Annie's Neighborhood (Harlequin Heartwarming) (6 page)

“I appreciate it. That whole proceeding is nonsense. Kentucky Child Welfare has already demanded and received affidavits pertaining to every stinking second of my life.”

“Yeah, well, stay cool. You know that her side is dragging this out, hoping for something that’ll give them reason to file another injunction. That’s why, even if you’re sweet on Annie Emerson, forget it. Your ex’s shyster lawyer will find some way to exploit it to their advantage.”

Sky tugged his lower lip. “That burns me, Koot. Corrine divorced me while I was off fighting for our country. She claimed irreconcilable differences she didn’t have to substantiate. I don’t understand a system that lets her take my son from the state where we lived. She married an older dude with teenagers and nobody objected when she completely rearranged my kid’s life. Yet, her side has the right to reject my home, my job and maybe whatever woman I may show a remote interest in wanting to date? Give me a break.”

“I guess family law has to consider everything. Say, Sky, did you just admit you’re interested in dating Ms. Emerson?”

“Koot, you old buzzard, don’t try and put words in my mouth. I’ll admit I find her intriguing. I’m reasonably sure that’s not mutual.”

“Hmm. I may have to ask Sadie to go strike up an acquaintance with the lady and invite you both over for an evening of food and poker. That way we can all get to know one another a bit better.”

“Don’t you dare! But before I forget, I’m scheduling myself a day off real soon to spend with Zachary.”

Koot left, and Sky went back to his paperwork. Rain or not, he wanted to make time to drive down Rose Arbor Street in daylight for once.

It turned out that a series of fender benders caused by the rain played havoc with his good intentions.

The next day there were also several incidents that demanded his attention. By the end of a week fraught with headaches, Sky ran into the local café thinking he’d grab a take-out sandwich to eat in the car while he dashed by to inspect the paint jobs on Rose Arbor. They’d even caused chatter among his dispatchers and the two junior officers.

At the register where he handed over money to pay for his food, he happened to glance at a stack of flyers. They included a photo of the three homes he’d intended to visit. Sky snatched one up and perused it.

“Are you going to attend that meeting on Tuesday night, Chief Cordova?” the café manager asked as she gave him a brown bag with his sandwich and passed him a cup of steaming coffee.

“Huh?” He looked up from reading the flyer, which outlined all the points Annie had brought up earlier.

“The meeting at the library. I work a lot of hours, so I doubt I’ll get to go. Nobody I’ve talked to seems to know much about the woman who’s holding the meeting. Jim Morris said she’s Ida Vance’s granddaughter. You might’ve heard that Ida passed recently. She was a longtime do-gooder. She’d turn over in her grave at the thought of any relative of hers stirring up trouble in the town.”

When he’d finished reading, Sky folded the flyer and tucked it in his shirt pocket. “What makes you feel this meeting might stir up trouble, Joanne?”

The woman shrugged plump shoulders. “As a rule, folks around these parts don’t cotton to outsiders barging into our community, trying to tell us what to do.”

“In her introduction, Ms. Emerson points out that she was brought up in this town and that she’s inherited her grandmother’s home. Doesn’t that make her part of our community?”

“Not if she thinks she can throw around her fancy California ideas, it don’t.”

Sky saw he was on the losing end of this argument. And recalling that Annie had accused him of having it in for Californians, Joanne wasn’t voicing much he hadn’t said himself. “I should get back to work.” He hurried out to his cruiser. The first thing he did was drive down Rose Arbor. Even before he reached the first of two speed bumps that required drivers to slow down, Sky noticed cars ahead of him traveling well below the speed limit as their drivers gawked at the three “painted ladies.” In daylight, they were quite appealing. Sky tried imagining other streets with homes painted as tastefully. He hated to retract another set of objections. The other night he’d concluded to Koot and Sadie that mere paint would never boost the spirits in the neighborhood. Now he wasn’t so sure.

