A/N Hello! Glad to see you back again!
Disclaimer: Not mine.
I locked eyes with Claude who was looking positively triumphant. I made a conscious decision not to look at Long Shadow and see what expression he was sporting; I didn't think I'd want to see it.
"Um…thank you," I said, hoping Claude didn't take my hesitation as a sign that I wasn't grateful. I was still a little stunned to tell the truth and I was trying to figure out what had happened. Claude didn't say anything to me though; he leaned down and, I thought, whispered something to Long Shadow.
I realised that Bill was now next to me, standing on the other side of the bar. "Are you OK, Sookie?" he asked, concern flooding his face.
"Um…yeah," I replied, wondering if all my sentences were going to start with 'um' from now on. Perhaps I'd been hit too many times and this was the result, like those boxers who ended up drooling in their old age.
Eric arrived and took up the prime position leaning over the bar to look at me, by elbowing Bill out of the way. "She's all right," Bill said, to Eric.
Eric gave Bill a glance that suggested he wanted more concrete proof of that. "I'm fine," I said. "Check Claude's OK."
Eric, and then Bill, slowly turned and regarded Claude. "Claude?" Eric asked.
"Nice to meet you, I would shake hands, but I'm a little busy." Claude gave Eric a big smile that wasn't returned.
"Don't worry. I'll help you out," Jason said to Claude, as he appeared and put his hands on Long Shadow's head to hold him down, a little too enthusiastically I thought.
"Don't, uh, hurt him," I said to Jason, who looked like he'd just given Long Shadow a kick as well.
"See?" Jason shouted at Long Shadow. "Sookie's being nice to you, and that's after you beat her you asshole!" And then he ruined the moment by looking over to check that Crystal was watching him.
Meanwhile Eric had moved to the same side of the bar as me and wanted, I think, to examine my face more closely. Unfortunately I'd been so intent on watching Jason's actions that Eric surprised me a little, and I took a step back.
Eric looked annoyed at that, but at that point in time I couldn't really find it in me to worry about hurting his feelings.
"I think Sookie needs ice on that," Bill commented, and Eric whirled around, happy to find someone to take out his annoyance on. "Why don't you go and get some then, Bill?" he snapped at Bill, pointing to the kitchen.
Bill gave me a long look, perhaps trying to gauge whether I was really OK with being left with Eric. I gave a small nod, and he walked off to the kitchen.
Everyone in the bar was, I assumed, trying to get a good look at what had happened. But I couldn't really see them all staring at me, as Eric had edged closer and he was effectively blocking my view of everyone else. He put his hand on my chin and turned my face to the side and then sighed, noisily.
"Ice will help it," I said, although even as I did so I realised it was a little silly to be trying to make Eric feel better about the state of my face.
"Are you OK, Sookie?" Pam called out from somewhere behind Eric.
"Yep," I said, sounding far brighter than I felt. Right at that moment I wanted to go and sit in a quiet room all by myself and just burst into tears. But I wasn't going to cry out here, with all these people looking at me and Eric standing right there, touching my face.
And then he stopped touching me, and I wasn't sure if that was better or worse. "Here's the ice," Bill said, and he tried to hand the plastic bag filled with ice he'd brought over to me, but Eric intercepted it and held it to my face. I put my hand up and gently pushed his out of the way.
"I've called the police," Pam said. "They're on their way."
"What are you going to do with him in the meantime, Eric?" Bill asked. I assumed he was talking about Long Shadow.
"I think he's OK there," Eric said, but he didn't seem all that sure. He seemed to be considering Claude again. "Good thing you stopped him," Eric said to Claude.
"Well, I didn't think Claudine would want to lose her star pupil," Claude said, and Eric frowned at that statement.
"Claude is the brother of my dance teacher, Claudine," I explained.
"OK," Bill said slowly. Eric said nothing. "We're so very fond of her," Claude said, laying it on thick. For what purpose, I didn't know. He wasn't likely to be interested in me, and all it did was make both Bill and Eric bristle more. It was tempting to shout 'Down, boys!' like they were a pair of dogs straining at the leash.
The thought made me giggle. This, in turn, made Bill and Eric back down from Claude and turn their attention back to me. "I really think she should sit down," Bill said to Eric, instead of actually being useful and getting me a chair.
I wondered at what point taking care of Sookie had turned into a competitive sport. I maybe snickered a little bit at that thought.
"You're acting a little odd," Eric told me. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Well, right now Eric, it's either laugh or cry and I know how much you hate the latter so you'll have to put up with this." I thought that was telling him.
"Sweetheart, if you're upset you really should sit down." I hadn't realised that Bill had managed to insert himself on this side of the bar with us. It was getting a little crowded, but, to save space no doubt, Bill put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him.
