He grabbed her by the wrist and tried to pull her back into the room, but she instinctively pulled away and to her horror she heard a crunch.
‘You’ve broken my bloody arm,’ she stated, more in shock than pain.
He let go as if he’d been stung, but as she put her foot on the stair he caught her around the waist in a bear hug and tried to swing her round. The pain was excruciating but still she fought. Her instincts told her to get out of there as quickly as she could. As he loosened his grip she fell forward, landing on her chest on the upright at the top of the banister; he tried to pull her back into the sitting room, but as they fought she lunged away back onto the landing, determined to get out whatever the pain.
‘Stop it, Ruby. I’m telling you, stop. I just want to talk. You’re not going, you’re not—’
‘Well, I don’t want to talk to you. I want to get out of here and away from you. You’re a maniac,’ she screamed in his face.
Next thing she knew, his hands were grabbing at her neck, pulling her towards him, and he was trying to kiss her.
‘I love you, Ruby, don’t do this to me, I love you …’
Stumbling backwards, she lost her footing and as she started to fall back over the stairs, so Tony let go of her.
Barely conscious at the bottom of the steep stairs, she heard footsteps running down. As she cowered she sensed Tony stepping over her and running out of the door. Instead of checking to see if she was OK he’d bolted.
It took all her willpower to get to the front door, which Tony had left open in his panic to flee; she crawled out onto the pavement. Everything ached but she knew she had to stay conscious.
‘Help,’ she shouted as loud as she could. ‘Someone help me …’
‘What’s happened to you, dear?’
Ruby looked up and through the mist of semi-consciousness saw an elderly woman standing over her, looking bewildered.
‘I need an ambulance,’ she said before she passed out from a mixture of pain and relief.
When Ruby came round the second time she was out of post-operative care and in a hospital bed on a general ward with only a hazy memory of how she got there.
A passing nurse stopped and smiled. ‘You look better already, would you like a cup of tea? The trolley will be here in a minute.’
‘What happened to me? I can’t really remember.’
‘You had an accident, took a fall down the stairs. The doctors will be doing rounds later this morning and they’ll explain to you.’
‘I’m in such pain. My chest hurts so much.’
‘I’ll ask the doctor to prescribe something for the pain but I’m here to have a look at your dressings.’
The nurse pulled the covers back and examined her closely. When she touched Ruby’s ribs she yelped in pain.
‘I’m sorry but I do have to check everything is as it should be. You’ll feel better once you’ve had a wash and you’re wearing your own nightdress.’
‘Does anyone know I’m here?’ Ruby whispered, unable to raise her voice for the pain.
‘Your fiancé was here last night while you were in theatre. He came as soon as he heard about your accident.’
‘I don’t have a fiancé any more.’
‘Maybe the doctor got it wrong. Is there anyone you’d like us to inform?’
‘Yes, my business partner, Gracie McCabe. She lives at the same address as me. Do you want the telephone number?’
‘Yes, please.’ The nurse pulled a piece of paper out of her uniform pocket and wrote the number down. ‘I’ll go and ring her now. You’re going to need some essentials brought in. I think you’ll be staying in for a while with those injuries.’
‘Thank you.’ Through hazy eyes Ruby watched the nurse as she walked away. In her crisp blue uniform with starched collar and cuffs, a white belt and a pert white hat pinned to her hair, she was the epitome of how Ruby had once dreamed of being herself.
Before going back to Walthamstow; before Johnnie; before Maggie.
Later in the day Babs Wheaton turned up at the hospital, along with Gracie. George wasn’t with them but once again he had been able to use his influence as a doctor to make sure they were able to see Ruby outside of normal hours. He had also got her moved to a small side-room where she was the only patient and had some privacy.
Gracie had phoned the Wheatons as soon as she’d heard, and they’d met in the foyer of the hospital and gone to the ward together.
Babs was calm and collected on the outside, but Gracie could see she was distraught.
‘Do you know what happened?’ Babs asked.
