“Or not.”

A shared smile, and he nods, his gaze slightly downcast. Not submissive, just quiet and contained, neither overly friendly nor unfriendly.

He sets the rag aside again. “I’m not blocking. Just working up to it. I’ll tell you everything. It just … isn’t easy.” He takes a moment, then a deep breath, and says, “So … Abbygail. I would say what a good kid she was. Tough, strong, sweet, generous, all that. But everyone’s going to tell you that. So I’ll just say they’re right.”

“Good kid …” I say.

“Yeah.” He rubs his mouth. “That’s not a slip of the tongue. When she arrived, she was nineteen. We started seeing each other a year later. I was twenty-five, and the youngest guy here. Which is why people thought we should give it a shot. Beth and a few others.”

“Eric?”

A sharp laugh. “Uh, no. Definitely not Eric. He knew Abby wasn’t ready. He didn’t try to stop us, though, because she wanted to, and I …” He rocks back on his heels. “This is going to sound shitty, but I gave it a try because she wanted to, so I thought I should. We were friends, and I wanted her to be happy.”

Which doesn’t sound shitty at all. It sounds sweet. But I understand what he means, that he feels bad about dating someone he wasn’t romantically interested in.

He continues. “We went out for a couple of months. I can give you dates if that helps. It just … it didn’t go anywhere.”

“So you were lovers for two months.”

“Uh, no. When I say it didn’t go anywhere, that includes sex. With her background, I just couldn’t … It felt wrong. Like I was taking advantage. It was dating. High school stuff, because that’s what she was, detective. Inside. I don’t mean she wasn’t smart or mature, just that she never had the chance to grow up in a real way. It was like she skipped her teen years, and in Rockton she got them back. Which is one reason it didn’t work. There might have only been a five-year age difference, but I felt like a creepy old man.”

“And the breakup?”

“Mutual.”

“I hear you got together with Isabel about a month later.”

“Yep.”

“Was there any tension there? With Isabel and Abbygail?”

He gives me a real laugh for that. “Not at all. Abby knew I was checking out Isabel even before she and I got together. She’d tease me about it. When Abby and I broke up, she’s the one who told me to go for it with Iz. She liked her. They liked each other. Iz …” He rubs his mouth again. “Isabel doesn’t exactly wear her heart on her sleeve, but Abby’s disappearance hurt her as much as anyone.”

My nod must not look entirely convincing, because he says, “You’re wondering how they could get along, right? The bordello madam and the former teen prostitute? I know what you think of Isabel, but she really believes she’s doing the best thing for the women here. No, not believes. Hopes. She wants to do the right thing by the women here and …” He studies my look. “And you really don’t want to hear that. Anyway, Iz used to talk to Abby about her experiences, advice on how Isabel could run a safe establishment. But those talks …? You know what Iz did before she came here, right?”

I shake my head.

“She was a psychologist. She counselled Abby. Not officially. It was just talking. But it wasn’t just talking, if you know what I mean. Iz wanted to help, and Abby needed help, so they talked, a lot.” He picks up the rag and begins folding it again. “Which is the long-winded way of saying there wasn’t tension between them.”

“Was there tension with anyone? For Abbygail?”

“A few of the guys. I can give you a list. But it’s a short one.”

“Eric says she didn’t get bothered that way.”

“Guys were mostly respectful. But a few came onto her. She’d never tell Eric, or he’d go after them and then she’d feel like she’d tattled and overreacted. You know.”

I do know. It’s exactly how I feel about telling Dalton who offered me credits for sex.

“She wanted Eric to think everything was fine,” he says. “With Eric …” He clears his throat. “I don’t like talking about her personal stuff …”

“She had a crush on him.”

He exhales. “Yeah. I’d tease her about that; she’d tease me about Isabel. I think, when she encouraged me to give it a shot with Iz, she was hoping I’d say the same for her and Eric. I didn’t. Wouldn’t. She’d have gotten hurt, and I never wanted to see her hurt.” He crumples the rag and puts it aside.

“Sheriff Dalton wouldn’t have returned her attention.”

“Hell, no. If I felt like the old guy with the teenager, it would have been even worse for Eric. Like dating your little sister.” He shudders. “Just no. I think Abby understood that. Most times. Every now and then … Well, she’d wonder, and I’d steer her away. For her own good. For his, too. If she came onto him … shit. That’d have been rough, knowing she saw him that way. He wanted to be her big brother, not her Prince Charming.”

I must smile at that, because he laughs. “Yeah, no one’s going to mistake Eric for Prince Charming. But he was her knight in shining armour, however much he’d hate to hear that. He’s a good guy.”

“I keep hearing that.”