Dirty Cops Next Door

by Summer Cooper

  Over the next few days, the phone at the inn would not stop ringing. Annie May or her grandmother would pick up the phone only to hear obscene music playing. Their post was filled with hateful pictures and awful words that Annie May just didn’t want to think about. She also refused to talk to Daniel on the phone, deleting his number from her new mobile and blocking his calls. She screened the calls on the landline to avoid him and his fiancée, and Ruby refused to let him come into the inn at all, though she did try time after time to get Annie May to talk with Daniel.

  They were hearing rumours that Daniel’s office was being targeted by someone too. The windows had all been smashed in at his office; the tyres on his car had been slashed, and he went home to find a dead dog lying across his steps one night. The police determined the dog had died from natural causes and hadn’t been killed with cruelty, but the threat was the same. Annie May wasn’t sure why the woman would be terrorising Daniel either, if they were together, so she discounted those rumours out of hand. Daniel must have put the regulars up to it, trying to gain sympathy for himself and make people think he wasn’t the cad he’d turned out to be.

  Finally one night, Piper made her first appearance. Annie May knew who she was as soon as she walked in the door because she fit Annie May’s picture of the woman so well. Long blonde hair, tiny waist, a short dress that barely counted as clothing much less a dress, shoes that Annie May called ‘hooker heels’, and far too much make-up. The kind of expensive, high-maintenance woman that Annie May had no wish to be like, but always compared her own image with.

  The woman was loud and rude, frequently bending over the bar to show off her knickers to the older men gathered at the tables. They cringed away, not wanting to be caught looking at her. The woman demanded her drinks and glared at Annie May while she drank them. An hour after she came in she started speaking in a very loud voice, using foul language that made everyone in the bar cringe. Apparently, she thought all of the men in the bar wanted her, but she belonged to one man alone.

  “Miss, I think it’s time we ring a taxi for you.” Annie May said, trying to remind herself to be polite. “I’m not serving you anymore to drink tonight; you shouldn’t be drinking in your condition anyway.” Annie May meant her pregnancy, but apparently Piper took it to mean her inebriated state. Her pregnancy wasn’t apparent yet, but Annie May remembered the picture.

  “What’s it to you, Goliath? Where’s this Annie May? The cow with a cow’s name?” Piper looked around, staring at all the women in the place.

  “That would be me, Piper. I think you really need to sit down and collect yourself, if you don’t mind.”

  “I can drink if I want to. Besides you’re the bit…” She fell over before she could finish but quickly stood up again. “Right, well, I was going to kick your head in but seeing as how you’re more Ironman than a woman, I guess I’ll have to settle with making my presence known. So, here I am, you soulless ginger cow, stay away from my bloke!” With that she collapsed to the floor again, the heel of her too high shoes snapping as she tottered around on them.

  Annie May dialled Daniel’s number from the inn’s phone, where it was still saved, and spoke in clipped words. “It’s Annie May. Piper is here, come get her before I call the police.”

  “Annie May! Wait…” But she hung up before he could finish.

  Some of the female customers had picked Piper up by this time and helped her to one of the seats outside.

  A few minutes later, a car pulled up but it wasn’t Daniel. It was an older gentleman, and he walked in to speak with Annie May.

  “I am very sorry for any damage my daughter may have caused. Please do forgive her, she’s a troubled girl.”

  “I am very sorry to hear that sir. But when she sobers up, would you please tell her that I don’t want Daniel anymore, she’s quite welcome to him. I’ll be going back to America soon anyway, so I’m sorry to have caused trouble.”

  “Ah, I see; she’s at that again is she? Well, I do hope I can prevent you any further problems, miss. Good night.” With that the man walked away, taking his daughter with him.

  The man’s words were strange but Annie May didn’t pay much attention to them. The words of his daughter crowded his out as they played through her mind over and over again. The one line she said struck right to the core of Annie May’s emotions. You soulless ginger cow. Had Daniel told Piper about the childhood incident? Had they laughed over her size, her hair colour, and her weight together? Is that why the woman used the very words that would hurt Annie May the most?

