Sucker Punch (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #27) - Laurell K. Hamilton Page 0,133

night, Bobby?” I asked.

He told the story pretty much as he’d told Newman from the beginning up to a point. They’d sat down to dinner with Uncle Ray at seven o’clock like normal, but then all the hired help had left, even Carmichael, who lived on-site in a small house on the grounds.

“Except for Carmichael leaving, it was a normal Friday night up to that point. Uncle Ray went to his study to look over the stocks and write in his journal like he did almost every night. We had some television shows that we watched together, and sometimes we’d watch a movie as a family, but other than that, he went to his study and left Jocelyn and me to entertain ourselves. That’s how he always said it: ‘You kids go entertain yourselves. I’m going to do boring old-man stuff.’”

Bobby’s eyes got shiny at that point. He raised his hands as if he’d rub the tears away, or pretend he had something in his eye, but the shackles brought him up short, and he couldn’t complete the gesture. “I can’t believe he’s never going to hug me and say that ever again. I didn’t see his body, so I don’t believe he’s dead. Does that make sense?” He looked at me.

“Yeah, makes perfect sense,” I said.

He nodded, and the tears started down his face.

“Go on, Bobby,” Newman said. “What happened after Ray went to his study?”

“We went up to my room and made love. She let me hold her for a while, and then she asked to see me change.” The tears were drying on his face by the time he’d finished the sentence.

He hesitated so long that I was debating on asking a question while he struggled to find the words, but Edward beat me to it. “You said she let you hold her afterward. Was that unusual?”

Bobby nodded. “She joked that I was the girl, because I liked to hold her after sex and she just liked to clean up and be done like a boy.” He smiled as he spoke, his face going gentle at the memory.

In my head I thought two things. One, if she could get up every time that fast, then she wasn’t having that good a time. Two, if she didn’t want to be held after sex, she had serious issues about the whole thing, or she was using him for sex or in general.

“How did she react to seeing you change shape?” Olaf asked from the corner to which he’d retreated.

Bobby glanced back at him, and there was an uneasy look on his face, but I think that had more to do with Olaf intimidating him earlier than anything else. “She didn’t scream or run away. She looked happy, smelled pleased. I rubbed up against her legs. She petted me like she always does in leopard form, and then I went out the open window and down the tree outside my window like I always do.”

“The same tree that you put your deer in?” I asked.

He frowned and nodded. “Unless one of the other animals in the area moved the deer, it should have been there.”

“Rico looked in the tree. He didn’t search the woods for it,” Newman said.

Bobby smiled and then looked utterly serious. He glanced at me and then at Newman. “Does she really think I killed him?”

“I’m sorry, Bobby, but yeah, she does.”

“Win, I did not do this. Maybe the deer fell out of the tree. Have Rico look on the ground around it. If the deer is there, then that’s all I killed.” He sounded so certain.

“I’ll have Rico check again,” Newman said.

“Thank you, Win.” Bobby looked up at me. “Thank you, too, Anita, for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Thank you, too, Marshal Forrester and Marshal Jeffries.” He started to lift his hands as if he’d offer to shake, but the shackles stopped him.

“Don’t thank us yet, pardner,” Edward said, pushing away from the corner and smiling his Ted smile at Bobby.

We shuffled him back to his cell and then Newman’s phone rang. It was Dr. Jameson at the hospital. Jocelyn was awake and alert enough to talk to us.

“We’ll be there in just a few minutes, Doctor. Thanks for the call.” Newman hung up.

“Perfect timing,” Edward said.

“What’s perfect timing?” Sheriff Leduc asked as we moved through the office area on our way to the cars.

“We’re off to chase clues,” I said.

“Chase clues? Who are you, Nancy Drew?”

“I was always more of