Eric looked like he might murder someone, but I think that was because Bill was likely to make more points than he was for that manoeuvre. And they were all about the competition right at that moment.
And then, all of a sudden, it stopped being funny and I was just tired of it all. "I do want to sit down. By myself. I'll be in Eric's office." Without looking at either of them, and with the ice still pressed to my cheek, I pushed through the door to the back and headed straight to the office.
I was glad to get away and be by myself, but I wasn't alone for long. Pam opened the door and stuck her head around it, just as the first tears started to roll down my cheeks. She gave me a sympathetic look and then said, "The police are here."
"Oh. OK. I guess I should come out then." I got up from the chair I was sitting on.
"No. It's all right. I can send them back here. I just wanted to make sure you were, uh…ready for them." Pam looked concerned.
"Oh. Yeah. I'll get it over with." Pam started to leave. "But, uh, um…what's going on out there now?"
"Now?" Pam's forehead creased. "Well, the police have taken over minding Long Shadow from Claude and Jason. Jason offered to buy Claude a beer, but his girlfriend doesn't seem that thrilled about it. I think she thinks she has competition."
"I'm not sure Jason's all that likely to run off with Claude."
"Claude doesn't see it that way," Pam said, raising her eyebrows.
"And, uh, everyone else?"
"Um, well. It's a little tense. But I think the police being here has given Eric something else to focus on. He's explained about the possibility of Long Shadow stealing from the business and how that prompted the attack. Bill is, uh, well he's talking to Karin."
"Oh. OK." I'd wanted them to find something else to do other than circle around me, but it did feel a little like now that I was out of sight, I was definitely out of mind. I sighed. There was clearly no pleasing me tonight.
Pam kept looking at me, but she didn't say anything. I was grateful for that. "So, I'll send them back, shall I?" she asked.
"Yep. Send 'em on in!" I was back to forced cheerfulness and it rang hollow even in my own ears.
Pam turned on her heel and left and, a few moments later, Kevin Pryor and Kenya Jones walked in. "Hey, Sookie," Kenya said, quietly, like she didn't want to spook me. "I heard you had a little trouble out in the bar earlier."
Well that seemed like an understatement.
"Yeah. Uh, Long Shadow's never liked me much."
"He hit you before?" Kevin asked quickly.
"Nope. But he's been real mean since I started."
"Why'd he hit you tonight?" That was Kenya, and as she asked that, her eyes raked over me. Oh. Euw. I got the impression she was trying to size up if this was some kind of lover's quarrel.
"I've been helping Eric with the bookkeeping for this place…on account of the work I used to do over at Herveaux's?" I paused, and Kenya nodded, so I continued on, with Kevin making notes as I spoke. "I, um, well some money went missing and…uh…" I didn't want to say that I'd been the one who'd accused Long Shadow on the basis of very little actual evidence. "Um…there'd been some payments that we couldn't reconcile. And Eric asked Long Shadow about them…I was there for part of that discussion." Discussion made it sound a lot friendlier than it had been though.
I took a deep breath and carried on. "So after it was done, Long Shadow came out and it seemed like he blamed me for it all. Said it was my fault that Eric was questioning him, and then he hit me. And then Claude grabbed him before he could hit me again."
"And who is this Claude guy?" Kevin asked. "You know him?"
"Kind of. He came in for a drink, but I met him through my dance teacher, Claudine Crane. It's her brother." Kevin and Kenya exchanged what I thought was a very knowing glance. Maybe they knew more about Claude than they were letting on. "We'll have to get a statement from him," Kenya murmured, and Kevin nodded.
It was all very frustrating feeling like I was out of the loop.
"Anything else you want to add, Sookie?" Kenya asked me, and, for a split second, I thought about confessing about me and Eric. Why, I didn't know. Maybe it was just the fact of being shut in an office with two police officers and feeling like I was required to lay my life bare. Maybe I was just tired and overwhelmed.
"No. I mean, it was all over in a few seconds. It just…it came out of the blue. Nobody could have seen it coming." I shrugged. As much as I was glad that Kevin and Kenya were here, it seemed a little out of proportion that this interview had been much longer than the actual attack itself.
"Yeah…" Kevin said, thoughtful, and I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. But then he squared his shoulders and flipped his notebook closed. "Guess not."
"OK. Well we might need you to come down to the station tomorrow and make a formal statement," Kenya said. "Assuming you're pressing charges?"
"Will he…I mean…are you gonna take him away?" I asked in a small voice. It suddenly occurred to me that they might just walk out of here and leave Long Shadow still out in the bar. Sure this time I knew my attacker, and I had a bar full of witnesses, but at the end of the day Long Shadow had hit a waitress, once. It wasn't exactly a felony and probably a lot closer some kind of domestic squabble. Maybe they'd just tell him not to do it again and consider that fulfilling their duty?
