A little interlude this time, sorry for the brevity.

Part 38

"Oh hell no!" Tara nearly leapt out of the brocade chair she had been inhabiting since we had arrived. We were at Lafayette's house, Tara had been alternating her living arrangements for quite awhile between Sookie's house and his, but since the murder she had settled herself a little more permanently with her cousin. I did not mind that at all. She seemed quite defensive when I asked her if she knew anything about Sam's death.

"Don't you even go there Eric!" Lafayette was actually holding her down in the chair as he stood behind her. He was a smart boy, her cousin. Pissing off Vampires is never a good idea. For my part I held my emotions in check, and my fangs retracted. "I had nothing to do with his murder!" She yelled at me.

"And I never said that you did Tara." I kept my tone even which appeared to infuriate her even more.

"I haven't even seen him since I quit!" She countered, not quite listening to my words, thinking herself a step ahead of me. I was trying very hard not to play her game.

"Why did you quit Tara?" Sookie's calm, quiet voice seemed to diffuse a little bit of Tara's anger, at least momentarily.

"I got tired of the way he was treating me."

I looked up at Lafayette, just to see what his reaction was. As far as I knew he was still working at Merlotte's. I saw his chest rise and fall with a deep sigh paired with a resigned smile. Apparently he also had his doubts about her professed motivation. But he was smart enough not to question her.

"I don't deserve to be treated like trash." Tara continued, oblivious to my change in focus.

"Tara," Sookie began again, leaning forward to just take her hands. Tara snapped backwards.

"Don't you be looking into my head Sookie, my thoughts are private!" This girl had a chip on her shoulder the size of an I-beam.

"Tara?" Sookie looked very hurt at the accusation. "Tara, I would never do that to you. I just need to ask you if you and Sam had been in a relationship."

"Why? Why do you need to know that? Why do you need to know any of this Sookie? Leave it alone! Let the police handle it, you aren't a detective, what does it matter to you?" The rapidity with which the statements tumbled from her mouth betrayed her obvious anxiety.

"Sam was my friend Tara, and yours too. I don't know what was happening with him, and maybe I should have, maybe it would have made a difference." I felt the sorrow flood through our bond, but I continued to keep my anger in check for her sake.

"You can't save everyone Sookie!" My beauty trembled with the rage thrown at her, but she kept up her questions.

"Holly said that Sam was flirting with you."

"Did she now? What else did the bitch say?" Tara cocked her head in that way she had, asking her audience to recognize her indignation. I had to step in; I was tired of her attitude and what it was doing to Sookie.

"Did you quit because Sam stopped sleeping with you?" Her head snapped back to face me. I heard Lafayette's indrawn breath and saw the muscles on his arms tense.

"And started sleeping with Holly? Or maybe it was the redhead he took to his office for an hour, locking the door behind them?" She countered.

"What?" And that was Sookie, who obviously had respected the order of her so-called friend.

"Some redheaded tramp, came in with a briefcase, asked to speak with Sam, looking like a lawyer, but she wasn't."

"How do you know?" That was my question of Tara.

"She didn't seem right." And apparently that was enough for Tara Thornton to judge a person's character and profession.

"When was this?" I continued.

"The day I quit." She crossed her arms. If ever 'a woman scorned' had a face, it was there in Tara. "So? Do you think I killed him Eric?"

"No Tara, I don't. Whoever killed Sam made a clean, efficient job of it," I felt Sookie cringe at my characterization, but I had had enough of Tara Thornton for a lifetime just then. "I doubt very much, with your passions, that you could have managed it." I then stood, and walked out of the house.

I was nearly to my car before I heard the porch door open again. I knew it wasn't Sookie, I hadn't expected her to follow me, in fact I had rather hoped that she wouldn't, and had tried to communicate as much to her through our bond. I had inflamed Tara to such a degree I thought that it was very likely that she would let slip some of the secrets she was holding inside, now that the big bad Vampire was gone. It was Lafayette that followed me.

"Eric?"

"Yes."

"You know Tara didn't do this, right?"

"Yes."

"She's just really messed up, with all the people around here who keep dying and leaving her. But she'd never hurt Sam."

"Who do you think could have done this Lafayette?"

"It couldn't have been someone around here Eric. Everybody loved Sam."

"Some more than others." I muttered, not caring if he heard me or not.

"Whoever the woman was who came to see him, I'm sure he didn't have sex with her in his office, he didn't look very happy when she left. Certainly not the face of a man who just got some from a ginger-haired beauty."

"Thank you for your candor." He nodded at me. "But can you tell me Lafayette, if Sam was changing so much, why didn't he confide any of his troubles in Sookie?"

His indulgent smile told me more than his words.

"He held it together for her Eric. If there were one person in the world that Sam would want to protect it would be Sookie. He would do anything to keep her from hurt. No offense Eric, but ever since she got caught up with you Vamps her life has been a series of sorrows, intermixed with serious harm. If Sam thought that he could do anything to keep her from any more he'd have given his life." Lafayette hesitated. "Maybe he did."

That thought gave me pause, and robbed me of any other questions I might have had for Lafayette. We simply looked at each other for a few silent moments. I did not need him to tell what was blatantly obvious; Sam had loved Sookie, it seemed she inspired that in a great many supernaturals. And we were the ones she needed protection from. I knew that I would give my immortal life for her, would it be so hard to believe that Sam would have as well? He had known her much longer than I.

I had always believed that any threat in Bon Temps would someday come around to Sookie, had Sam Merlotte stepped in front of that gun for her? Yet another thing to think about, and that thought had my gut roiling more than any of the others. When the screen door opened again I was happy to break our gaze and look over to see Sookie, alone. She walked down the steps, holding the rail a little more tightly than she needed to and went to give Lafayette a sad embrace.

"She don't mean it Sookie." He whispered to her, not that I was eavesdropping.

"I know." She shrugged her shoulders and dropped her head.

"Let me take you home Sookie. You must be exhausted." I offered, holding out my hand to her.

"I have to meet Terry tomorrow, to do the funeral planning." She said offhandedly, she sounded spent.

"You call me if you need anything darlin'" Lafayette offered as she came over to me, letting me guide her into the passenger seat of the car. I thanked him with my own silent nod, and got in beside Sookie, determined to take her away from her sadness, if not in body then in spirit, if only for a little while.