Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) (9 page)

They trudged into the house behind Annie. Sadie immediately spotted the drapes Annie had hung. “Did you make these?” she asked.

“Yes. Gran has stacks of fabric. I love the colors, and I like how they turned out, but they don’t really match Gran Ida’s old furniture.”

“What about recovering the couch and love seat? It wouldn’t be difficult. And furniture built today doesn’t have the life span these old pieces do.”

Annie got out the phone book. “Let me order our food, then we’ll talk sewing. I love the idea of upholstering these pieces, but I’m not sure I have the time or expertise.” Pausing, she asked what toppings everyone wanted, then placed the order. Storing the phone book, she got out money for the delivery person, even though the men wanted to pay.

“Tell me more about fixing up Gran’s furniture while I set the dining table, will you, Sadie?”

“Annie has an ancient TV,” Sky informed Koot in the other room. “I guess we might as well pass on the game.” He smiled at Annie through the archway as he said it.

Koot folded his long body into a big overstuffed chair. “Hey, Annie, you need to keep this chair for sure. It’s really comfy.”

“So’s this couch,” Sky admitted after he sat down.

“Hard to tell if the women even heard us,” Koot murmured. “They’re too busy trading decorating ideas.”

“I noticed. That’s nice.” Sky eyed the women working together, talking a mile a minute about upholstering, quilting and other crafts.

“This is a treat for my wife,” Koot said. “After Sadie quit teaching, she missed her teacher pals. If Annie’s serious about spiffing up homes around here, she and Sadie might make a good team. Sadie’s a whiz at decorating.”

“You know, Koot, I can’t recall a single time during our marriage that Corrine made an effort to socialize with the wives of my buddies.”

“There’s partly why your marriage didn’t pan out. If a woman doesn’t have a circle of girlfriends, avoid her like the plague. There’s something wrong with her.”

“Corrine had friends. But they didn’t live in Baltimore, they lived here—the highbrow horse crowd. We met in that environment and I let her drag me to their parties for a couple of weeks. She assumed I moved in those circles, and was shocked to learn I didn’t. It was hard on her when my army reserve unit got called up for active duty.”

A knock sounded at the door. Sky stood to answer it, but Annie beat him there. She paid the delivery boy, then let Sky, who was right behind her, take the boxes to the table where Sadie was pouring iced tea.

Koot passed around the first slices of pizza, which now filled the room with a spicy aroma. Sighs of appreciation followed as they began eating. A sharp crack followed by a second pop rent the air. The large window behind Annie’s chair splintered and glass flew everywhere.

“Someone’s throwing rocks,” she yelped, looking shocked as she ducked.

“Not rocks, bullets,” Sky and Koot cried in unison, each dragging a woman to the floor. Sky covered Annie’s body with his. She went still under his weight, and for a protracted moment the only audible sound was the combined breathing of the two couples. Then through the shattered window came the screech of tires.

Sky sat up and tugged Annie upright. Their eyes met as he reached out to dust sparkling glass particles from her long dark hair. “Your cheek is cut,” he said, starting to touch it, but she pulled away and wiped away the trickle of blood herself.

“Sadie’s been hit. Her arm, I think.” Koot scrambled to his feet, pulled her close and grabbed a napkin from the table. He shook glass out of the napkin with one hand, and with the other tossed his Sig Sauer to Sky. “Here, boss. I noticed you weren’t carrying, and you’ll have to give chase. I need to get Sadie to the E.R.”

Chapter Five

S
KY
SPRANG
UP
and, with a last glance at Annie, raced for the door. “Call the paramedics, Annie, and have them check your scalp. You have glass shards in your hair.”

Annie bent over. After shaking her hair vigorously, she straightened, grimaced and dug out her cell phone. Her hands shook so hard she misdialed the first try and had to start over. When the call connected, she explained the situation, then repeated her address. Hanging up, she said, “I’ll get you a clean towel from the kitchen. You need to apply more pressure to that wound, Koot.”

