Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming)

by Fox, Roz Denny

  “Well, I was there. Not a single person showed up at my meeting,” Annie said. “Uh, except the chief.” She motioned to Sky.

  He broke into their conversation. “Mr. and Mrs. Gilroy, did you see who tagged Annie’s house?”

  “Tagged?” The couple exchanged puzzled glances.

  “Spray painted,” Annie explained. “Tagging is a stylized type of graffiti.”

  “Oh.” This time Annie’s neighbors reached for each other. Peggy’s lips trembled as tears filled her eyes, and George tightened his embrace. “It was dusk when they came,” George said. “We didn’t see their faces, did we, Peggy?”

  Sky’s gaze flicked from one to the other. “I know it’s frightening to witness vandalism, but my staff and I can’t find and charge whoever did this unless someone gives us a tip to go on.”

  “Maybe Mike and Missy got a better look,” George muttered, averting his eyes.

  “We’ll go see them,” Sky said. “You folks have a good evening.” He took a deep breath as he hustled Annie out onto the porch. “They know something they’re not telling,” Sky said under his breath as he glanced back at the Gilroys, who were closing the door.

  “Probably. I hope we get more out of Mike and Missy.”

  But they were stonewalled there, as well, even though Sky did his best to persuade Annie’s younger neighbors to talk.

  Mike thrust his wife behind him and said, “I didn’t get a clear look, mind you. I think it may have been a couple of teenagers out for end-of-school hijinks.”

  Sky’s vexation was more evident when the Spurlocks went in, and he and Annie were forced to pick their way down the neighbors’ darkened walk. “I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts these tags are the handiwork of the Stingers, despite what Mike thinks—or claims to think. If those kids were just out for end-of-year hijinks, yours wouldn’t have been the only house they hit.”

  “You must have some idea which local kids are in the gang,” Annie said.

  “If I did they’d already be in juvie and I wouldn’t have a couple of unsolved drive-by shootings at two homes where nice, studious kids happen to live—plus an unsolved rape. Koot and I are sure the victim knew her assailant, even though she insisted it was a stranger. Her family walked away from a house they’d paid into for five years. I’m telling you this so you’ll understand that these no-name backers like the grip they have on Briar Run youth and won’t give it up without a fight.”

  She pressed her lips together tightly. “I won’t be driven from my home.”

  Sky geared up to say more, hoping to instill a healthy fear in Annie, but his cell phone rang, shattering the silence that had fallen around them. “Great,” he muttered after checking the phone’s readout. “Hello, Corrine. If you’re phoning to give me some half-baked excuse as to why I can’t see Zachary on Wednesday, prepare for my lawyer to file an objection with the family court. It’s my scheduled visitation.”

  The night was still, without even the sound of cicadas. Annie clearly overheard an angry woman shouting at Sky. “I have no idea what dangerous case you’re working on now, Skylar Cordova. We live miles away from you in the countryside. Fifteen minutes ago, a car sped down our private lane. Some crazy person heaved two big rocks through our living room window. There was a message tied to one. It says if you don’t stop helping someone named Annie Emerson, our son will pay.”

  Annie jerked at the sound of her name, and so did Sky, who immediately snapped out questions. “Did you get a license number? Can you describe the person who threw the rock? I assume no one in your home was hurt, or you would’ve said so.”

  “Honestly,” the caller shrieked, causing Sky to angle the phone farther away from his ear. “Archibald said to tell you to cease and desist whatever you’re doing, or our attorney will petition the court to cut off all the visitation you now have with Zack. In fact, I think I’m going to request an interim hearing on the basis of this incident.”

  Archibald. Sky’s anger flared. Her new husband didn’t have any say in anything involving Zack. “You can’t do that, Corrine. I’m a cop. A police chief, in case it’s slipped your mind. A job I took so I could pay you the hefty child support the court set for Zachary. My payments are never late, and it’s because of this job.”

  “I doubt that’ll matter when a judge sees our shattered window and this note, Skylar. If you want to continue seeing Zachary, you need to move to a less dangerous town, and get a less dangerous job.”