Kenya gave me a very serious look. "Oh no. We'll take him in. Hitting a woman's real serious." She paused, and shifted her stance a little. "Say, uh, you got hit the other week, too, didn't you Sookie?"
"Oh. That." It seemed so long ago now. I had really been having a rough time of it. I gave myself a mental shake so I didn't descend any further down the road of self-pity. "That was just a good –old run-of-the-mill accident in the home. I walked into a cupboard door that'd been left open." I finished with a smile, hoping that would sell my story.
Kenya pressed her lips together and glanced at Kevin, then back at me. "Well, you know. If you're ever in trouble, police are just a phone-call away, Sookie. Don't, uh…don't stay where you're not safe just to prove a point, OK?"
I nodded obediently, and hoped they'd leave it at that. They did. After checking the details they had for me were correct, they said they'd probably see me tomorrow, and they left. And then Eric arrived. I wondered if he'd been lurking in the corridor waiting to see Kevin and Kenya come out, but I decided I didn't want to know.
He came over to where I was sitting, and crouched down next to me. "That go OK?" he asked.
"Yeah. I think. I might have to go over it again tomorrow, but I think that's it for now."
Eric considered that. "Did they ask why he hit you?"
"Yep." I nodded. Eric looked like he was waiting for me to say something more. "I said, um…you know…about the missing money?" That finished as a question. I got the feeling Eric was expecting something from me, and I suddenly wasn't sure I'd done the right thing.
"That's what happened," Eric said, quietly. "And now they're going to investigate that, as well. Things don't look all that great for Long Shadow at the moment."
"No," I agreed. "But it won't get the money back."
Eric shrugged, but you could see that he cared a lot more about that than he was letting on. "I'm just sorry you got mixed up in it all."
It was tempting to tell him it was a little late for that, but I didn't. Instead I let him take me in his arms and hug me.
The hug was all too brief. "I should go back out there. They're interviewing that Claude guy." Eric looked at me, and I didn't say anything to that.
"It was very, uh, lucky that he was here," Eric said.
"Yep, it was." I was going to have to thank Claude properly. For all that he made me uneasy he'd proven himself to be a real friend to me tonight.
"Did you know he was going to come in?" Eric asked, and I thought the question was a little strange.
"No. But I mean, it's a bar…people come in for a drink. He'd been in last night as well." And he'd been talking to Long Shadow. Was that a coincidence or something more? I didn't know, and I wasn't about to start making unfounded accusations about Claude to Eric. I'd done that once already tonight and look where it had got me.
"I guess," Eric agreed, without actually sounding all that convinced. "OK. I'll go and see how the police are doing." He stood up and walked out and I sank back into the chair and tried to relax a little.
And then Karin opened the door and walked in. "I just need to get my purse," she said, not really looking at me.
"Are you going?" I asked her, as she walked around to where the purse was sitting beside Eric's desk.
"Yes. Bill's going to give me a lift to the motel I'm staying at." At least she wasn't staying with Eric, although maybe that was down to the fact that Pam was already there. I couldn't imagine the two of them sharing the same bathroom.
"Bill's good like that," I murmured, more so I'd have something to say than anything else.
Karin bent down to pick up her purse from the floor by Eric's desk, and then looked at me. "Yeah…he seems to know you quite well."
I shrugged. "We're neighbours." I realised the bag of ice I was still holding to my face was pretty much just a bag of water now, and I set it down on the desk.
"And are you anything else…?"
"Not now." There didn't seem to be much point giving Karin some big elaborate description of what had been between us. Bill and I were done and dusted.
"Well…I'm sure he's sad about that," Karin said, and I got the feeling that maybe she wasn't seeing much of a future with Bill. I guessed it was to be expected. She was just passing through after all.
I shrugged. I tried not to spend much time thinking about what Bill thought about me. It just didn't seem a very useful past-time now I'd made the decision we were not to be. Plus, recently at least, I'd had a great many other things that were taking up space in my brain.
Karin looked thoughtful for a moment. "At least everything worked out OK tonight," she said, as she started to walk past me.
I had known she wasn't my biggest fan, and the feeling was mostly mutual, but I was still a little shocked at that. I guess she read that in my expression as, before I could actually form a reply, she waved her hand a little to show that she didn't really mean that as it sounded. "I mean…for Eric. Or the bar, anyway."
"It did?" I asked. I didn't know that having members of staff beating each other up behind the bar really made this a local hang-out that people actually wanted to hang out in. Surely it couldn't have been good for business.
"Well don't you think so?" Karin frowned at me. "I mean, obviously you getting hurt was unfortunate but generally speaking it wasn't a bad night."