‘Only what I told you on the phone. The hospital rang me to say Ruby had had an accident and an operation. I wondered why she didn’t come home last night but thought she might have stayed at Tony’s parents’ place and forgotten to tell me.’
‘Is he here?’
‘I hope not, the creep. I can’t help but think he’s behind this. I was only telling Rube yesterday what I thought of him. Dark and dangerous.’
Babs Wheaton’s head spun round. ‘Is that what you think of him?’
‘Can’t stand the bloke, but Ruby says she’s going to marry him. She’s mad.’
‘I see.’
They walked quickly along the corridor to the stairs that would take them up to the first floor.
‘It’s in here,’ Gracie said.
They turned into the ward and were pointed in the direction of Ruby’s room.
‘Sweet Jesus, Ruby, you look like you’ve been bare-knuckle fighting,’ Gracie said by way of a hello. ‘What happened?’
‘I fell down the stairs at the Alfredo flat.’ Ruby looked at Gracie, willing her not to ask too many questions. She felt much more alert and she could remember what had happened.
‘Where was Tony?’
‘He left. I called off the engagement.’
Gracie crossed her arms and said nothing. She’d understood immediately what Ruby was trying to tell her.
‘Did Yardley drive you down here?’ Ruby asked, as if it was just a casual conversation question.
‘No, I drove myself. I didn’t want Yardley to bring me. Actually, I want to ask you about him – but another time … when you’re better. Oh, Ruby, I couldn’t believe it when Gracie telephoned me. We were so scared.’
‘There’s something I have to tell you,’ Ruby said cautiously. ‘It’s about Yardley …’
‘Not now, love. You need to sleep and I need to go and have a talk to the doctor. I’ll be back in a minute.’
‘But it’s important. You have to know …’
But Babs was already out of the door.
Ruby closed her eyes until Babs had moved away from the bed, then she forced them open again.
‘Johnnie is coming tomorrow and I can’t contact him.’
‘Ah! Oh, well, I’ll deal with him when he gets there. Tell me about this accident. It was Tony, wasn’t it? He pushed you down the stairs, didn’t he? I’ll kill him. I will …’
Unable to face the inevitable questions, Ruby closed her eyes and feigned sleep. Her concern was more with Yardley than with Tony at that moment, but then the pain relief took over and in a few moments she was snoring quietly.
Twenty-Nine
Derek Yardley was pacing around his tiny flat like a captive wildcat as he tried to figure out what was happening. Everything was strangely different … George Wheaton was ensconced in a busy surgery and Babs Wheaton had taken the car to go somewhere on her own. Although she sometime drove George if they were going out socially she rarely went out in the car on her own. Yardley hated it when she took his precious car away at the best of times, but this time he was petrified that she’d gone off to talk to Ruby Blakeley. He was so worried he’d been physically sick several times during the day. As he paced so his headache started again.
He took the bucket down to rinse at the outside tap at the back of the garage and then, trying to look casual, he walked round to the front to see if there was any sign of h
er coming back. Swinging the bucket he stood by the hedge waiting and wondering if this particular day was going to be the one when the Wheatons threw him out.
As he stood there, moving from foot to foot, Mrs Alderton, a teacher from the village school, came into view. She was walking along holding little Maggie Wheaton by the hand.
Word travelled fast in a village and everyone except Derek Yardley had soon heard the news about Ruby Blakeley being in an accident. Mrs Alderton had phoned to offer to look after Maggie until Babs Wheaton returned but as George wasn’t doing any house calls because he had no car, he was free to look after Maggie himself. All the teacher needed to do was drop her off.
‘Hello, Yardley,’ the elderly teacher said as she walked up the path with Maggie.
‘Mrs Alderton,’ he nodded in acknowledgment.
‘I’ve brought Maggie home. Is Dr Wheaton around?’
‘He’s busy,’ Yardley answered in his usual taciturn way.
‘Right, well I’ve got to rush back so here she is. Delivered as promised. If you’ll just take her to the doctor … The woman laughed and looked down at Maggie. ‘Mr Yardley will take you to your father and I’ll see you tomorrow.’
