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“Thanks. Owen swung by to get the dog. I just need to stick here until her family comes, and I want to talk to Hal again.”
Chief of police, Sonya remembered.
“I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”
“All right. We’ll talk then.”
When she hung up, Cleo spoke from the doorway. “I heard enough of that to know something bad happened.”
“One of Trey’s clients is in the hospital. Her ex-husband broke in and attacked her. He beat her, Cleo. It sounds horrible.”
“Because it is. How bad is she hurt?”
“I don’t know exactly, but he’s staying with her until her family can get there.” Because it knotted, Sonya pressed a hand to her stomach. “A few hours, so she won’t be alone.”
“Trey Doyle’s not just a pretty face. He’s a really good man.”
“He was so upset. You just don’t hear him get really upset, not easily.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“But he was, upset and worried and frustrated. And really, really angry. I’ve never heard him really angry.”
“Come on. We’ll go downstairs, throw together something to eat. We’ll light a candle for her.”
“Yeah, that’s better than standing here feeling helpless. I think I know who it is—not who by name,” she qualified as they started down. “But Trey handled a divorce and mentioned how the husband went off in court, got slapped down by the judge. Then he had that early meeting on the weekend, remember? And I could tell he was worried when he got back. He said something about a restraining order on the phone just now. I bet this is all the same person.”
“Poole’s Bay looks idyllic, and mostly it is, I think. But bad people live in good places.”
Cleo looked toward the ceiling as she spoke. “We sure as hell know that for a fact. I’m sorry this happened to her, I’m sorry her ex-husband’s a vicious motherfucker. And I’m going to say she’s lucky to have somebody like Trey looking out for her. Making sure she has someone with her when she needs it most.”
As they turned into the kitchen, Sonya nodded. “You’re right about that.” But she couldn’t get the furious and fractured sound of his voice out of her head.
“If he’s free tomorrow, let’s not go out. We could make dinner. I could make the pot roast deal. He really liked it. And he sounded so down.”
“You’d make him a pot roast dinner?”
“I did it before. It should be easier this time. Maybe. What’s that smile?”
“This smile, as I get us some wine, is due to me seeing my best friend move over the arc of serious like into the next phase.”
“Maybe,” she said again. “Oh, crap, I can’t help it. He just has a way of… He just is. But let’s take it easy. A year ago, I was engaged to an asshole.”
“A year ago was a world ago. Pour that wine while I light a candle. Then we’ll see what we’ve got in here that’s easy.”
“Mom told me what she had with Dad was magic.”
Cleo glanced back. “And you want that?”
“Yeah. Don’t you?”
“Damn right I do. I think everybody in the world wants that, and the lucky make it. Because you don’t find magic, Son, you make it.”
“You make it. I like that idea.”
“Not an idea, a fact.”
After lighting a candle, Cleo set it in the center of the island. “A little light so she recovers, in every way. And knows she’s not alone while she heals.”
