Definitely Dead

I can come over after work and spend the night, if you need me.”
    “Thanks, Sis.” He gave me a quick hug and then looked awkward. “Uh, I’m glad I didn’t keep it a secret like Crystal wanted me to. She didn’t think you’d help her.”
    “I’d like to think I was at least a good enough person to help someone who needed it, no matter if we were close or not.” Surely Crystal hadn’t imagined that I’d be indifferent, or even pleased, that she was ailing?
    Dismayed, I watched the two very different vehicles start down the driveway on their way back to Hummingbird Road. I locked up and got in my own car in no very happy mood.
    Continuing the theme of an eventful day, when I walked through the back door of Merlotte’s that afternoon, Sam called to me from his office.
    I went in to see what he wanted, knowing ahead of time that a few other people were waiting in there. To my dismay, I found that Father Riordan had ambushed me.
    There were four people in Sam’s office, besides my boss. Sam was unhappy, but trying to keep a good face on. A little to my surprise, Father Riordan wasn’t happy about the people that had accompanied him, either. I suspected I knew who they were. Crap. Not only did Father Riordan have the Pelts in tow, but a young woman of about seventeen, who must be Debbie’s sister, Sandra.
    The three new people looked at me intently. The older Pelts were tall and slim. He wore glasses and was balding, with ears that stuck out of his head like jug handles. She was attractive, if a bit overly made up. She was wearing a Donna Karan pants set and carrying a bag with a famous logo on it. Heels, too. Sandra Pelt was more casual, her jeans and T-shirt fitting her narrow figure very tightly.
    I hardly heard Father Riordan formally introduce the Pelts, I was so overwhelmed with irritation that they were intruding themselves into my life to such an extent. I’d told Father Riordan I didn’t want to meet them, yet here they were. The older Pelts ate me up with their avid eyes. Savage, Maria-Star had termed them. Desperate was the word that came to my mind.
    Sandra was a different kettle of fish altogether: since she was the second child, she wasn’t—couldn’t be—a shifter like her folks, but she wasn’t altogether a regular human, either. But something caught at my brain, made me pause. Sandra Pelt was a shifter of some kind. I’d heard the Pelts described as much more involved with their second daughter than they’d been with Debbie. Now, getting bits of information from them, I saw why that might be. Sandra Pelt might be underage, but she was formidable. She was a full Were.
    But that couldn’t be, unless . . .
    Okay. Debbie Pelt, werefox, had been adopted. I’d learned that the Weres were prone to fertility problems, and I assumed that the Pelts had given up on having their own little Were, and had adopted a baby that was at least some kind of shape-shifter, if not their own kind. Even a full-blooded fox must have seemed preferable to a plain human. Then the Pelts had adopted another daughter, a Were.
    “Sookie,” Father Riordan said, his Irish voice charming but unhappy, “Barbara and Gordon showed up on my doorstep today. When I told them you’d said all you wanted to say about Debbie’s disappearance, they weren’t content with that. They insisted I bring them here with me.”
    My intense anger at the priest receded a bit. But another emotion filled its place. I was anxious enough about the encounter to feel my nervous smile spread across my face. I beamed at the Pelts, caught the backwash of their disapproval.
    “I’m sorry for your situation,” I said. “I’m sorry you’re left wondering what happened to Debbie. But I don’t know what else I can tell you.”
    A tear ran down Barbara Pelt’s face, and I opened my purse to remove a tissue. I handed it to the woman, who patted her face. “She thought you were stealing Alcide from her,” Barbara said.
    You’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but in Debbie Pelt’s case, that was just plain impossible. “Mrs. Pelt, I’m going to be frank,” I told her. Just not too frank. “Debbie was engaged to someone else at the time of her disappearance, a man named Clausen, if I remember correctly.” Barbara Pelt nodded, reluctantly. “That engagement left Alcide at perfect liberty to date anyone he liked, and we did spend time together briefly.” No lies there. “We haven’t seen each other in weeks, and he’s