Authors: Patrick Abbruzzi
What if Annette found about it? How on earth could he explain to his wife that he was just going there for sex when he should be going to his wif
e
for relations?
Charlie’s mind and heart were in a quandary. It was almost as if he were in an abyss and spinning ou
t
of control, sinking faster and faster with no help in sight. No matter, he was resolved to hold his ground. He would let Terry speak first when he got there.
H
e
finished his tour, signed out and practically sped to Terry’s house. He knew, and at least hoped, that Annette had left for work at her usua
l
time but he wanted to be home roughly at the same time just in case hi
s
wife had decided to stay home.
Charlie arrived at Terry’s, making good time. He parked in his usual spot and walked up to her front door. He rang the bell and Terry opened the door immediately. She was wearing a robe and her hair was wet, as if she had just steppe
d
out of the shower. She looked tired and had dark bags under her eyes. I
t
was easy to see that she had been crying. She beckoned for Charlie to come in and they walked into the kitchen without saying a word. Terry had two empty cups on the table and poured Charlie a cup of coffee. She sat and just looked at him for a few minutes. Finally she spoke.
“I can’t do this, Charlie. I’m going crazy. I haven’t slept all wee
k
and it’s beginning to affect my mother and son. I feel as if I’m los
t
and can’t find my way home,” she said, her voice soft even as it broke.
“What do you want me to do?
”
he asked.
“I don’t know, Charlie. I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to give you up or lose you but I know that I can’t force myself on you. If
I
was like other women I know I would make you miserable just lik
e
I’m miserable,” she said.
Charlie began to sweat a little at that remark. He had heard horror stories about girlfriends of cops who were scorned. They could make your hair stand on end. It was hard to believe that some women could be so bitchy and evil at the same time.
“I never lied to you or mislead you, Terry. My feelings were always wha
t
I truly felt. Life is no bowl of cherries and I’m sorry for what you ar
e
feeling now; I truly am. If I could bear the pain for you I would, bu
t
I can’t. My wife is seeing someone and I don’t know if she is going t
o
leave me or not. I want to save my marriage and I have to be honest wit
h
myself, and with her, if it is going to work,” he explained.
“Charlie, if your wife leaves you, do you think I want sloppy seconds?” she asked, her red-rimmed eyes glaring at him across the table. “I want you to let me know what you’re intentions are if she leaves you and I want to know now!”
Charlie didn’t know how to respond. “I have to be honest with you and say that I don’t know what in goo
d
Christ’s name I’ll do. I can’t expect you to stay home and sit by th
e
phone. I’m going to try to fix things with my wife, that’s all I know right now.”
“How could you try to fix things with your wife? When you didn’t know she had
a
boyfriend, you were coming here and making love to me, not her. You wer
e
holding me, not her. You were getting aroused for me, not her. You wer
e
coming inside of me, not her. Now all of a sudden you think you’r
e
going to lose something that you didn’t have and you expect me to say, ‘
Aw
’?”
Her eyes flashed with anger.
“That’s okay, Charlie. You go home and be with your wife. I understand.
I
understand that it’s all bullshit and you know it. God damn it!”
Charlie saw Terry as he had never seen her before. She was angry an
d
possessive and he was really beginning to think she was going off the deep end. He didn’t want a psycho female on his hands or in hi
s
life, certainly not at this stage of his career.
“What can we do together? I’m open to any suggestions you migh
t
have,” he said appealingly. He needed her to think rationally. He thought if he could get her to calm down then maybe they could work something out.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Charlie, but I really am at my wit’s end,” she said gruffly as she tried to regain control of her anger.
“I know, Terry, and I don’t like to see you like this. What can we do
,
baby?
”
he asked.
“Maybe you can just see me once in a while until I get through this? Maybe we can have coffee sometimes. If I know that I have you in m
y
life somewhere then maybe I can find the strength to go on,” she suggested.
“Is that what you really want? Would you be satisfied with coffee once i
n
a while?
”
“Yes, I would. I think that if I had you somewhere in my life then I coul
d
do it,” she said, “because right now the only other option is not something I can deal with. Not yet.”
“You know that I’m not going to call as much, right?
”
he asked, somehow masking the doubt in his voice.
“I know, Charlie,” she answered.
He was glad Terry had been the one who came up with the idea. I
t
was better than having a crazed female on his hands. He thought he could fit her into his schedule once in a while as long as he did not succumb to her sexuality, which he suspected she would be using in the coming days. She would just get more possessive as th
e
weeks rolled by. Of course the best way to deal with her would be a swift, clea
n
break but Terry was not prepared emotionally to face or accept that. H
e
vowed to remain strong.
“Terry, I’m not going to promise you or tell you when I’m going to call, but I will tell you that I will call when I can get a chance. It might mea
n
that I’ll be able to call every day, or it might only be once a week or even less. I don’t want you sitting by the phone waiting for a call that might not come. If you can do that then maybe we’ll be able to work things out,” he said.
