by Pat Adeff
“Okay.” Bill gave her a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the lower one and left the house whistling. Patty smiled and closed the door behind him. Boy, for being married so long, they still enjoyed each other. Bill was the first man she’d ever made love to, and gods willing, the last.
Patty went into the kitchen and looking through her freezer and cupboards, decided they’d grill steaks for dinner. Add a tossed spinach salad, garlic bread and a “Death By Chocolate” cake for dessert, and Doug wouldn’t be able to withstand any of her questions.
Now Bill was sitting next to Doug in the ready room and told him that Patty was expecting him for dinner that night.
To Bill’s surprise, Doug readily accepted.
“Well, good! Be at the house by 9:00. We’re eating late tonight.”
“Count on it.” Doug put on his cap and sunglasses and headed for his unit.
While cruising around his assigned section, Doug’s thoughts kept coming back to Nancy and last Friday night.
This was becoming more than just an infatuation and Doug knew it. Although he’d dated some of the most beautiful women in Orange County, he’d never felt so many different feelings for one woman in his whole life. He felt protective, tender, happy, charmed, and above all whenever he was within 10 feet of her, his hands itched to touch her. Doug thought he was starting to understand part of Nancy’s appeal. She didn’t wear blatantly sexy clothes. She didn’t walk into a room expecting all the men to turn and look at her. Instead, her attention was on him; and when she looked at him with those wide green eyes she made him feel like he could accomplish anything in the whole world. Her soft, curvy body was made to fit in his arms. And she smelled so good! Other women he’d dated had worn expensive perfume and he was sure they’d gone to spas once or twice a week. Yet here was Nancy with her work-roughened hands and auburn hair with strands of silver starting
to come in at the crown of her head. Doug smiled to himself as he wondered if Nancy even knew the strands were there. He found he was more attracted to Nancy than he’d been to anyone else he’d ever known.
Her good heart was also a major part of the attraction. She easily saw the best in others. There were few people that Doug had found in the world who didn’t criticize others. Nancy was one of those few people. That didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own when it came to her kids. She just didn’t stick up for herself the way Doug thought she
deserved. That was all right. He was here now to do it for her. And hopefully in return, she’d save him from a lonely existence.
Doug smiled as he pictured Nancy and himself sitting side by side on a front porch somewhere, with a dozen grandkids running around. Her face would still be showing her emotions and lighting up her eyes, just as they did now. Nice picture.
CHAPTER 15
“Ms. Adams. Could I see you a moment, please?” The principal, Victoria stuck her head into Nancy’s classroom about three minutes before the final bell that Monday.
“Certainly, Mrs. Newman. Coming.” Nancy got up from her desk and told her students to finish cleaning up and she’d be right back.
She stepped out into the hall and was accosted by a tropical rainforest. Actually it was a very large bouquet which must have cost a small fortune!
Nancy just stared with her mouth hanging open.
“It’s for you, Nancy!” Mrs. Newman was smiling while the school secretary held the bouquet.
“Why, thank you! Whatever for?” Nancy accepted the bouquet in the gorgeous green vase.
“You’ll have to read the card to find out, I suppose. They just arrived and we’re all dying to find out who they’re from!” The principal and her secretary stood there waiting for Nancy to do just that.
“Oh! I thought they were from you.” Nancy said embarrassed.
“Will you open the card for pity’s sake?” The school secretary was not big on patience.
They followed Nancy into her classroom and waited as she put the bouquet on her desk while her students oo’ed and aw’ed.
A slight smile started to form on her mouth as she opened the card.
The card was hand printed in block letters, like a cop would use on a report sheet.
You take my breath away.
That’s all it said. No salutation, no signature.
Nancy had trouble catching HER breath. She handed the card to Mrs. Newman. The principal read the card, blushed and handed it to the secretary, who in turn read it and also got red.
“Who’s it from, Ms. Adams?” Tess called out from the back of the room where she was helping clean up.
“There’s no signature,” Nancy replied.
“Hm-m-m. Must be that police officer.” Tess winked at Nancy just as the bell rang for the end of the day.
“Which police officer?” Mrs. Newman asked as the students piled out of the room.
“That one.” Tess pointed at the door where Doug stood in all his uniformed splendor amid a sea of exiting backs.
Nancy smiled into Doug’s eyes and he smiled back at her across the room.
You could have cut through the heat radiating between them. Tess, Mrs. Newman and the school secretary all mumbled something about “nice flowers” and “good-bye” as they left the room past Doug.
He stayed at the doorway, even after the door had closed behind him. Nancy stayed next to her desk holding the card from the bouquet.
They smiled at each other across the room, and Doug started to walk slowly towards her.
“I sure hope these are from you, or I’m in trouble with the science teacher,” Nancy teased.
“What science teacher?” Doug pretended to glower.
“You know. The short bald one who’s been asking me out.” Nancy’s smile got wider.
“Well, I’ll just have to have a word with him, then. Sending flowers to my girl.” Doug stopped walking. “You are my girl, right?”
