Chapter 32 Ruby

32

Ruby

Ruby had been busy this past twenty-four hours. She didn't like talking to police. And the district attorney, Mr. Castro, gave her the creeps with his white suit and big smile.

They were pleased with her. Told her she was doing the right thing. That there was no longer any reason to be afraid.

They would protect her.

They would make sure John Jackson paid for the murder of Maggs.

The red priest's voice was in her mind now. She could hear him even when she wasn't in the Jacksons' home. It had first happened last night, as she put her mother to bed. At first, she thought it was a fly, buzzing around her. Then the buzz intensified, the tone altered, the pitch changing, morphing, becoming the whispers . . .

Rubeeeeeeeeeeee . . .

It was unsettling, at first, to have the red priest in her head. The pressure felt enormous, and it had caused her to stagger, lose her balance. Almost falling on top of her mother. She'd held on to the bedrail. Closed her eyes, breathed in and out.

‘Are you okay?' asked her mother.

‘Fine, it's just a headache.'

‘Take some Advil and drink some water.'

Even at her age, in her condition, she was still her mother. Soon she would have a new home. People to look after her. Wash her. Dress her. Feed her. Ruby had to get away. She had to silence the red priest and go somewhere where no one could ever find her.

There was a strange comfort now in the whispers. Somehow, she didn't feel so alone. The red priest was with her. He was wicked and cruel, but he loved Ruby. And, if she did as he told her, he wouldn't shout.

Ruby hated it when he shouted. The pressure in her head would build like a boiling pot, her ears felt like they wanted to explode, and the pain . . . and then the blood. Her nose would bleed, but only a little. She told him she would do as he asked. And he would calm down. His voice no longer like a booming mic in her head, just a soothing breeze of whispers.

Ruby's letters to Ellis and Bale gave them time. They had the money, of course, but they would need time to ensure that it could be paid without anyone else noticing that money had slipped from their accounts.

The letter gave detailed bank account instructions. The money had to be paid today. Noon was the deadline. Ruby had needed time, too, to make arrangements to hide the money from anyone who might try to trace it.

Ruby would need to move the money straight away. She now had accounts set up in more than a dozen banks under different company names. She had watched a tutorial video on how to move money, and in what amounts, so as not to arouse suspicion or trigger any money-laundering inquiries. She just had to wait for the transfer to hit that first account, then she could work.

She would have time. The Jackson trial started this morning, and Ruby was supposed to be looking after Tomas, but only until the end of the trial. The Jacksons were planning to leave town for at least a month, no matter what the verdict. If it went well, John would be coming too. If he was convicted, Alison would take Tomas and get away from the nightmare of media and abuse that would inevitably follow.

Ruby couldn't wait for them to leave. In truth, she couldn't believe that they had stuck around for this long, despite the hellscape that their lives had now become. God knows, Ruby had tried to make it as bad as possible.

Once they were gone, Ruby could act.

After that, Ruby was leaving too.

Her mother would be in her new care facility, and Ruby, well, Ruby would be free. She had begun dreaming about open-top cars and long desert roads.

Far away from all of her problems.