"In what way?" I asked slowly, not sure that I was following along with Karin's train of thought, and really not sure that I wanted to.
"Because Long Shadow's gone now. And Eric's had the opportunity to tell the police about the theft, without actually having to produce any real evidence. The violence has been enough to get the ball rolling and put him under suspicion. I mean, maybe they won't actually be able to prove he stole that money either, but he's out either way, and he can't really claim Eric got rid of him unfairly."
"Oh. OK." That did all make sense; I just wondered why I hadn't seen it that way. And then something occurred to me.
"Do you think Eric thought it would happen?"
Karin looked a little shifty. "I couldn't say. But you know what he's like…" she trailed off and searched my face. "You do know, right?"
I wasn't sure what the right answer was here. Too much bravado and I risked not learning something that might be potentially useful. Confess to the fact I didn't know all that much about Eric, and Karin would most likely think me naïve. It wasn't a great choice either way.
I shrugged. "I know he was mighty upset about Long Shadow taking the money."
"Well Eric doesn't take very kindly to people trying to beat him. He likes to win. At all costs." She stopped again. "I guess maybe you're a little new to Team Eric, huh?"
"There's a team?" This was news to me. "I mean, I thought I was on Team Save-the-Bar."
"Aren't they one and the same?" I didn't really have an answer to that question, but Karin didn't press me for one. I think that was answer enough.
I decided to ask her something. "And are you? Still on Team Eric I mean?"
Karin laughed at that. "Oh, well. I don't think you ever get to leave. Not really. I mean, sure Eric's been pissed at me in the past and I was certainly not his favourite person for a while there but I'm still here, aren't I?"
"You got him fired," I blurted out, and then I realised how bad it sounded. Karin shrugged it off though.
"I wrote a report which said that his reckless decision making really had no place in an investment firm in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis. The decisions taken on the basis of that report really weren't my doing."
"So…he was playing to win? Then?"
"And not really caring that much about the consequences. He was a dinosaur, and his time was passed." I thought that was a pretty heartless way to talk about someone who'd been your boss and sometime lover, but things seemed to be different in Karin's world. Maybe in Eric's world too. "But that's business for you," she continued. "If I learned anything from him, I learned that much from Eric. You play to win, you take the advantage when you can get it and you call in every favour you can. And that's where I come in, of course. My penance for writing that report is coming here to this shit-hole."
Ordinarily I might have been a little bit offended by Karin's description of my home town, but right then I was more concerned with the picture I was forming from all the things Karin was telling me. You might say it was a portrait of Eric, and not a very flattering one at that.
Had he just painted a big target on my back tonight, calling me into the office when Long Shadow was there? Was I really only ever going to be just another Karin to him, called on to be useful when it suited him, and discarded when it didn't?
It was a lot to think about and possibly more than a person who'd taken a blow to the face should have to deal with.
I was trying to figure out if I wanted to ask Karin anything else, or if I just wanted to pretend we'd never had this conversation when Bill stuck his head into the office. "Ah," he said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I was just seeing if Karin was ready to leave. And, uh, to check that you're OK, Sookie."
I waved a hand, hoping to signify that I was fine, while Karin walked past me and over to Bill. "I'll be there in a minute," she said. "Just, um, wait out there."
"Oh. OK." Bill didn't seem particularly thrilled at that idea. "It's a little, uh…well; the customers have all gone now."
"Eric not happy?" Karin asked, in what was probably the understatement of the year.
Bill nodded and looked like he wanted to make a quick exit, but Karin put one hand on his arm and said "I'll be right out. I just want to ask Sookie something, OK?" She flashed Bill a huge smile that made her look quite pretty.
Bill nodded at Karin, then looked past her and called out. "Goodnight, Sookie. I hope you feel better."
"Thanks, Bill." I appreciated his good wishes, but I was kind of glad he was leaving all the same.
Karin closed the door and then pulled what looked like a tuxedo jacket off the small coatrack. She pulled it on and then turned to look at me.
"I just wanted to know…" she paused. "So Bill said if I don't leave tomorrow, which I pretty much intend to because I can't imagine sticking around. But if I do stay he keeps saying he'll take me for a walk in his woods…what's that about?"
"About?"
"Yeah. What's that a euphemism for? I mean, I don't really know all the, uh, figures of speech from around here. So I'd like to be prepared, as it were." Karin's face creased in confusion.
I burst out laughing, even though it made my face hurt a little.
"What?" she asked, sounding annoyed.
"Well, it's just that. It's a walk in the woods. There's woods all around Bill's place, same as mine. On a hot day it's nice in amongst the trees."
"So…it's just a walk to look at some trees?" Karin didn't sound particularly enthusiastic.
"You get to spend time together as well," I told her.