It was plain that the man who was a thirty-year veteran of police work was badly shaken because it was his beloved who’d been hit. “Don’t faint on me, honey,” he pleaded with Sadie.

“I’m okay except it stings like fury. Don’t
you
faint on
me,
” she said, attempting to joke back.

“Paramedics should be on their way.” Annie returned from the kitchen and handed Koot a white towel. She’d brought in a broom and dustpan but, instead of sweeping, watched Koot carefully bind Sadie’s arm without removing the cloth napkin he’d first used to stanch the flow of blood.

All three were startled when Sky unexpectedly burst back in through the front door. “I hear sirens a block or so away. Help is almost here. How are you all doing?”

“That was the shortest chase in history,” Koot said, sinking back to his knees. His relief at seeing that their intruder was Sky—and not some gang member—was palpable. But he didn’t sound too happy when he asked, “Why aren’t you chasing our shooter?”

Sky paced to the wall and back. “A neighbor across the street flagged me down. He said he’d opened his gate, intending to walk his dog, when he noticed a dark blue Caddy driving past real slow. His name is Dawson. I had to drag that out of him. Annie says that according to the other neighbors, he’s a bit of a recluse. Anyway, he said he ducked out of sight and kept his dog quiet because it looked like the same car from the other night. The car that let out two young guys, then peeled out fast. He saw them from an upstairs window that night and he thought they were teens based on their builds. They wore dark clothes and acted furtive. But later, they apparently made no effort to hide as they spray painted Annie’s place. Like you said, Annie, he didn’t report it because he was afraid of retaliation. The other night, he didn’t see who picked the guys up.”

“Did he get more information on the Caddy? Did he read any part of the license number?” Koot asked halfheartedly, his attention still on Sadie.

“No, and by the time I took his statement—and he insists on remaining anonymous again—it was too late for me to pick up a trail. He did mention that the car was lowered all around and had pricy chrome spinner hubcaps. I sent the Louisville cops a bulletin saying we have an official interest in locating a car like this.”

The siren drew closer, then stopped, and Annie, who was stationed by the door, opened it and welcomed in four firemen. In spite of the fact that they knew Sky and Koot, the newcomers took charge of the scene and of Sadie, who had suffered the worst injuries.

“How bad is she?” Koot hovered over a medic breaking open a Ringer’s IV to restore Sadie’s fluids.

“I’ve seen worse,” the medic said. “We have to transport her, Talmage. You can meet her at the hospital. Hey, calm down. She’s not in serious danger. It’s a flesh wound and the bullet passed clear through the underside of her arm. Your time will be better spent figuring out the slug’s trajectory and digging it out from wherever it landed for evidence.”

“We’ll do that,” Sky said, but he hovered as one man dabbed an antiseptic-saturated gauze square to a deep cut on Annie’s cheek. “We’ll take her, too,” the fireman told him. “This cut may take more than a butterfly to close. Besides, she’s got glass all through her hair. The E.R. nurses are better equipped to remove the particles without doing further harm. Right now your cuts look minor,” he said, returning his full attention to Annie. “I’ll cover your hair with a sterile plastic cap. You won’t win any beauty contests—” he gave her a wink “—but it’ll keep glass bits out of your eyes and from falling on your shirt.”

“I should stay here,” Annie fretted. “I need to cover the window. And there’s glass to sweep up in every corner of this room.” She clutched the broom, but Sky pried it out of her hand.

A third man, who’d begun to pack up the medical kits, indicated the open, almost-full pizza boxes on the table. “Somebody did a number on your supper. Whoever cleans this up, be sure to secure the leftovers well before you toss them in an outside garbage bin. We frequently see homeless folks and hungry kids riffling through cans around the neighborhood.”

“That’s terrible,” Annie said. “I had no idea hunger was such a problem here. Oh, Sadie,” she cried, transferring her concern to Koot’s wife. “I couldn’t be sorrier that this happened to you in my home.” She held Sadie’s uninjured arm and helped a little as a fireman and Koot settled her onto a gurney.

