“No doubt in my mind, he hit her good. Probably with a bottle.” Sarah-Anne said to me. “Or a golf club. Do rich people still golf?” She was raving about something that happened near her, outside of the insurance place. “Whatever it doesn’t matter- Oh shoot, maybe he used her necklace and was choking, or no… what’s it called, strang-u-lation?” She looked at me for clarification, forcing me out of my head.

“Yeah, it would be strangulation in this case.” I kept my eyes down and in front as we walked down the sidewalk.

“Awesome. What do you think? With how she looked when the police escorted him away, it had to be serious. And juicier than the best steaks in town. Hell I swear I saw him flash a smile at her before ducking into the car.” According to her, a famous couple, an actor and her husband who was a famous comedian turned author, was sitting in a restaurant when police arrived to detain the husband. It was hard to talk about.

“Yeah maybe a bottle. Want to grab some steak? I could use a nice meal.”

“Uh, sure if you’re buyin’. You okay, Clara? You don’t seem that interested—“

“No no I’m fine, please keep going. Did you really see him smile?” We turned down towards a steakhouse that typically only seated reservations.

“If you say so. Yeah I definitely saw a smile, or the beginnings of a smile? You know that look when someone’s tryna stop a smile, I saw that. Definitely.” The beginnings of a smile. Not much to go off of. “But anyway, after they took the wife beating bastard away, they took her into a car too, uncuffed. Probably to interrogate her, if I had to guess?”

“Question, they don’t interrogate victims.”

“Question, that’s the word. Her face was real grim the whole time like she just saw her parents dead in the pool, you know?” What a pleasant image. We arrived out front of the steakhouse, packed as usual.

“Not particularly, but I get what you mean. She wasn’t relieved?”

“Right? That’s what I’m saying, she was scared out of her mind. Gun to my head, she was up to something. Ain’t no one look like that if they got nothing to hide.” Nothing to hide… We stood in the waiting room until someone arrived to seat us.

“Do you fine ladies have a reservation?”

“Clara Trembly, if you don't mind.” The waiter let out a gasp. I didn’t have a reservation, of course, but I was sort of a regular here.

“Ms. Trembly, I’m so sorry I didn’t recognize you with your shorter hair! It looks wonderful. Now please follow me and I’ll find you a perfect seat.” Sarah side-eyed me as we walked, presumably confused about how I pulled this off.

“Long story, I cleared the owner’s name in a manslaughter case a few months ago. Ah, pretend you didn’t hear that from me.” We took a seat and ordered our drinks.

“You what? And we’re talking about my smoke break this whole time?!”

“It’s confidential, at least most of it. So go on, what else happened to the couple?”

“Nothing really, he not-smiled, she looked like she saw a ghost, and the police took them both away. Twitter blew the heck up a few hours later, and then the news started on about it. It’s a real storm for what’s just an abuse case if I had to guess. That’s celebrities for ya, I suppose. The sirloin, and some red wine, my good man!” I took my order after her and sat quietly for a minute. Just an abuse case. Lord I wish.

“Can I ask a favour, a huge favour?”

“Sure thing, what’s up?”

“This is off the record so don’t worry, but if I’m able to put a case together, would you be a witness for us?”

“Woah there, a witness to what? All I saw was a couple bein’ dragged out of a restaurant.”

“There’s a lot more to it but I can’t share anything just yet- Thank you so much, it looks delicious.” I paused while the waiter walked out of earshot. “Just… Look, your small testimony could help our case, would you help me out?”

“I can’t very well say no, you did just order me a hundred-dollar meal, and you are my best friend after all. So sure, how hard could it be?” You don’t know the half of it, Sarah-Anne Marjorie, and if it were only up to me, it’d stay that way.