lifted her head. “Great.”
Eric rolled his chair toward her desk. “Who is that?”
“His name is Charles Turpin. He’s the mayor.”
The mayor looked at Hailey behind her desk, but didn’t react the way people did when they saw someone they knew. Or someone they liked. Still, he came over, his Italian loafers clicking on the floor. “Hailey.”
Hailey kept her eyes on her paper, her back rigid. “Social visit?”
Eric turned to his computer and clicked on the next page of phone numbers. The digits blurred together, so he rubbed his eyes. He probably should have remembered to bring his reading glasses with him to work, since staring at a screen for more than fifteen minutes gave him a headache.
The mayor said, “I have a meeting with Marshal Turner about preparations, in case there’s any flooding over the next few days.”
Hailey’s eyes widened. “I thought the rain was dying down. It’s supposed to get worse?”
Charles motioned to the door to Turner’s office. “I should get to it.”
She nodded. “Any plans this weekend?”
Eric’s finger paused on his mouse. Were they dating? This Charles guy didn’t seem like the kind of man Hailey would be interested in, but there was clearly something between them. It just didn’t look like, whatever it was, was necessarily good.
Could this be her ex-husband? He’d heard through the grapevine that she was divorced from Kerry’s father. But, this guy? He couldn’t picture it. The mayor was way too suave, and Hailey was way too down-to-earth to fall for that.
“We’re going to dinner at Milton’s.”
“The steak place?”
“Yes. Is there a problem?”
“Kerry’s a vegetarian.”
“Since when?”
Eric looked up and saw Hailey shrug. “I figured she’d get sick of it after the first few weeks, but it’s been going on a month now. You didn’t know?”
“How am I supposed to know anything about that girl? She changes her mind as fast as the weather.”
Eric glanced at the window. It’d been raining steady for days.
Hailey’s exhale was controlled, like she was trying not to react. “Well, have a good weekend.”
“Thank you, Hailey.” Charles stepped away, but stopped. “Oh, I almost forgot. What with my meeting and all, I was going to have Beth-Ann pick up Kerry from the bus stop.”
Hailey’s entire body snapped taut at the name Beth-Ann.
“But Beth-Ann apparently has an appointment. You can get Kerry, can’t you? Bring her by my place around seven.”
“Charles.” Hailey took a breath, like she was trying to rein in her frustration. Eric had never seen her act this way. “I’m in the middle of a case. I need to focus. There’s an escaped federal fugitive out there who might be targeting us. And it’s your weekend.”
“I won’t be able to get away,” Charles said. Apparently unaffected, he strode off into Marshal Turner’s office.
Hailey stared at the door, even after it had closed.
Eric wasn’t sure which question to ask first. “I’m guessing it’s complicated.”
Hailey blinked and focused on him. When she saw he was amused, her eyes lit with a smile. “You don’t know the half of it.”
Eric chuckled. “Beth-Ann?”
Hailey rolled her eyes. “Charles’s new wife.”
Eric kept his expression straight. He had to handle this right or she would close off instead of opening up. “You and Charles were married?”
Her face shut down, as though she’d heard accusation in his voice. “Until seven years ago.”
“Joint custody?” She nodded, but he didn’t feel right leaving it at that. “Are you okay?”
Hailey studied him. “You’re not going to interrogate me for all the juicy details?”
“I figure if you want me to know then you’ll tell me.”
Eric was more than curious about what caused a vibrant woman like Hailey to marry suave Mr. Mayor. They did not fit together at all, which might explain the divorce, especially with Charles being remarried. Had he cheated on Hailey? Eric was glad he hadn’t been in town early enough to vote for the guy because he’d probably have volunteered to hand out flyers for his opponent.
No wonder she hadn’t accepted Eric’s partnership.
Hailey pulled open her top drawer and drew out a photo, which she handed to him. “That was a year ago.”
An older man who’d bequeathed Hailey a wide jaw and his nose sat with Hailey and a red-haired girl around a restaurant table. The same girl Eric had seen in the picture at Deirdre’s house. Hailey’s daughter.
“How old is she?”
“Kerry will be thirteen next month.”
Eric was thirty-two, which meant Hailey could easily be older than him, by at least a couple of years.
Her jaw flexed, and she answered his unspoken question. “I’m thirty-five.”
Eric hesitated, measuring his words. “High school sweethearts?”
Hailey’s face morphed into something that looked like pain. “We did get married because of Kerry, but we were in college. It wasn’t long before I realized Charles was only pretending he wanted to be there. He loves Kerry in his own way. It’s just me he wasn’t able to live with.”
“Did he cheat on you?”
Hailey brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen loose. “Let’s just get back to work, okay?”
Eric shrugged like his world wasn’t still spinning faster than normal. “Sure.”
He knew she and Kerry lived with her dad. The guys on the team had told him that much about her when they’d warned him about his new partner. Prickly was the word they’d used. That had been an understatement. Getting her to open up even a little bit felt like a victory, one he wasn’t going to take lightly.
No wonder she’d hesitated before, when he suggested they partner up. He hadn’t even thought Hailey might be concerned about whether she could trust him or not. It made him want to prove himself, to tell her about his life and his own family so she would know for sure she could rely on him.
Eric studied her, and she didn’t look away, so he turned in his chair to face her. “Thank you for sharing with me. You know I worked with WITSEC. That means I know a little something about keeping secrets. And finding someone you can trust with part of yourself is huge.”
She waved away his words. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal, Hanning.”
Eric studied her as she got back to work. He knew she didn’t mean it. Hailey seemed to live her life in “protection” mode, never letting anyone get close to her. Getting burned by her husband couldn’t have been easy. Eric knew what it was like to lose a relationship with someone you cared about.
Had she loved Charles? If they’d had a baby together, she must have felt something for him. But it didn’t necessarily mean they’d been head-over-heels in love. She’d avoided the question enough for him to know there was more to the story. Not that he cared, of course. But he was curious. And the more he learned about her, the more Eric wanted to know what was below the surface.
He looked back at the computer, and pain sparked behind his eyes. “Maybe we should get