“Good luck to both of you, and I’ll get you a housewarming present,” I said, when Kennedy began to wind down.
About an hour later, I heard a car park in the gravel area by the front door. After the engine cut off, footsteps and a gentle knock told me my caller had decided to carry through with the visit, though I was detecting a lot of hesitation.
I picked up the rifle. It was going to be hell to get a good shot with my weak shoulder, and it was going to be painful. “Who is it?” I called.
“Halleigh.”
“You alone?” I knew she was, but with undetectable people around, I had to check. Her thoughts would tell me if someone was forcing her to knock on the door.
“I am. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to open up,” she said.
I opened the door. Halleigh Bellefleur was younger than me, a nice-looking brown-haired schoolteacher who was really, really pregnant. Tara had not fared as well when she was expecting the twins; Halleigh was truly blooming.
“Come in,” I said. “Does Andy know you’re here?”
“I don’t keep secrets from my husband,” she said, and she came up to me and hugged me very gently. “Andy’s not too happy right now, but that’s too bad. I don’t believe you killed that woman. And I’m really sorry that man went crazy and shot you. I know your friend must feel horrible, the one whose dad is missing. This guy worked for her dad?”
So we sat for a moment and talked a little, and then Halleigh stood to go. I understood that she’d visited to make her point, both with Andy and with me. She stood by who she liked, no matter what.
“I know Andy’s grandmother was a trial,” I said, surprising even myself, “but you’re so much like Miss Caroline in so many ways.”
Halleigh looked startled and then pleased. “You know, I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said.
We parted better friends than we’d ever been.
It was twilight when she left, and I began to think of eating supper. I heated part of Michele’s enchilada casserole in a bowl and dumped salsa on top. It was good, and I ate the bowlful.
The minute it was full dark, Bill was at my back door. I was very tired by then, though I hadn’t done a damn thing all day, and I shuffled slowly to the door toting the rifle with me, though I was sure from the—well, from the feeling of the hole a vampire’s head left in my other sense—that this “hole” represented Bill.
“It’s Bill,” he called, to confirm his identity. I let him in, undoing the locks with one hand, and stood aside to let him pass. With this much traffic, I was going to need a schedule to keep up with all my callers. Bill stepped in and gave me a sharp once-over. “You’re healing,” he said. “Good.”
I offered him a drink, but he looked at me and said, “I can get something myself, Sookie, if I need a drink. But I don’t right now. Can I get you something?”
“Yeah, actually. If you wouldn’t mind pouring me another glass of tea, I’d sure appreciate it.” The pitcher was pretty heavy to deal with one-handed. Gripping anything with my left hand made the shoulder hurt in a most unpleasant way.
We sat in the living room, me curled up on the couch, Bill in the armchair opposite. He smiled at me.
“You’re cheerful,” I observed.
“I’m about to do something that gives me intense pleasure,” he said.
Huh. “Okay, have at it,” I said.
“Do you remember what Eric did to me in New Orleans?” he said, and nothing could have surprised me more.
“You mean, what Eric did to us? By telling me that instead of you being spontaneously smitten with me, you were ordered to seduce me?”
It had hurt then. It hurt now. Of course, not as badly.
“Yes, exactly,” Bill said. “And I’m not ever going to explain again, since we’ve said all this out loud and in our heads so many times. Even though I can’t read minds, like you can, I know that.”
I nodded. “We’ll take all that as done.”
“That is why it gives me intense pleasure to tell you, now, what Eric has done to Sam.”
All right! This was what I had waited to discover. I leaned forward. “Do tell,” I said.
Chapter 18
When he had finished, he left, and I called Sam at the bar. “I need you to come out to the house,”