Death’s Excellent Vacation (Sookie Stackhouse #9.5)(32)
Author: Charlaine Harris

I was getting ready for bed– and I thought I heard a noise in the yard. I live with my sister, but she was asleep already. I went to the window, and I saw, in the moonlight, a young man standing in the yard. Close to this tree. " "Describe him to me. " And at these words, a picture of Jason appeared on the split screen: blondish, handsome enough to be a model, six three, with a wide grin and broad shoulders, dressed in a T-shirt and baggy shorts. Smiling the smile of a man who has his entire and likely quite-happy life before him, and is savoring a particular moment of fun. "I couldn’t see him well in the shadows. I thought maybe it was an old boyfriend of mine, at first. He was sticking close to the trees, not drawing closer, not really stepping out into the moonlight. " The camera panned across Annie’s yard: The viewers could see a dense growth of the divi- divi trees, dark and close; a neighbor’s fenced yard; a clothesline with athletic jerseys, jeans, and a checkered tablecloth snapping in the twilight air. Rustic, Nora thought, yet ever so mildly forbidding. "Do your old boyfriends often stop by late at night?" "Only one. Who might need money now and then and doesn’t understand I won’t loan him any, " Annie said with a little more spine in her tone, and Nora nodded. Her viewers would like Annie for her moral stance. Annie continued: "So I went outside and called out ‘Who’s there?’ then the moonlight broke from the clouds, and I saw it wasn’t my old boyfriend. This man was tall, he was white, with blond hair, wearing a dark shirt, baseball cap, and muddy jeans. I thought he was a prowler then, and I stepped back toward my house. " "Were you afraid?" Nora pounced. "Not exactly. When I could see him, I just felt this . . . Sadness. I can’t describe it; it was strange. He looked lost, like he needed help. Like he was confused. I wanted to comfort him. It’s like I could sense his need–like when you see a lost child. " Nora’s voice sharpened into a needle. "And then what happened?" "Well, my neighbor’s dog got roused; it started barking really loud, and the neighbor’s porch lights switched on, and the man just sort of vanished into the divi-divi trees. "

"He ran off?"

"I guess. I didn’t hear him. He stepped back into the shadows and then he was gone. I ran to where he had stood and there was no sign of him. " Annie swallowed. "And you’re sure this was Jason Kirk?" "At first, ma’am, I wasn’t. Then when I saw his face in the moonlight, clear as day–I knew it was him. He’s been all over the TV here, and the newspapers. I am sure it was him. " Nora took a moment to let that grab her viewers by the collective throat. "And how did he–this man you thought was Jason–look to you?" Nora said, leaning forward. "Heartbroken. Pale, like he was ill. Lost, I thought. Strange that he seemed lost when a whole island is looking for him. " "Did you see anyone else with him?" "No, ma’am, but it was very dark, cloudy; the moonlight kept coming and going. " Nora let the words sink in. "Annie"–and here she knew it was important at this single moment to be kind and understanding–"are you sure about what you saw? Because you can understand"–dramatic pause, Nora gave her most sympathetic head tilt (patent pending)–"how very cruel it would be to give Jason’s family false hope. " "Yes, ma’am, I do understand. It was him. I’m as sure of it as I can be. " "Have you talked to any tabloids or other papers about what you saw?" "No. I wouldn’t. I’m not selling a story, Ms. Dare. I only wanted to help . . . " Annie bit her lip. "I called the police, and I called your people, because you’ve been the one talking about him every night on the TV. " Nora allowed herself a satisfied smile. Her efforts, as always, were for the public good. "But you see how hard it is to believe that if Jason was in trouble, and you were willing to help, that he ran away simply because the neighbor’s dog started barking. " "I can’t explain it. " "And how did the Sint Pieter police respond?" "They did come out to the house. But I don’t think they believed me, at least not at first. " "Thank you, Annie. " Nora switched to act two now: Inspector Abraham Peert. He was the third head of the Kirk investigation in three months; Nora’s reports had made it clear that his predecessors either were incompetent or actively wished the Kirk family–and by implication all tourists–ill.

Peert had a lean, angular face that looked like he was always biting hard into a lemon. This would be only his second appearance on the show. He’d been her guest right after his assignment to the case but had refused Nora’s demands (requests was entirely too soft a word) for further interviews. Nora gave Peert a quick introduction and said, "Is it possible that this young woman’s story is true?" "I suppose that it is, but we can find no supporting evidence. " He kept his tone carefully neutral. Oh, Nora thought, I shall enjoy this. He’s done nothing to follow this lead. Get me my cross and nails, boys, it’s hammering time. "Is it possible that Jason Kirk is alive? Perhaps ill, perhaps wandering in the wilderness on the north side of Sint Pieter?" Nora said. "Again, we can only postulate, " Inspector Peert said. "Ill and wandering freely for three months seems most unlikely. Surely there would have been other reports of him; our search crews would have found him if he were rambling insensate. If he is alive and roaming the hills, then that suggests that he does not want to be found. " Nora had to decide whether to play that comment as a hurtful blow to the Kirk family or as an exciting, intriguing new twist in the story’s worn fabric. She tilted her head again–she was known for the beauty and forcefulness of the head tilt–and decided the audience was hungry for a bit of the inspector’s flesh. "Why would Jason Kirk be in hiding? Nothing in this boy’s past suggests a desire to be away from his family. They are an absolutely wonderful, upstanding family, Inspector. " She said this with a convincing thunder, as if Peert held the opposite view. "No one knows what goes on in the human heart, " Peert said quietly.

"But I will say that I believe Annie Van Dorn believes she is telling the truth. We administered a lie detector test; she passed it. " That was a news bomb. Nora was speechless for a minute; Molly should have known that tidbit and warned her about it. Peert pressed on: "If she saw him, then Jason Kirk is not in trouble; he is hiding from us. " It was not fair. It was not what Nora was expecting. It was not a dodge. And if Jason Kirk was simply hiding out on the island–well, then, he was simply a spoiled brat who’d driven his parents nearly mad with grief. And made Nora look like a fool in front of millions. This could not be. All of this emotional calculus played out in Nora’s mind in less than five seconds. "If he is hiding, then why?" "I do not know. We cannot know his reasons. If he has been kidnapped, there is no reason for his abductors to wait three months and not ask for a ransom. " Nora went back on the attack. "How soon will you expand the search in that area?" Now she heard the steel in Peert’s voice–even through the distance of the satellite hookup–and it infuriated her. "What choice do we have? You have turned American opinion against our entire nation. We have searched for this young man as if he were one of our own. We have followed every slim lead, and we have allowed your federal agents to comb our sovereign territory. We have endured your abuse and your innuendo as to our competence"–here Nora tightened her lips and straightened her papers, which was Nora’s signal to Molly to cut to commercial now–"and in short, we have done everything possible. You cannot hurt us more, Ms. Dare, but if we do not pursue a lead, we will have to live with ourselves. So every lead will be pursued. " "I would hope so, and I think it’s a shame that you have not already expanded the search. " Peert made his tone as sharp as hers. "We did search the area around Miss Van Dorn’s house; there was no sign of an intruder. None. No footprints, no broken grass, nothing. " Now his voice was rising.