by KERRY BARNES
Sam was in a panic, his eyes wide, as he ran his hands through his hair.
“Ruby left school early today. She never even went to Sophie’s,” said Sam, pointing to the frightened child.
Jack jumped up from his seat. “Sophie, where did Ruby say she was going?” Sophie shrugged her shoulders.
“But, didn’t you plan to do homework together?” yelled Sam.
Sophie went white – she was not used to being shouted at.
“I’m sorry, Mr Vincent. Ruby mentioned nothing about homework. She came to English, asked to leave, argued with the teacher, and went. I just popped over to give Ruby her assignment,” she replied.
“I’m sorry for shouting, love, but obviously I am worried.”
Sophie nodded and smiled.
Sam pulled out his mobile phone and dialled Ruby’s number. It rang for ages.
Francesca asked Sophie to contact all of Ruby’s mates to see if she was at any of their houses. Sam kept redialling and Jack paced the floor, trying to work out where she would go.
“Sophie, is Ruby seeing anyone?” asked Jack.
They stared at her expression, looking for clues.
“Well?” demanded Sam.
Sophie knew about Jacob, but if she told on Ruby then she would receive a good hiding. Right now, however, she was more afraid of Ruby’s family.
“Someone called Jacob, and he is twenty-four.” The words spilled out so fast that all eyes glared at Sophie as if she were responsible.
Sam grabbed his jacket and car keys. “Right then, love, you come with me, and show me where he lives!” He clutched her arm.
“Mr Vincent, I don’t know where he lives. I’m sorry, I really don’t know.”
Sam demanded that Sophie tell him everything.
“Mr Vincent, I don’t know any more than that!”
“Give the girl a break, Sam.” At this point, Francesca was up from her seat and walking towards Sophie. “Now, sweetheart, you have been really helpful, so just one last question. Do you know when Ruby began seeing Jacob, and where they met?” She was a professional at drawing answers out of people – after all, she had been a top barrister for years.
Sophie sat down on the settee and counted on her fingers. “It was three weeks ago, and in a place called, err…” She paused, trying to remember the name. “Kiddiewell, no Kidmore, something like that.”
“Kidbrooke!” shouted Jack.
She nodded and the three looked at each other, knowing full well where she had been going.
Sophie left for home, worn out. The three jumped into Sam’s car. The drive wasn’t too long, since the rush hour was over, and it was dark.
Sam’s intention was to kick Jesse’s door in and demand she tell him where this Jacob lived, because, as far as he was concerned, she was responsible. Jack was so angry he couldn’t speak. He knew his father would knock at his mother’s door and he was just as anxious about that. His little sister was now dating a grown man, and from the Kidbrooke estate of all the shit-holes.
Francesca didn’t know what she would do if Jesse had been part of the reason that Ruby was seeing a man of twenty-four. Her throat tightened like she was being strangled. She hated Jesse with a vengeance and would happily send her to her grave.
As they drove into the estate, Jack felt sick. He recalled it so well – especially the park, where he was sent to look after his little sister, even when it was freezing cold, so his mother could have her friends over. He had a clear recollection of a time when it was bitterly cold and their mother had entertained her so-called mates. She had handed them a packet of crisps each and sent them outside to play. Ruby wore a summer dress and cardigan. They skipped around the swings. The night drew in and the temperature dropped to a point at which Ruby was shaking uncontrollably. He banged on the door and shouted through the letterbox to be let back in, but all he heard was a dull, thudding sound of reggae music. Gloria was not in either and it wasn’t so much the cold he agonised over but the terror of the dark, the howling noises and the fear in his sister’s eyes as she stared up at him for help and he could do nothing. He learned that day how to survive. He grabbed Ruby’s hand and they ran along the road, tugging at every car door. Finally, one sprang open and in they jumped. The owner had left one of those thick tartan car blankets and his jacket, along with a bar of chocolate and a bottle of fizzy drink. He remembered the tears trickling down her cheeks as he rubbed her blue legs to warm her up, and then, burping loudly from the pop, making her giggle. They dozed off, huddled together. When the owner returned, they were lucky he wasn’t a kiddie fiddler. They showed him where they lived and he almost smashed the door down. Jesse answered, surprised to see a man standing there holding the hands of her two kids. She made out they had run off and her husband was out looking for them. Jack gripped the man’s hand tight, praying he would do something to make sure she didn’t hurt them. He looked down at the two children and then back at Jesse. “If I ever see these kids out at night again, I’m gonna report ya, got it?” Jesse was nodding with fear in her eyes. Jack never knew who the man was, but from then on Jesse always had them inside before it was dark.