Terry seemed to accept Charlie’s offer of a few crumbs and he could only hope that sh
e
had meant what she said. He didn’t want to go into work every night an
d
find messages left by her.
They said their goodbye at the door and he drove home, praying that Annette had already left for work. When h
e
got home he was relieved to see that her car wasn’t there and his prayer had bee
n
answered. He went in and made himself a strong cup of coffee and poure
d
himself a shot of Sambouca to calm him down and help him relax. After a while, he went up to bed and slept soundly until Annette came home. Thankfully, he didn’t dream of Terry.
Twenty-Four
When he woke up, he took a quick, refreshing shower before going downstairs and heard the familiar sounds of Annette moving around in th
e
kitchen. Even after sleeping all day he still felt tired. Late tours had their pros and cons, but feeling tired all the time was one of the cons for sure.
Annette looked somewhat down and seemed as if she might have bee
n
crying. Charlie didn’t want to upset her but felt he had to say something, even if only to let her know that he was aware of her feelings.
“Are you okay?
”
he asked quietly.
“I just had a bad day. There was a lot going on and it sort of took its toll on me. Thanks for noticing, though,” she replied.
“Do you want to go out for dinner?” he asked. “We can always throw those chops back in the refrigerator for tomorrow.” He smiled at her then added, “What do you say?
”
“Thank you, Charlie, but I think I’ll take a rain check. I just need to keep busy for a while.”
He hoped it was only a busy day that was causing his wife’s condition even though he suspected it might have been the result of her relationship with he
r
office beau. Maybe she made an attempt to break it off with him, or maybe she made the final decision to leave Charlie and just didn’t know how to go about telling him. He decided to let it go for now and have hi
s
dinner in peace.
After they ate, they relaxed while watching a little TV. Annett
e
really must have been tired because she soon fell fast asleep which was unusual for her. Charlie woke her up when it was time for him to leav
e
for work. He kissed her gently on the cheek and for the first time in
a
long while, she kissed him back.
**
When Charlie arrived at the precinct, some of the guys were already there, sitting in the back room having coffee. They weren’t talking and were all huddled in one corner of the room. There were several gangster type
s
just walking around the back room, gazing at bulletin boards and othe
r
cop posters. Two detectives in suits from the Waterfront Commission squad were seated at the only table i
n
the room doing what appeared to be some type of paperwork.
Charlie could only assume that the squad, or wherever these detectives came from, had made a raid somewhere and were probably waiting fo
r
transportation to night court over in Brooklyn. Curious, he walked over to his buddies.
“What the hell is all this?” he asked after greeting them with a nod.
“Looks like the Waterfront Commission made a raid on bookies down b
y
the piers,” said Tony Auriama as he took a puff of his long cigar.
“Yeah, but how come they have to sit in our room? This is OUR private area. Why don’t they take them up the 120
th
squad room?” asked Charlie.
“Get used to it. When are you going to learn that we have no rights an
d
no one gives a flying fuck about us or our back room?” asked Tony.
Charlie was pissed. He realized that this wasn’t the first time outside agencies made collars and used the back room at the 120
th
precinct as the holding pe
n
for their prisoners.
“Yeah, it’s happened before. Why don’t they cuff them to the fuckin
g
table instead of letting them walk around? You guys have personal information on those bulletin boards, don’t you?
”
asked Charlie.
His fellow officers looked at each
other as if to say yeah, but what could they do about it.
As Charlie was waiting for an answer, Lt. A., who had apparently gotten to work early, entered the back room. He approached the table where the two detectives were working an
d
slammed his attaché case down hard on the wooden surface, causing papers to scatter everywhere.
“Gentlemen, what’s your command?
”
heasked in a deep and demanding voice
.
One of the detectives pulled out a shield and identified himself as a sergeant from the Waterfront Commission’s squad.
“We made a few collars tonight and we’re waiting for a ride back t
o
our office with our prisoners, Lieutenant,” said the sergeant.
“Prisoners? What prisoners?” asked Lt.
A.
“Fellows, come over here and stand by this table,” said the sergeant t
o
the three men, who were all smoking expensive cigars.
It was very obvious to Lieutenant
Audeninothat these detectives were o
n
the pad, receiving monthly graft money from these bookies that they were treating like Gods.
“Oh,
these guys
are your prisoners?” Lt. A. asked without hiding the sarcasm in his voice. “Listen, I’m not going to ask you wh
y
they’re not in cuffs, and I’m not going to ask why you haven’t placed them i
n
a secure area. That’s your business. I am going to tell you that I’m the Platoon Commander of the 1
st
Platoon and in exactly five minutes from now they, as well as you, will becom
e
my responsibility.”