Karin shrugged. "Or we could just have sex?"
I winced, just a little. File that under things I didn't really need to know. "I guess. If that's what you want."
Karin adopted a non-committal expression. "Meh. I'll see how the drive back to the motel goes." She put one hand on the door-handle and opened it slightly. "OK. Well, nice to meet you, Sookie. Hope your face feels better soon and that Eric, uh…" She stopped and thought about that. "Anyway, enjoy the experience of working for him. It's kinda unique."
I said "Bye, Karin," and with that she disappeared out the door, leaving me feeling more confused than ever about, well, everything.
And then the person I was most confused about walked back into his office. "Karin's gone?" Eric asked.
"Yep. Bill's giving her a ride."
Eric rolled his eyes slightly at that. "She never changes," he muttered darkly.
"Jealous?" I asked, blurting it out before I really thought about the implications. It sounded far bitchier than I would have liked and, more to the point, it sent all the wrong signals. I was not going to be that woman, the one who couldn't let go of any man she got her claws into. I'd seen Arlene lurch from man to man, always insisting the new guy was the one, and spending weeks hounding him down if he dared make a break for it. It always ended anyway, and it always ended badly. So, no, I hadn't ever wanted to end up like that.
And then I'd gone and accused the boss I'd slept with once of being jealous over some other person he'd slept with at some point in his past. I could only blame the fact that I was sore and tired and just…not dealing too well with everything right then.
"Far from it," Eric said, his voice tinged with anger. "I'd be more likely to be worried about Bill if I didn't think that at least this might at least alter your view of him."
"What view of him?" I asked, somewhat harshly. I might have been throwing accusations at Eric, but it didn't mean I was going to stand by while he threw them back at me.
"Oh, please Sookie. Don't pretend like you don't think he's your knight in shining armour, showing up every time there's a problem and fixing it for you."
"Really, Eric? Because I don't remember Bill being here the last time I got beaten up at work. It was just you and your 'what did you do to yourself this time?' attitude that night."
"Well, I'm so sorry that I'm not fucking Bill and prepared to drop everything to come and help you."
"Yep. Well, why would you when you've got Karin travelling cross-country just to sit here and go through your books. And whatever else it is Karin does for you."
Eric looked positively murderous. He took a step closer to me and I had to take a deep breath and physically will my body not to back away from him. I wasn't quite sure how we got into this fight, and I was pretty sure that, if I stopped to think about it, we weren't even fighting about anything important. But I was running on adrenaline and I would sooner die than back down now.
"Well Karin doesn't stand around accusing me of a bunch of fucking things I haven't done, Sookie. Quite frankly, I find that infinitely preferable."
"I'm sure you do. Must be nice to have lackeys like her running around. But I guess maybe she doesn't have to accuse you of anything because she already knows what you're capable of."
Eric looked a little shocked at that. "What do you mean?" he said, in a low voice that wasn't much more than a growl. I remembered how intimidating I'd found him the first time he'd interviewed me, here, in this office. I had been right then, in thinking he was scary, and maybe I was right in thinking the same thing now.
Maybe it was just all the in-between times that I'd been wrong.
I took a deep breath and thought very hard about what I wanted to say next, which I could tell tested Eric's patience. "Well?" he demanded.
"I just want to know if you planned that tonight…if Long Shadow coming after me was part of the plan when you called me into the office. Was it?" My anger had all but dissipated now, and I finished that sentence with my voice sounding as lost and confused as I suddenly felt inside.
I had, of course, wanted Eric to deny it outright, perhaps even throw a few more angry words and looks my way to show me what he thought of my preposterous idea. But he didn't.
He looked like most of the fight had gone out of him too. He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't make eye contact. "I thought he'd do something stupid. I thought he might try it here in the office. I didn't think he'd go that far. Or be that public."
"So I was the bait to get him to lose his cool so you could get him arrested or fire him, or both?"
"Sookie," Eric said, looking at me again. He looked torn. "I never, ever meant for you to get seriously hurt. If I'd thought that he'd hit you, then I wouldn't have left him alone for a second. You have to believe that."
"Do I? What's in it for me if I do Eric? Do I get the honour of staying on your team long enough to get beaten up for a third time?"
"None of this is what I wanted," Eric said, vehemently, pointing to the floor.
"No. But it was always the risk, I guess. And I hear you're big on taking risks." I stared him down.
"Fucking Karin!"
"Yeah. That's right, Eric. Blame her. Well…I'm outta here. See you." And I pushed past Eric and walked out of the office before we started fighting about Karin all over again. I didn't think she was really the problem.
The problem was, I told myself as I walked to the storeroom, that I cared a little bit too much about someone I possibly couldn't trust.
I didn't think there was a quick-fix for that.
