Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [543]
“What’s the law enforcement convention in the corner cooking up?” asked Charles. Jane had tottered off to the ladies’, and he was temporarily by himself at the bar.
“Let me see,” I said, closing my eyes so I could concentrate better. “Well, they’re thinking of moving the stakeout for the shooter to another parking lot tonight, and they’re convinced that the arson is connected to the shootings and that Jeff Marriot’s death is tied in with everything, somehow. They’re even wondering if the disappearance of Debbie Pelt is included in this clutch of crimes, since she was last seen getting gas on the interstate at the filling station closest to Bon Temps. And my brother, Jason, disappeared for a while a couple of weeks ago; maybe that’s part of the picture, too.” I shook my head and opened my eyes to find that Charles was disconcertingly close. His one good eye, his right, stared hard into my left.
“You have very unusual gifts, young woman,” he said after a moment. “My last employer collected the unusual.”
“Who’d you work for before you came into Eric’s territory?” I asked. He turned away to get the Jack Daniel’s.
“The King of Mississippi,” he said.
I felt as if someone had pulled the rug out from under my feet. “Why’d you leave Mississippi and come here?” I asked, ignoring the hoots from the table five feet away.
The King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington, knew me as Alcide’s girlfriend, but he didn’t know me as a telepath occasionally employed by vampires. It was quite possible Edgington might have a grudge against me. Bill had been held in the former stables behind Edgington’s mansion and tortured by Lorena, the creature who’d turned Bill into a vampire over a hundred and forty years before. Bill had escaped. Lorena had died. Russell Edgington didn’t necessarily know I was the agent of these events. But then again, he might.
“I got tired of Russell’s ways,” Sir Charles said. “I’m not of his sexual persuasion, and being surrounded by perversity became tiresome.”
Edgington enjoyed the company of men, it was true. He had a house full of them, as well as a steady human companion, Talbot.
It was possible Charles had been there while I was visiting, though I hadn’t noticed him. I’d been severely injured the night I was brought to the mansion. I hadn’t seen all its inhabitants, and I didn’t necessarily remember the ones I’d seen.
I became aware that the pirate and I were maintaining our eye contact. If they’ve survived for any length of time, vampires read human emotions very well, and I wondered what Charles Twining was gleaning from my face and demeanor. This was one of the few times I wished I could read a vampire’s mind. I wondered, very much, if Eric was aware of Charles’s background. Surely Eric wouldn’t have taken him on without a background check? Eric was a cautious vampire. He’d seen history I couldn’t imagine, and he’d lived through it because he was careful.
Finally I turned to answer the summons of the impatient roofers who’d been trying to get me to refill their beer pitchers for several minutes.
I avoided speaking to our new bartender for the rest of the evening. I wondered why he’d told me as much as he had. Either Charles wanted me to know he was watching me, or he really had no idea I’d been in Mississippi recently.
I had a lot to think about.
The working part of the night finally came to an end. We had to call Jane’s son to come get his soused relative, but that was nothing new. The pirate bartender had been working at a good clip, never making mistakes, being sure to give every patron a good word as he filled the orders. His tip jar looked healthy.
Bill arrived to pick up his boarder as we were closing up for the night. I wanted to have a quiet word with him, but Charles was by Bill’s side in a flash, so I didn’t have an opportunity. Bill gave me an odd look, but they were gone without