Death’s Excellent Vacation (Sookie Stackhouse #9.5)(36)
Author: Charlaine Harris

THREE minutes later, they were at the small bungalow. The clouds had scudded to the south. Bright moonlight spilled across the eaves, the flat glass of the windows, the bent shadows made by the divi-divi trees. Nora was out of the car before it stopped, heading around to the backyard. The car with the Kirks screeched to a stop, and she heard Hope screaming, "Jason! Jason!" Nora ignored her and ran into the scrubby backyard. No lights on in the yard. A dim light burned in the kitchen. The back door–where Jason had come to–stood open. "Annie?" Nora called. "Jason? Jason, it’s all right. I’ve brought you your parents, sweetheart. Just come on out. " She glanced behind her; the cameraman was struggling to get his gear squared on his shoulder. She stepped inside. A small, modest back entry, then a kitchen. The tile was worn and peeling but the room was spotless. A dinner on the plate–noodles and salad and sliced tomato, a glass of soda next to it–lay half eaten. The window by the table fronted the backyard. She must have been eating a late meal, feet tired from cleaning hotel rooms all day, when she saw him. Nora walked quickly through the house. No sign of Annie. No sign of anyone else. No sign of a struggle. No Jason. Gary and Hope Kirk tore through the house, and in the still distance Nora heard the rising cry of police sirens. "He’s not here. " "Was he ever?" Hope Kirk screamed at her. "My God. Is this a trick?" "She said he was here. " "Well, she’s not and he’s not. This is just a sick prank. I can’t–I cannot keep doing this, Gary.

I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. " Hope fell to her knees on the wooden floor. Gary Kirk knelt by his wife, put his arm over her shaking shoulders. "We are done with you, " he said to Nora. "I mean, what was this stunt? Invented drama for the ratings? An exclamation point on the whole awful evening of revisiting our loss? Did you put this young woman up to this? Did you just need some damn footage, Nora?" His voice rose into a roar. "No, of course not . . . " Nora’s voice trailed off. "She said he was here. She said he was. " And now she saw in the doorway Inspector Peert, with his lemon-sucking scowl. She turned back to Gary Kirk. "We counted on you. You wouldn’t let go. You said you wouldn’t forget him. But this . . . Tricking us, this is too much, " Gary hissed. "I had nothing to do with this, " Nora said. "Yeah, this drama just happens the night you’re filming. " "Blame Annie Van Dorn, not me. " Nora’s voice shook, and she glanced; the cameras were rolling. Oh, Molly, damn you, she thought. Molly stared at her. "Ask Molly, she took the call. " Peert folded his arms. "Did you hear this woman say she saw Jason?" "I heard her say she thought it was Jason. But then Nora took the phone . . . " "Oh, this is too much. Too much!" Nora whirled on Gary Kirk. "You listen to me. I could have helped any missing person anywhere in the world, and I helped your son. I kept this entire island looking for him, and I kept the whole U. S. Of A. Thinking about him and praying for him to come home safe and sound. Without me, everyone would have forgotten him, just a kid who got drunk and probably drowned in the ocean. " She stopped, slammed a hand over her mouth. "It was never about him, was it?" Hope Kirk said in a small voice. "It was about you. Always you. "

"Molly, tell them. Tell them what Annie said!" "I didn’t hear, Nora, you did. " Molly turned to Peert. "Annie Van Dorn did call, did say that she thought Jason was standing in her backyard. We rushed over. I heard nothing else. " "You’re fired, you backstabbing bitch, " Nora said. "I work for the network, not you, " Molly said in her usual calm voice. "Find Annie Van Dorn, " Nora said to Peert. "She saw Jason, identified him at her back door. I heard her say hello to him. " "Then what?" "Nothing. She hung up. But find her, she’ll confirm what I said. " "I’ll confirm what?" Annie said. She stood in the open back door, a bit breathless. She blinked at the crowd. Nora lurched toward her, clutched her arm. "You said . . . You said Jason was here. " Annie blinked again. "Oh. Yes. I did. I went outside to see after I called you, but there was no one there. Someone was playing a trick on me. " A long, low moan from Hope Kirk. "You didn’t speak with Ms. Dare?" Peert said. "Well, she kept insisting the man must be Jason Kirk, and I got tired of hearing her say that and I hung up. " Annie’s voice was dreamy- raw, as though she’d just woken from sleep. "Oh my God, this is insane!" Nora said. "In-freaking-sane. I had an entire conversation with her. She said he came to the door, she was afraid of him, she could see him at the door, she said hello to him . . . " Annie shook her head. Nora grabbed her, shook her. Annie seemed limp, like a cast- aside rag doll. Peert pulled Nora’s hands from Annie’s throat.

FOUR in the morning. Nora lay dozing. The echoes of the past hours: the real fear in Annie’s voice, the blame in the Kirks’ accusations, the staring disbelief of that traitor Molly, the dazed surprise of Annie in real life. There were talks of charges to be brought, of a lawsuit by the Kirks. The network brass fumed; Nora knew, in her lawyer’s readiness, that she was going to be burned by this, very badly. And all she’d tried to do was to bring a boy home, safe and sound. A breeze poured in from the open balcony window. She was on the top floor of the Hotel Sint Pieter, where she belonged, and having drunk half the minibar when she got back to her room, her body felt feverish from the alcohol. She got up; the cooling ocean breeze was a relief. She was groping toward the bathroom when Jason Kirk said, behind her, "You made it very hard for me. " She froze. She shook her head, as if to settle her imagination back into its distant corner of her brain. Then he said the words again, and she spun in stark terror. Jason Kirk stood on the balcony, kissed by moonlight. The wind ruffled his light hair slightly. She tried to scream and she couldn’t.

Oddest thing. She sank to her knees. He said, in a voice barely louder than the ocean wind, "You keep telling people you will never forget, you will never stop looking. Safe and sound, right?" He shook his head. "I needed you to stop looking. Do you know how hard it’s been? " Nora’s mouth worked. How had he gotten here? It wasn’t possible. Not possible. He looked better than his photos and his videos. Handsome face, high cheekbones. Even in the broken moonlight he had dark eyes, pools of black that could let you fall into their depths. "May we talk?" Nora nodded, and he stepped into the room. "You’re alive, " she said. "Oh my God. Jason, the story this will be. " "There is no story. You would let it go on forever, or as long as you could use me. There is no story. I need for there to be no story. " She hardly heard him, her mind spinning with possibilities and ramifications. "Listen, you have to come with me. Now. Let your parents see you . . . " "You don’t see how cruel that would be? I have to be . . . Dead to my mom and dad. I have to stay that way. " "I don’t understand. " She groped for the lamp, clicked it on. "Were you at Annie’s house tonight?" "The tasty little maid? Yes.