Dead Ever After

could tell Amelia was steamed that she and Bob hadn’t tracked down the two guys and handed them over to us.
    “However,” Bob said, “we did verify why your flowers and tomatoes are growing so well.”
    “Ahhhhh . . . great. Why?”
    “Fairy magic,” he said. “Someone has charged all the Stackhouse land with fairy magic.”
    I didn’t tell them I’d already figured that out, because I wanted them to feel good. I remembered my great-grandfather’s good-bye embrace, when I’d felt a jolt of power. I’d thought it was the finality of his farewell . . . but he’d been, for want of a better term, blessing me and my house. “Awww,” I said softly. “That’s so sweet.”
    “He would have done better to put in a giant ring of protection,” Amelia said darkly. She’d been outmagicked on several fronts, and while normally she was a practical person, she was also proud. “How did Arlene get past your old wards?”
    “Alcide thought she had a charm,” I offered. “I’m assuming someone gave her magic.”
    Amelia flushed. “If she did have a charm, another witch is involved in this, and I want to know who. I’ll take care of that.”
    “Gran would have loved seeing the yard like this,” I said, to change the subject. I smiled at the thought of the pleasure my grandmother would have felt. She’d loved her yard and worked in it tirelessly. The flowers would bloom and flourish, the bulbs would spread, the grass . . . well, it was growing like wildfire. I was going to have to mow it tomorrow, and frequently thereafter.
    That was fairies for you. Always some blowback.
    “Niall did more for you than that,” Mr. Cataliades said, distracting me from my unwelcome thoughts.
    “What are you talking about?” I said, and that didn’t sound as civil as I meant it. “I’m sorry. You must know something I don’t.” I managed a more cordial tone.
    “Yes,” he said with a smile. “I do know many things you don’t, and I’m about to tell you one of them. I would have come to Bon Temps without your being charged with murder, because I have business with you as your great-grandfather’s lawyer.”
    “He’s not dead,” I said immediately.
    “No, but he doesn’t plan on returning here. And he wanted you to have something to remember him kindly.”
    “He’s my family. I don’t need anything else,” I said. Which was crazy, I knew it the moment I said it, but I have a little pride, too.
    “I would say you do need a few things, Miss Stackhouse,” said Mr. Cataliades mildly. “Right now, you need a defense fund. Thanks to Niall, you have one. Not only will you be receiving a monthly income from the sale of Claudine’s house, your great-grandfather deeded the club to you, the one called Hooligans, and I have sold it.”
    “What? But that belonged to Claude, Claudine, and Claudette, the triplets who were his fae grandchildren.”
    “Though I don’t know the story, I understood from Niall that Claude did not buy the club, but was given it because he threatened the true owner.”
    “Yes,” I said, after I thought about it a bit. “That’s true. Claudette was dead by then.”
    “That’s a story I’d like to hear another time. Be that as it may, when Claude plotted treason against Niall and became his prisoner, he forfeited all his possessions to his ruler. Niall gave me instructions to sell the properties and give the proceeds to you in the ways I’ve described.”
    “Who—? To me? You already sold the business and the house?” And Claude was a prisoner. I hadn’t missed that part of the speech. Though he richly deserved to be imprisoned after attempting a coup that would have ended with Niall dead, I would always have some sympathy for anyone in a cell. If that was how they locked up people in Faery. Maybe they stowed them in giant pea pods.
    “Yes, the properties have already been sold. The proceeds have been put in an annuity. You’ll be getting a check every month. After we fill out the papers, it can be direct-deposited to your checking account. I’ll bring them down after we dine, along with the check for the business. Though part of the proceeds from that went into your annuity.”
    “But Claudine already left me a huge chunk of money. There were some whistles blown on the estate bank, and everything froze. A week ago, the paper said the inspectors hadn’t found anything.” I should call my bank again.
    “That was from Claudine’s personal estate,” the lawyer said.