Deadlocked: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel

that went through my head, and I could have slapped myself. I’d spoken the truth—but I was talking about Sam’s girlfriend. “Sorry, Sam! I’m afraid Jannalynn believes you and I have a—a lurid past. I guess she’s not there tonight?”
    “She’s working tonight, at Hair of the Dog. She’s watching the phones and the bar traffic while Alcide’s having meetings in the back room. You’re right, she’s a little possessive,” he admitted. “It was kind of flattering at first, you know? But then I began to wonder if that means she doesn’t have any faith in my integrity.”
    “Sam, if she has a grain of sense she can’t possibly doubt you.” (I was pretty sure Jannalynn blamed it all on me.) “You’re an honest guy.”
    “Thanks,” he said gruffly. “Well … I’ve kept you talking long enough. Call me if you need me. By the way, as long as we’re talking about relationship stuff, do you know why Kennedy’s mad at Danny? She’s been snapping at everyone.”
    “Danny’s keeping some kind of secret from her, and she’s afraid it’s about another woman.”
    “It’s not?” Sam knew all about my telepathic ability.
    “No, it isn’t. I don’t know what it is. At least he isn’t stripping at Hooligans.” One of us had talked, which was inevitable, and the story of JB’s second job had gotten a lot of comment in Bon Temps.
    “She didn’t think about just asking Danny what he was doing?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Children, children,” Sam said, as if he were in his sixties instead of in his thirties.
    I laughed. I was in a better mood when we hung up.
    Dermot came in about half an hour later. Normally, my great-uncle was at least content in a low-keyed way. Tonight he wasn’t even approaching happiness; he was actively worried.
    “What’s up?”
    “Claude’s absence is making them restless.”
    “Because he has such charisma that he keeps them all in line.” Claude had as much personality as a turnip.
    “Yes,” Dermot said simply. “I know you don’t feel Claude’s charm. But when he’s among his own people, they can see his strength and purpose.”
    “We’re talking about the guy who chose to stay among humans rather than go into Faery when it was closing.” I just didn’t get it.
    “Claude’s told me two things about that,” Dermot said, going to the refrigerator and pouring a glass of milk. “He said he knew the portals were closing, but he felt he couldn’t leave without tying up his business affairs here, and he never imagined that Niall would really stick to his decision. On the whole, the gamble of staying here appealed to him more. But he told the others, all the assortment of fae at Hooligans, that Niall denied him entry.”
    I noticed that Dermot was admitting, though not explicitly, that he didn’t have the high opinion of Claude that the other fae did. “Why’d he tell two stories? Which do you believe?”
    Dermot shrugged. “Maybe both are true, more or less,” he said. “I think Claude was reluctant to leave this human world. He’s amassing money that could be working for him here while he’s in Faery. He’s been talking with lawyers about setting up a trust, or something like that. It would continue to earn him money even if he vanishes. That way if he wants to return to this world, he will be a rich man and able to live as he wants. And there are advantages, even when you live in Faery, to having financial assets here.”
    “Like what?”
    Dermot looked surprised. “Like having the ability to buy things that aren’t available in Faery,” he said. “Like having the wherewithal to make trips out here occasionally, to indulge in things that aren’t … acceptable in our own world.”
    “Like what?” I asked again.
    “Some of us like human drugs and sex,” Dermot said. “And some of us like human music very much. And human scientists have thought of some wonderful products that are very useful in our world.”
    I was tempted to say “Like what?” a third time, but I didn’t want to sound like a parrot. The more I heard, the more curious it seemed.
    “Why do you think Claude went with Niall?” I asked instead.
    “I think he wants to become secure in Niall’s affection,” Dermot said promptly. “And I think he wants to remind the rest of the fae world what an enticing option they have cut off, since Niall closed the portals and guards them so rigorously. But I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’m his kinsman, so he