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“As far as I could tell.”

“What did he have to say about the experience?”

“He didn’t remember anything about it,” I said slowly. “He didn’t seem to have a clue.”

Sam looked away from me when he said, “How are you, with that?”

“I think it’s for the best,” I told him. “Definitely.” But I would be going home to an empty house again. The knowledge skittered at the edges of my awareness, but I wouldn’t look at it directly.

“Too bad you weren’t working the afternoon shift,” he said, somehow following a similar train of thought. “Calvin Norris was in here.”

“And?”

“I think he came in hopes of seeing you.”

I looked at Sam skeptically. “Right.”

“I think he’s serious, Sookie.”

“Sam,” I said, feeling unaccountably wounded, “I’m on my own, and sometimes that’s no fun, but I don’t have to take up with a werewolf just because he offers.”

Sam looked mildly puzzled. “You wouldn’t have to. The people in Hotshot aren’t Weres.”

“He said they were.”

“No, not Weres with a capital W. They’re too proud to call themselves shifters, but that’s what they are. They’re were-panthers.”

“What?” I swear I saw dots floating in the air around my eyes.

“Sookie? What’s wrong?”

“Panthers? Didn’t you know that the print on Jason’s dock was the print of a panther?”

“No, no one told me about any print! Are you sure?”

I gave him an exasperated look. “Of course, I’m sure. And he vanished the night Crystal Norris was waiting for him in his house. You’re the only bartender in the world who doesn’t know all the town gossip.”

“Crystal—she’s the Hotshot girl he was with New Year’s Eve? The skinny black-headed girl at the search?”

I nodded.

“The one Felton loves so much?”

“He what?”

“Felton, you know, the one who came along on the search. She’s been his big love his whole life.”

“And you know this how?” Since I, the mind reader, didn’t, I was distinctly piqued.

“He told me one night when he’d had too much to drink. These guys from Hotshot, they don’t come in much, but when they do, they drink serious.”

“So why would he join in the search?”

“I think maybe we’d better go ask a few questions.”

“This late?”

“You got something better to do?”

He had a point, and I sure wanted to know if they had my brother or could tell me what had happened to him. But in a way, I was scared of finding out.

“That jacket’s too light for this weather, Sookie,” Sam said, as we bundled up.

“My coat is at the cleaner’s,” I said. Actually, I hadn’t had a chance to put it in the dryer, or even to check to make sure all the blood had come out. And it had holes in it.

“Hmmm” was all Sam said, before he loaned me a green pullover sweater to wear under my jacket. We got in Sam’s pickup because the snow was really coming down, and like all men, Sam was convinced he could drive in the snow, though he’d almost never done so.

The drive out to Hotshot seemed even longer in the dark night, with the snow swirling down in the headlights.

“I thank you for taking me out here, but I’m beginning to think we’re crazy,” I said, when we were halfway there.

“Is your seat belt on?” Sam asked.

“Sure.”

“Good,” he said, and we kept on our way.

Finally we reached the little community. There weren’t any streetlights out here, of course, but a couple of the residents had paid to have security lights put up on the electric poles. Windows were glowing in some of the houses.

“Where do you think we should go?”

“Calvin’s. He’s the one with the power,” Sam said, sounding certain.

I remembered how proud Calvin had been of his house, and I was a little curious to see the inside. His lights were on, and his pickup was parked in front of the house. Stepping out of the warm truck into the snowy night was like walking through a chilly wet curtain to reach the front door. I knocked, and after a long pause, the door came open. Calvin looked pleased until he saw Sam behind me.

“Come in,” he said, not too warmly, and stood aside. We stamped our feet politely before we entered.

The house was plain and clean, decorated with inexpensive but carefully arranged furniture and