Wow, a million thanks to everyone for the amazing response to this story. All the alert, favorite story and review alerts was amazing, and totally made my day. I love it! I hope you guys like where I take this story, it should be a wild ride. I'm going to cover all the crimes committed throughout the SSN series, but with my own twist. A big thanks to my Beta, 2Tcup-Humans. Love ya bunches bud.

This chapter contains some overly descriptive matter on death, in particular corpses. If you have a weak stomach, you may wanna breeze over it. If I have made any mistakes about fact matter here, I apologize. Just going off of things I have heard from my Dad or from watching to much Cold Case and CSI. :P

SPOV

"I'm guessing since we're heading toward your hometown to help out the local Sheriff's Department that Bon Temps doesn't get many murder cases. Am I right?"

I glanced over at Alcide for a moment, then brought my eyes back to the road. "When deaths occur it is usually from natural causes or accidental. The last recorded murder in Bon Temps was at the turn of the century. The Sheriff's Department usually deal with rowdy rednecks or drunk drivers. I can see where Dearborn is a little out of his league."

"You know the Sheriff?" Alcide asked curiously.

I shifted uncomfortably behind the wheel, my seatbelt rubbing against the polyester of my jacket, which was stifling in the August heat. "Yeah, I know who he is."

Alcide laughed. "Boy, aren't you full of information today? He's an asshole, I take it?"

"You could say that," I muttered, reaching over and hitting the AC button and turned it all the way up. I sighed happily as I felt the cool air blast my warm face. "Bud Dearborn was friends with my father, but that really didn't seem to make a lick of difference as my brother and I grew up. Bud thinks Jason and I are worthless. Jason doesn't help matters by drinking and sleeping around with every available woman in Bon Temps and the surrounding areas. I already told you what Bon Temps thinks of me, a sentiment that the Sheriff agrees with completely."

"Crazy Sookie?" Alcide said sadly, and I nodded grimly.

The ridicule that I had heard for most of my life, both verbally and mentally, had lit a fire inside me to get the hell out of Bon Temps as soon as I could and make something of myself. The reason I had been dubbed "Crazy Sookie" is easily explained; I'm a telepath. For the longest time, I had looked upon my rare talent of hearing people's thoughts as a curse. I had scared people with my knowledge of their deep, dark secrets, of knowing the things that they would rather forget. I knew the lies they told when they opened their mouth and said one thing, only to hear that they were thinking the complete opposite.

Hearing those secrets is what drove me to be a cop. I wanted to use my telepathy for good, and with the encouragement from my Grandmother, that is exactly what I did. I no longer regarded the fact that I could hear other people's thoughts as a curse. It was a gift.

"When you're different, it scares people," Alcide said softly, looking away and staring out the window at the scenery flying pass.

"Yes, it does," I agreed, silently happy that I knew at least one other person who had a secret about themselves that they couldn't openly share. There was a reason why Alcide and I got along so well with one another. When we had first started working with each other, I noticed right from the start that I couldn't read my partner, not like other people. His thoughts were garbled, fuzzy, more colored like a mood ring. I had only met one other person in my life that I was unable to read, and that had been my boss at the bar I worked at before I joined the Police Academy. His name was Sam Merlotte.

I had been intrigued by Alcide and the fact that his brain pattern was much like Sam's had been, and after much consideration, I flat out asked Alcide what he was. He had been shaken by my question, and in a show of good faith, I spilled my secret to him and told him how I could tell that he was different from normal people. He had been embarrassed, but had told me the truth in the end. He was a Werewolf.

I should have been surprised, but around the time Alcide told me that he could morph into a wolf, the Vampires had just come out of their coffins and told the world that they were real and not just fictional creatures of lore. The world has responded in different ways and for me, I just accepted the strangeness that followed their announcement, or what has become known as the Great Revelation. I wasn't completely normal myself, and who was I to judge Alcide when he was so accepting of my own special talent? He had been amazed by the prospect of me being able to read minds and had quizzed me on what he was thinking. That was when I found out I could hear him if he thought directly at me. Other than that, Alcide was like a radio station that wouldn't come into tune.

