'Now that sounds like an edict, but it couldn't be because I would know about that.'
- Eric Northman

Witness

Are you really sure about this?

Pam didn't need to voice her doubts for Eric to pick up on them - one of the benefits of the maker-child relationship. In a business partner, it was a highly useful advantage. In a subordinate, Eric found it to be a two-edged sword. He rested his phone in mid-dial and glared at her.

'Stop that. I know what I'm doing.'

Blue eyes, round as a china doll's, practically glowed with innocence. 'I didn't say anything.'

'In view your clamouring self-restraint, I think I would rather you did.'

'Since you asked...' Pam pulled up the chair before Eric's desk and sat, hands primly folded in her lap.

'Sophie-Anne won't give in without a fight. You keep this matter local, you still have control over the outcome. Pass Compton over to her, you force her hand, who knows what she'll do. Plus, she's going to know that you suspect something.'

'I am aware of that.'

'Are you?'

Eric was silent a long moment, while Pam had the grace to look discomforted. The emotion sat awkwardly on her face, like an unexpected house-guest who you couldn't wait to see leave. Most of the time, Eric welcomed her impudence. It was probably a bad habit on both their parts.

'This is a murder case,' he said finally. 'Sophie-Anne's power to intervene is quite limited, given the severity of the crime. Nothing short of a king or queen's edict could protect Compton now.'

'All the same,' Pam, who had been nodding her head, insisted. 'She could sacrifice Bill -'

'And lose Sookie Stackhouse? What a terrible waste of first love -'

'Or,' Pam paused meaningfully, finishing her previous thought. 'She could use Longshadow's Mississippi connections as an excuse to drag this in front of the Magister. If he's the who indicts Compton, not her, she can still swoop in and win over the human some other way. The human, who, by the way, will blame you for everything.'

'That is just bad luck either way for Bill Compton, isn't it?' mused Eric.

Her expression now clearly said: You know I'm right.

Eric sent her one of his own: Butt out. She would ignore it, of course. Picking up his phone, he started picking out the keys of Sophie-Anne's number again. Then he looked up at Pam and said quietly: 'If I try the case, and pardon him without cause, she will know that I am weak.'

Pam rolled her eyes at that, but Eric felt her doubt dissipate. Convinced, but barely: strong encouragement from this child of his. Eric allowed himself a tiny smile of triumph.

THE END

3 June 2009