Description: Andy Bellefleur was as drunk as a skunk. This wasn''t normal for Andy believe me, I know all the drunks in Bon Temps. Working at Sam Merlotte''s bar for several years has pretty much introduced me to all of them. But Andy Bellefleur, native son and detective on Bon Temps''s small police force, had never been drunk in Merlotte''s before. I was mighty curious as to why tonight was an exception. Andy and I aren''t friends by any stretch of the imag-ination, so I couldn''t ask him outright. But other means were open to me, and I decided to use them. Though I try to limit employing my disability, or gift, or whatever you want to call it, to find out things that might have an effect on me or mine, sometimes sheer curiosity wins out. I let down my mental guard and read Andy''s mind. I was sorry. Andy had had to arrest a man that morning for kid-napping. He''d taken his ten-year-old neighbor to a place in the woods and raped her. The girl was in the hospital, and the man was in jail, but the damage that had been dealt was irreparable. I felt weepy and sad. It was a crime that touched too closely on my own past. I liked Andy a little better for his depression. "Andy Bellefleur, give me your keys," I said. His broad face turned up to me, showing very little compre-hension. After a long pause while my meaning filtered through to his addled brain, Andy fumbled in the pocket of his khakis and handed me his heavy key ring. I put another bourbon-and-Coke on the bar in front of him. "My treat," I said, and went to the phone at the end of the bar to call Portia, Andy''s sister. The Bellefleur sib-lings lived in a decaying large white two-story antebel-lum, formerly quite a showplace, on the prettiest street in the nicest area of Bon Temps. On Magnolia Creek Road, all the homes faced the strip of park through which ran the stream, crossed here and there by deco-rative bridges for foot traffic only; a road ran on both sides. There were a few other old homes on Magnolia Creek Road, but they were all in better repair than the Bellefleur place, Belle Rive. Belle Rive was just too much for Portia, a lawyer, and Andy, a cop, to maintain, since the money to support such a home and its grounds was long since gone. But their grandmother, Caroline, stubbornly refused to sell. Portia answered on the second ring. "Portia, this is Sookie Stackhouse," I said, having to raise my voice over the background noise in the bar. "You must be at work." "Yes. Andy''s here, and he''s three sheets to the wind. I took his keys. Can you come get him?" "Andy had too much to drink? That''s rare. Sure, I''ll be there in ten minutes," she promised, and hung up. "You''re a sweet girl, Sookie," Andy volunteered un-expectedly. He''d finished the drink I''d poured for him. I swept the glass out of sight and hoped he wouldn''t ask for more. "Thanks, Andy," I said. "You''re okay, yourself." "Where''sboyfriend?" "Right here," said a cool voice, and Bill Compton appeared just behind Andy. I smiled at him over Andy''s drooping head. Bill was about five foot ten, with dark brown hair and eyes. He had the broad shoulders and hard muscular arms of a man who''s done manual labor for years. Bill had worked a farm with his father, and then for himself, before he''d gone to be a soldier in the war. That would be the Civil War. "Hey, B.!" called Charlsie Tooten''s husband, Mi-cah. Bill raised a casual hand to return the greeting, and my brother, Jason, said, "Evening, Vampire Bill," in a perfectly polite way. Jason, who had not exactly wel-comed Bill into our little family circle, had turned over a whole new leaf. I was sort of mentally holding my breath, waiting to see if his improved attitude was per-manent. "Bill, you''re okay for a bloodsucker," Andy said ju-diciously, rotating on his bar stool so he could face Bill. I upgraded my opinion of Andy''s drunkenness, since he had never otherwise been enthusiastic about the accep-tance of vampires into America''s mainstream society. "Thanks," Bill said dryly. "You''re not too bad for a Bellefleur." He leaned across the bar to give me a kiss. His lips were as cool as his voice. You had to get used to it. Like when you laid your head on his chest, and you didn''t hear a heartbeat inside. "Evening, sweet-heart," he said in his low voice. I slid a glass of the Japanese-developed synthetic B negative across the bar, and he knocked it back and licked his lips. He looked pinker almost immediately. "How''d your meeting go, honey?" I asked. Bill had been in Shreveport the better part of the night. "I''ll tell you later." I hoped his work-related story was less distressing than Andy''s. "Okay. I''d appreciate it if you''d help Por-tia get Andy to her car. Here she comes now," I said, nodding toward the door. For once, Portia was not wearing the skirt, blouse, jacket, hose, and low-heeled pumps that constituted her