As time passed and the world became acclimatised to the presence of Vampires in everyday society, the rise in crime from and against Vampires rose alarmingly fast. Bodies were found drained of blood. The Vampires themselves were being attacked by the newly titled "drainers", people who were only interested in collecting the blood of the Vampire to sell it in back alleys or on the black market, leaving the Vampire to die. The Police Department had begun to hire a few Vampires who would work exclusively for them, especially in assisting in the detainment of Vampires who committed any crime against the human populace. The Shreveport P.D. had even gotten a silver lined van to transport the Vampires since they were exceptionally strong and silver was one of their weaknesses.

As our caseload piled up, I had made the conscious decision to use my telepathy in hand with the evidence we collected to nail any suspect that we came across. Alcide had agreed wholeheartedly to my idea, and from that point on, our arrest record was impressive. I had felt guilty at first about using my telepathy and having an unfair advantage against my fellow officers, but considering the scumbags we were putting away, I felt alleviated of any guilt.

Alcide and I, along with our new Vampire Detective Rasul, had come to think of ourselves as the Supe Squad. The Lieutenant put us on the cases that reeked of the Supernatural, and considering the fact that neither of us could be glamoured (Rasul had tested us, it s a form of hypnosis from a Vampire), we felt comfortable in our new assignment.

The forty five minute trip to Bon Temps went quickly, a drive I could easily make in my sleep since I commuted here almost every weekend to see my Grandmother and Jason. Finding the apartment complex that Maudette lived in was simple enough, and I just followed the flashing lights of the Bon Temps Sheriff's Department patrol cars to find the right house.

"Jesus, the circus come to town?" Alcide muttered as he saw the massive crowd of people that stood behind the barricade that had been set up.

"You'd think so, huh? Bon Temps thrives on gossip. It's a way of life here. This will keep the town buzzing for at least a month," I stated. I parked as far away from the crowd as I could, wanting to steer clear of the many faces I knew in the mass of people across the way. It's not that I hid the fact that I was a police detective. Gran was so proud of me and bragged about it to anyone who would listen. I just wanted to avoid the snooping questions that I knew would be directed my way since everyone would recognize me when I stepped out of this car.

"Well, let's get this party started," Alcide said energetically and got out of the car. He called out to Diego Rivera who pulled up behind us in his Jeep. Diego was our Forensic Investigator, he would scour the crime scene for any evidence that he could find.

Pulling my Ray-Ban sunglasses off of the visor, I popped them on and stepped out into the mid morning sunshine, the heat already unbearable and the sun wasn't even at its highest point yet. Peeling my suit jacket off, I tossed it into the back seat of my Pontiac Grand Am. Adjusting the 9mm and the handcuffs that I had clipped to my belt, I plucked at the sleeveless white silk blouse I was wearing as I closed the car door and followed after Alcide and Diego.

As I ducked under the yellow police tape that had been wrapped around the perimeter of the apartment house, I lowered the mental shields I use to block out unwanted thoughts and allowed myself the opportunity to ascertain if the killer was perhaps hanging around and watching the aftermath that came from his handy work. A cacophony of voices flooded my mind, the thoughts meshed together overwhelmingly, but one was the loudest, and most certainly the angriest.

Get no respect around here. Can't believe Dearborn phoned Shreveport to have them help us on our murder investigation. I was first on the scene, this is my case. If someone else addresses me as Andy again instead of Detective Bellefleur, I'm gonna loose it. Holy shit, is the heat getting to me or is that Sookie Stackhouse walking toward me? God damn it, can't I ever get a break? Now I'm gonna have the town lunatic take over my case. Oh, I bet she is gonna love this. No good, bat shit crazy Stackhouses'...

Hearing nothing but Andy's pity party, I threw my shields back into place, thankful that I had the foresight to put my sunglasses on which hid the hurt I'm sure was reflected in my eyes at his less than kind thoughts of me. Andy Bellefleur was the Grandson of the richest woman in town, and the Bellefleur family always acted like they were better than anyone else. I suppose when you had money you couldn't afford the manners.

Suck it up, Sookie, I thought to myself. It s time to show these bozos what you can really do.

"Are you Sheriff Dearborn?" I heard Alcide ask the grizzled older man with the mustachio and the Stetson on his head. His dark brown eyes looked over Alcide and Diego, than flicked over to me as I joined them to stand just outside the front door to Maudette's apartment. He nodded his head.