Francesca shuddered as they turned into the estate. She remembered it from when she had paid Jesse to stay away from the kids.
Sam screeched up outside the house and left the car door open. He leapt forward and banged on her door. Jack got out too. Francesca stayed seated in the car, waiting.
There was no answer. Jack peered through the letterbox but it was dark inside.
“She ain’t ‘ere.” He threw his hands in the air. “Finding some fucking bloke called Jacob is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Francesca then stepped out of her car.
“Knock on the neighbours’ doors. See if they know where Jesse has gone.”
Jack tried to peer through the letterbox again, using his key ring torch. He saw straight into the living room and could make out a person, lying on the settee.
“There’s someone in there, Dad!” Francesca grabbed the torch and looked herself.
“Yeah, he’s right.”
Sam looked up and down the block. “It’s probably Jesse, the fucking lazy whore.” Within a second he had kicked the door so hard that it came straight off its hinges. Francesca stood outside, keeping an eye, whilst Jack and Sam stormed into the flat. Jack tried to turn on the lights. But the electric meter had run out so he continued to follow his father into the cold, smelly living room.
“Cor, fucking ‘ell, it stinks like someone’s died in ‘ere,” laughed Sam.
When he got to the settee and peered down at the crumpled heap, he jumped back in fright at the state of the woman’s face. It looked like something out of the night of the living dead, swollen and bloody.
Jack peered down, not recognising his little sister. Then, as realisation hit him, he screamed, “Oh, no, Ruby!” He fell to his knees. Sam was already paralysed in disbelief as his sister ran into the room. Her heart was pounding. Please don’t let her be dead. A scream like that would mean only one thing. Sam was shaking with shock and Francesca pulled Jack away to get a better look. She grabbed Ruby’s limp arm, fumbling for a pulse. “Come on, baby, stay with us.” She felt her niece move only very faintly, but she was certainly alive.
“Sam, help me get her in the car.” She could see Ruby was barely breathing.
Sam went into automatic pilot, scooped up his daughter, and hurried her to the back seat of his Jag. The interior light was already on and the full extent of her injuries could be seen. So bad was the state of her face, Sam swooned for a second. Jack steadied him and then, when he recovered, pulled him away and clambered in.
“Oh, my God! Ruby, please be all right, please be all right. Wake up, Rubes.” The tears streamed uncontrollably and his voice was erratic. Gripped with fear that she could die, just as she nearly did all those years ago when they ate the dope cakes, the same emotions of dread and helplessness came back to him. Ruby came to, but barely alive, a
nd then sank deep into a coma.
Sam called an ambulance. He didn’t know how bad she was and precious wasted minutes could cost Ruby her life.
“Ruby baby, it’s Dad here, speak to me! You’re gonna be all right.” The tears poured down his face.
Jack was as white as a sheet. He couldn’t believe he was witnessing the gruesome sight of his sister’s face. She lay there, limp and very cold.
Francesca shut the doors and put the heating on full. “Let’s get her warm.” She took off her fur coat and placed it over Ruby but still there was no sign of recovery. Her breathing was shallow and her lips – what was left of them – were blue.