I pulled my purse out of my locker and noted that the other lockers were open, and empty. It looked like Ginger and Dawn had been sent home, which wasn't surprising if the bar had been closed. I took a moment to think about the money we were all losing in tips, and then I took my purse and walked out into the main bar area. The only person in the whole place was Pam, who was sitting at the bar.
"Jason says he'll call you tomorrow and check that you're all right," she said, sliding off her stool. "You want a drink?" She walked around to the other side of the bar.
"Oh. Um. I don't know…"
"You've probably earned it tonight."
"OK then. Gin and tonic."
That made Pam smile to herself. "My mother always drank gin," she said. "Mother's ruin, she called it. Sometimes, it was." She poured the drink and passed it to me.
"Thanks," I said, taking a sip.
"Well, I've got the hang of it all now. I am a bartender extraordinaire!" Pam threw up her hands in an elaborate gesture. "Or, not really. I coped."
"You did," I agreed, and I took another sip.
"So how are you coping?" Pam asked, leaning on the bar and looking at me.
"Me? Oh…well. I'm OK." I took a large sip. "I may have, ah…well, I'm not sure that Eric and I are on the friendliest of terms at the moment."
"Really?" Pam asked, raising her perfect eyebrows.
"Mmm." I looked down at the surface of the bar. "I didn't appreciate being used as bait for Long Shadow."
"Bait?" Pam's forehead creased.
"Yeah. I mean, that was the gamble Eric took, wasn't it?" I looked at Pam, but her face wasn't giving anything away and she maintained her expression of mild interest. "That he'd come after me, and then Eric would have a real reason for throwing him out on his ass." I sighed a little, and touched a hand to my face, which was still tender.
"Well…I don't know," Pam said, and she sounded as though she genuinely didn't.
"I mean taking risks is one thing, but this was…risking me."
Pam looked thoughtful. "Have you been talking to Karin?" she asked.
"A little. But that hardly changes what happened."
"No," Pam said, slowly, as she straightened up. "No, but it puts a particular spin on things. And Karin is all about slapping Eric on the wrist for what she considers risky, and not realising she's not much better. She might do what she does in the name of efficiency and maintaining shareholder returns, but she's not sticking around to face the consequences of her slashing and burning. They don't call her Karin the Slaughterer for nothing."
"Oh. They do?" I asked. Pam nodded. That didn't sound like a nickname I'd want to be given. "Maybe I should have warned Bill?"
"I think Bill will be fine for one night. And she's more likely to want to point out inefficiencies in his operating model than actually dismember him, but the effect can be equally brutal when you're on the receiving end."
"Right." But that didn't really solve the central problem with Eric.
"And she's a little…um…single-minded, I guess you'd say. She lacks a view of the bigger picture. And she wears too much black." Pam wrinkled her nose.
"So tell me, great oracle behind the bar," I said, and I wondered if perhaps I'd been gulping my drink when I should have been sipping. "What is the bigger picture here?"
"Not all risks are bad," Pam said simply, like that was the most obvious thing. "And everyone has to risk something sometime."
"Yes, but there's a difference, isn't there?" I asked. "Between risking a broken heart to be with the woman you love, and risking…well, no one knew what Long Shadow might do, did they? So that was probably the first problem."
"Well, yes," Pam said. "But I wasn't actually talking about Miriam and me."
"Oh." That made me feel a little bad, like I'd been tossing around the name of Pam's departed wife in vain. Of course getting hit in the face wasn't anywhere near as bad as being widowed.
"I was thinking more about the time Eric asked me to marry him," Pam said simply, like I already knew that story.
I began to wonder if I'd gulped that whole gin and tonic down in one go. "He did?" I asked, confused about where this was going.
"Yes. When it looked as though I might not be able to retain my right to work here. We threw an engagement party and everything. Karin got a little drunk and made out with a waiter by the restaurant bathrooms. Other than that, it was a very pleasant evening."
"But you didn't actually get married?"
"No. We didn't need to, in the end. My employer's sponsorship proved to be good enough and I got the visa I needed. We told everyone the engagement hadn't worked out, and carried on as before." Pam watched me closely to see how I was taking this tale. "The point of all of this is, Sookie, that he would have gone through with it. He would have married me, and risked whatever repercussions that had for him, because he was my friend."
"So, he's normally good to his friends?"
"Loyalty is one of Eric's strong suits, even if it's sometimes a little misplaced. Like his odd notion that Karin still forms part of his retinue."
"He had a retinue?"
Pam nodded. "You would have thought he did, the way they all flocked around him and hung on his every word. But that life is over now, for Eric. And this bar is what he has. And he'll do anything to protect it, and the people who work here."
"Even if it means some of them get hurt in the process?"