As she walked off Yardley stood there feeling ambushed. The last thing he needed was to have to take the child in to the doctor. He needed to be there on the drive, waiting for Mrs Wheaton to get back.
As he cussed to himself so the little girl looked up at him and smiled. He looked down at Maggie Wheatley and stared. As she continued smiling, waiting for him to reciprocate, so he continued staring.
Derek Yardley had never been bright, but because he had spent so much time alone, he had a brilliant memory and well-honed instincts. He’d had to be alert and cunning when he lived in the woods in order to survive, and although he no longer needed those skills in quite the same way, they had remained. He didn’t need paper and pen to remember things, to work them out. His brain could do all that all by itself.
Ping, it went. And he knew.
He’d never really looked at the child before. He’d ignored her because he resented her very being – she was just a little girl who was there – but as she looked up at him his brain collated all the information and got a result. A good result, in chronological order.
He knew.
Ruby had gone back to London, aged fifteen, and then revisited the Wheatons a few months later with a man in tow. Johnnie Riordan. Yardley remembered it well. He’d felt the electricity between them and had been angry that she was responding to that man but had rejected him.
He’d been even more angry when Johnnie had tried to tap him for information about the Wheatons. Then three months later Ruby had turned up and stayed for a couple of weeks, tucked away of sight of everyone. But he’d known she was there. He’d always made a point of knowing everything.
Then the Wheatons had given him an extra day off and whisked Ruby away, with Babs driving.
Six months later the Wheatons went off in the car again, Babs driving again, and came back with a baby they were adopting.
Johnnie Riordan came sniffing around for information …
Ruby Blakeley threatened him with his life if he looked at Maggie.
Well, of course she did. Maggie was the illegitimate offspring of Ruby Blakeley and Johnnie Riordan. Just one look and any fool could see that!
He looked at Maggie again and saw both parents in her face.
‘Uncle George is busy at the moment but I’m going out on my bicycle. Would you like a ride on the handlebars? Down the lane and back?’
‘Oh, yes,’ the little girl grinned up at him.
‘George? Are you there, George?’
‘I’m in the garden,’ he shouted.
Babs went through and kissed him on the top of the head.
‘How’s Ruby?’
‘Not very well at all at the moment, but she’ll be OK. She took a nasty tumble and has some bad injuries. I think that Tony pushed her but she won’t say. I’ll have to leave it to Gracie to get to the root of it all. Ruby’s more likely to tell her than us.’ Babs looked around. ‘Where’s Maggie?’
‘Still at Mrs Alderton’s. She hasn’t brought her back yet.’
‘That’s strange. I’d better ring her.’
After she’d spoken to the teacher Babs ran back through to George.
‘Mrs Alderton said she brought Maggie back nearly two hours ago and left her with Yardley. He told her you were busy. He said he’d take her to you.’
They looked at each other, both immediately aware of the possible implications.
‘Maybe he’s around somewhere. I’ll go and call. He wouldn’t do anything to our Maggie. He wouldn’t. We’ve done everything for him,’ Babs said, trying to convince herself.
‘You look all around and if he’s not nearby then I’ll go in and call the police. Two hours is far too long,’ George replied.
Babs Wheaton’s voice got louder and louder as she called Maggie and checked everywhere possible. There was just no sign of her or of Derek Yardley.
‘Mrs Wheaton …’
Babs turned to see Mrs Alderton standing on the path in tears. ‘I don’t understand it. I left her with Derek Yardley. Two of the village children were playing out and they said they saw Derek Yardley on his bike with Maggie on the handlebars. He was heading out of Melton that way.’ She pointed in the direction. ‘They said Maggie waved at them.’
‘George!’ Babs screamed. ‘George. She’s with Yardley. Tell the police he went through the village with her on his bicycle.’
Suddenly all hell broke loose in the village, with residents coming out of their shops and houses as word spread that Derek Yardley had abducted little Maggie Wheaton, the doctor’s daughter. Search parties were organised and the evening dusk was lit up with the glow of flickering torches.
