Deadlocked

chased by gray streaks from Hel .

Had Amelia gotten back from France yet? What were Claude and Nial up to in Faery? What did it look like there? Maybe the trees looked like peacock feathers and everyone wore sequins.

I checked my phone. I hadn’t heard from Alcide. I cal ed again, but it went right to voice mail. I left a message on Bil ’s cel to tel him that Mustapha had made an appearance. After al , he was the Area Five investigator.

Though I’d showered at Eric’s that morning, that seemed like a week ago, so I got under the water again. Then I pul ed on old denim shorts and a white T-shirt and flip-flops and went out in the yard with my wet hair hanging down my back. I positioned the chaise perfectly to keep my body in the shadow of the house while my hair was trailing over the end in the light because I liked the way it smel ed when I let it dry in the sun. Dermot’s car was gone. The yard and house were empty. The only background noises were the ever-present sounds of nature going about its business: birds, bugs, and an occasional breeze fluttering the leaves in a lazy way.

It was peaceful.

I tried to think of mundane things: a possible date for Jason and Michele’s wedding, what I needed to do at Merlotte’s tomorrow, how low on propane my tank might be. Things I could actual y solve with a phone cal or a pad and pencil. Since my car was in my line of sight, I noticed that one of my tires looked a little soft. I should get Wardel at the tire place to check my pressure. It had been wonderful to shower without worrying about having enough hot water; that was the upside to Claude’s absence.

It was good to think about things that weren’t supernatural.

In fact, it was blissful.

Chapter 6

When it was dark, my phone rang. Of course, that wasn’t until after eight, this far into the summer. I’d had a very pleasant few hours al by myself.

“Pleasant” didn’t mean a positive good to me anymore: It meant an absence of bad. I had done a little straightening in the kitchen, read a little, turned on the television just to have voices in the background. Nice. Not exciting. I’d had enough exciting.

I hadn’t checked my e-mail al day, and I’d considered giving it a pass for a couple more days. I found I didn’t real y want to answer the phone, either. But I’d left messages for both Alcide and Bil . On the third ring, I yielded to habit and picked it up. “Yes?” I said.

“Sookie, I’m on my way over to see you,” Eric said.

See, I knew there’d been a good reason for not answering. “No,” I said. “I don’t think so.” There was a little silence. Eric was as surprised as I was.

“Is this a punishment for last night?” he asked.

“For drinking from another woman when I was present? No, I think I have that issue squared away.”

“Then … what? You real y don’t want to see me?”

“Not tonight. I do want to say a couple of things to you, though.”

“By al means.” He sounded stiff and offended, which wasn’t any surprise. He could deal with it.

“If Bil is stil the Area Five investigator …”

“He is.” Cautious.

“Then he needs to get to work, don’t you think? He could take Heidi with him, since she’s supposed to be such a great tracker. How did Kym Rowe get past the guard? Unless someone bribed the guard—and it was a guy I didn’t know—it’s possible Kym came up from the gate at the back of your yard, right? Maybe Bil and Heidi could discover how she got there. Plus, I need to talk to Bil about something.”

“That’s a good idea.” He was thawing out. Or at least he wasn’t dwel ing on the offense he’d taken.

“I’m ful of ’em,” I said, feeling anything but clever. “Also. How did Felipe know al about the death of Victor?”

“None of my vampires would say a word,” Eric said with absolute certainty. “Colton is stil in the area, but Immanuel has gone to the West Coast.

You would not tel anyone. Mustapha’s friend Warren, who acted as our cleanup man …”

“None of them would speak. Warren wouldn’t say boo to a goose if Mustapha didn’t tel him to.” I thought so, anyway. I didn’t real y know much about Warren, who wasn’t big on talking. I was just about to tel Eric that Mustapha had appeared in my kitchen when he continued, “We should have taken care of Colton and Immanuel.”

Did Eric mean the vampires should have kil ed the human survivors of that vicious brawl, even if they’d fought on Eric’s side? Or was he simply implying he should have done a preemptive glamour, erasing their memories? I closed my eyes. I thought of my own humanity and vulnerability, though glamouring had never worked on me.

Time to move on to another subject before I lost my temper. “Do you know why Felipe is real y here? Cause you know it’s not because of Victor, or at least only partly because of Victor.”

“Don’t discount his need to discipline me for Victor’s death,” Eric said. “But you’re right, he’s got another agenda. I realized that last night.” Eric grew more guarded. “Or at least, I became surer of it.”

“So you already know this secret agenda, and you’re not tel ing me.”

“We’l talk about it later.”

Of course I should have told him about Mustapha’s visit, but I lost my remaining patience. “Uh-huh. Right.” I hung up. I looked down at my hand, a bit stunned at my own action.

I spotted the little bundle of mail and the newspaper on the counter. Earlier in the day, I had walked down the driveway in the bright sunshine to retrieve the previous day’s mail and the daily Shreveport newspaper from their respective boxes on Hummingbird Road. Now I sat down to read the paper. On the front page I discovered that Kym Rowe had been twenty-four, she had been from Minden, and (after looking at the picture of her accompanying the