  “Annie May, don’t let that silly bint bother you, love. You aren’t a cow; you are a beautiful young woman. Don’t let her words sting you. She’s just some cheap trollop anyway, no matter how expensive her clothes may have been. You’re Nan’s girl, and far more beautiful than you realise. I bet she’s riddled with diseases as well, standing there with her knickers out like that. Some people have no class, at all.” Ruby took Annie May’s hand and led her to a dark corner.

  A lot of people had left after Piper went, probably off to spread the news around the village Annie May thought, and it was quiet now. Looking at her Nan, Annie May tried to figure out how she’d got it all so very wrong.

  “I thought we were falling in love, Nan. I thought he really liked me. Despite being so tall, despite not being a stick, I thought he liked me and appreciated the things I am. I’m an intelligent woman; I’m educated; and I’m pretty, despite being tall. I’m kind and caring, generous with my time and the things I can offer people. Why did this have to happen?” She thought about her first evening here, how hopeful it had been, and now it was all going down the drain.

  “Annie May, I still think you should talk to Daniel. That bloke wanted more than just a quick jump out of you. Any man that reads poetry as he did to you can’t be too bad, my love. Why don’t you call him?” Nan pleaded with Annie May but Annie May just shook her head.

  “No, he’s hurt me far too much, Nan, once too often. It’s just all too much and I let myself fall far too fast. I should have known better. But thank you for trying, and for loving me. I love you so much!” Annie May saw the last of the customers out for the night, then went to her own bed. Alone, with a pillow over her head to hide her sobs, she cried herself to sleep, vowing to never love like this again.

  4

  “Annie May, a friend of mine, Dellah, is coming in to take over the place for a while, I thought you and I could go out for a walk. You need some fresh air, and I could do with some exercise. Get your boots on child, let’s go. Daylight’s wasting away!”

  Annie May wasn’t sure she was up to a hike today but followed her Nan out of the door anyway. She wasn’t really paying attention to where they were going, some of her wonder and joy for the countryside lost with the heartache she felt. She just put one foot in front of the other, trudging over rocks and through mud until Ruby finally stopped by a tree.

  “Oh, Nan, where have you brought me too?” She asked as she finally looked around.

  “I’m guessing this is the tree where Daniel threw those frogs at you?” Her Nan asked, looking inquisitive.

  “Yes, we came here a few weeks ago, laughing about it all. If I’d only known how it was going to turn out. Why did you bring me here, Nan?” She asked.

  “Because you need somebody to wake you up and make you see sense. Daniel wasn’t ever with that woman. I’ve known him a long time and I’ve never seen him with her once in my life. The Daniel I know would never abuse a woman’s affections in this way, he’s far too kind. That’s why I set up that meeting with you two. I knew you were coming, and he’d just installed that interwebs stuff, and I went in and changed the cables around while he was busy the day before you came, hoping I could send you down to sort it. I’d never have done that if I’d have thought he wasn’t a decent bloke. Now, look at me, don’t you turn your back to me, girl!”

  Annie May turned back around, not really angry but upset. She wouldn’t look Ruby in the eye, th
ough, not yet.

  “Now look, I’m only doing this for your own good. You’re so caught up on how tall you are, on not looking like some dainty little princess that you’re doing yourself harm. You’re denying yourself happiness, and I’m not having it anymore! This will stop. Daniel, bring yourself out here please.”

  Annie May spun around, shocked to find Daniel coming out from behind the tree.

  “Now Annie May you’re going to listen to what the young man has to say. Stop shaking your head and listen for once, will you? I know you’re a smart girl, but sometimes you can be a total spanner, do you know that? Now hush.” Ruby stopped talking and walked off, leaving Daniel and Annie May alone.

