Definitely Dead

“She’d drive to Shreveport and back a million times running errands, if she had the lead time. Halleigh is just trailing along in Portia’s wake, poor thing. She’ll come in this afternoon, and I’ll show her the same things I’ve shown Portia, and she’ll have to buckle under. But it’s all good for me. They’re getting the whole package, because the Isabelle system can deliver it all on time. Invitations, thank-you notes, dresses, garters, bridesmaids’ gifts, even the mother-of-the-bride gowns—Miss Caroline will be buying one, and Halleigh’s mother—they’re getting it all here, either from my stock or from Isabelle’s book.” She looked me up and down. “What brought you in, by the way?”
    “I need a date outfit to wear to a play in Shreveport,” I said, “and I have to go to the grocery and get back at home to cook Jason’s lunch. So, you got anything to show me?”
    Tara’s smile turned predatory. “Oh,” she said, “just a few things.”

Chapter 5
    I WAS GLAD JASON WAS A LITTLE LATE. I’D FINISHED the bacon and I was putting the hamburgers in the frying pan when he arrived. I had already opened the package of buns and put two on Jason’s plate, and put a bag of potato chips on the table. I’d poured him a glass of tea and set it beside his place.
    Jason came in without knocking, as he always did. Jason hadn’t changed that much, at least to the eyes, since he’d become a werepanther. He was still blond and attractive, and I mean attractive in the old way; he was good to look at, but he was also the kind of man that everyone looks at when he comes into a room. On top of that, he’d always had a mean streak. But since his change, he’d somehow been acting like a better person. I hadn’t decided why that was. Maybe being a wild animal once a month satisfied some craving he hadn’t known he had.
    Since he’d been bitten, not born, he didn’t change completely; he became a sort of hybrid. At first, he’d been disappointed about that. But he’d gotten over it. He’d been dating a full werepanther named Crystal for several months now. Crystal lived in a tiny community some miles out in the country—and let me tell you, out in the country from Bon Temps, Louisiana, is really out in the country.
    We said a brief prayer and began eating. Jason didn’t dig in with his usual gusto. Since the hamburger tasted good to me, I figured whatever was on his mind was important. I couldn’t read it out of his brain. Since my brother had become a Were, his thoughts had not been as clear to me.
    Mostly, that was a relief.
    After two bites, Jason put down his hamburger, and his body posture changed. He was ready to talk. “I got something I got to tell you,” he said. “Crystal doesn’t want me to tell anyone, but I’m really worried about her. Yesterday, Crystal . . . she had a miscarriage.”
    I shut my eyes for a few seconds. I had about twenty thoughts in that brief time, and I couldn’t complete a one of them. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I hope Crystal’s all right?”
    Jason looked at me over a plate of food he’d completely forgotten. “She won’t go to the doctor.”
    I stared at him blankly. “But she has to,” I said reasonably. “She needs a D & C.” I wasn’t sure what “D & C” stood for, but I knew after you’d miscarried, you went to a hospital and that’s what they did there. My friend and co-worker Arlene had had a D & C after her miscarriage, and she’d told me about it several times. Several times. “They go in and . . .” I began, but Jason cut me off in midstream.
    “Hey, I don’t need to know,” he said, looking very uncomfortable. “I just know that since Crystal’s a werepanther, she didn’t want to go to the hospital. She had to go when she got gored by that razorback, just like Calvin had to go when he got shot, but they both got well so fast that there was some comment in the doctors’ lounge, she heard. So she won’t go now. She’s at my house, but she’s . . . she’s not doing well. She’s getting worse, not better.”
    “Uh-oh,” I said. “So what’s happening?”
    “She’s bleeding too heavy, and her legs don’t work right.” He swallowed. “She can hardly stand up, much less walk.”
    “Have you called Calvin?” I asked. Calvin Norris, Crystal’s uncle, is the leader of the tiny Hotshot panther community.
    “She don’t want me to tell Calvin. She’s scared Calvin’ll kill me for knocking her up.