Owen and Allison Watson sat together in a nice restaurant in downtown New Haven. It was their favorite spot in town. Owen brought her here on their first date four years ago, and they have been coming here since.

Allison was twenty-five. She had long brown hair, fair skin and brown eyes to match her hair. She laughed out loud, smiling.

"I'm not kidding," Owen said, taking a sip of his coke. He had to drive home tonight, so Allison was drinking wine alone. "It was fucking crazy, there was a pack of wolves just staring at me. One of 'em had the brightest blue eyes. I don't know," he said, pecking at his food. "Felt like they were gonna attack me or something."

Allison giggled. "Whatever."

"I'm serious."

"So what happened?"

"I shot one of 'em and the rest ran away." Allison's jaw dropped. "I'm kidding," Owen said, laughing as he tried to get the words out.

After the laughter died down, Allison got more serious.

"Anything else weird happen at work lately?" she asked, sipping her wine.

He was a little put off and it left a tell.

"What do you mean?" he asked her, his mind racing at this point.

She smiled. "Steve put me up to it. He's worried about you, and now so am I."

Owen leaned back in his chair. He was upset that his best friend and partner would sandbag him and ruin a dinner with his girlfriend like that.

"It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing, it sounded pretty serious. He just wanted ME to talk to you."

He granted a tiny, wee little smile. "Fair enough, but it was nothing... just a... Look, it's better if you don't know the details."

She rolled her eyes. "Fair enough. Just promise me you're okay."

He smiled wide. "I'm fine."