"I am going to give Dr. Sam a moment to speak with you, Mr. Buckley, and then we are going to leave your house, and you will be driven to the police station."

He stepped from the room to give the two men some privacy.

"You're making a fucking big deal out of nothing. So I slapped the bitch. She had it coming, damnit!" Jeff said angrily. Then he turned to the doctor.

"I came to tell you that your wife woke up this morning. She's fine. I plan on releasing her from Shorecrest tomorrow, and she can come home."

"She's not coming here," Jeff said nastily. "The house is going on the market in another month."

"The house is hers until then, you bastard," the doctor snapped. "And it's my understanding that she never signed the settlement, Jeff. Until she does, you're stuck. Damnit, Nora has recovered from whatever felled her, and instead of being relieved, you're pissed. What the hell is the matter with you? What did that nice woman ever do to you to make you so vindictive against her?"

"She's alive," Jeff responded angrily. "Why couldn't she have died?"

Lt. Barker gripped Jeff by the arm. "Let's go, Mr. Buckley," he said.

Jeff pulled away. "I'm not going anywhere with you until I speak with my attorney," he snarled.

"I told you, after you're booked you get a phone call," Lieutenant Barker said. "I'm trying to do this in a way that won't embarrass you, sir. But if you refuse to cooperate, I'm going to have to cuff you."

"Go to hell!" Jeff yelled, and then to his astonishment he found himself slammed facedown into the couch. His arms were dragged behind him. He tried to struggle, but his efforts were futile. He felt the metal cuffs enclosing his wrists. Heard the snap of them locking. Then he was yanked to his feet again. Enraged, he shouted, "This is police brutality. I'll have your damned badge for this! Dr. Seligmann is a witness!"

"What are you talking about?" Sam said, a small smile flitting over his lips. "I didn't see any police brutality. I saw a man resisting arrest."

"You kike bastard!" Jeff was practically screaming now, and his lips were flecked with foam.

"Let's go, Mr. Buckley," the police lieutenant said sternly. He was embarrassed by his prisoner's slurs on Sam Seligmann. Sam was the town doctor. Everyone liked him. He was a good man. What kind of thing was that for this jerk to say to him? He pushed Jeff forward a little harder than he might have under other circumstances.

Jeff whirled about, and his head butted the detective hard. "I want my lawyer!"

Two uniforms jumped forward and, each taking an arm, hustled Jeff Buckley from his house past a line of flashing cameras, and into a waiting police car. Left to regain his composure and his dignity, Lieutenant Barker stood up from the couch where he had landed.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked him.

"I think he bruised my ego," the lieutenant said with a wry grin. "Nah, he just took the wind out of me. I didn't expect such violence from the guy."

"He's a man used to getting his own way, and used to having people do what he tells them to do. His wife really surprised him when she didn't cave easily to the divorce. He was tossing her out of her house. Cutting his kids off so they had no college tuition at the last moment, and he didn't want to pay alimony, or support for the younger kid," the doctor explained. "To his surprise, she got tough with him."

"Yeah, a woman will where her home and her kids are concerned. Nice guy, your neighbor. Wanted everything for himself, and the young girlfriend. Hey, wasn't his kid the high school's star soccer player the last two years? My kid really admired him. Went out for soccer just because of J. J. Buckley. Made junior varsity this year," the detective said proudly. "And he wouldn't help the kid go to college. What a shit!"

"J. J. got a scholarship," the doctor said.

"Well, I better take my prisoner down to the station and book him. You'll tell the wife? I hate stuff like this, and hell, you're a friend, right?"

Sam Seligmann nodded. "I'll tell Nora," he said.

The two men went their separate ways: Lieutenant Barker back to the Egret Pointe station house, Sam Seligmann across the street to his house, where he discovered his neighbors all gathered in the kitchen drinking coffee and eating Krispy Kremes. He laughed. He couldn't help it. "Rina! Rina!" he said to his wife.

"Well, we were all up," she replied, "and you were over there. This saves you telling the story four times, Sam." She handed him a cup of coffee, already creamed. "So?" she said, offering him a donut from the open box.

"I've got good news and bad news," Sam Seligmann said. "Which do you want first?" He took a sip of coffee, and a bite of his glazed donut.

"We know the good news," Rina said. "The cops arrested Jeff Buckley."

"No. The good news is Nora Buckley woke up this morning, and she is absolutely fine, my dears. It's as if she's been sleeping for eight weeks."