  “Annie May, I am so sorry, but you wouldn’t let me explain. Your grandmother hatched this plan too. I never had anything to do with Piper, Annie May, I swear to you. The woman has had an obsession with me for years now. Every so often she pops up, causes me some grief, and then disappears again. This time it’s worse than usual. I called her father to come and get her, and she’s gone now.”

  “But what about the baby?” Annie May asked, still clinging to her anger.

  “There is no baby, she was never pregnant! She got the picture off the Internet. Your Nan said there wasn’t even a hospital name on it, and usually there is one. Not even the mother’s name, nothing, just a scan.”

  “OH!” Annie May said, reality starting to dawn on her. Tears filled her eyes as she thought about how very stupid she’d been. She’d been so desperate to believe he could never love her that she’d painted Daniel out to be the villain, and he’d never been any such thing!

  “Oh my, Daniel, oh, I’m so sorry!” She threw herself into his arms then, sobs wracking her throat. “We’ve wasted so much time now! I’ve wasted so much time!”

  Pushing Annie May slightly away from him, Daniel stepped back, pulling a box out of his pocket. Annie May’s eyes grew wide, shock settling in. He was not! He was not!

  “Annie May, I bought this, hoping I could ask you to marry me, but I think we need more time than that, now. You need to trust me, and we both have to get over the damage Piper has caused. But, I want you to wear this ring, as a promise, as a reminder, that no matter what, I love you and I will never, ever, throw frogs at you again!” He laughed at the end, relief in his voice.

  “Oh, Daniel! Of course I’ll wear it. Yes, I believe it’s far too soon to be talking marriage but I will wear this ring. Every day of my life, I’ll wear it.” Looking down as he placed it on her finger, she giggled. She actually giggled.

  The ring was adorned with a silver frog, its spots done in diamonds and emeralds with two black onyxes as eyes. The ring made her smile because she knew the promise it meant, the memories it represented, and the special meaning it had.

  “I love you too, Daniel. I’m so sorry for being pig-headed and doubting you. I wish I’d had a little more faith in myself now.”

  “You’ll get there, my dear, with a little love and pushing from me; you’ll get there.”

  5

  A few weeks later, Annie May had called her parents to have most of the things she couldn’t live without posted to her Nan’s, and she’d settled into a cottage on the property. She needed her own space to work in now that she was staying and had started to accept freelance work from local businesses. Daniel had repaired the damage to his own office and was back at work. Both still helped Ruby at the bar when she needed them and both spent a lot of time with the woman, enjoying her company. They’d even taken her out with them quite a few times, trying to convince her she needed to get out more, maybe even find a man of her own. She brushed them off, but Ruby would go out with them when asked, at least.

  Annie May was happy again and Daniel was ecstatic, both over the moon about their relationship. Piper had disappeared with her father and they hadn’t seen her again. The couple were taking things slow, rebuilding what they had and building onto it. They had started to discuss marriage again, but still thought it too soon.

  Daniel and Annie May had an awkward but funny discussion about marital relations that had them both giggling by the time they were done. Daniel had finally kissed Annie May, a sweet, gentle kiss that made her toes curl one night after the last customers had left the inn. They’d taken out the rubbish and Annie May had stopped to stare up at the moon. It was full and ever so bright that you couldn’t help but notice it in the sky.

  “It almost feels like I could reach up and touch it, Daniel.” She whispered.

  “It doesn’t compare to you darling. You outshine even the moon.” He responded.

  “Oh, Daniel, don’t make me laugh. That was a good one though!” She said, not meanly, but in a teasing way. He understood and laughed with her.

  “Yeah, alright, I admit, that one was pretty corny, even for me. But I did mean it! He said as he moved in front of her, his hand against her cheek. She looked at him, hoping that he was finally going to do it, that his lips really were slowly moving toward her own, and that she wasn’t just daydreaming.

  She reached her own hand up to his face, wanting to pull him closer. His lips brushed softly against hers, an exploration of feeling. She moved her lips against his, wanting more pressure. He pressed more firmly, moving away, but then came back to do it again. Her toes really were curling by the time he came back, her heart swelling with joy.

