Chapter 10: Anne - Marie makes a Find

Anne Marie stood by the bedroom window, looking out at the grey winter weather. It matched her mood. As she clutched her thin robe tightly round her body, as if in doing so, she could keep out the driving rain that lashed against the window panes. It was one of those days when the wind and rain whistled round the eaves, creating a cacophony of strange sounds.

The window panes shook and rattled, as they were intermittently being lashed with rain and wind. It was the type of day she would have liked to stop in bed and in the warm. But not today, she had things to do. Her emotions were all mixed up.

Suddenly it hit home that she only had Tony to depend on. There was no-one else and she was not even sure about him. Tony's behaviour was strange, it was as though his mind was elsewhere, and where did he spend his time these days? It was not as though he needed to work. She knew he had plenty of money. But his unexplained absences worried her.

The overwhelming sense of relief she was experiencing, was the thought that it was a perfect day for a funeral - Robs funeral. A perfect day to get rid of that bastard. In that respect, she reflected any day would be a perfect day. The sense of freedom she now felt as a widow, was only tempered by the knowledge, that she still somehow had to win Tony away from Sarah. Despite their recent sexual encounter, she knew she still had a battle to win. She wanted, and needed him so badly, that she could think of little else, and she knew it was going to be a much harder task than she had first thought.

She turned away from the window, she was reluctant to make a start on emptying Robs wardrobe. But it was a job that she knew had to be done. The sooner she got every belonging, and every memory of him out of this house the better. She realised now just how much she had really had detested him; no single person in her life, had ever roused such utter loathing in her. She had been swept of her feet as a stupid teenager; excited by the mystery of him, and the life of comparative luxury that he could give her. She had enjoyed the foreign holidays, the clothes and the jewellery. But reality had eventually set in, on the day that he had been arrested, and charged with living on immoral earnings, and had nearly dragged her down with him.

When he came out of prison, he had been even worse than before. Then he was into drugs, and much worse. But for some obscure indefinable reason he had wanted to keep the marriage alive. The only thing that Anne-Marie could assume was, that she gave Rob an aura of respectability, and a cover for his activities. The only good thing about her marriage, as far as she was concerned, was that he had stopped away from her for months. Although she knew that he had visited the house several times when she had been out. His whore's had obviously kept him sexually satisfied, and he had not bothered her now in that way, for a very long time. Reluctantly she went to a drawer to make a start.

First of all, she put on a pair of kitchen gloves, unsure of what she would find, as she started rummaging. She threw his suits on the bed, followed by his shirts, socks and spare pyjamas. These she would burn when the rain had stopped. Then her attention was drawn to the corner of the cupboard. She noticed a Golf Bag; pulling it out of the cupboard was very hard work; but she was now extremely curious, Rob had never played golf as far as she knew, so what was he doing with a golf bag she wondered, as she opened it?

She stood for a minute in shock, her mouth open in astonishment. Inside was two shotguns, and several boxes of ammunition, nestling among a motley collection of golf clubs. She backed away, her hand over her mouth, she couldn't touch them; turning and crying she ran downstairs, down the path, not caring about the rain, and into Tony's arms as he was leaving his house next door.

"Please Tony - you must come. I've found some guns in the bedroom."

Tony was surprised by her distress. He was in a hurry and just on his way to see Sarah. Her Father had collapsed and died early that morning, and she apparently needed his help in making arrangements for the funeral. But he could also see that Anne- Marie was highly distressed and needed him, even more at this time. A few minutes later, Tony found himself looking down at the two sawn off shotguns, she had dragged from the cupboard.

"Where were they? "Tony asked.

"Here in this wardrobe, in the corner there."

Anne Marie told him, as she opened the door to show him.

Tony looked in the wardrobe carefully. As he knelt down, he felt the floor of the wardrobe move. Taking a nail file, he lifted the floor board carefully. Underneath stacked in neat packets were rows of bundles of £20.00 notes. As Tony started lifting them out, Anne Marie clung excitedly round his neck, her excitement growing as each bundle appeared, one after another.

Eventually Tony estimated he had retrieved at least £100.000 in notes, and a large shoe box full of assorted jewellery which now lay on the floor round them. Anne Marie excitedly fondled the various items, as they sat cross legged amongst all the discovered loot.

"You will have to call the Police." Tony told her.

"No way Tony I will not do that." Anne Marie was insistent. "This is ours - yours and mine and now I have some money of my own, you can leave Sarah and come away with me."

In her excitement, she had pushed him down flat on the floor. As she kissed him excitedly, her robe had burst open-, and her breasts had burst into full view. She lay on top of him looking down into his eyes. Tony was feeling very randy, as her body rubbed against his, and for a brief moment he responded, but his self control gradually exerted itself, and, he pushed himself upright, catching Anne Marie in his arms. He couldn't resist kissing her briefly on the lips, as he held her.

"No, listen to me, you must play this canny. It's your money now, not mine, I have all the money I will ever need. If you want to keep it, you must get it away from here, but you must still call the police."

"I'm damn sure I'm going to keep it." Anne Marie told him, as her mind ran through her plans for spending it. "It's not just mine., its ours darling. Now you can leave Sarah and you can make a life together with me." She insisted again. Tony stood with his arm round Anne Marie's shoulders.

"You know I love Sarah. I can't and won't just leave her, but you already know that. But first, get me a suitcase and help me pack the money inside. We can hide it in my house, until all the fuss has blown over. But I think you must leave the jewellery, the guns and at least some of the money for the police. If it's not claimed, the jewellery will be yours anyway.

Its much too hard for you to sell, especially if it is stolen. If they give it back, it will be legally yours, and you can sell it at a much better price."

Debbie sat at her desk daydreaming. She remembered the previous night in bed with Tony. She had left him at the flat; creeping out quietly in the early hours, as he lay fast asleep beside her. Her face was cupped in her hands on the desk, her long almost copper coloured hair, nearly, but not quite touching the surface of the desk. But successfully hiding her face, as her memories of the nights love making ran riot in her conscious memory. the very thought of her night of passion made her feel all hot.

Her body was still afire from his touch, and she relived the ecstasy as his hands had fondled her. Just thinking about it, was a sort of delicious agony, but she had to put aside, for the moment at least. She was not getting very far in her investigations, to find the source of the pornographic films and videos. But she was still sure that Bill and Sandra were behind it all. She still needed hard evidence to put them before the courts.

Debbie was a very pretty girl, with smooth almost aquiline features, and a complexion the envy of many woman five years younger. At 26 she looked far too young to have achieved Sergeants rank. But she was recognised as having one of the keenest brains on the local force. Her promotion had been earned, and was well deserved. Her whole appearance, especially her unique dress sense was that of a younger professional woman, perhaps even a model. Her appearance defied the commonly held convention that women detectives dressed like lesbians, or men in drag.