Sadie’s beautiful complexion had gone pale from pain and anxiety. Her color began seeping back after the medic gave her a shot of mild painkiller. Now she did her best to smile as she patted Annie’s hand. “Don’t worry, I’m going to heal and be good as new. I promised the women who helped us today that they could count on my help with their homes. I intend to keep that promise. It burns my you-know-what the way those cowards bully innocent people.” She continued her rant as two of the men wheeled her out.

Koot took a couple of steps to follow his wife, then stopped and shot Annie a helpless expression.

“It’s okay.” She waved him on. “I won’t hold her to anything she said tonight.”

Sky shifted the broom to his left hand and urged Annie toward the door. “I meant what I said about you going along to the E.R. for treatment. And the paramedic expects you to go, as well. I’ll stay and sweep up the glass, and see what I can find in your garage to cover that window until morning. Then you can call a glass company to repair it properly.”

“Again.” Annie sighed. “Repair the window again. I had it fixed the afternoon of the break-in. I should’ve kept the glass company’s invoice,” she lamented. “Wait—George Gilroy called them. Maybe he’s still got their phone number.”

“That’s another thing,” Sky said. “I’ll check with the Gilroys and Spurlocks. Maybe they saw more than Dawson. I know your next-door neighbors are skittish, Annie, but I’m surprised they haven’t come over to see if you’re okay.”

A fireman who’d lingered to escort Annie to the aid car arched an eyebrow. “Cordova, it sounds as if you’re battling something bigger than standard, low-level gang mischief. If it’s a vendetta against this woman, then maybe you should arrange a safe house for her after the docs fix her up tonight.”

Annie sputtered objections from the doorway as her escort hustled her out. “My poor neighbors are probably huddled in their bedrooms in the dark, afraid for their lives,” she called back to Sky. “Please don’t frighten them more.”

Sky stepped to the door, assuring her he’d be calm and composed when what he wanted to do was put his fist through a wall. He hated feeling powerless against this gang. He hated the fact that they’d retaliated against Annie for no reason other than her unwillingness to hide. Instead, she cleaned the graffiti off her house and refused to back down from her plan to organize folks and take back the neighborhood. He didn’t like that they were stepping up their crimes. And to have this drive-by happen right under his nose galled him no end.

After the entourage left, Sky spent a few minutes guessing at the angle of the first bullet. He took photos with his cell phone and experienced some satisfaction when he found a slug in the wall. Leaving it, he went out to his car for an evidence kit. He carefully removed the slug and saw that it bore trace evidence of blood, obviously Sadie’s. He recalled the second shot, which exploded the window, going wide of the table. After a few minutes’ examination, he discovered that slug embedded high in the wooden molding that framed the dining room ceiling. Climbing onto a chair to retrieve it, he then tucked the evidence bag in his shirt pocket and turned to the task of sweeping up glass. He also heeded the words of the fireman who’d warned them about properly disposing of the leftover pizza. Ultimately he decided to put the trash bag in his car to throw in the Dumpster behind the police station. Sky doubted even hungry drunks were stupid enough to rummage through the department’s garbage.

As bad luck would have it, Annie didn’t own a board big enough to cover her window. Sky visited the homes on either side of hers to see if the neighbors had anything he could use. Neither couple answered his knock. Annie had probably been right that they were hiding in fear. Since he couldn’t force them out, he made do with some two-by-sixes that were in Annie’s garage. He nailed two of them in a big X over the jagged opening and put two others on the inside. Once he’d completed that, he recalled the last comment made by the fireman who’d been helping Annie, a suggestion about finding her a safe house for the night. His department budget didn’t stretch to putting any victim up in a hotel. But he was afraid gang leaders might send someone back here tonight. He debated the options that were open to him as he gave the house a final once-over. Having done the best he could with cleanup, he left a light burning over Annie’s kitchen sink, locked up and headed for the hospital.

Fifteen minutes later, Sky turned into the parking lot of the nearest trauma center, which served lower Louisville and Briar Run. He met Koot driving out. They stopped their cruisers beside each other and both rolled down their windows.