  “Your lips are so soft, Annie May.” He said as he moved away.

  “Thank you, Daniel, but that’s all you’re getting.” She said.

  “What do you mean?” He asked, confused.

  “Well, I’ve never, uh, you know…” She whispered.

  “Never, what?” He asked.

  “You know!” She responded back.

  “Never kissed someone,” he asked as she shook her head, cheeks flaming in the dark. “Oh, that. Oh! You’ve never been intimate with anyone before? Oh, well, um. Yes. Alright, well that explains why you won’t go home with me then. So you’re um…”

  “Yes, I am. I’m sorry. I guess it’s naïve but I wanted to wait. I thought it would be more special that way, more meaningful. I guess you’re disappointed?”

  “No, not at all, Annie May! Not at all. I think it’s wonderful and humbling, if anything. And you want me to be your first?” He asked.

  “No, I thought I’d wait for the right one to come along. You know, this prince I’ve been hearing about my whole life; tall, wonderful, good looking! Heard of anyone like that?”

  “Yes, but I think you’ll find he’s married himself now, madam. How very rude of him!”

  “I know! He could have waited. Then he could have had ginger babies! And oh, tall ginger babies too!” They both laughed then, caught up in their own little joke.

  “So, that means you’re waiting then? Even with me?” Daniel asked, walking back to the inn to lock up.

  “Definitely with you. You tempt me, but I want to wait; it’s important to me.” She said, turning serious.

  “Well, I suppose I am the frog prince. But if I turn into somebody else on our wedding night, it will be your fault. I didn’t when I kissed you just then, but you never know what might happen in the meantime. I might wake up as royalty tomorrow.”

  She laughed, walking beside him. “A royal pain, maybe!” She laughed again. “Oh, don’t pout darling, I didn’t mean it!” She kissed him on the cheek again and patted his shoulder.

  “I’ll give you a royal pain, on our wedding night, my dear!” He laughed, pretending to be Dracula coming to attack her.

  “Oh, you are rude!” She giggled as she ran away but he caught up, kissing her one more time as he held her close

  “It’s fine with me, Annie May. I’ll respect your wishes, and hopefully; you’ll soon agree to marry me. Until then, I’m fine with how we are, and I respect you for your decision. Now, I need to go home and take a cold shower. It looks like I have many in my future. He smiled as he left, walking her to her cottage before leaving to go home.

  All was well for another couple
of weeks, and then Piper returned, with a vengeance.

  Annie May was asleep when a noise woke her up, the sound of glass shattering loudly in the quiet still of the night. She jumped out of bed, down onto the floor, trying to hide and find something to use as a weapon at the same time. She could hear the person, clomping through the house as she felt her phone in her hand.

  Afraid it would make too much noise, she stuck it under a pillow to turn the volume down before dialling Daniel.

  “Somebody’s in the house, come quick!” She whispered when he answered.

  “I know you’re in here, you giant, worrisome horsefly! Come out, come out and play with me!” Piper sung. Oh not Piper, again, please!

  “Piper, what are you doing here?” Not sure about the gun laws in England, Annie May wasn’t sure whether she should be afraid or not, but she was done hiding from this woman! Daniel would be here soon, she reminded herself, walking to the door to turn her light on.

  Piper stood in her sitting room; a long dress draped over what was obviously a pillow strapped against her belly. Her hair was dirty, and she was swaying on her feet. Her face revealed a woman that was either completely out of touch with reality or one that was very high on drugs. She kept fiddling with something behind her back and swinging her arms back and forth. Okay, she’s not armed but she is a psycho. Take it easy Annie May, she told herself.

  “Would you like a cup of tea, Piper? I’m going to make myself some chamomile tea but I can make you a regular one, if you’d like.” She hoped the question would disarm the troubled woman.

  Blinking, Piper looked confused, “What?”

  “A cuppa? Would you like a cuppa?”