  It was evident to Annie that the furious woman, Sky’s ex-wife, had ended the call. All she heard now was his angry breathing. “I wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose,” she said. “But I heard every word. And I have to tell you, if I was a mother and that rock-throwing incident happened to me, I’d feel exactly the way she does.”

  “Of course you would,” he said scathingly “But you don’t even know her. You have no idea what kind of hoops she makes me jump through.” His mouth tightened as he said this.

  Annie gazed steadily at him in the glow of the flashlight. “No, but what I’m saying now is that you can opt out of helping me. If you’re still planning to arrange for a direct hotline, don’t include your phone. Residents can contact your staff. Oh, thank you for escorting me home and checking out my house. I’m going in now, so you can leave. I’ll deal with the graffiti tomorrow.”

  Over Sky’s objections, Annie climbed into her pickup, drove into her garage and promptly hit the automatic door closer.

  Sky held his breath until a light came on in her living room, followed by another one in her kitchen. He hadn’t looked indoors, darn it. But, after standing watch where he was for a few more minutes, he assumed that if anything was amiss in there, he would’ve heard a commotion. Annie would have used her martial arts skills to stomp on an intruder like she had him. All the same... He walked toward her house again. Ah, there she was. He could see her moving around the kitchen. Still, he was oddly reluctant to return to his cruiser. Once he did and turned the key, he was struck by a mind-boggling thought. Annie had willingly put his problems before her own. Sky couldn’t remember when he’d run across any woman that unselfish. She’d stood in front of her vandalized home, but after hearing Corrine rail at him, Annie’s uppermost concern had been for him—and his fight to spend time with his son. That rattled him.

  Driving home, Sky recognized that despite their confrontations, Annie Emerson stirred a long-dormant yearning in him, a desire to have a home like the one he’d been raised in. A home with a loving family. He’d fought for people in war-torn lands who’d had nothing to cling to except family. Yet here, it seemed, too many of his peers were cavalier about splitting up a marriage, breaking up a family. So, yeah, he’d grown jaded.

  There was something else that was different about Annie, he decided, pulling into his own garage. In voicing her unselfish opinion, she’d made him want to be the kind of cop he used to be. He’d let his life get derailed. Now he didn’t much like what he saw as he took a hard look inward.

  He locked up, went into his bedroom and took off his uniform.

  He knew that when he’d come home from his last tour, it had been easy to fall into blaming Corrine for making him feel like a failure as a husband—as a man. It’d been easier to blame her, because she’d remarried and taken Zack at a time Sky’s whole life was turned upside down. He’d been dug into the side of a godforsaken mountain, with the very real prospect of dying, when she’d had her lawyer send papers requesting a divorce. He’d been too weary, too numb, to fight her. Since then, nothing had kicked him in the butt and made him step up to seize his old life—until tonight. Tonight, and Annie.

  As he stood under a hot shower, letting the day’s grime wash down the drain, reality elbowed its way in again. Not one single thing in the world meant as much to him as his son. However, if he let the Stingers or anyone else run roughshod over him, he wasn’t the man he wanted to be
in Zack’s eyes. He needed to set an example.

  Decision made, Sky wrapped a towel around his waist. He sat on the bed and phoned Koot. “I know you’re not on duty tonight,” Sky said after hearing his friend’s sleepy hello, “but I wanted to catch you up on some gang activity that went down a few hours ago.” Sky laid out the details in crisp cop fashion, and the older man listened. Sky finished, saying, “I’m more concerned for Zack’s welfare than I let on to Corrine or to Annie, who’s hot under the collar thinking punks did this and got away with it. I’m sure she’ll redouble her efforts to continue this mission of hers to save the neighborhood. She claims it was her grandmother’s last request. I’ve heard that Ida Vance did a lot for others and wasn’t one to ask favors. This particular favor is a huge one, if you ask me. But Annie has guts.”

  “I knew Ida Vance, Sky. Her life wasn’t any bed of roses. Uh, Sadie’s standing here reminding me that Ida was a good neighbor to anyone and everyone in Briar Run. She was color blind, always ready to lend a helping hand. Sadie wants to know if there’s anything she can do to help Miss Ida’s granddaughter.”