“How’s Sadie?” Sky peered into the car, where she sat beside Koot with her eyes closed. “And where’s Annie?” He didn’t see her in the backseat.

“Busy night in the E.R.,” Koot said. “A doc was just going in to evaluate her. She insisted I take Sadie home, so I told her I was sure you’d be along shortly. Thank heavens Sadie’s not as bad as I feared,” the older cop admitted, relief evident in his voice. “The bullet grazed the underside of her arm. The doc said she was lucky. It’s soft tissue, which is why there was so much blood. I should’ve known that,” he said with some irritation. “But it’s hard to think like a cop when the person bleeding all over you is someone you love.”

“It’s okay, Koot. You don’t have to apologize for being distracted, I understand. You get Sadie home. I’ll go see what’s up with Annie. If they finish with her and I’m not around, I wouldn’t put it past her to call a cab.”

“I noticed she’s pretty unflappable. In fact, we ought to be plenty proud of both our ladies, Sky.”

Sky pulled his lower lip between his teeth for a moment. “Yeah. But Annie’s not my lady. She’s a taxpayer in our district—that’s all. And considering the way she’s setting off the Stingers, she’s our department’s personal pain in the butt.”

“Really?” Koot’s comment was mild compared to his expression, which implied that he thought Sky was full of baloney.

Flustered by his coworker’s insinuation, Sky rolled up his window and drove on. His nerves jumped as he exited the car in the lot. To keep his hands steady, he buried them in the back pockets of his jeans. Sky didn’t know how he felt about Annie, and wasn’t sure he
wanted
to know. She piqued his interest on several levels. But he wasn’t happy his feelings were transparent enough for Koot to see that interest. After all, look at the disaster he’d made of his marriage. What did that say about his ability to pick a woman?
The right woman
. Chin lowered, Sky stiff-armed his way through the emergency room glass doors.

Yowza!
Koot hadn’t exaggerated when he’d said it was busy. People in obvious pain wriggled uncomfortably in their seats. A drunk jabbered out loud to no one. Kids and babies squalled. A fresh-faced boy looking too young to be a father walked his moaning, very pregnant wife past overflowing chairs. They avoided a pasty-faced woman vomiting into a bucket.

A harried nurse stepped out of a door marked Private and called out a name. She glanced at Sky and, on recognizing him, said, “Chief Cordova, Lieutenant Talmage said you’d be in to collect the patient in examining room D. If you’d like, you could come on back and join her.”

Sky weighed the possibility that they might have put Annie in a dressing gown. The thin gowns could reveal more than the wearer wanted.
Oh, what the heck
. “Thanks, Lou. I’ll go let her know I’m here at least.”

He made his way down the corridor to room D, and poked his head around the curtain. Annie lay on an examining table with her head tipped back. An aide stood behind her, running a large comb with big teeth through Annie’s long black hair. Even from the doorway he could hear the tinkle of glass as it fell into some kind of container. “Hi,” he said, moving fully into the room. “Lou sent me back here,” he informed the aide he wasn’t familiar with. Sky couldn’t say whether he was happy to see Annie in her own clothes, or whether he was just a touch disappointed not to find her wearing one of those short, revealing gowns.

Aaak, he should feel guilty even
thinking
that...but he wasn’t.

“I’m almost done,” Annie said, lifting her head. “Koot said Sadie’s arm was a flesh wound. That’s a relief, isn’t it? I don’t need a stitch in my cheek, either. The other cuts to my scalp are minor.”

“And thanks to this lice comb,” the aide interjected, continuing to gently comb Annie’s hair, “she’ll soon be free of glass.”

“That’s good. Annie, I found both bullets,” Sky said, propping one shoulder against the door frame. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to stop at the office to send the slugs and the photos I took off to the lab. The sooner we can find out if there’s any match to known gang activity, the faster we’ll run down our shooter.”

“If you need to go now, I’ll call a cab to take me home.”

Sky laughed and the women both eyed him speculatively. “I’m laughing,” he said, “because I told Koot in the parking lot that if I didn’t get in here to take you home, you’d call a cab. I bet you had no idea you were so predictable.”