Sam shrugged. “When she left last night, we agreed we’d talk when I got back to Bon Temps and recovered from the wedding. We have a date for next weekend.”
I had a limited menu of responses to choose from. “Good,” I said, and left it at that.
We continued our near-silence most of the way across Texas. I thought of the hateful crowd the day before, their distorted faces. I thought about the flash of sheer pleasure I’d felt when I’d realized who’d killed Jim Collins. I thought of how much fun the party had been before Jannalynn had shown up and Luna had told me about the smell in the house next door.
“I was surprised that the police didn’t come over to ask any questions last night,” I said.
“Sister called this morning and told me that they were going to, but—well, it seemed so obvious what had happened—”
“That’s great. You’re free and clear.”
This was good. Now we were talking like we had before. A knot in my stomach eased up.
“She said that even before they knew Jim was dead, the Arrowsmiths prodded their son to come forward and tell Porter that he’d seen the e-mails between Sarah Newlin and Jim about marshaling both sides to clash at the wedding. She’d urged Jim to make trouble, to enlist his like-minded neighbors and friends to take action, and encourage them to disrupt the wedding in any way they could. In turn, Jim had insisted she come to town herself to witness the work he was doing. The theory is that the shooting started when the two of them were arguing because the plan didn’t work out.”
That was pretty much the truth and should sure clinch the case against Sarah. “Why do you think we didn’t hear the shots?” I asked Sam.
“According to Sister, all the windows were shut. Probably because the noise of a yard full of folks he hated enjoying themselves was bothering Jim,” Sam said. “And with our CD player turned up loud . . . Sarah Newlin told them that she’d been at Jim’s house almost an hour before he got worked up enough to suggest they go over and shoot us all. But then her lawyer arrived, and she clammed up.”
“You think there’s anyway she’ll get off?” I asked incredulously.
“She won’t go to prison for murder. Maybe manslaughter. Of course, she’ll claim self-defense.” He shook his head and accelerated to pass a beat-up minivan that was poking along in front of us.
“Just think on it, Sook—if Luna hadn’t gone on the Collins side of the hedge to make out in private, maybe Sarah Newlin would have called someone to come get her, or managed somehow to crawl out of the house. She might even have made it into her car. Then I think Mom and I would have had a visit from the police for sure.”
But that hadn’t happened, and now Sarah Newlin would be in jail for a while anyway. That was something, a big something. “I’m not drawing any big life lesson from yesterday,” I said.
“Were you sure you were going to?”
“Well, yes.”
“We survived,” Sam said. “And my brother got married to the woman he loves. And that’s all that’s important.”
“Sam, do you really think that?” I didn’t want to pick at him, but I was genuinely curious.
My boss smiled at me. “Nah. But what would you say the moral of the day was? There was a lot of hate, there was some love. The love won out for Craig, the hate did Jim Collins in. End of story.”
Sam was right, as far as his “moral” went.
But I didn’t think it was truly the end of the story.
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2004. Sookie Stackhouse, telepath, is working the evening shift at Merlotte’s bar when a vampire comes in to order a drink. Although vampires have been “out of the coffin” for two years, Bill Compton is the first one to come to her little town of Bon Temps, and she is delighted by the new experience. Local lowlifes Mack and Denise Rattray soon move to Bill’s table, where Denise flirts with the vampire. Worried by their avid interest in Bill, Sookie “listens” and finds, to her horror, that the Rattrays have been in jail for draining vampires, a practice that involves forcibly restraining a vampire (a feat unto itself), draining its blood to sell on the black market, and leaving the vampire to die in the rising sun. When Bill leaves with the Rattrays, Sookie dithers but finally follows them to the parking lot, only to find Bill wrapped in silver chains with Denise crouched over him holding a Vacutainer and with several vials of blood already beside her. Grabbing a heavy chain from her brother Jason’s truck, Sookie manages to drive off the Drainers. She unwraps Bill, pulling him out of the way when the Rattrays attempt to run them down on the way out of the parking lot. Sookie is stunned to realize that she cannot “hear” Bill. The vampire, who is being less than gracious after being rescued by a human woman, asks if she wants the blood already taken by the Drainers, suggesting that she sell it when she assures him she does not need its medicinal properties. She is insulted but begins to laugh upon finding out that his name is the very mundane Bill, and she cheerfully leaves him. She shares the encounter with her grandmother, Adele, when she gets home from work.
SUNDAY, JUNE 13. Jason arrives at the Stackhouse home, upset after hearing that Sookie beat up the Rattrays the previous night. Sookie explains what really happened. Jason then tells Sookie and Adele that Maudette Pickens, a former classmate of Sookie’s, was found dead in her apartment that morning and that she had several vampire bites on her thighs, although that wasn’t the cause of her death. On the subject of vampires, Adele wonders how old Bill is and if he remembers the Civil War, hoping that he will speak to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead. Sookie promises to ask him.
When Sookie arrives at Merlotte’s for her shift that afternoon, Sam pulls her into the storeroom and berates her for taking on the Rattrays in the parking lot. She is close to tears but finally realizes that Sam was frightened for her. After touching him, she also perceives that her boss has feelings for her that she did not expect.
MONDAY, JUNE 14. Sookie is relieved that she and Sam are able to return to their comfortable relationship.
TUESDAY, JUNE 15. Bill returns to Merlotte’s. Sookie is once again aware that she cannot read his thoughts and feels more relaxed in his silence. While taking his order, she arranges to meet him in the parking lot after closing so she can ask the favor for her grandmother. She looks around for him after work, but when he doesn’t appear, she heads to her car to drive home. The Rattrays attack her, beating and kicking her. Although she tries to fight back, a kick to her spine does great damage. As she’s lying on the ground, she hears a dog’s growl from one direction, a snarl from another, and the screams of the Rattrays. When silence falls, the dog licks her ear, but she is unable to respond. A bloody Bill appears in front of her, picking her up to take her back into the woods. Although she is certain that she is dying, after checking her over Bill assures her that she will live. He offers his blood to speed the healing process, and as she drinks from his wrist, she begins to feel better and finally slips into sleep. She wakes in the woods sometime later to find Bill lying beside her, licking the blood from her head wounds. Feeling much better, she admits to Bill that she is a telepath and reveals that it causes her to avoid dating and relationships. She makes her request, and he agrees to meet her grandmother and to speak to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead. He also asks if he can visit Sookie at her home.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16. Adele gets a phone call about a tornado touching down in the vicinity of the Rattrays’ trailer, killing them both. While Gran finds the local gossip interesting, she is more excited about the idea of Bill coming to the house, and she vows to make sure it’s spotless. Sookie stops by the Rattrays’ place on her way to work and is stunned by the amount of damage Bill did to the area.