Present
“Beau . . . baby . . .” Raven snapped at her husband.
He looked up at her. Eyes sunken and his soul being slowly ripped apart.
She reached her hand out to him and wrapped his balled fist as best she could with her small fingers.
“Baby, it wasn’t Cory.”
He shook his head. When another tear threatened to fall all the way down his face, he removed his hands from Raven’s and stopped the stray tear creeping out of the corner of his eye with his finger.
“I know he wasn’t. He was too young to have been Cory and Cory wasn’t killed by our father. It’s just . . .,” his voice trailed off.
“How he was killed?” she asked sincerely.
He nodded his head. “Yeah, and the fact he was left outside of the house to rot like trash from the night before.”
Raven pursed her lips as they formed into a frown. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how to make it better. Most days were good. Beau was happy and smiled at the memory of his brother, but other days were hard. Days like these. When the memories came back and slapped him in the face. These were the bad memories of Cory. How he looked when they found him.
For just a moment longer, Raven and Beau sat in silence. Both of them slowly sipped their wine and stared off into the distance. Some people would find the quiet awkward or irritating, but Raven knew Beau needed it. He needed to reset his mind. Erase what he had seen today until it was time to work the case tomorrow. Erase what he had seen so many years ago.
She would give him the time he needed. She moved around to where he sat and brushed a light kiss on the back of his neck. He didn’t move, but his lips shifted into a slight grin as he watched his wife walk back around the counter into the kitchen to preheat the oven.
Raven knew him all too well. She knew he would come back to her. He just needed a little time to reflect and erase.