"Lieutenant Whitley sent us over to help you with your investigation. I'm Detective Herveaux, this is Rivera, and I assume you know Detective Stackhouse?" Alcide asked, glancing at me over the top of Diego's head.

"Yes, nice to meet you both. Hi, Sookie," he said rather awkwardly, Andy standing a little behind him, dabbing a handkerchief against his receding hairline which was moist with perspiration.

"Hello, Sheriff Dearborn. Andy." I smiled slightly as Andy's face twitched that I addressed him by his first name and not as Detective Bellefleur.

"Well, we'll show you on back to the body," Sheriff Dearborn said, but Diego spoke up.

"The fewer people in that room, the better. Who knows how much evidence has already been compromised by the amount of people coming in and out this place." Diego was a small man, his words tinged with a Spanish accent. He wasn't afraid of speaking his mind, and he pissed off quite a few people with his quest in finding the clues that would lead us to our suspect.

Sheriff Dearborn's face flushed in anger. "Are you sayin' that we don't know how to walk a crime scene?"

Diego shifted the metal suitcase he held from one hand to the other. "Since you called us for help, I have to assume that you and your people don't know that you need to walk in a circle at a crime scene to make sure that nothing that is deemed invaluable to this investigation is destroyed by negligence to detail. If you feel I am insulting you and your officers, I can go back to Shreveport. I have more than enough to keep me busy."

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as both Dearborn and Andy blustered a bit, probably trying to figure out some of the bigger words that Diego had used. Diego Rivera had come to us from Los Angeles, where he was born and raised. He was as smart as a whip and had never let me down with the analysis of his lab work. I really enjoyed working with him.

"No, no, I don't want you to leave. You have to understand this is the first murder in Bon Temps in over a hundred years. People around here trust each other, we don't even lock our doors. Ask Sookie. This is new territory for all of us," Dearborn said, flicking his Stetson up a bit to reveal the sweat stains on the inside rim of the hat.

"Sheriff, if we could please just go on through by ourselves. I assure you that we will speak and compare notes after we view the crime scene," I said in a soothing voice, removing my sunglasses and tucking them into the open collar of my shirt.

Without another word I led the way into the house, Alcide and Diego following after me and leaving Dearborn and Andy on the front porch, whispering to each other furiously.

Maudette's apartment was sparsely furnished, just the bare necessities in the living room and the kitchen. Walking by the couch, we entered the short hallway that led to the bedroom and bathroom. Diego stopped out in the hallway and opened his silver suitcase, sorting out the tools that he needed to process the scene.

Stepping into the room, I moved to the side of the door as Alcide stepped the opposite way. Under a window sat the double bed, and sprawled naked across the top of the blankets was Maudette. She was laying on her back with her arms spread out wide. Her legs were open, and I could see the bruising on her inner thighs from where I stood. Walking the edge of the room, I got close to the bed and looked down at her neck. She was definitely strangled, and by the looks of it, a rope or a belt had been used. The ligature bruising was thick, and quite deep. Whoever did this to her was very strong.

I glanced at Maudette's face, her eyes still open and staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. The horror she had experienced in the last minutes of her life were still mirrored in the glassy gaze, and I had to look away.

I still remember when I saw my first corpse, it is something you never forget, like your first kiss. It was my first year on patrol and there had been a massive traffic accident on the interstate. Several of us had responded to the call and when I had arrived with my partner, the severity of the pile up was quite clear. It had rained during the day, and that night, the temperatures had plummeted, turning the roads into a skating rink. A car had spun out and hit another, and like a row of dominoes, one car after another collided.

Up to that point, I had just dealt with speeding tickets, noise complaints or domestic violence calls. I had never seen a dead body before. In the chaos that reined in rounding up the survivors and getting them into the ambulances, I heard a small child screaming for her mother. I followed the panicked thoughts of the child and upon finding her, I saw that she was trapped in the backseat, her legs pinned against the drivers seat. Her mother had flown through the window and was lying dead on the hood, her head busted open and brain matter everywhere.

I had almost lost it right there, but I focused on the child and had begun to sing "Mary had a little Lamb" over and over again, without realizing it. I had only come out of my shocked state and became aware of where I was when my Sergeant had pried the child from my arms to transfer her into an ambulance. I don't even remember how I got her out of the car. My partner had driven me home that night and I had been given three days off to recover from the tragedy I had seen. I had crawled into my shower and bawled my eyes out.