professional uniform. She''d changed to blue jeans and a ragged Sophie Newcomb sweatshirt. Portia was built as squarely as her brother, but she had long, thick, chest-nut hair. Keeping it beautifully tended was Portia''s one signal that she hadn''t given up yet. She plowed single-mindedly through the rowdy crowd. "Well, he''s soused, all right," she said, evaluating her brother. Portia was trying to ignore Bill, who made her very uneasy. "It doesn''t happen often, but if he decides to tie one on, he does a good job." "Portia, Bill can carry him to your car," I said. Andy was taller than Portia and thick in body, clearly too much of a burden for his sister. "I think I can handle him," she told me firmly, still not looking toward Bill, who raised his eyebrows at me. So I let her get one arm around him and try to hoist him off the stool. Andy stayed perched. Portia glanced around for Sam Merlotte, the bar owner, who was small and wiry in appearance but very strong. "Sam''s bar-tending at an anniversary party at the country club," I said. "Better let Bill help." "All right," the lawyer said stiffly, her eyes on the polished wood of the bar. "Thanks very much." Bill had Andy up and moving toward the door in sec-onds, in spite of Andy''s legs tending to turn to jelly. Micah Tooten jumped up to open the door, so Bill was able to sweep Andy right out into the parking lot. "Thanks, Sookie," Portia said. "Is his bar tab settled up?" I nodded. "Okay," she said, slapping her hand on the bar to signal she was out of there. She had to listen to a chorus of well-meant advice as she followed Bill out the front door of Merlotte''s. That was how Detective Andy Bellefleur''s old Buick came to sit in the parking lot at Merlotte''s all night and into the next day. The Buick had certainly been empty when Andy had gotten out to enter the bar, he would later swear. He''d also testify that he''d had been so pre-occupied by his internal turmoil that he''d forgotten to lock the car. At some point between eight o''clock, when Andy had arrived at Merlotte''s, and ten the next morning, when I arrived to help open the bar, Andy''s car acquired a new passenger. This one would cause considerable embarrassment for the policeman. This one was dead. I shouldn''t have been there at all. I''d worked the late shift the night before, and I should''ve worked the late shift again that night. But Bill had asked me if I could switch with one of my coworkers, because he needed me to accompany him to Shreveport, and Sam hadn''t objected. I''d asked my friend Arlene if she''d work my shift. She was due a day off, but she always wanted to earn the better tips we got at night, and she agreed to come in at five that afternoon. By all rights, Andy should''ve collected his car that morning, but he''d been too hung over to fool with get-ting Portia to run him over to Merlotte''s, which was out of the way to the police station. She''d told him she would pick him up at work at noon, and they''d eat lunch at the bar. Then he could retrieve his car. So the Buick, with its silent passenger, waited for dis-covery far longer than it should have. I''d gotten about six hours'' sleep the night before, so I was feeling pretty good. Dating a vampire can be hard on your equilibrium if you''re truly a daytime person, like me. I''d helped close the bar, and left for home with Bill by one o''clock. We''d gotten in Bill''s hot tub to-gether, then done other things, but I''d gotten to bed by a little after two, and I didn''t get up until almost nine. Bill had long been in the ground by then. I drank lots of water and orange juice and took a multivitamin and iron supplement for breakfast, which was my regimen since Bill had come into my life and brought (along with love, adventure, and excitement) the constant threat of anemia. The weather was getting cooler, thank God, and I sat on Bill''s front porch wear-ing a cardigan and the black slacks we wore to work at Merlotte''s when it was too cool for shorts. My white golf shirt had merlotte''s bar embroidered on the left breast. As I skimmed the morning paper, with one part of my mind I was recording the fact that the grass was defi-nitely not growing as fast. Some of the leaves appeared to be beginning to turn. The high school football stadium might be just about tolerable this coming Friday night. The summer just hates to let go in Louisiana, even northern Louisiana. Fall begins in a very halfhearted way, as though it might quit at any minute and revert to the stifling heat of July. But I was on the alert, and I could spot traces of fall this morning. Fall and winter meant longer nights, more time with Bill, more hours of sleep. So I was cheerful when I went to work. When I saw the Buick sitting all by its lonesome in front of the bar, I remembered Andy''s surprising bi

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