  “Well, Annie has a lot of ugly graffiti to scrub off her house or paint over. I’m going there tomorrow. I’ve also got Wednesday off, remember? I’m supposed to have Zack all day. Unless Corrine’s successful at getting her attorney to block my visit...”

  “That’s just wrong, Sky. A judge shouldn’t hold your job against you.”

  “Yeah, well, I agree. I’ll let Corrine calm down for a day, and take Zack to the zoo in Louisville. We can spend most of the day there. She objects if I bring him to my house. She calls it a dump and has other choice words to describe the town. I’m tired of fighting her, so I listed my house with a Realtor on a by-appointment-only basis. I haven’t had any lookers yet.”

  “You haven’t talked much about your ex, but from what you have said, I’ve always thought she sounds like a piece of work. Not that it’s any of my business, Sky, but how did a nice guy like you fall for her in the first place?”

  “She wasn’t always like this, Koot. I met her in Baltimore, where she was vacationing with her horsey crowd. I’d volunteered for some extra duty in the form of a weekend security detail at the Pimlico Race Course. Corrine was in town for two weeks taking in the festivities connected to the Preakness. She flirted with me. We hit it off. It was fast-track dating that ended in marriage.”

  “Ah, those dates must have been hotter than jalapeno pepper seeds.”

  “We’d both been in the dating game a while. We were two people looking to settle down at the same time, I guess. Then I went to war and she had buyer’s remorse.”

  “It happens. Hey, Sadie’s jabbing me. She wants me to tell you to give her a call tomorrow when you head over to Ms. Emerson’s. Sadie will bring buckets and brushes and join you. I’m on duty, so you know where to find me if I’m needed.”

  “Okay. Thank Sadie. The more hands, the better. That reminds me of something else. I’m going to ask our phone rep to arrange a tip line that bypasses dispatch and rings one of us directly.”

  “I wonder why no one thought of that before. It should cut our response time, Sky. I say, go for it. We’re all frustrated about not getting our hands on the real troublemakers.”

  “I agree. I’ll set it up first thing tomorrow.” They signed off, and Sky went through his case notebook to locate Annie’s phone number on the robbery report. He’d decided to give her a heads-up.

  She answered the phone tentatively; he supposed she didn’t get too many calls at night. “It’s Sky...Cordova,” he added. “I know you said I should steer clear of your place for my own sake, but I have some free time tomorrow. I’m coming by around ten to help you get rid of that graffiti. Koot’s wife is coming, too.” He waited a heartbeat and all he heard was Annie’s sharply indrawn breath. “You can thank us later,” he said pointedly, and hung up. He still wore a grin as he climbed into bed and turned off the light. He didn’t know her well, but he’d quickly figured out that Annie liked being in charge. He didn’t mind throwing her off balance a little—partial payback for the way she’d thrown him head over heels.

  Sky stifled a yawn and rolled over, vowing to make time to brush up on his own martial arts techniques. At the police academy he’d been adept at hand-to-hand combat. He’d even taught new recruits. It still rankled that he’d let Annie, who probably weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds, get the drop on him.

  Eventually he fell asleep.

  * * *

  IN THE MORNING, Sky spoke to the department phone representative, who said that he could have a hotline working by noon.

  Next he touched base with the night dispatcher. He might be officially off duty the next day, but he was still responsible for the department. Joe Morales, the quietest of the three cops on his force, liked the night shift. It was no big surprise that none of the others fought to make him rotate. Not even for the twenty percent night differential Sky had persuaded the city manager to add to Joe’s weekly pay.

  Sky poured orange juice as he listened to a summary of Joe’s report. “Looks like Joe had a three-pot-of-coffee yawner,” the dispatcher, ready to go off duty, told Sky. “He had one incident at midnight. Two kids trying to steal cigarettes from a convenience store. Joe drove in and the boys took off, dropping the cartons. That’s it. If this trend continues, you’ll be able to run the squad from a rocking chair, Chief.”

