The Secrets Of The Shadows. Helen Phifer
opening the door for her he waved her through and whispered in her ear, ‘You’re doing the right thing Annie, trust me. Everything will work out just fine.’
They walked down the street to the Railway, which played no music but the beer was cheap and it was always busy. True to her word Annie bought the first round and they all squeezed around a corner table in the window, where they could watch the world go by and get drunk. At the table opposite them was a group of men, one of them an old friend of Mike’s who waved at Annie and shouted hello. She waved back. Mike’s so-called friends had no idea that he was a wife beating thug. Or if they did they never let on. She hadn’t liked any of them because he always went for the loud, cocky ones who would laugh and joke at everyone’s expense.
After half an hour she went to the bar for another bottle of wine. It was packed and she had to squeeze in. She felt a hand squeeze her behind and turned around about to give whoever it was a mouthful and was shocked to see Mike’s friend grinning at her.
‘Alright darling, fancy seeing you in here, you know word has it you were already sleeping with one of the coppers before Mike’s coffin hit the ground. You didn’t do much mourning for him then?’
She wanted to tell him to fuck off but was too polite. ‘No I didn’t, not after he almost killed me. His death didn’t have quite the same effect.’
She paid for the bottle of wine and turned around. There were people pushing in all over the place and he took advantage and pushed himself as close to her body as he could. She shoved him away with one hand, a bit too hard, and he stumbled back into a tall man who was behind him making him spill his pint. ‘Watch it mate.’
Annie muttered an apology and squeezed through the throng of people to get back to her friends; she put the wine on the table and turned her back to the group of men, who were laughing.
After five glasses of wine she knew that she’d had enough. Claire and Sally had left a while ago and Jake and Kav were discussing the football. She wanted to go home, put her pyjamas on and then crawl into bed; if she told them she was leaving they would make a fuss, instead she told them she was going to the Ladies. Neither of them looked up as she made her way through the crowds to the door and some fresh air. It was dark outside and slightly drizzling. She thought about phoning a taxi but she rarely used them, she would rather walk around to the bus stop outside the police station and get a bus for a quid. She didn’t notice Mike’s friend follow her outside. Putting her head down she began to walk briskly around to the back of the pub to take the shortcut across the car park, which was in a quiet back street. Most of the streetlights weren’t working and it was dark but she wasn’t bothered, there was no-one around. She had walked these streets at four in the morning on her own when she was working. The alcohol making her brain foggy she forgot that she wasn’t at work and didn’t have the benefit of CS gas or handcuffs should she need them. She crossed the road and was almost at the other side when she fell forward as someone shoved her hard from behind. Unsteady on her feet because of the wine, she fell to her knees and cried out. Before she could do anything a weight pressed on her and she felt herself being dragged across to the open rear yard of an empty shop. She opened her mouth to scream and a fist hit her in the face, missing her nose but hitting her square in the eye. Annie lost it then and began to fight with everything she had but her attacker was strong, she could smell the beer on his breath and knew it was Mike’s friend from the pub whose name she didn’t even remember. She was managing okay but as she lunged forward she tripped and fell, landing on her back. He straddled her and memories from last year filled her mind. She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped his hand over her mouth so she bit him as hard as she could. Another punch hit her on the side of the head this time and then his weight lifted off her chest and she watched in slow motion as he flew through the air like a balloon. Kav bent down and helped her up and Jake had the prick shoved against the bonnet of a car in an arm lock. The guy was struggling so Kav walked over and sucker punched him in the guts, knocking the wind out of him. The blackness was illuminated by flashing blue lights and Annie groaned as she looked across at Kav, ‘Really.’
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