"I really don't think that was ever anyone's intention, Sookie. Apart from Long Shadow's, that is. He was definitely out to hurt you."
I sighed. "I know. But it still feels like I should have known what I was walking into when Eric called me in to his office. I feel like I'm out of the loop." I finished my drink. "Maybe it's time to turn in my Team Eric t-shirt?"
Pam smiled a little at that. "I can't pretend to you that Eric's perfect, or that he operates completely without any self-interest, but then I couldn't say that about anyone. Not even myself." She gave me a big grin, and then winked at me.
Sadly her good humour wasn't as catching as she'd probably hoped it would be, and I was left with a gnawing worry in the pit of my stomach. "I don't really know…what I…" I paused. "I'm just more confused than ever." I felt like I was going in circles.
"I think you need a good night's sleep and a fresh start in the morning," Pam said, coming around the bar and patting me on the shoulder. "And then you'll just have to take it from there. I can't make any decisions for you."
"No. Guess not."
At that moment Eric walked into the bar and looked from me to Pam and back again. "Everything all right?" he asked, darkly.
"Super," Pam replied. "Sookie was just heading home. She's had a rough night." Pam picked up my purse off the bar.
Eric glared at Pam, as though daring her to challenge him about my injuries, but she didn't. She just held my arm and started walking, pulling me along with her. She started to steer me past Eric, but he put a hand on my other arm and I had to stop.
"I really am sorry you were hurt," he said.
"I know you are," I said, as sincerely as I could. "But I really just wish I'd known the whole plan before it happened. I don't expect you to tell me every little detail of your life, but things that I'm involved in…work things…Eric, I just want to know ahead of time, OK?"
He nodded. "It's just a good thing Claude was there," I said, as I started to walk off again.
"Yes," Eric said behind me, but it didn't sound like he agreed with me. I couldn't bring myself to muster much concern about that. I felt like I'd mended all the fences I was going to with Eric tonight, and if he was feeling sore about another guy being the one to subdue Long Shadow, he was just going to have to deal with that one on his own.
Pam and I walked out into the corridor out the back. "So, Claude seemed to be very interested in you tonight, Sookie?" Pam asked, in a determinedly conversational tone. The question seemed loaded however.
"He wanted to visit with me. I don't know why. I'm hardly his type!" I laughed, but Pam didn't join in.
"Yes…" she said slowly. "The police that were here talked to him for a while before he left. They seemed to know him." She waited for my response.
"Maybe they do? I barely know him, though, so I can't say what their relationship might be."
"No. Well, it's all most interesting. And, as you said, just lucky he was there." She finished off brightly, but her eyes looked a little worried. She released my arm and then gathered all of me up in a hug.
"Goodnight, Sookie," she said, kissing me lightly on the cheek. She handed me my purse and then she turned to go back to the bar, and I walked out into the parking lot.
The rain had finally stopped, which I was glad of, but the air smelt moist and felt thick. The spotlight shone out into the parking lot, illuminating all the puddles I'd have to avoid on my way to the car, if I didn't want to drive home with wet socks.
It also illuminated someone I couldn't avoid, not when he was standing right there, beside my car, not caring at all that he was visible to anyone who might be out here beside the mosquitoes and the frogs. Quite possibly he was enjoying his moment in the spotlight.
"I'm so glad you're here," Claude said, as though he'd run into me at a church barbeque. "I've been waiting to talk to you all night."
"What about?" I asked.
Claude rolled his eyes and waited for a moment, clearly relishing the dramatic impact. "Because, Sookie, I want this bar."
"This…bar?"
"Yes. And I want you to get it for me."
And just at the point when I thought my night couldn't get any stranger, I was plunged down a whole other rabbit-hole.
"I…what? You want the bar?" I stammered, and Claude gave me a rather pitying look, like I was the slow member of the class.
"I want to move on from Hooligan's. Working with your family is only fun in very small doses. And I want my own bar. This bar."
"But it's not for sale," I said.
"No, but I have it on good authority that it's not doing so well. The vultures are circling you might say." Claude drew some circles in the air to illustrate his point.
"What authority?"
Claude gave me a long, hard stare. "Maybe it is true what they say about blondes," he said, rather rudely. Any good feeling I had towards Claude earlier in the evening was rapidly dissipating. "You know it's really rather obvious if you think about it."
"Excuse me for not being at my sharpest. I got hit earlier tonight."
"I remember. I also remember saving you from being hit again, and I'm not sure you're really all that grateful." Claude's words were laced with menace and for a fleeting moment I was scared of him. But then he relaxed and smiled again and seemed a little less threatening.
I sure hoped he was, anyway.
"I am grateful. I'm just confused about what's going on here. And what you expect me to do!" I was frustrated now, more than scared. I just wanted Claude to shut up, move out of my way, and let me go home.