Nancy started walking towards Doug. “Yep. There’s something about a man wearing Kevlar that I just can’t resist.” Nancy said as she moved close and put her palms against Doug’s chest.
Doug looked down at her hands and sighed, “I am wearing entirely too much clothing right now.”
“Not at all,” Nancy breathed. “You feel great.” Nancy flexed her fingers.
Just then Doug snaked an arm out and pinned Nancy up against his chest. “You realize, Ma’am, you’re taking the law into your own hands here.”
Nancy groaned and leaned her forehead against Doug’s body armor. “That was terrible, Saunders.” She looked back up and smiled into his face.
Doug started to lower his lips to hers but she stepped back while putting both arms out straight with her hands flat against his chest.
“Huh-uh! No monkey business in my classroom. A student could walk in at any moment!”
Doug was reaching for her again with a grin on his lips when his radio crackled. “Excuse me a second,” he smiled at Nancy, holding her eyes with his, while he reached up to his left lapel to speak into the mike.
“Saunders, here. Go ahead.”
The radio squawked again and Doug’s face frowned.
“Say, again?”
Once again the radio cracked and squeaked and Nancy heard something that sounded like “domestic in progress.”
“Ten-four. On my way.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.” Doug leaned down and gave Nancy a quick husband-like kiss. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay,” Nancy replied to the closing door of her classroom. She hoped the call wasn’t anything terrible.
That evening, Nancy fretted a bit, since she hadn’t heard from Doug and had actually assumed she’d be seeing him. She’d taken the time for a luxurious bubble bath and had attended to her personal grooming beyond the usual. She’d even painted her toenails with the soft Angel Hair pink that Kate had used on her nails earlier that week.
But by the time 11:00 pm rolled around, she decided that she should just go to bed. Nancy walked into the kitchen to ma
ke sure everything was turned off and locked up when she looked though her window and spotted a black and white unit sitting in the driveway.
It was Doug!
She ran back to her bedroom, grabbed her robe and sailed out the front door and over to the driver’s side of the unit.
When Doug saw Nancy flying out the front door towards him, his heart tripped into double time. He’d wanted to call her earlier, but hadn’t wanted to burden her with the awful afternoon he’d had.
Suddenly she was there next to his open window, and a soft breeze carried the slight scent of spring rain to him. He’d come to love the way she smelled, and looked, and talked, and, well he loved just about everything about her.
She put a hand on his left shoulder.
“Doug? Are you okay?” Nancy’s voice sounded wonderful.
He cleared his throat around the obstruction that had lodged there around 4:00 pm that afternoon and hadn’t yet moved.
“Not really. Do you have a minute?”
“Of course! Do you want to come in?”
“No. I’d rather stay in the car. Come around to the other side and I’ll let you in there.”
Nancy walked around to the passenger side of the car while Doug leaned across and pushed open the door for her.
She slid into the seat, adjusted her robe around her, looked over at Doug and waited. She knew he’d tell her what had happened without any prompting from her.
God! He loved that about her. Her calmness. Her utter calmness and patience. He hadn’t planned on burdening her with the day’s events, but he truly felt the need to express his feelings to someone.
He needed a friend. He needed a wife. Looking over at Nancy in that faded bathrobe and looking so feminine in spite of it, Doug knew that tonight was a test. If Nancy could handle what he going to tell her, then she’d be able to handle his life.
Oh, how he hoped she could handle it.
CHAPTER 16
When Doug left Nancy’s classroom earlier that afternoon, his mind was only half on the job. The other half was taken up with where he would take Nancy that night and then what he’d do once he got his arms around her.
She sure liked the Kevlar vest! It was scratchy and hot, but now he’d found a second use for it ... getting Nancy hot!
Doug headed to the address he’d been given by the dispatcher with lights flashing and sirens screaming. He hoped that Bill would be one of the other units for back-up.
No one on the force looked forward to answering domestic disturbance calls. You just never knew how crazy they were going to be. One time, Doug had stepped in and stopped a drunk from beating his wife; only to have the wife attack his back while he was handcuffing the husband! Weird.
He pulled up in front of the seedy apartment complex, got out of his unit, and locked it. Nowadays he couldn’t leave the unit without locking it. A few years ago, one of his fellow officers had responded to a call, left the vehicle unattended for less than two minutes and had come back to find his rifle, computer, and various other items missing. Of course, no one had seen anything and no one knew anything either.
Now it was just standard procedure to secure the unit.
Doug heard the yelling and screaming coming from the second floor apartment as he moved between the people who had gathered on the lawn to watch. He entered the building and was first on the scene and consequently the first one to approach the second floor landing.
As he rounded the top of the stairwell, Doug had his gun holster unbuckled and his right hand rested on the gun’s handle.
“Police!” Doug yelled loud enough to be heard over the fight that was coming from apartment 206.
The sound of breaking glass and a woman’s scream sent his heart rate up 40 beats a minute. However to the casual observer Doug would have appeared unaffected.
