Bad Advice

by S M Mala

  ‘What do you need to know?’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me what happened on Tuesday? I got a call this morning saying she walked into a police station and told them about an incident. When they checked the call, they found out it came from you and there was no follow up. You do know how serious this whole situation is?’

  ‘I do but she was in a terrible state and, at the time, didn’t want to report it but I did.’

  ‘Why did she call you?’

  He knew this was the moment he’d have to say it all.

  Glancing around the room he wondered what the reaction would be.

  ‘She has my number,’ Scottie said quietly. ‘She has done for a long time.’

  ‘But I thought you didn’t know her that well when-.’ Helen Trott stopped for a moment as if something had registered in her brain. ‘You do know her then?’

  ‘We weren’t on speaking terms.’

  ‘I’m not into riddles. Can you please tell me what’s going on? You know how important this case is. For you, as a senior office, not to follow up this incredibly serious incident makes me wonder.’ Helen Trott took a deep breath. ‘What are you hiding?’

  ‘I met her months ago at Diane’s birthday party. I didn’t tell her who I was and she didn’t tell me what she did for a living. We hit it off and started seeing each other. It’s when she met up with Sebastian, I found out about her past work history.’ Even saying it made him feel sick. ‘I decided we should stop seeing each other, for the sake of my job.’ He flashed Helen Trott a glance, seeing her stony glare. ‘That community fund raiser was the first time I’d seen her for months and I realised…’ Scottie took a deep breath. ‘I was in love.’

  ‘Was she in the house when I came round that day?’ she asked, looking increasingly upset. ‘And when we went to see her, you were together, making me look like a fool.’

  ‘We’d only been together for a few weeks and it was the first time I’d met her son. No one was trying to make you look like anything,’ he said, taking a sip of his tea. ‘I know a lot more now. I listened to her side. We’re together and I don’t care what people think.’

  ‘If you ‘don’t care’ as you say, then how comes you’ve never mentioned it to me? Why aren’t you parading her around with pride instead of hiding her in your bedroom?’

  Her eyes widened at the challenge. He sat back in his chair.

  ‘I didn’t know what to do. You being her estranged step mother and Ruby finding you with her ex, it’s not something you handle lightly, is it?’ he replied evenly, making sure there was no accusing tone. Her face looked ashen. ‘I’m not making judgements. It’s none of my business. But what’s the point of having all this success if you can’t share it with someone?’

  ‘And do you think Ruby’s going to celebrate your success!’ she said loudly. ‘I’m surprised she hasn’t asked you to resign.’

  ‘She wants me to be happy and not lose my job over this, which I know I can’t, in the greater scheme of things.’ As he said it, he received a challenging stare from his boss. ‘Ruby doesn’t want me to tell people and I, to be honest, didn’t want people to know.’

  ‘What do you think is going to come out of this? You can’t work on the case now I know you’re involvement. Scottie, are you aware if someone knows your connection, this could take a nasty turn? Have you thought about all those nutters who might want to prove a point and go for them?’ She shook her head furiously and stood up. ‘And I suppose you have an opinion about me?’

  ‘No,’ he lied and looked up at her. ‘The only opinions I have are the following. I want to catch the killer and I want to be with the woman I love. Simple.’

  ‘I think you are,’ was her parting shot as she walked out of the café and Scottie collapsed in his chair, out of sheer fear and relief.

  Eighty seven

  ‘Hello,’ Ruby said, opening the door to see a beautiful plump woman and Riley on the doorstep. The child frowned. ‘Come in. Scottie’s been delayed. I’m Ruby and you’re Lorraine.’

  ‘I know who you are,’ said the woman brightly, stepping in and giving her an impromptu kiss on the cheek. ‘And this is Riley.’

  ‘Hi Riley,’ said Ruby.

  He looked at her up and down before walking straight into the house, totally unimpressed.