I had seen many corpses since then, and with each one, I toughened up a bit more, allowing myself to feel the numbness that came over me so I could do my job without stressing out over a dead body. Staring at Maudette now, I felt different and I chalked it up to the fact that I had known this woman at one point in my life. All the other corpses I had seen were strangers. It was an odd feeling seeing someone I knew, murdered.

Looking up at Alcide, I saw him taking notes as he studied the body, as well. Quietly, I whispered, "Do you smell anything?"

Alcide shook his head. "Too many people have been in this room. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint the suspects scent even if I tried." That was a shame. Alcide had solved a few of our cases because of his keen sense of smell.

Diego came into the room at that moment with his state of the art camera and began shooting pictures of the body. I stood to the side and looked down at the floor, not noticing anything strange or out of place. It was safe to say that the murder weapon was not going to be found here.

Careful of where I stepped, I came closer to the bed and stared at the fang marks on Maudette's leg. They looked to be several days old, and with the cases I worked, I could tell the old from the new. I looked over my shoulder at Alcide and pointed at the marks. He shook his head, understanding my silent question.

She wasn't drained, I don't smell blood in the air. Alcide thought the words at me since Diego was in the room, and I nodded in understanding.

If Maudette still had every ounce of blood, it was safe to say that a Vampire probably didn't kill her. There was no way that a Vampire would pass up fresh blood.

After a few more minutes spent looking around the room and re-examining the body for any other fang marks that might have been missed, I left Alcide and Diego in the room to go speak with Sheriff Dearborn and Andy. I found them waiting in the living room.

"And, what do you think?" Sheriff Dearborn asked immediately when he saw me.

Instead, I answered a question with a question. "Did you guys find anything strange or out of place when you arrived on scene?"

Andy puffed himself out a bit, trying to look important. "When I got here, I noticed a camera here by the T.V. Seems Maudette had a thing for recording herself when she had company over. I found several tapes stashed under the television and Kenya put them in her car. Maudette might have recorded herself with the killer."

I nodded, agreeing. "Just make sure that the tapes are kept out of the sun. They will melt, otherwise."

Andy's eyes bugged slightly and he moved quickly out the front door, calling for Kenya. I looked back at Sheriff Dearborn. "Have you questioned the neighbors, did they hear or see anything?"

Sheriff Dearborn looked at me strangely. "Yes, we did. They said that it wasn't uncommon for Maudette to have men coming in and out of this place on a regular basis. She had a...reputation. But as far as hearing or seeing anything that was unusual, no."

I tapped my chin as I walked to the front door, examining the door jam and the handle. "No forced entry, so she let the guy in. She had to have known him." I turned and looked around the living room closely. Everything was in place, just like in the bedroom. "Nothing is broken, the furniture isn't moved, so that means no struggle took place."

"This is weird," Sheriff Dearborn said, just as Andy came back into the apartment, his face flushed from his mad dash to find Kenya.

I glanced up at Dearborn. "What is?"

"This," he gestured to me, "you, being a Detective. Never in my wild imaginings did I ever think I would be talking about a murder investigation with you."

I cocked my head and folded my arms. "Well, I worked very hard to get where I am. I'm very good at my job, and while I agree its weird to be standing in Maudette Pickens living room while she is laying naked and dead in the next room, I think now is the time to stop thinking of me as "Crazy Sookie Stackhouse" and start concentrating on the case at hand. Now, when was the body found?"

Maudette was found at 7:23 a.m. this morning by the apartment manager Douglas Ferdinand and by her boss Harris Berkeley. After speaking with both men and listening in on their thoughts during questioning, I found that they both spoke truthfully and were hiding nothing, and the only thing Harris was guilty of was propositioning Maudette at work. No wonder he was so concerned when she didn't show up for work yesterday or today. She had promised him some action that he had been looking forward too.

"Sookie, do you think those bite marks on Maudette's leg mean that maybe a Vampire did her in?" Andy asked after I finished questioning the two men.