* * *

T
HE
FOLLOWING
T
UESDAY
, Sky’s initial plan was to run by his house at the end of his shift, change out of his uniform and sneak into Annie’s meeting. He’d act like a casual observer at the back of the crowd. As with too many of his well-laid plans, things didn’t go quite as he’d hoped. He had a man out sick, and the day presented an endless array of problems. It started with a group of half a dozen kids in the park. They’d skipped their first class, and had all contributed medicine from their households—both prescription and over-the-counter stuff—which they mixed together in a bowl and chugged with beer heisted from one dad’s fridge. Thank heaven someone saw them and reported their activity before they could swallow everything in the bowl.

Koot had helped transport them to the E.R., where medics checked the kids’ vital signs. A nurse hauled out the
PDR
and began matching pills to pictures in the book so they could identify the medications no longer in their original bottles. They all winced when an emergency room doctor ordered emetics.

Sky began the long process of calling parents, some of whom worked jobs they couldn’t leave, others who couldn’t be bothered to collect their little darlings. In between calls, he had to clean their vomit off his shoes. Five o’clock rolled around just as they handed over the last kid to a none-too-pleased stepmother.

Koot went home. Sky prepared to do the same, figuring he had time to shower and shave, and still make it to Annie’s six-thirty meeting at the library.

He hadn’t even reached the door when a call came in regarding a carjacking. “I’ll take it,” he told his dispatcher. “Koot’s off duty and on his way home. Notify Morales, will you? See if he can come in a little early and meet me there.”

Forty minutes later, Sky glanced at his watch as he signed the last report and turned the night shift over to Joe. It was seven-ten. He was closer to the library than his house. Even at that, it’d take him another ten minutes to get there—and he’d be arriving really late.

Sky drove straight to the library. He was sure he stank of sweat, and maybe still had vomit on the toe of one boot. Too bad. He wouldn’t sit in the back row. He’d stand in a shadowy corner, out of everyone’s way. According to Annie’s flyer, the meeting would end at eight-thirty. With luck he’d be there for the last forty-five minutes—the part with audience questions and Annie’s answers.

He’d attended a meeting in the community room on a few other occasions. Thank goodness he didn’t need to waste time hunting down the librarian to get directions.

The door to the room stood open. Sky softened his steps when he drew nearer so as to not disrupt the meeting. It was strangely silent inside the room, although he’d expected a controversial, maybe explosive give-and-take—his main reason for coming tonight. He wanted to make sure things didn’t get too heated and out of hand.

He peered into the room. A side table held a large plate heaped with what appeared to be homemade cookies. The room smelled pleasantly of fresh brewed coffee. Sky spotted a big urn on the same table. Beside it sat paper cups, cream, sugar and napkins. She was ready for a crowd. At the front of the room Annie rested her forearms on the podium. All around her in half circles stood rows of empty chairs. Not a single soul had come to her event.

He must have made a noise at the door, enough for her to lift her head. Their eyes met and Sky’s stomach tightened. He found himself deeply affected by the disappointment etched on her face.

“You must feel vindicated,” she said, indicating the vacant chairs. “You told me this was a foolish idea. What I can’t believe is that
everyone
stayed away.”

Sky stepped into the room. “I didn’t come to gloat. I came to keep the peace. After I saw your flyer, I thought you’d have a full house. Maybe it’s the time. Six-thirty is early for people who work downtown and travel by bus. They have to get home, prepare and serve a meal and catch a bus back out to a meeting. That’s why teachers at our schools start open house and parent meetings at eight.”

“I didn’t know that. So, you didn’t hear a rumor that people were warned off by anonymous phone messages from gang members?”

Sky tensed. “No. When? Where?”

“A coworker of Mike Spurlock’s claimed he received one of these calls late last night. Woke him up, he said, and he told Mike it was enough to make him stay away.”

“Where are the Gilroys and Spurlocks? Why aren’t they here to support you?”

“They’re already part of the renovation project. But to be totally truthful, they’ve been edgy since the break-ins.”

Sky felt edgy, too. He didn’t like hearing that the Stingers had issued threats. The leaders—and few gang members knew who they were—had a vested interest in keeping neighborhood kids who did their bidding under their thumbs. They definitely wouldn’t like the fact that one of the objectives on Annie’s flyer indicated that beautifying the neighborhood was part of a larger strategy aimed at renewing family values and banishing gang activity. “It doesn’t look as if anyone’s going to show up, Annie. Why don’t I help you clean up the room?”