Claude sighed dramatically, and folded his arms across his chest. "Let me break it down for you, Sookie. Your friend Long Shadow has been making his presence known at Hooligan's. He took quite a shine to Claudine."
"He did?"
"Yes. When she danced. He started trying to get her attention by throwing his money around. Said he owned this bar. But, when I asked him about it, he confessed that he was just the manager, and that the bar wasn't doing all that well."
"Partially because of him," I pointed out.
"Yes, yes. Whatever!" Claude didn't sound interested in that side of the story. "And so I asked him a few questions and, eventually, we struck a deal. He'd help me get the bar, make sure I was first in line to buy when the time came, and I would get him some time with Claudine."
And I had thought harsh thoughts about Jason. "You'd sell your own sister for a bar?"
"No. But I'd get her date for one. Honestly Sookie, don't be so small-minded. It's not very becoming." I made a face and then regretted it when Claude glared at me. I checked myself and decided not to provoke him.
"Go on," I said.
"Sooo, then I ran into you and you intrigued me. I asked Long Shadow and he was just full of information about how much time you spent with the boss and what you-all were up to."
"He's not telling the truth."
"Mmm, maybe he embellished it a little. He was quite detailed. I guess he spends a lot of quality personal time with the internet." Oh, euw. That was a thought I really wished Claude hadn't voiced.
But he carried on. "So I came out here to have a look around last night, and, sure enough, there you were. And tonight I just wanted to have a little chat…but Long Shadow decided to act up and now…here we are. And look at you, all safe and sound, thanks to me!"
"And…for that I owe you?"
"Maybe just a little?" Claude said, holding out his thumb and forefinger just an inch or so apart. And then he laughed.
"So…you think that I can, somehow, persuade Eric that he should sell the bar to you?"
"I think we know what the somehow is, Sookie," Claude said, smoothly.
"And I should do it because you stopped Long Shadow?"
"Well, it's nice to reward those who help you." Claude just kept on smiling.
"And…if I don't? Because, as grateful as I am, I just…I can't see myself doing it."
"Well, if you don't then I guess I don't get my club," Claude pouted. "Which is a shame, because it was going to be lovely. And I was going to bring Claudine with me…just as a choreographer, not a dancer. I think she'd like that. A lot. Certainly it would make it easier to run that studio of hers if people don't think she's a stripper, wouldn't it?"
"Yes. And I want to help her, but I'm sorry Claude. I'm not doing whatever it is you think I'll do to get Eric to sell you the bar."
"Sookie, you're failing to grasp that you've already crossed the line by sleeping with the boss…"
I butted in. "I never said I had." My voice sounded hard, but it bounced straight off Claude.
"You didn't say you hadn't either. Tell me Sookie, what's he like?"
I kept my mouth resolutely shut, and Claude laughed again. It was quite clear that he was laughing at me, and I didn't appreciate it all. "Not spilling the bedroom secrets, huh? Pity. Oh well." He shrugged, and turned and I thought that might be the end of it, and that he might just leave then because I wouldn't help him. But it seemed like Claude had one last card to play. He put his hand to his chin, looking thoughtful.
"You know," he said, slowly. "I guess if you won't help it'll be back to my original plan and I'll have to get Long Shadow to, uh, put in a good word for me."
"I don't think that'll work now," I pointed out.
"No. But it might be worth a try." Claude shrugged. "Just a shame he's in a police cell right now, trying to make bail. I doubt he will, of course." And then Claude dropped the nonchalance and gave me a long, hard look. He stopped looking handsome, and, under the harsh glare of the spotlight, he just looked mean and ugly. "Unless someone steps in and helps him out, that is. Bet he'd be real glad to get out sooner rather than later." And then he leaned in close, so he could whisper in my ear. "I'm quite sure," he said, "that Long Shadow won't be happy with just taking your purse." He gave me one last dazzling smile, before he turned and walked off into the darkness, where I heard the beep of a car door being unlocked, and then an engine starting, and, finally, the crunch of tyres on gravel as he drove off.
I stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do. Should I go back inside and tell Eric about Claude, or just go home?
In the end tiredness and my earlier fight with Eric won out. I wasn't in the mood to have that conversation with him right then. It could wait until tomorrow. I doubted Claude was going to bail Long Shadow out right away. Not until he knew which way I was going to jump.
And, right at that point in time, I wasn't one hundred per cent sure myself.
I unlocked my car, and drove off into the night.
So in a week's time I am off on holiday overseas for about four weeks, with the family in tow. Goodness knows if I'll have time to write, or any internet connection if I do, so this may be the last chapter until August. If it is, know the story is not forgotten and I will finish it up.
Thanks for reading!