There was a collective shriek of delight from the assembled women, and their husbands smiled, nodding and looking pleased.

"So what's the bad news?" Rina asked.

"There is none," Dr. Sam chuckled. "Where is Heidi?"

"One of the young patrolmen got her into his car, and away to the station house before the news media started showing up. Rick and Joe went with her to make sure Jeff didn't bully her out of filing charges. She's hired them as her local counsel," Rina told her husband, who, nodding, was already turning to Carla. "Listen, Carla," Sam said. "I'd like you to go over to Shorecrest with me when I tell Nora. And bring your cell. There's no phone in her room, and she'll want to call the kids. I'll speak with them first with the news their mother is alright."

"When is she getting out?" Rina, practical as ever, queried her husband.

"I told her tomorrow. I don't understand it. She shows absolutely no effects of lying unconscious in a bed for all those weeks. It's a miracle."

"Let me bring her to my house today," Carla begged. "She must be frantic about the kids, Dr. Sam. Please!"

"Well," the doctor considered, "she is fine, and if she were anyone else, I'd say no, but why not? I'm just across the street if she should relapse. Alright, Carla, you can have her. Is an hour time enough for you? This is seriously big gossip, and I can guarantee it's all over town already. I don't want Nora to hear anything before I have a chance to speak to her. The shock could be very damaging."

"Ten minutes is enough time for me," Carla told him. "I'll just run home and throw on some sweats, okay? What about Nora?"

She can come home in her hospital gown and coat. It's quicker, and will get her out of the media eye. Jeff was a big shot in town. They'll be all over this one. Girlfriend beaten up. Wife comes out of coma on same day. Husband arrested. Oh, yeah. This has Enquirer written all over it," Dr. Sam said.

Carla was as good as her word. Dr. Sam came back from the Buckley house with a coat over his arm to find her sitting in his car, already belted.

"Let's ride, Clyde," she told him.

He laughed and, tossing the coat in the backseat, got in next to her. He turned the key in the ignition and backed out of his drive.

"She's really okay?" Carla probed him as they drove.

"She's amazing," he replied. "I don't know what the hell happened to her, and I don't know how she came out of it. But she did. And the entire time she appeared to be unconscious, her pulse and respiration were normal. It was more like sleeping."

"It was a heck of a nap," Carla said. She was just a little bit frightened by everything that had happened to Nora, yet it hadn't prevented her from visiting The Channel herself. And seeing Nora on her beach, switching men with her, and drinking with her at the pirates' inn was a trip.

They were almost at Shorecrest Nursing Facility. The car turned down Shore Road. The morning sun was sparking on the water to her right.

Dr. Sam parked the car, and they entered the lobby of Shorecrest.

"Ohh, Dr. Sam," the receptionist at the desk said, "I hear there was a hostage standoff in your neighborhood!"

"Just came from Ansley Court, Judy, and all's quiet there," Sam Seligmann responded. "Turn right," he hissed at Carla. "She's on the main floor. Room 112 at the end of the hall. Ah, here we are." He knocked and then, opening the door, stepped inside. "Nora, I'm back, and look who I brought with me."

The two women hugged and sat down in the twin club chairs grinning at each other. They were sharing the most delicious secret.

"Listen, Nora, something has happened, sweetheart. I don't know how upset you're going to get over it, but…" He paused, trying to figure the most delicate way of saying it, but there just wasn't any. "Jeff's been arrested for beating up his girlfriend. She's at the station house now pressing charges."

"What?" Nora feigned shock. "When? Where did this happen? Omigod, the kids! I have to call the kids!"

"I've got my cell with me," Carla said, "but wait, and hear Dr. Sam out."

"The police think it happened during a bout of rough sex. He's mad as hell, of course, and threatening everyone," Sam said.

"My God!" Nora said slowly as if she were having difficulty understanding.

"That poor girl."

"I'm releasing you from the facility right now," Dr. Sam continued. "I'll drive you and Carla back to Ansley Court. This situation could generate some publicity given Jeff's position in Buckley, Coutts and Wickham."

Nora began to laugh. "They really are the most conservative of advertising firms. Blue-chip clients. Veddy proper. They weren't very happy with Jeff and Heidi and the divorce situation. That's how Rick was able to bargain for me. The one thing Messrs. Wickham and Coutts didn't want was a noisy, public divorce; this, however, will send them round the bend. A partner arrested for beating a female employee of the firm while his wife lay comatose! Poor old Jeff. How he looked to the world has always been so important to him."