He moved closer to the door just as Officer O’Connor arrived on the landing. Doug nodded at Diane and she let him know with a return nod that she was ready whenever he was.
Diane drew her gun and kept it pointed at the floor. Doug approached the door from the side and gave it three hard swift knocks.
“Orange Police! Open the door!” Although Doug’s voice was loud enough to carry down the stairs and outside, he still sounded calm and cool.
Just then the center of the door exploded outward from a shotgun that had been fired from inside the apartment.
Doug rapidly drew his gun and crouched at the side of the door. Diane plastered herself against the hallway wall and used her lapel mike to call for backup and announce “shots fired.”
Suddenly the remainder of the door was flung open from the inside and a man came stumbling out like he was drunk. Although that might have also been the case, the man was holding his hands to what was left
of his face. From Doug’s perspective, all he could see was a bloody mess where there should have been eyes, a nose and a mouth.
The opening that should have had lips and teeth gaped open and a high keening animal sound emitted from it.
The man then fell to the floor unconscious and stayed that way.
The only sound in the hallway was the ringing left over from the spent gun and Diane’s calm voice calling for paramedics.
Doug took a deep fortifying breath and called into the apartment. The tangy copper smell of fresh blood coated his throat and nose. He knew from experience it would take a long time to get the taste out.
“Put the gun down on the floor outside the doorway, and come out with your hands on top of your head. Move slowly.”
Doug heard a whimpering sound from inside the apartment and the sound of metal when the gun was dropped on the faded linoleum doorstep.
He watched as a small haggard looking woman stepped over the gun and out into the hallway with her hands on top of her head. She was dirty with stringy hair that looked greasy and knotted. Her face looked battered. He could smell her from six feet away.
When she saw her husband on the floor, she crumbled to the ground and started sobbing and shaking. “He just wouldn’t stop hitting me. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn’t.”
Just then Bill and another officer arrived on the scene. Doug and Diane exchanged looks and Doug entered the apartment with his gun drawn while Diane and Bill cuffed the woman and checked the man for a pulse. He had one.
It was a small dirty apartment with a kitchenette and a cramped bathroom. There was a 12 foot by 12 foot main room which did double duty as the living room and the bedroom.
Doug quickly ascertained that the apartment held no more dangers and was about to holster his gun when he heard what he thought was a small cat mewling from what seemed to be an old clothes hamper in the corner of the bathroom.
Keeping his hand on his gun, Doug opened the top to the hamper.
Looking up from inside the dirty chamber was an infant. The only thing it had on was a very old diaper which was wet as well as soiled. Its arms and legs were covered in flea bites and open sores. Its eyes were shadowed and dry. Its mouth was barely working, only putting out a small sound that was more like an inhuman whimper.
“Oh my God!” Diane said from behind Doug’s right shoulder. “Oh my God!” she repeated as she reached down to gather up the infant.
Doug tried to stop her with a hand to her shoulder. “Diane, wait for the paramedics.”
“No way, Saunders. This baby needs immediate attention.” She made cooing noises while she gathered the small frail thing in her arms and it stopped making its whimper for a moment, just looking at her with its hollow eyes.
Diane’s eyes misted over and Doug had to turn away and clear his throat several times before he could trust himself to speak. He could hear Bill speaking to the woman out in the hall.
Just then, the room lit up with paramedics and more cops and Doug found himself backed into the kitchenette. He looked around at the
counter top and realized that there was drug paraphernalia littered all over the place. The two grimy baby bottles that were in the sink app
eared to have clotted formula in them.
Doug turned around in time to see the paramedics gently taking the infant out of Diane’s arms and placing it on a stretcher which dwarfed it even further.
There was a hush that was almost reverent.
“It’s a little girl” one of the paramedics said in a soft voice when he removed the filthy rag that was serving as her diaper, replacing it with a clean absorbent pad.
Doug could hear the woman now out in the hallway screaming “Gloria! Don’t let them take my Gloria.”
He also heard Bill’s voice say “They’ll take good care of her ma’am.” Doug knew that if Bill could see the shape the infant was in, that he wouldn’t have even answered the woman, he would be so disgusted.
Finally the husband and the child were transported to the county hospital and the woman was taken into custody after the paramedics checked out her face which had a small laceration above a very large bruise on her right cheek. There were other assorted bruises which varied in depth and color, indicating that she’d received them at earlier times.
Both she and her husband had multiple track marks from needles going up and down their arms and legs. The woman even had marks between her toes.
Doug looked around the apartment one last time before leaving and turning it over to the detectives who would secure the door and plaster crime scene tape across it to keep nosy neighbors out.
As he went back to his unit he spied Diane leaning against her unit talking with another officer, her fiancé. Doug didn’t want to intrude, although he could sure use some human company that wasn’t degraded and dirty.
He thought once again about going over and speaking with Diane, but she and Mike were intent in their conversation and lost to the rest of the world. So Doug got into his black and white and drove back to the
station to fill out the requisite forms. He could have done them in his car, but he needed the safe, sane space of the precinct and his fellow officers around him.