  “That’ll be the day, Margie. Leave a note for day dispatch that Koot’s the main man tomorrow. Today I’ll be a phone call away if there’s any trouble. Tomorrow I hope to take my son to the zoo.”

  “Will do. Enid just walked in. Enjoy your days off, Chief. Hope you’ve got something fun planned for today.”

  Sky hesitated to mention his plan for helping Annie. In Baltimore the precinct dispatchers had too much to do to involve themselves in the day-to-day lives of the cops. He’d expected the same in Briar Run. But after a week on the job, he’d realized that their two long-time dispatchers rivaled a twenty-four-hour newscast. The word discreet simply wasn’t part of their vocabulary. “I’ve got a busy day on tap,” he said after a moment. “You ladies take care.” With that he hung up.

  He found a sander amid a pile of tools in his garage. He also found a paint sprayer. Untangling the cord, he debated whether or not to toss that in, too. He had no idea if the three of them—Annie, Sadie and him—would even get around to painting today.

  As he backed out of his garage, Sky felt almost guilty for going to help Annie when his own house needed work. Not that it looked any more run-down than anyone else’s on Dusty Rose. Most of the homes he drove by were well past their prime. Maybe it was because this was the first time he’d really studied them, but he could suddenly imagine the benefits of Annie’s ambitious project....

  He parked down street from her driveway. Sky had thought ten a reasonable hour to fire up the sanders, but Annie must have been at it a while. She’d finished the garage door, and was working on the L that connected the garage to the front of her house. He punched in Sadie Talmage’s number. “Hey, it’s Sky. If you’re still planning to throw your lot in with the graffiti patrol, do you mind picking up coffee and doughnuts?”

  She laughed. “Now you’ve gone and spoiled my surprise. I know you cops need coffee and doughnuts to run on. The bakery was already on my list.”

  “Thanks. Annie must have started at dawn’s early light. This project won’t take as long as I expected. See you soon.” He hung up and retrieved his sander, taking care to circle around so Annie could see him, rather than risk startling her again.

  She shut off her sander and lifted her goggles. “You did come.” She rotated her neck. “On the one hand, I don’t want anyone to retaliate against your family. On the other, I’d be a fool to turn down a second pair of hands.”

  “Third,” he said. “I just spoke to Sadie Talmage. She’s
on her way. Let me spell you. Give your back a rest.”

  “I’ll rest once all the graffiti’s gone.”

  Sky saw the determined set of her jaw. He knew when it was pointless to argue. He sauntered off and plugged his sander into an outlet near the porch, one he’d spotted last night. Donning gloves and goggles, he started his machine.

  Both sanders whirred steadily until Sadie stood on the walkway and shouted Sky’s name.

  Dusting off his hands, he got Annie’s attention. “Coffee break,” he called. “Come and meet another volunteer.”

  Annie set down her sander and jogged over to the porch, where Sky already had the doughnut box open. He made the introductions before taking a bite out of a delicious-looking cruller.

  “He’s such a man,” Sadie said, giving a throaty laugh. “Annie, I’m delighted to meet you. I don’t know if Sky told you about my interest in interior design. Seeing the huge improvement you and your neighbors have made painting these three homes, I’m ready to sign on as a permanent volunteer. We used to live on the next block, and by the way, I knew your grandmother. I used to run into her at the grocery store and hear her concern about how the town was declining.”

  “I wish she’d said something to me before her illness brought me home.”

  “She probably didn’t want to worry you. Are you thinking of trying to get a grant? I know they have some for environmental development.”

  “That’s a possibility.” Annie wasn’t going to mention her inheritance.

  Sky handed out cups of coffee, and passed the doughnuts. “Sadie, I think her plan is to fire up residents with her unbridled enthusiasm, so they can’t wait to jump on her bandwagon like you just did.”

  Both women looked sheepish.

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Sky said, popping the lid off his coffee. “In fact, when I left home today, I was ready to nominate my street as your next candidate.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Annie said, “if you catch whoever had this paint party last night.”