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“I did hear some local gossip about you and one of the paralegals in the Owens law group in town,” Lassiter fished. “Abby Brennan. I met her today in your office.”
Cody was fighting some odd, new emotions. He wasn’t sure what to say. As if he’d looked for divine intervention, the office phone rang and his receptionist called out. “There’s a wreck out on the highway. Injuries, they said. Bad ones.”
“Okay, thanks,” he told her. “I have to go,” he told Lassiter.
“No problem. We can talk in the morning. Don’t forget. Resisting arrest. Bad attitude. Bring handcuffs. Right?”
“Right,” Cody agreed. He just shook his head. He’d never met anyone like Lassiter.
ABBYBRENNANWAShaving similar thoughts. She’d missed Cody. She knew he was back in town, but he hadn’t phoned her or texted her or anything. She felt empty inside. Was he having second thoughts about the attraction he felt for her? It wouldn’t be surprising. Abby knew how much he’d loved Debby. He might feel guilty. Abby had read about men who lost their wives having a hard time starting a new relationship with a different woman. The problem was that they still felt married.
Abby sighed. It would be like living with a ghost, she thought sadly. No woman would ever be able to measure up to the Debby of Cody’s dreams. She lived inside him, lived with him, and she came between him and any new relationship.
Not that Abby wanted to have a relationship with him. He did kiss very nicely, she conceded, but a marriage needed more than just kisses.
She almost gasped out loud at the track of her own thoughts. Cody certainly wouldn’t be thinking about marriage. Everybody knew how he felt about Debby. He absolutely worshiped her. He’d gone crazy when she died. How could any ordinary woman fight a ghost?
They’d seemed so close before he left for Denver, as if they were starting something together. Now, it seemed as if he wanted to put some distance between them. He hadn’t even called to tell her he was home.
Well, let him ignore her, she thought irritably. That detective, Lassiter, had seemed very personable and she’d liked him on sight. They’d had an instant rapport. He seemed very interested in her.
She smiled to herself. It had been a long time between compliments of the sort he’d made. Cody had been caring and tender, but it was an absent sort of affection, as if he was far away from her and liked it that way. Lassiter was a new proposition. He was immediately charming and blatantly interested in Abby.
Mr. Lassiter was a stranger, but he obviously wanted to get to know Abby. She liked what she saw of him. She wanted to see more. And if Sheriff Banks wanted to live in the past with his pretty ghost, why should Abby be concerned about it? There were plenty of men in the sea, which had tossed Mr. Lassiter up all dressed and mounted and everything.
There was a prominent cough. Abby looked up. Mr. Owens was standing at her desk.
“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry,” she blurted out, because it was obvious that he’d been standing there more than a minute.
“No problem,” he said quietly. His face was drawn. He looked his age. “Abby, I need you to look up a precedent for me in the law library in the courthouse.” He named the case and waited for her to write it down. He added the details he needed as well. “And if you could get that back to me today, I’d really appreciate it. I know it’s short notice...”
“Doing things on the spur of the moment is what you pay me for, Mr. Owens,” she said with a smile. “I don’t mind at all. I’ll get right on it.”
He smiled from a tired face. “Thanks, Abby. Call me when you finish, all right? Better yet, text me. Our nephew is staying with us for a couple of weeks and he has odd sleeping habits.”
“I’ll be glad to do that for you,” she replied.
“And this involves a sensitive case, so don’t mention it to anyone,” he added. “Especially the sheriff.”
Odd request, she thought, but she only smiled. “I’ll keep it under my hat,” she replied.
He sighed. “Life is so damned complicated sometimes,” he began, running a hand through his hair. He paused and glanced at Abby. “What’s this I hear about the sheriff sleeping over at your place?” he added with twinkling eyes.
She flushed. “Well, you see, he’d just lost his dog and he was feeling really down. So I took him home with me, and Lucy and Hannah and I cheered him up. It’s hard losing a pet,” she added.
“I know. I lost my fourteen-year-old golden retriever last month.” He shook his head. “I never thought I’d get through the first few days afterward.”
“I’m so sorry. Was she sick?”
“My nephew ran over her,” he said tautly. He drew in a deep breath. “I promised my brother on his deathbed that I’d take care of him. It’s harder than it sounds. Of course, he didn’t mean to run over the dog. He loved Goldie, just as we did. He actually cried. He’d been in a hurry to get to some meeting or other, and he didn’t look as he backed up. It could have been one of my grandkids. I’m afraid I was rather short with him.”
“So would I have been,” she replied. “It hurts to give up a fur baby. I had a dog when I was a little girl. I cried for days after I lost him...” She didn’t say another word, and the look on her face didn’t encourage questions.
Owens knew about her fraught childhood and her brutal father. He knew, as many other longtime citizens of Catelow knew, that Abby’s father had killed her dog over an argument. It was a sick thing to do. In fact, the sheriff at that time actually arrested Abby’s father for animal cruelty and pressed charges against him. It was the beginning of tragedy after tragedy for Abby.
Abby got up and grabbed her purse and her coat and a notepad and pen. “I’ll look up the information, then I’ll look for legal opinions online.”
“You’re a wonder, Abby,” he told her. “I’m constantly amazed at how much information you can glean from the most vague subject matter.”
