Anne

A wet white towel lay crumpled at the side of the bath as a slight gurgle announced the last of the water had emptied down the drain. Steam hung in the air and condensed in rivulets on the frosted glass of the bathroom window and stainless steel of the taps. A dusting of fine white powder lay before the open doorway with footprints leading out of the now empty bathroom.

Anne shook her hair and leant forward, her wet hair hanging over her face as she groped around the dresser top for her comb. Finding it she began to slowly tease it through her tresses, beginning the process of untangling her main of blonde. A draft of cool air blew across her back causing her to shiver and involuntarily press her knees together, a process that subconsciously reduced her feeling of naked vulnerability.

The man stood quietly in the lane looking at the thatched roofed cottage, his attention ranging wide for any sound that disturbed the sense of what should be. Rivulets of water dropped from the brim of his hat onto the waxed shoulders of his coat, his feet stepping across the puddles that were gathering together preparing to form into a flood. He prepared to take a step towards the cottage garden when a car pulled up past him and turned into the cottages gateway. The man shrugged his shoulders and walked on. He would return later.

 

As Anne combed the last of the straggles and knots from her hair she felt arms encircle her waist and reach up to cup her breasts. Lips nuzzled at the back of her neck and she turned to a full embrace, tongues dancing and eyes fixed as her hands clenched behind Gerald's back.

"Wow" she uttered when she was finally able to pull herself from his embrace. "Still chucking it down I see."

Gerald stood back his arms at full stretch his hands in hers."Yup sweets, it is absolutely hammering it down. Hasn't stopped all day. Some poor wretch walking outside the cottage when I got here, must have been soaked to the skin. Lord only knows what imperative meant that he had to go out in this filthy weather."

"Not every one dislikes the rain like you do 'Rald. I well remember dancing naked in the rain in the summer as a child. Rain renews and brings life to the earth. Plants can't grow with out it."

"Once a hippy always a hippy. Come on then," Gerald pulled his hands free and started tugging at his shirt, pulling it over his hair, still wet from the rain. "Let's go and dance naked on the lawn."

"You wouldn't?" Anne shrieked in laughter as she helped pull his shirt from him, "come on then, put your body where your mouth is." Gerald pulled his trousers off and then danced around the room in the way that only men did as he tried to peel his socks from his feet to follow Anne down the stairs.

Anne stood holding the back door open as Gerald cleared the last of the stairs and he rushed past her, grabbing her hand as he went, pulling her onto the lawn, his feet slipping on the sodden grass. Anne laughed as her toes curled trying to grip the grass, long and awaiting dry days to be cut, her hand still holding Gerald's, as they danced around each other, the rain running into their eyes blurring what little vision they had.

As Gerald laughed at the pointlessness of their dance he was pulled forward as Anne slipped and fell to the grass, he too fell, his knees hitting the lawn causing a jolt of pain through his spine and a gasp to escape his mouth.

"Bloody ouch Annie, your grass his hard." Anne said nothing she lay where she fell, unmoving. Gerald ran his hand around her jaw, his fingers teasing at her lips. "So you want to play that game do you?" Gerald asked, as his hand slipped from her face down to caress her breast, "You are a minx, Annie, a real minx."

Gerald looked down as his hand moved beyond her breasts and he stopped, startled. "Shit Annie" he screamed, "What the fuck did you fall onto?" There was no response from Anne, her eyes closed and blood dripping from a wound at her side. He knelt by her side and put his hands under her and lifted her to him and then managed to stand without falling, Anne cradled in his arms he went back through the door and put Anne carefully onto the settee. He ran through to the kitchen grabbing a phone handset and some tea-towels.

"Annie, Annie, can you hear me sweetie?" He spoke urgently as he pressed the tea-towel to her side, she didn't respond. He tried to feel for her pulse at her wrist and then her neck, but wasn't sure whether he could feel it or not. He needed help, this was far beyond his capability, and he needed it quickly. He dialled 999 on the phone.

As Gerald was phoning for an ambulance the man from the lane had reached his hired car. He pressed the remote unlock and quickly got in to the drivers seat. Strapping the seatbelt as he started the engine he slid the stick to drive and pulled smoothly away. It was time for him to be somewhere else. The gun dug painfully into his side as he drove and with a free hand the man eased it, a practised hand ensuring that it was still easily available, should he need it, not that he expected that he would, not just yet anyway. He was pleased how an obstruction had turned into an opportunity. After walking purposefully in the wrong direction away from the cottage when the car pulled up, he had turned around when he judged the coast to be clear to get back to his car, he had seen her cavorting naked in her garden as he came level once more with the cottage. Priding himself in his professional abilities, it had taken him only a moment to pull the pistol from his pocket, take aim and then walk on.