The neighbours had ignored the commotion. They assumed it was another drugs raid until they saw the ambulance arrive. Then they guessed Jesse had taken an overdose and no one really cared. Except Gloria. She heard the screams and struggled to get to her feet. After searching for her dressing gown, she waddled along the hallway and out into the street. The Jag was parked outside Jesse’s and she could make out the smartly dressed man and woman. Then, as Jack clambered back out of the car, she realised who they were. The scream! Suddenly, she had an awful feeling of dread. Ruby! Without a second thought she rushed over to the car, much to the surprise of Sam and Francesca. They had absolutely no idea who this woman was. “What’s happened?” Her soft Jamaican accent had an air of panic.
Jack’s tear-stained face looked with utmost compassion at Gloria and instinctively he put out his arms to hold her. She cradled him as she had done all those years ago. “Ahh, me little Jackie, calm yourself, what’s happened?” She felt his shoulders move with the sobs.
He stepped aside as Gloria peered into the car. Neither Sam nor Francesca stopped her.
“Jesus!” She stared for a while and then ran her hands through Ruby’s hair. “Aunty Gloria’s here now. Can you hear me? I know, try to open your eyes for me, or squeeze my hand.”
There was nothing. “Have you called an ambulance?” she said to the three faces, who were watching her every move. Sam nodded. He was too distraught to speak.
Gloria pulled herself back out of the car. “My God, that poor child… she is very sick…” She stopped when they heard the sirens. “Oh, thank you, Jesus!” she whispered.
Francesca held onto Jack, who was in such a mess, rocking backwards and forwards as if he was in agony himself. She tried to stay in control and not lose it. But, inside, her head was a burning, raging emotion of hate and fear. She understood more than anyone what her family would be going through. The paramedics wasted no time in getting Ruby onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. Francesca, in her professional manner, spoke with them, giving as much information as she could. Sam was too shaken to string a sentence together. Gloria held on to Jack. The two of them, now clinging to each other, had formed a very close emotional bond when he had been a small boy. After all, hadn’t she been his rock and saviour in the past? He felt safe again. That comfort, from her soft skin and sweet perfume, somehow had a deep, calming effect.
“She’s gonna be all right, just you see,” she whispered.
She kissed him on the forehead and said goodbye, not wanting to be in the way, and then crept back to her flat. She had never wished bad on anyone, but at that moment she wished Jesse dead.
Sam jumped in the ambulance with Ruby whilst Jack and Francesca followed in Sam’s car.
“What’s happened to her, Sisco?” whispered Jack, just like a little boy.
“I don’t know, but I will find out, and whoever is responsible will wish they’d never lived!” Francesca was staring ahead as if she were in a trance. Her words were slow and deliberate. Jack knew then she meant business. He had heard bits of conversations between his uncles. Francesca was the dangerous Vincent; she was the one you really didn’t want to cross. But to him she was an angel. He thought back to Gloria. Another woman he had loved.
“Jack, who was that lady?”
There was silence for a few seconds, and then he said, “Another angel.”
Chapter Twelve
Francesca detested hospitals. They brought back memories of her ordeal twelve years ago. It was like history was repeating itself. She, too, had been cruelly attacked and left for dead by someone she had loved. She ended up unconscious, with her face ripped to ribbons. The evil monster was her late husband, who, after years of abuse, had tried to kill her.
Right now she was feeling so angry. Her niece was looking, just as she had, battered and bruised. Yet, she had been in her mid-twenties when she was attacked; this shouldn’t be happening to Ruby, who was a young teenager. She had dealt with her physical scars. The mental ones, however, she still had problems with. To this day she suffered bouts of nightmares, but she hoped that Ruby would pull through and tried not to think if this could have any long-term effects. It didn’t enter her head that her niece was close to death. That thought was too far removed. Her brain just could not process it.
The crash team were on standby as Ruby’s heartbeat began to diminish. They gave her shots to speed it up and rapidly transported her to be scanned.
The doctors had to prise Sam away from Ruby to get to work on her very fragile body. The scan showed the damage to her brain. The medical team bleeped the neurosurgeon to operate immediately to stop the bleeding.
Francesca hugged her brother as he sobbed. Jack stared out of the waiting room window, praying to God to save his sister.
