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“That there was a woman at the Lantern House whose boyfriend treated her badly. I didn’t know much more than that because Gavin had a habit of deciding which details I needed to hear.”

“That sounds like him.”

The answer came with a softness that told me the memory was personal.

I waited.

Meredith folded her hands together on the table, and when she began talking again, the measured politeness she had used at first gave way to something quieter.

“Brad and I had been together almost three years. By that fall, I had broken up with him more than once, but he didn’t treat a breakup as something I could decide alone. He would be wonderful for a week and apologize, and then he’d start checking where I was, who I talked to, whether I came straight home. I knew how bad it was before I admitted it out loud.”

Her thumb rubbed over the side of her wedding ring as she spoke.

“Gavin noticed because Brad came into the Lantern House a lot. Your brother didn’t hover around me or play hero. He asked if I was okay. The first time I lied, he let me. The second time, he told me that if I ever needed someone to walk me to my car, I should ask.”

That sounded so precisely like Gavin that my throat tightened.

“He always did that,” I said. “He’d offer help in a way that made it sound completely practical, like you would be doing him a favor by accepting.”

Meredith smiled. “Exactly.”

The shared recognition warmed the space between us enough that she continued without another question.

“A couple of weeks before the Halloween party, Brad grabbed my arm behind the restaurant because he thought I had been flirting with a customer. Gavin came through the back door at the wrong—or right—moment and told him to let go. Brad did, but he hated being challenged, especially in front of another man. After that, Gavin paid more attention when Brad showed up.”

I took a sip of tea and let her decide where the story went next.

She looked toward the window behind her, where the glass reflected the kitchen instead of the dark outside.

“Halloween was awful from the beginning. The restaurant was packed, the bar was three people deep, everybody was in costume, and Brad had been drinking before he came in. I spent half the night trying to avoid him without making a scene. Gavin was there with people he knew, and when Brad followed me out the service door, Gavin saw.”

Her fingers tightened around each other.

“The police report says they fought in the alley.”

“They did. Brad got angry because Gavin told him to leave me alone, and then Brad pulled the knife. Gavin took it away from him and threw it aside. He told me to go back inside while he made sure Brad left.”

Meredith’s voice had flattened slightly, as if repetition had worn a safe path through this part of the story. I knew the path because it was the statement everyone else knew too.

“What happened after you went inside?”

She drew a breath before answering.

“I went back to work.”

I didn’t challenge her immediately.

Instead, I asked what Gavin had been like when she saw him next inside the restaurant.

Meredith looked startled by the question.

“He was angry. Not out of control, but angry at Brad. Mostly he was worried about me. He wanted to know whether I had someone who could take me home later.”

“And did you?”

“My roommate was working too. We were supposed to leave together.”

A little more of her shoulders relaxed because this was still territory she had walked before.