‘What do we tell Ruby?’ Babs asked. ‘We have to tell her. Supposing something bad happens? She’ll never forgive us.’
‘Ring Gracie. She’s the only person who knows about Maggie.’
‘George, I feel so sick. What if he does something to her? She’s only five years old. She trusts him. I knew something was wrong about him, but I didn’t do anything.’
Yardley skidded his bike to a halt at the side of the road and jumped off. Then he lifted Maggie off and stood her on the ground.
‘Do you want to see my den, Maggie? It’s a secret. No one else knows it’s here. We have to follow the marks high up on the trees. I put them there a long time ago so I could always find my way there and back again.’
He pushed his bike by the handlebars as far into the wood as it would go, then tucked it under some heavy foliage; he made sure it was well camouflaged, then took the little girl by the hand.
‘Why have you got a den?’
‘So that I have somewhere to be all alone. I like to be alone.’
‘I want to see Mummy. She’ll be home by now.’
‘It’s just a little bit further, come on,’ Yardley sighed, and tugged at her hand, pulling her along roughly.
‘I’m scared. It’s too dark in here. I want to go home.’ The child started to cry quietly.
‘Oh, stop whining, will you? You’re just like your mother.’
He felt the child freeze. When she looked up at him, again he saw Ruby and Johnnie in her face.
He had the ultimate revenge in mind.
No one would ever find her in the woods, and the bitch Ruby would spend the rest of her life regretting the way she’d treated Derek Yardley. She had turned him down and then had sex with Johnnie Riordan. She’d ruined his life with the Wheatons.
It would serve her right.
‘Come on, don’t you dare try and run off without me because you’ll get lost in the woods and then you’ll die.’
As the child wailed, so he snatched her up under his arm and carried her to his secret hideaway.
‘Ruby, I’ve got something to tell you.’ Gracie had rushed back to the hospital the moment she’d put the ph
one down.
‘Did Johnnie ring about coming down? Did you tell him where I was?’
‘No, it’s nothing like that. Ruby, I’m sorry but Babs telephoned me a little while ago. It looks as if Yardley might have abducted Maggie. They’re both missing.’
It took a few moments for the words to impact on her still-befuddled brain. She tried to sit up but couldn’t.
‘Abducted?’
‘He took her off on his bike a few hours ago and hasn’t come back. Babs said he’d been acting strangely. She’s beside herself. Everyone is—’
‘Oh God, this is all my fault,’ was all Ruby said before she started coughing and bringing up blood.
Then she was rushed off to intensive care.
By the time they reached the den Maggie had calmed down a bit and even looked a bit interested.
Yardley pulled the tarpaulin from his bed of leaves.
‘Look, this is where I lie when I have really bad headaches. I cover myself in these blankets to keep warm. I’ll make a fire in a minute, but first come and sit with me.’
‘No. I want to go home to Mummy and Daddy. Please?’
‘No. Not yet. We’ve got to stay here tonight now. There’s wild animals out there who’ll eat us up. It’s much too dangerous to try and get back.’
Maggie wailed in fear.
‘Shut up … just shut up. I don’t want to listen to that whining any more.’
He took hold of her, forced her to lie down and covered her with the dirty smelly blankets.
Again he looked at her face. She wasn’t making a sound but tears were spilling over from her eyes, she was shivering with cold and he could see she was terrified. She turned onto her side and tucked herself into the foetal position with the eiderdown up round her neck.
‘Don’t move from there. I’m just getting some wood for a fire,’ he ordered her. He went around the back of his den and pulled some ready-cut small logs round to the flattened area outside and piled them up. He reached into his knapsack and pulled out a box of matches but as he struck a match he saw Maggie Wheaton’s face in the glow. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at him in terror.
Her expression shocked him and the fog started to clear from his head. Suddenly he realised exactly what he’d done. Because he was angry he’d taken a small child and scared the wits out of her.
Ruby Page 26