  ‘Ignore him,’ shrugged his mother. ‘He just wants to spend time with his father, alone, and thinks anything and everyone is preventing it.’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ve an eight year old version who’s with his father right now. I know not to try and be friends.’ She laughed for a moment. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

  ‘I’m fine thanks,’ replied Lorraine. Ruby realised the woman was staring. ‘Have you and Scottie been together long?’

  ‘On and off for a few months.’

  ‘You’re the one he said he really liked ages ago.’

  ‘He dumped me three months after we started seeing each other so I’m not sure if he meant me,’ she replied with a laugh and was met with an alarmed look. ‘It’s a long story but maybe I’ll get to tell you about it, unless he does the same thing again.’

  ‘It’s that job,’ Lorraine replied, shaking her head from side to side. ‘It encompasses his life. That’s why it didn’t work out between us. I needed him at home and he needed to be on the beat. I wasn’t used to a career guy that’s why the next one, Kevin, is a good old HGV Driver. At least he comes home at night.’ She let out a rich laugh and shook her head. ‘But you never know, maybe Scottie might change.’

  ‘I don’t mind,’ sighed Ruby, instantly liking Lorraine and grinning, wondering why Scottie wouldn’t want to be with this lovely warm woman. ‘He seems to like it.’

  ‘You don’t mind if I head off? I have to get to the supermarket. We’ve got guests coming tonight so I’ll come and get him about five. Word of warning about Riley? He loves his daddy more than anything else, so let him have his time.’ The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. ‘Or he’ll be a pain in the arse for the rest of the weekend. I never met a child who moaned so much! And don’t touch the hair, he hates it.’

  ‘Okay. He won’t mind being left with me, will he?’

  ‘I’d be surprised if he even notices.’ She walked into the living room. ‘I’m going now, can I get a kiss?’

  Riley had set up the games consul and was busy playing as he stopped, walked over to his mother putting his arms around her and gave her a big kiss. Then he walked away.

  ‘Kids!’ the woman replied and went to the door. ‘Lovely to meet you and maybe, next time, I can stay longer and we could chat?’

  ‘That would be great, thanks.’

  Lorraine left and Ruby turned to look at Riley.

  She wasn’t used to the situation and walked through the living room, towards the kitchen.

  ‘Would you like a drink or a snack or anything? You dad says he wants to take you out to lunch, is that okay?’ she asked quietly and noticed he wasn’t listening. ‘Is there any where you want to go?’

  ‘No thank you!’ was the polite and loud reply.

  ‘Was that to a drink, snack, or where to go for lunch?’

  ‘Erm…’ he said, flicking a glance over his shoulder. ‘Why can’t dad have a barbeque?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask him? I don’t think he has any food in to be honest. There’s this Brazilian barbeque that has opened up around here. They do good food. We could go there if you like?’

  ‘Kay,’ Riley replied. ‘Are you coming?’

  ‘I’d like to but if you’d prefer to go with your dad, on your own, I can stay here.’

  ‘Why are you here?’ he asked, turning on his heels and staring at her. ‘No one lives here but my dad.’

  ‘I’m here for a few days as there’s something going on at my house. My son, Theo, is with his dad and Scottie kindly offered to let me stay.’ She noticed the challenging stare. ‘I can keep out of the way. Hey, I can even go and see Nana Gwen instead.’

  ‘Daddy says y
ou’re a friend of Auntie Diane’s. I didn’t know you knew Great Gwen.’

  ‘Great Gwen?’ she asked, trying not to laugh. ‘I bet she told you to call her that, didn’t she?’

  ‘She said she’s sick of people calling her Nana. It annoys her and it was easier for me to call her that.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t mind. At least she doesn’t try and play with my hair like Granddad Jack. That’s annoying and so you know, I don’t like it.’

  ‘I won’t touch your hair and I’ll keep out of the way,’ she grinned, seeing the kid was trying to suss her out, as she was him. ‘Actually, you go to lunch with your dad and I’ll stay here. I don’t mind as it’s a nice day and I can sit in the garden.’

  Riley frowned.

  ‘And I’m not a baby and you don’t have to be nice to me to make me like you. I either will or I won’t.’