“That’s kind of you, but I see you’re still in uniform. I’m sure you have other duties.”

“No, I’m off. I intended to go home and get out of the uniform before dropping by here. But a late call tied me up.”

“Then I accept your offer. I’ll dump the coffee and go see if the librarians would like the cookies. They’re open until nine.”

Sky snagged a cookie and a napkin. He set it aside with a grin. “Those look tasty. I’ll work up an appetite folding chairs.”

“Here, take another.” Annie added a second cookie to his napkin. “Do you want a cup of coffee, too, before I get rid of it?” She unplugged the pot.

“Hold on, that’s hot and it’s heavy. I’ll pour us each a cup, then carry the pot to the sink in the men’s room. You go ahead and deliver cookies to the library staff.”

“You’re being nice for a man who sounded quite cranky about my ideas a few days ago. Why the change of heart?”

“Serve and protect is a motto I take seriously. My feelings toward this town are complicated. The other day I wasn’t convinced your plan had merit. Part of my reason for coming tonight was to possibly be enlightened. Now I’ll help you pack up, and then I’ll follow you home. I don’t like what you said about possible gang meddling.”

“I don’t need you to follow me home. And it’s high time someone stood up to those bullies. That’s all they are. Bullies who use scare tactics to frighten people and get what they want.”

“Uh-huh. That’s about the size of it. They’re also very good at operating from the shadows. All the same, we’ll do this my way.”

“Okay, knock yourself out. Since you seem to be keeping track, my next move is to go door-to-door to speak to everyone in the neighborhood. Can they count on your force for quick assistance if I convince them to call 9-1-1 if they see a drug deal going down? Or if they spot gang members shaking down younger kids for school lunch money? I hear that residents often don’t call the cops because your response time is slow or nil—and because of fear of gang retaliation.”

“We do our best.” Sky filled two paper cups with coffee and set them near his cookies. “I can’t make the promises you want on behalf of my department, Annie. Number one, my small force is already stretched thin. Second, I don’t believe that in most cases it helps to arrest local kids for petty crimes they’ve been coerced into pulling off. It just adds to parents’ misery. Especially poor parents.”

“How else can you get the names of gang leaders if you aren’t putting pressure on the kids you know are members?”

“You’re assuming these local kids actually
know
who the leaders are. I promise you I hauled in a lot of kids when I first took this job. They were too frightened to rat out anyone. Fear is debilitating.”

“But without cooperation from police, I doubt residents will commit to even the first small step in taking back our neighborhood.”

Her dogged determination to go out on a limb to save a neighborhood she hadn’t been part of for quite a few years baffled Sky. If he could sell his house he’d move from Briar Run in a second. “I’ll go pour this out,” he muttered, hefting the urn. “We can talk some more while we drink our coffee.”

“Sure, but you’re not going to talk me out of continuing. I hope you know that.” Annie ripped open two packets of creamer and emptied both into her cup.

Sky didn’t say what was really on his mind—that she was the most mule-headed woman he’d met in a long time. When he got to the men’s room, he dumped the coffee and rinsed the pot. He had most of the chairs folded and stored on their carts before she returned from her trip to the main part of the library.

“Sorry I was gone so long. There weren’t many patrons, and the librarians were chatty.” She boxed the coffee can, sugar and creamer packets and the rest of the napkins. “The librarians think that what I want to do, motivating families to tidy up their homes and streets, is a great idea. But...” She sipped her coffee as Sky wheeled the last cart of chairs to the wall and walked up to claim his cup.

“But...” he prompted, gazing steadily at her over the rim.

“They’re like the others, too scared to join in. It’s only one gang, for pity’s sake. In L.A. there’d be a dozen or more out roaming the streets.”

“In L.A., like in other big cities, gangs fight one another for turf. They display their colors proudly, and cops know the members. They just have to catch them in the act of committing a crime.”

“The gang here is sneakier, and that’s precisely why I think there’s still hope to wrest local kids from their clutches. In my work in low-income areas, I found parents willing to do whatever it took to give their children more opportunities for a better life. They’d risk a lot to keep them out of gangs.”