Reluctantly, Francesca called her mother and father. Her heart was breaking when she heard her mother’s voice on the end of the phone. She could picture her sweet face crumpling when she gave her the news. She still recalled her mother’s expression of torment and the horror that day when her nurse had removed the bandages from her own butchered face. The memory would stay with her – for the rest of her life.
Francesca decided not to tell her the full extent of poor Ruby’s injuries.
Mary, her mother, took comfort in the calmness in Francesca’s voice and so didn’t go into a blind panic. She called each of her sons and suggested they make their way to the hospital. Bill, still a handsome man, every bit the Vincent father, with his tanned skin and what was once a thick head of black waves – now grey – took control. Their family had been through enough heartache to last a lifetime. Now, however, they were together and they would face any problem as a whole family.
Mary was proud of her kids and loved her grandchildren even more.
Unlike Francesca, Mary was a mothering woman. She would bake cakes, make jam, and buy thermal underwear for the colder weather – not for herself, of course, but for her children, who were now grown up. She had helped to bring up Ruby and Jack from when they were little and now she spent most days watching over little Alfie so that Joe’s girlfriend, Belinda, could keep her hairdressing job. The house seemed too quiet when they grew up and left. After all, Mary and Bill had raised five kids all told.
The uncles arrived one by one at the hospital. Dan and Sam cried and Fred was hopping mad. Typical of Fred, his pain was always shown by aggression. Someone had to be blamed and someone was up for a good hiding.
Fred pulled Jack aside.
“Right, boy, who the fuck did it, any clues?” Fred was still in his suit, minus his tie, but ready for a serious round of violence with whoever had laid their hands on Ruby.
“Fred, all I know is, she has been seeing a bloke called Jacob and, when we went to find out where he lived, that’s when we found our Rubes…” He couldn’t speak anymore. The tears flowed and that drew attention from everyone. They knew how close he was to his sister.
“Come ‘ere, me boy,” Mary held her arms out to her grandson and hugged him until he stopped crying.
“She’s a fighter, our Ruby. If ever there was a fighter, she is it. I know this for a fact, so just you wait and see. She will be up and out of here as soon as you can blink.”
“Thanks, Nan,” whispered Jack.
Francesca was so glad her mother hadn’t seen the state of Ruby, as she might
not have been so confident. But then she thought of her own ordeal, and how she had survived, and Mary was right – Ruby was definitely a strong girl.
Joe was the last to arrive and before he even saw anyone he was crying.
Francesca hugged him. He was still treated as the baby.
“How is she doing?” he asked, between snivels.
“We are just waiting now for the doctor to let us know,” she replied.
The Vincents sat in the waiting room for four hours, until finally a doctor appeared.
“Okay, she is out of the woods. I have stopped the bleeding and I think she will make a full recovery. However, any blow to the head can cause other problems, so let’s take each day as it comes,” announced Dr O’Neal, holding his hand up to show his crossed fingers.
Jack was the first to speak. “What about her face? Do you think it’s gonna scar?” He looked around, hoping he hadn’t asked the wrong question. That would bother Ruby the most. She was so fussy about her appearance.
Dr O’Neal smiled at the boy. “The bruising and puffiness look far worse than they are. We have put a stitch in her cheek and one in her lip. Once the swelling subsides, she will have a few minor scars but otherwise there is nothing to worry about.”
As he went to walk away, he noticed the amount of people there. “Oh, yes, I have to tell you that Ruby has been through one hell of an ordeal, with three broken ribs and a ruptured kidney. She will be in hospital for at least two weeks and I suggest you visit two at a time.” He smiled, showing his brilliant, white teeth to match his bright, white hair.
All the Vincents nodded in unison as if they were being spoken to by the headmaster. The relief was enormous. Sam could breathe properly and Jack could smile.
“Sam, you don’t think her mother did that, do you?” asked Fred.
He shook his head. “I can’t see how, unless she beat our Ruby with a bat or a cosh.”
“Well, I think we need to pay her a visit and fucking find out,” fretted Fred.