  ‘I see,’ smiled Ruby. ‘People tell me I’m very forthright when I say things and I like that in a person. And the same goes for me. You don’t have to be nice to make me like you but you have to be polite. That’s one thing I’ve taught Theo, politeness and good manners don’t cost a thing.’

  ‘I am polite and good mannered,’ he said, pursing his lips. ‘My mum says you have to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ which I do all the time.’ She noticed he emphasised ‘all’ as if compensating because he didn’t. ‘When’s dad coming home? I’m hungry but I don’t want a snack as it will ruin my appetite.’

  ‘Soon,’ Ruby replied, smiling at him as he turned around and continued his game.

  The child looked like his father, other than the caramel coloured skin and the very blonde afro. He had hazel brown eyes and was very cute, that’s why he was obviously a spoilt little brat.

  She laughed.

  Theo too was a spoilt but not as mouthy as this kid.

  ‘Hello there!’ Scottie said, opening the front door and walking in.

  Riley instantly rushed up into his arms, making Ruby gulp back the lump coming to her throat. There was mutual love from both males.

  ‘Daddy! Can we go to the Brazilian restaurant that does barbeque food? That girl told me about it,’ he said glancing over at Ruby. ‘Can we?’

  ‘That girl is very clever and she’s called Ruby,’ smiled Scottie. ‘So I take it you’ve met?’

  ‘We’ve met,’ he replied, burying his head into his father’s neck.

  ‘And we’ll see how we get on, won’t we Riley?’ Ruby mumbled, falling more in love with the policeman by the second.

  They were in the garden playing football after lunch while Ruby prepared a curry for the evening. She’d been allowed to rummage through Scottie’s cupboards and popped out to the supermarket, with her lover’s supervision and bribery of sweets for Riley, to quickly pick up a few things before they headed back. The copper had limited supplies which made her think he did have shares in the Indian restaurant down the road.

  Just as she was going to sit down to have a cup of tea, she noticed Scottie’s case was open where he had thrown it on the floor. Some papers had fallen out. Ruby bent down, knowing he’d go berserk if he caught her. She quickly flipped open the covers and then got the shock of her life.

  She recognised the people whose faces looked like they were made of marble with the words ‘Bad Advice’ written across their lips. In all this time, she hadn’t looked at any of the pictures, just focussed on what had been written by the press.

  Wracking her head, she tried to recall where she’d seen them.

  The door opened and she quickly put the papers in the case then turned as Riley walked in, all red faced.

  ‘That smells nice,’ he said, looking over at the cooker. ‘Are you making a curry? My mum makes really good curries. Her parents come from Jamaica, you know.’

  Riley walked towards the fridge and took out two bottles of water.

  ‘Next time if I’m here, I’ll make you one and you can compare. Mine’s probably not as good as hers but a friend game me a recipe. Her brother is a chef in a large hotel in Mumbai. That’s India.’

  ‘I know,’ he said and she noticed there was a little grin. ‘My dad likes you.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied, kicking the case discreetly and smiling. ‘And I like him.’

  Later on, they ate dinner outside and her mind couldn’t shake off where she’d seen the people before. She went through all the occasions where the Samaritans would get together.

  ‘This is really very good,’ Scottie said, taking her hand and kissing it. ‘I’m a lucky man because you can make a good Ruby Murray or shall I call it a Ruby Marquis?’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘How are your knees today? You weren’t hobbling as much.’

  ‘Is that down to my knees or the good seeing to you’ve been giving me?’ she asked as he laughed. ‘The knees are fine and I’m not in pain. I hope Riley was okay. I got a handshake when he left, did you see?’

  ‘He’s trying to suss you out. Thanks for keeping in the background. You know what kids are like.’

  ‘I know,’ she said, finishing off her food and not feeling very hungry. ‘I’m stuffed.’

  ‘I’m not,’ he said and dished more out on his plate.