"I wouldn't rule a Vampire out, but in my opinion, I don't think it was one. The bite marks are several days old and once the autopsy is done, I'm sure you will find that she is still in possession of all her blood. A Vampire wouldn't pass that up, that would be considered a waste."

"Hmmm," Andy said thoughtfully, and I quickly listened in on what he was thinking. Portia said that a new Vampire came to town last week. I wonder if he could have done this? Damn bloodsuckers, wish they never came out of their caskets.

I schooled my features to hide my surprise that a Vampire had taken up residence here in Bon Temps. This was such a small town, what draw did it have, especially for a Vampire? "What is it, Andy?" I decided to be nice this once and ask what had him so pensive, even though I already knew.

"Well, Portia was telling me at the end of last week that a Vampire moved to town. I guess he just moved into the old Compton Estate. Maybe we should question him," Andy explained, and this time, I couldn't hide my surprise.

"What? The old Compton Estate? You're sure of this?" I asked sharply, uncomfortable with the idea that Gran had a Vampire living so close to her. It wasn't that I was prejudice against them, but I knew that many of them thought of humans as the lesser species and could be quite cruel when they wanted to be. Perhaps stopping by and questioning him wasn't such a bad idea. I could ask him about his whereabouts once we had Maudette's time of death, and while I was at it, I could get an idea of what kind of Vampire he was.

The old Compton Estate was on one side of Sweet Home Cemetery, and Gran's house was on the opposite border. I had hassled her many times to come live with me in Shreveport, but she was as stubborn as a mule about leaving Bon Temps. Gran didn't want to leave the family house behind, and while I understood the feelings she had for the house, it didn't help my worry that she lived alone out in an isolated area.

"Yes, I'm positive it was the old Compton Estate. Don't worry Sookie, your Gran is a tough, old bird," Andy joked, but I just narrowed my eyes at him, unamused. I would like to see how Andy would act if his Grandmother, Caroline Bellefleur, lived next door to a possible murder suspect. He'd be having puppies.

I went to check on Alcide and Diego, and upon entering the room, I cringed. It was heading into the early afternoon and the heat of the day was not helping with the smell that was now coming off of Maudette's body. There was a reason dead bodies were refrigerated; it prolonged the decaying process. Even Alcide look sickened, his nose more affected by it then my own.

"How you guys doing in here?" I asked, trying to breathe through my mouth.

"We've finished processing the body. I have found some trace evidence on Maudette. There was some rope fibers hidden in the crook of her shoulder, so we know what the murder weapon was. I need to run some comparisons with the thickness of the rope to try to find what kind was used. Her fingernails are broken so I scraped under the nail, hopefully it will turn up some skin tissue. She had dried semen on her stomach, along with a few pubic hairs. We need to compare the pubic samples with her own to make sure that the hair is not her own, but I'm pretty sure they aren't. I have a feeling we are dealing with a necrophiliac. The coroner will have to take her core body temperature to give us the estimated time of death." Diego fired all these facts at me and I shook my head in disgust.

"I think we are ready for the coroner, now." Alcide said, his lips pursing together.

It never ceased to amaze me the depravity that I witnessed on a daily basis. I mentally corrected my thoughts about Vampires from earlier; humans could be just as vicious, if not more, as Vampires.

Broken fingernails meant that Maudette fought her attacker, but she obviously didn't win the fight. The bruising on her inner thighs might have been caused postmortem, meaning that she received the bruises after her death, but the coroner would need to verify that during the autopsy. Diego had a pretty good track record of looking at a crime scene and telling us who we wanted to look for. His prediction that we were dealing with a necrophiliac was a chilling thought, but I didn't doubt his estimation.

Walking through the living room and out the front door, I breathed deeply of the fresh air as I stepped out into the sunshine. Across the street I could see that the crowd had thinned a bit, but a few of the die hards were still camped out and I could just make out Mrs. Fortenberry's large straw hat and her bright pink kimono.

Mike Spencer was Renard Parish's coroner and owned the local funeral home. He had backed his black van into the driveway and had the back doors open and waiting, a stretcher at the ready. I approached and smiled at him, and he extended his hand toward me.

"Sookie Stackhouse, how you doing, girlie?" Mike asked me as I took his hand and shook it. I didn't really like touching people too much; it made it harder to block unwanted thoughts. I didn't want to appear rude though, plus my Gran wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I had forgotten my manners.

