An Easy Death (Gunnie Rose #1) Read online

  “I’ll remember that,” Eli said after a long and thoughtful pause.

  “Well. Good-bye,” I said, and closed my eyes. I didn’t hear anything. I opened them. He was still there.

  “It was great,” Eli said, looking directly at me. “You’re unforgettable.”

  Then he left.

  By the time I returned home, two days later, the bullet holes in the Antelope dining room were all patched up. The gunnies had been buried. Prince Vladimir’s body had gotten to whatever funeral service Eli and his brothers and sisters had cobbled together. It was all over.

  I was frail for a while. This was a square hit with a bullet, and you pay for those. No matter where the hit may pierce. I took to taking long walks into the country around Segundo Mexia. I rented a horse, and I rode, too. I could afford to rest up, for the first time in my life.

  My mother spotted a few white hairs on her head, and she had a fit. Jackson laughed. Mom decided to blame me and Jackson agreed with her.

  After two months I got a letter from Felicia. It was in this lovely handwriting, and I could tell it had been rewritten at someone else’s direction. Maybe Eli’s, maybe a teacher’s.

  Dear Lizbeth,

  It is very grand here. I have four dresses and no pants. I wear different shoes every day. Already once I have given blood to the tsar, may his name be blessed. A privilege I have not earned, but my cousin Franklin got sick, so it was my turn. I was very brave. It made the tsar feel much better. I go to school every day and now you can see I read and write. I am the only Mexican here. It would be nice if you could come to see me.

  Your sister,

  Felicia Karkarov

  I smiled sometimes when I read it, and other times I frowned. It seemed silly and almost outrageous to think of making that long journey, a journey that would cost me a lot of money. I had the money at the moment, but I had to live, and I still didn’t have a job with another crew. I’d heard there was one forming up in nearby Celeste, by a newcomer named George Ramsey. Maybe I’d go see him.

  I was getting that restless feeling, and I was tired of admiring my refrigerator.

  Acknowledgments

  My thanks to Taylor Anderson, weapons expert and expert writer, for his advice and time on guns, and to my Patrick, for his gentle corrections, too. Daniel Hale gave me help with the French dialogue—thanks, Dan! As always, my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and the staff of JABberwocky have given me all the support and guidance a literary agency can give, as have Debbie Deuble-Hill, Steve Fisher, and Kyle Loftus at APA, my book-to-TV and movie team, on the West Coast. My assistant and friend, Paula Woldan; my web maven Dawn Fratini; and my Twitter expert, Presley Bumgarner, have been constants in helping me. There are many more people I could and should thank—like Toni LP Kelner, aka Leigh Perry, and Dana Cameron, my friends and beta readers—but I have to leave someone for the next book.

  About the Author

  Photo copyright © Sigrid Estrada Photography

  #1 New York Times bestseller CHARLAINE HARRIS was born in Mississippi and lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, daughter and three dogs. Their sons are out of the nest. She’s written four series and two stand-alone novels in addition to numerous short stories and a novella or two. Her Sookie Stackhouse books have appeared in twenty-five different languages and on many best-seller lists. They’re also the basis of the HBO series True Blood. Visit her at charlaineharris.com.

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  ALSO BY CHARLAINE HARRIS

  A Novel of Midnight, Texas series

  Midnight Crossroad

  Day Shift

  Night Shift

  A Sookie Stackhouse Novel series

  Dead Until Dark

  Living Dead in Dallas

  Club Dead

  Dead to the World

  Dead as a Doornail

  Definitely Dead

  All Together Dead

  From Dead to Worse

  Dead and Gone

  Dead in the Family

  Dead Reckoning

  Deadlocked

  Dead Ever After

  A Touch of Dead

  After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse

  The Complete Sookie Stackhouse Stories

  The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

  Dead but Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse

  (edited with Toni L. P. Kelner)

  Anthologies edited with Toni L. P. Kelner

  Many Bloody Returns

  Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

  Death’s Excellent Vacation

  Home Improvement: Undead Edition

  An Apple for the Creature

  Games Creatures Play

  An Aurora Teagarden Mystery series

  Real Murders

  A Bone to Pick

  Three Bedrooms, One Corpse

  The Julius House

  Dead Over Heels

  A Fool and His Honey

  Last Scene Alive

  Poppy Done to Death

  All the Little Liars

  Sleep Like a Baby

  A Lily Bard Mystery series

  Shakespeare’s Landlord

  Shakespeare’s Champion

  Shakespeare’s Christmas

  Shakespeare’s Trollop

  Shakespeare’s Counselor

  Harper Connolly Mysteries

  Grave Sight

  Grave Surprise

  An Ice Cold Grave

  Grave Secret

  Sweet and Deadly

  A Secret Rage

  Crimes by Moonlight: Mysterious from the Dark Side

  (edited by Charlaine Harris)

  Graphic Novels

  Grave Sight Parts 1–3

  The Cemetery Girl Trilogy

  (with Christopher Golden)

  Cemetery Girl: Book One: The Pretenders

  Cemetery Girl: Book Two: Inheritance

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2018 by Charlaine Harris Schulz

  Portions of this book were previously published within the anthology Unfettered II published by Grim Oak Press, in the short story “The Gunnie” copyright © 2016 by Charlaline Harris Schulz

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2018 by Colin Anderson

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  Book design by Hilary Jarycky

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2018 by Colin Anderson

  CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9492-2 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-9494-6 (eBook)

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Acknowledgments

  Also By by Charlaine Harris

  About the Author

  Copyright