  Ruby looked out onto the garden and smiled, shaking her head again, trying to think of where she met the people.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, leaning closer. ‘You’re miles away.’

  ‘How was work?’ she sighed wanting to change the subject. ‘Lorraine said she was a widow due to your love of the job.’

  ‘Ah,’ he said and ate a forkful of food. ‘I didn’t want to say.’

  ‘About being addicted to work? Or that your ex is gorgeous?’

  ‘Both,’ he replied, taking a deep breath. ‘I saw Helen Trott this morning.’

  It was a whirling nausea that suddenly hit her. She put a napkin across her mouth to hide the scowl coming across her lips and the vomit burp which would soon surface.

  ‘That was nice. Does she usually work on a Saturday?’

  ‘Seems that word got around about you going to the station and she came in for a chat. We went for a cup of tea.’ The look said it all. Something happened as he stared straight at her. ‘I told her about us and she wasn’t impressed. Called me ‘simple’ and walked off.’

  Ruby looked at him, realising he was being deadly serious.

  Then she laughed.

  Very loudly and quite hard.

  ‘That’s her all over. Putting you down when you’re telling her something honest. At least she’s consistent with her comments. She used to call me that all the time. Even when I spoke to her briefly after she fucked Hugh. Helen Trott said the same thing to me ‘simple’.’ Scottie wasn’t laughing, in fact he looked upset. ‘Don’t take it to heart. She’s just rude.’

  ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘You don’t have to but you’ve got me. Simple.’

  Eighty eight

  By midweek, everyone was looking through all correspondence, security footage, bank balances, anything to find a clue or connection. Other than the Samaritans and various jobs they had which related to them, there was nothing.

  ‘Sir,’ a young policewoman said. ‘I think I might have found something.’

  Scottie looked up at the pretty police officer who he knew was called Janine and smiled, knowing Dave was examining her backside.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked as the woman sat down next to him, a little too close, and opened up her notebook.

  ‘This,’ she said, directing him to look at the screen.

  He noticed there was a page on a social networking site where current and ex Samaritans could made contact. There were numerous photos. It had been going for ten years.

  ‘You’ll find that the victims, other than Chonika Adams, had posted on there. It’s a way of telling others what they’re up to. Whoever committed the murders might have used this site to track them down. It’s a thought.’

  ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ he said, smiling at Jan
ine while he skimmed over the pages. ‘This is excellent work. We just need to know who they’re connected to and then we can start.’

  ‘There are over 2,000 people on there,’ she said, frowning.

  ‘But it’s a lead and we can get a team of people to find out plus get the email accounts, names and-.’

  He stopped.

  There was a picture taken a few years back. In it he recognised the people who worked at the same branch as Ruby as well as the three of the five victims. The only people missing were Cass Parker and Chonika.

  Ruby also wasn’t in the snap but Diane was.

  This wasn’t looking good.

  Eighty nine

  ‘You want me to do what?’ Ruby asked when two police officers appeared on her doorstep Wednesday morning. ‘Come in for questioning about what?’

  ‘Will you come with us, please?’ the older officer asked.

  ‘How long will it take? I have to collect my son from school at three.’

  ‘It’s just routine,’ he replied as the younger officer stared.

  ‘What’s wrong with him?’ she asked. ‘Has he got wind? Look, can I ring my ex-husband to tell him what’s going on just in case I’m delayed?’

  Without waiting for an answer, she walked into her house, took her bag and called Hugh. It tripped into voice mail.

  ‘I’ve just been called in for questioning at the police station. Could you …’ she didn’t know what to say. ‘Look, pick up Theo and find out what’s going on. I know it’s about the murders so I’m not sure why they want to see me unless they think I’ve done it.’

  She caught the two men looking at each other and wondered what was going on.

  Sitting in a room, it reminded her of one of the scenes of a cop drama. It was as if she was on a film set.

  Her mouth dropped open when Helen Trott walked through the door.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.

  The older woman frowned in response.

  She was followed by another man in plain clothes who had come into the Samaritans to ask them initial questions with Scottie.