Man, what I wouldn't give to stick my face in-between those luscious tits. I snatched my hand away quickly, not wanting to hear the rest of what he wanted to do. When I heard things like that, it made me want to stun gun someone. I had grown up hearing the inappropriate things that many of the men in Bon Temps wanted to do to me, including my Uncle.

That was half the reason I had gotten out of Bon Temps. I wanted a clean slate in a place where people didn't know every little detail of my life and judged me by it. I was respected as a Police Detective, and to be honest, that was all I ever wanted. To be respected. Being held in high esteem by my co-workers made me feel good; something that had definitely been lacking when I worked at Merlotte's trying to save money to go to the Police Academy.

"Yeah, Mike, they're ready for you to move the body," I told him instead of answering his question. Turning, I walked to the side of the apartment house for some privacy and whipped my cell phone out. I called Lieutenant Whitley and updated him on what was going on with the case.

"Have you viewed the tapes, yet?" he asked after I explained everything that we had found.

"Not yet. The Sheriff's Department has them."

"Once you guys are done there, I want Alcide to go view them. Get Diego to come back to Shreveport so he can begin processing the evidence. I think you should go to your grandmother's house and see if you can glean any information about this new Vampire living across the cemetery from her. Do you feel up to staying after dark to question him if I send Rasul your way?"

"Sounds like a plan," I said. "I would stay and go over there anyway, regardless. I want to see what kind of man is living next to my grandmother and if I should be worried about it."

"Okay. Call me if you find anything out."

"I will." I hung up with Whitley and was just in time to see the stretcher being rolled out the front door with a black body bag lying on it. I heard the voices across the street pick up in fervor, obviously happy that their diligence had finally paid off. I rolled my eyes. I wondered at how delighted they would be if they had seen Maudette lying naked and strangled on her bed and how long they would have had nightmares from the experience. I think it's safe to say that Douglas Ferdinand and Harris Berkeley weren't going to be sleeping well for some time to come.

Alcide came to stand next to me and we watched in silence as Mike loaded the body up and talked to Sheriff Dearborn.

"You call the boss?" Alcide asked, glancing down at me.

I nodded. "He wants you to go take a look at the tapes. He wants me to scout out the Vampire living across the way from my grandmother. He's gonna send Rasul over so I don't have to go alone."

"I would go with you, but you know how Vampires are about talking around Weres. If this guy is guilty of anything, it's better if you have Rasul with you." Alcide said, his eyes tracking Sheriff Dearborn as he walked over to us. Mike got into his van and began to pull away.

"Mike is gonna try to have the autopsy results by tomorrow evening, at the latest. He's gonna start today, but he is having a little get together later, so he'll continue the rest tomorrow. You guys get everything you needed?" Sheriff Dearborn asked, looking between Alcide and me.

"Diego is going to stay for awhile longer, make sure that he got everything. If you don't mind, could I catch a ride with one of you over to the Department? I would like to view the tapes with you, if that is okay?" Alcide asked smoothly.

"Sure, sure, that's just fine. Where are you going, Sookie?" Sheriff Dearborn asked me.

I pulled my sunglasses back on and pulled my keys out of my pocket. "I'm going to my Gran's house. I need to talk to her about a few things. Our Lieutenant is sending over our Vampire contact tonight, he is going to escort me over to question the new resident at the Old Compton Estate."

Sheriff Dearborn's eyes bugged slightly. "You have Vampires working for ya?"

"Yes, they are quite valuable to us. They are a guide and help in the arrests of Vampires who feel they are above the law," I answered, looking over at Alcide. "Did you wanna ride back with Diego or did you want to wait for me? I don't know how long I'll be."

"I'll ride back with Diego. He was gonna stop by the Sheriff's Department anyway before heading back to Shreveport." Alcide said, shading his eyes with his hand.

"Okay, call me if you find anything on the tapes. See ya, Sheriff Dearborn."

Jumping into my car, I turned the AC on full blast and headed out. Time to go see Gran about a Vampire.

Well, what you guys think? Sookie make a bad ass detective or what? This will be confident, strong and don't mess with me, Sookie. But of course, once Eric enters the story, he is gonna mess with her, shake her up and break down those walls. :P Don't you love it? Reviews=love.