CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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          DAKOTA SAT IN THE KITCHEN, STARING AT THE EMPTY SEAT IN FRONT OF HER. Her fingers brushed over the fading bruises on her neck absentmindedly. Her breakfast was barely finished but she had lost her appetite. The weight of having to go through her grandmothers things was heavy on her shoulders, but she felt that it was time to do so.

With a sigh, she got up from her chair and made her way upstairs. Dakota hadn't stepped foot inside Adele's room since she was murdered and everything was just as she left it.

Dakota pushed the door open, stepping inside with a heavy heart. Her bedsheets weren't made, her glasses laid on her bedside table and a fresh pair of clothes had been neatly stacked on a chair for the following day. The blonde was going to wait for Sookie to get home to start actually labelling stuff, but for now she could just take everything in on her own and put stuff away they were definitely going to keep.

Most of Adele's perfume's and jewellery ended up in the 'keep' box, stuff she couldn't part with. Dakota went through her nan's books and also put them in the box, along with journals, her glasses and sweaters. 

The blonde was about to open a new box when the doorbell rang and she uncrossed her legs to get up from the floor. Her bare feet pattered down the stairs and she stepped onto the rug, opening the door. It was Mr. Lancaster, the man from the bank and she frowned.

"Good morning," he greeted. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Dakota nodded. "Have a seat, Mr. Lancaster."

"Thank you," he smiled, taking a seat in one of the living room chairs as she sat down onto the couch, resting her hands on her lap. He had a briefcase with him and she wondered if everything was alright with the house.

"Is there a problem with my grandmothers papers?" Dakota asked. "I know you asked for a copy of the deed to the house."

Mr. Lancaster shook his head. "Oh, no, no. It is all in order." he said, and then let out a sigh, giving her a sympathetic look. "I do have some terrible news, i'm afraid. Your great-uncle Bartlett has passed on." Dakota hadn't expected that and raised her brows. "I know it's so soon after your grandmother. This must be quite the shock."

"What happened?" she managed to ask.

"Well," Mr. Lancaster began. "the Lincoln Parish Fire Department found him a few miles south of Simsboro. He'd washed up on the shore."

"How did he go all the way down there?" Dakota frowned, though not because she was sad. Frankly, she wasn't at all and it felt as if a weight had lifted off her shoulders with the news of his passing. Dakota truly hated the man.

"The walnut creek runs behind his house." he said. "Sheriff's guessing he got too close and fell in. They're calling it an accident officially. There's no sign of burglary or forced entry in the house ... he was such a sweet old man. There'd be no reason to hurt him at all."

"There were no marks or anything on him?" Dakota asked, know Sookie had told Bill about what they had endured when they were children. 

"Well, there's gators and fish in the water, and he'd been in there for a few weeks." he said. "There's not much of a body to speak of."

"Oh, my god." Dakota breathed, wondering if Bill had anything to do with this.

"I can't tell you how truly sorry I am." Mr. Lancaster said. "He was such a kind and giving man." No, he wasn't. "I was proud to call him my friend."

"Oh, shit." Dakota muttered, closing her eyes.

"The one consolation, Dakota is that your great-uncle Bartlett cared very deep for you and your cousin. He stated in his will that he wished you and Sookie inherited all his financial assets. It's not much, eleven-thousand." He grabbed an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Dakota. "It's a token of how special you were to him."

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THE FIRST THING DAKOTA HEARD WHEN SHE WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR AT MERLOTTE'S WAS THAT THERE WAS A MURDER IN THE PARKING LOT THE NIGHT BEFORE. Apparently murders were now the new normal in Bon Temps.  

There were rumours that Rene had gotten up from the dead, another said that the vampire league was angry at him and turned him into one of their own. It was all a load of bullshit and Dakota felt bad for Arlene, who hurried through the bar in tears.

Terry Bellefleur kicked a group of costumers out and went after the red headed woman.

Dakota sat down on a bench with a sigh, tying her shoelaces together. Jason scooted into the seat beside her, bright smile on his face as he looked at his cousin.

"Hey, Jason." she smiled.

"I can't thank you enough, Kota." he said, genuine smile on his face. 

Sookie hadn't wanted the money they had inherited from uncle Barlett and neither had she. They didn't want anything from that old vile man and they decided that Jason should have the eleven-thousand dollars instead. Sookie had given it to him that afternoon. He deserved it after everything Andy Bellefleur had made him go through the last couple of months.

"Any clue what you're going to do with it?" she asked, leaning back and crossing her legs over each other. 

He grinned, nodding his head. "I am going to a leadership conference."

Dakota raised a brow. Jason was never really the religious type. "Leadership conference, huh? What church?"

"Uh..." Jason glanced behind her, seeing an ad for cigarettes. "Malboro. Baptist. In Baton Rouge. It's only for a week. Just to give me a chance to get away from everything."

"I wish I could take a week off." Dakota smiled. "This is good. I'm happy for you, Jason." The latter smiled, nodding his head in agreement. "I finally started cleaning out gran's room today. I couldn't even bare to throw anything away."

"Yeah, I know." Jason muttered. "I miss her too. And I am hoping maybe god'll tell me why he'd had to take away the good people. Like gran and Amy."

"I'm really sorry about Amy."

"I really loved her." Jason sighed.

Andy Bellefleur stepped out of the bathroom, tying his belt out in the open as he spotted Jason. "There you are, Stackhouse. Got a couple of questions for you."

Dakota snorted and leaned forward to hug her cousin tightly. "Humor me, he's toasted. Have a good time at church camp."

The blond left Jason sitting there as Andy ambled toward him. Dakota grabbed her bag and went to Sam's office to put her stuff in her locker. She hadn't really spoken to Sam much since that afternoon and he thought she was freaked out by him. Dakota wasn't, she was just so caught up with everything she hadn't had the chance.

He wasn't there when she entered and she quickly put away her stuff, getting herself ready for her evening shift at Merlotte's. Dakota glanced out the window and saw Sam on his trailer porch, beer in hand. 

Dakota entered the bar again and went for the back door, pushing it open. It creaked and the bar owner look up at her. He looked back toward the parking lot, chugging his beer down before throwing the bottle towards the pavement.

"Hey, Sam." she smiled, moving to stand in front of him. 

The only acknowledgement she got was a stiff nod and she frowned at him, sitting on the step beside him. She wrapped her arms around her knees and peered to her right, wondering why he was so angry.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

"Hmm," he nodded.

"I'm sorry we haven't spoken much the last two weeks." she confessed, leaning against the porch railing. "I wasn't avoiding you or anything. I promise."

"I know, Kota." he said, sighing as he rubbed a hand over his face. "Sorry, I shouldn't out my anger on you."

"You're not." she shrugged. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam shook his head 'no' and she nodded her head, glancing around the parking lot. There was still police tape at the far end of the lot. Dakota peered back up at Sam and saw the internal battle he was having. He was thinking about Sookie, he was angry at her and she didn't blame him. Sookie had led him on multiple times, only to run back to Bill. What she had done the day he tried to save them from Rene.

"You're an amazing guy, Sam." she said. "Whether you turn into a dog or not."

The man beside her chuckled, shaking his head in amusement as he looked down at her. "Stay out of my head."