn and her liking for rough sex She was thinking that it was no surprise Dawn had h she felt sorry for anyone who ended up with flies crawling on her face Kenya was thinking she was sorry she’d eaten that extra doughnut that ht come back up and that would shame her as a black woman police officer

I tuned in to another channel

JB was thinking about Dawn getting killed during rough sex just a few feet away fro and Sookie was still built wonderful He wished he could screw her right now She was so sweet and nice He was pushing away the humiliation he’d felt when Dawn had wanted him to hit her, and he couldn’t, and it was an old humiliation

I switched

Kevin ca that he and Kenya better not botch any evidence and that he was glad no one knew he’d ever slept with Dawn Green He was furious that so it wasn’t a black man because that would make his relationship with Kenya evensoet the body out of the house He was hoping no one knew he’d slept with Dawn Green I couldn’t spell out his thoughts exactly, they were very black and snarled Soitated

Sa dohen he saas touching hts I could feel his eer) but I could not spell out one single thought This was so fascinating and unexpected that I stepped out of JB’s erab his arms and look into his eyes and really probe around in his head I remembered when he’d touched me, and I’d shied away Now he felttoward me, his mind flinched back Despite his invitation to me, he hadn’t knoould see he was different from others: I picked up on that until he shutlike it It was like an iron door sla out to him instinctively, but my hand dropped to my side Sam deliberately looked at Kevin, not at , Officer?" Sa to break into this house, Mr Merlotte, unless you have a master key"

Why would Sam have a key?

"He’s my landlord," JB said in my ear, and I jumped

"He is?" I asked stupidly

"He owns all three duplexes"

Sa in his pocket, and now he cah the it off the ring and handing it to Kevin

"This fits front and back?" Kevin asked Sa at ht, and ere all so quiet we could hear the key turn in the lock Then he was in the bedroom with the dead woman, and we could see his face then the s one hand across his ers on her neck He looked out thethen and shook his head at his partner Kenya nodded and headed out to the street to use the radio in the patrol car

"Listen, Sookie, how about going to dinner with h on you, and you need some fun to make up for it"

"Thanks, JB" I was very conscious of Sa "It’s really nice of you to ask But I have a feeling I’ extra hours today"

For just a second, JB’s handsome face was blank Then cootta hire sohill needs a job Maybe I’ll give her a call We could live right next door to each other, now"

I sh I am sure it was a very weak smile, as I stood shoulder to shoulder with the man I’d worked with for two years

"I’m sorry, Sookie," he said quietly

"For what?" My own voice was just as low Was he going to acknowledge what had passed between us - or rather, failed to pass?

"For sending you to check on Dawn I should have come myself I was sure she was just shacked up with someone new and needed a re The last tiet her, she yelled at ain So like a coward, I sent you, and you had to find her like that"

"You’re full of surprises, Sam"

He didn’t turn to look at ers folded aroundaround us, holding hands His pal I felt I had truly connected with another hurip loosened, and Sa fro me hon had looked, and the world fell back into its saroove

The contrast was cruel I felt tired all over again, and reht before in more detail than I wanted to The world seemed a bad and terrible place, all its denizens suspect, and I the lah the valley of death with a bell around my neck I stomped over to my car and opened the door, sank sideways into the seat I’d be standing plenty today; I’d sit while I could

JB followed me Now that he’d rediscovered me, he could not be detached I reh hopes for soh school But talking to JB, even reading his arten primer was to an adult reader It was one of God’s jokes that such a dumb mind had been put in such an eloquent body

He knelt beforethat so and marry JB and take care of hiain

"Where are you working now?" I asked him, just to distract myself

"My dad’s warehouse," he said

That was the job of last resort, the one JB always returned to when he got fired fro la some supervisor mortally JB’s dad ran an auto parts store

"How are your folks doing?"

"Oh, fine Sookie, we should do soht

Soet the better of ret; and I could do worse than do it with JB But I would hold out and hope for so better "Thanks, honey," I said "Maybe ill But I’ht now"

"Are you in love with that vampire?" he asked directly

"Where did you hear that?"

"Dawn said so" JB’s face clouded as he reme JB’s mind, was "That new vampire is interested in Sookie Stackhouse I’d be better for hih treatment Sookie would screajust that

Then the detective alking toward us, and JB got to his feet andon the ground in front of me I must look in bad shape

"Miss Stackhouse?" he asked He was using that quiet intense voice many professionals adopt in a crisis "I’m Andy Bellefleur" The Bellefleurs had been around Bon Te as there’d been a Bon Te "beautiful flower" In fact, I felt sorry for whoever thought it was a as I looked down at the block of muscle that was Detective Bellefleur This particular faraduated before Jason, and I’d been one class behind his sister Portia

He’d been placingokay?" he asked, his voice still quiet, not quite as neutral It sounded like he’d had a run-in or tith Jason

"The little I see of hirand flowers thisthat sincere head shake that’s supposed to indicate ad amazement "Now, I understand that you work at Merlotte’s?"

"Yes"

"And so did Dawn Green?"

"Yes"

"When was the last tio At work" I already felt exhausted Without shiftingwheel, I lay my head sideways on the headrest of the driver’s seat

"Did you talk to her then?"

I tried to remember "I don’t think so"

"Were you close to Miss Green?"

"No"

"And why did you co for Dawn yesterday, about Sa

"Did Mr Merlotte tell you why he didn’t want to come here himself?"

"Yes, a truck was there to unload Sauys where to put the boxes" Sa himself, half the time, to speed up the process

"Do you think Mr Merlotte had any relationship with Dawn?"

"He was her boss"

"No, outside work"

"Nope"

"You sound pretty positive"