would call a reliable witness, and her story could be shaken up with one arm tied behind a policeman’s back.
I sighed. As Jane began a monologue about her long “friendship” with Hank Clearwater (I’d never be able to have him in to work on my plumbing after this), I had some random thoughts of my own.
My witness, Karin the Slaughterer, would not rise until full dark, which would not be achieved until quite late. (Not for the first time, I told myself how much I hated daylight saving time.) Karin was a better witness than Jane because she was obviously sharp, alert, and in her right mind. Of course, she was dead. Having a vampire as a witness to your whereabouts was not a glowing testimonial. Though they were now citizens of the United States, they were not treated or regarded like humans, not by a long shot. I wondered if the police would get around to interviewing Karin tonight. Maybe they’d already sent someone to Fangtasia before she’d turned in today.
I considered what Jane had told me. A tall, thin guy and a plain guy, not locals or Jane would have recognized them. With Arlene. In the area behind the house next door to where her children were staying with Brock and Chessie Johnson. Late, on the night Arlene was murdered. That was a big development.
Kevin, in a clean, crisp uniform, brought us lunch an hour later. Fried bologna, mashed potatoes, sliced tomatoes. He looked at me with as much distaste as I’d looked at the food.
“You can just cut that out, Kevin Pryor,” I said. “I no more killed Arlene than you can tell your mama who you’re living with.”
Kevin turned bright red, and I knew my tongue had gotten the better of me. Kevin and Kenya had been living together for a year now, and most people in town knew about it. But Kevin’s mom could pretend she didn’t know because Kevin didn’t tell her face-to-face. There wasn’t a thing wrong with Kenya, except for Kevin’s mom she was the wrong color to be a girlfriend to Kevin.
“You just shut up, Sookie,” he said. Kevin Pryor had never said a rude thing to me in his life. I suddenly realized that I didn’t look the same to Kevin now that I was wearing orange. From being someone he should treat with respect, I’d become someone he could tell to shut up.
I stood and looked into his face through the bars separating us. I looked at him for a long moment. He turned even redder. There was no point in telling him Jane’s story. He wasn’t going to listen.
Alcee Beck came back to the cells that afternoon. Thank God he didn’t have the key to our cell. He loomed outside it, silent and glowering. I saw his big fists clench and unclench in a very unnerving way. Not only did he want to see me go to jail for murder, he would love to beat me up. He was spoiling for it. Only the thinnest thread kept him anchored to self-restraint.
The black cloud was still in his head, but it didn’t seem as dense. His thoughts were leaking through.
“Alcee,” I said, “you know I didn’t do this, right? I think you do know that. Jane has evidence that two men saw Arlene that night.” Even though I knew Alcee didn’t like me, for reasons both personal and professional, I didn’t think he would persecute (or prosecute) me for his own reasons. Though he was certainly capable of some corruption, some graft, Alcee had never been suspected of being any kind of vigilante. I knew he hadn’t had any personal relationship with Arlene, for two reasons: Alcee loved his wife, Barbara, the librarian here in Bon Temps, and Arlene had been a racist.
The detective didn’t respond to my words, but I could tell there was a question or two going on in his thoughts about the righteousness of his actions. He departed, his face still full of anger.
Something was so wrong inside Alcee Beck. Then it came to me: Alcee was acting like someone who’d been possessed. That was a key thought. I finally had something new to think about; I could spend infinite time picking the thought apart.
The rest of the day passed with excruciating slowness. It’s bad when the most interesting thing that happens to you all day is getting arrested. The women’s jailer, Jessie Schneider, sauntered down the hall to tell Jane that her son couldn’t