‘I’ve got an address for you.’
Resting her hand on her suitcase, it took Ruby a moment to discern the voice on the other end of the line. ‘Nathan?’ she said, having answered the phone without getting a proper look at the screen. Impatient to see the back of her flat, she had packed quickly.
‘It’s Lenny. Do you want Mandy’s address or will I go round there myself?’
‘Call it out,’ she said, shoving her hand down the side of the sofa for a pen. It didn’t matter where she kept them they always seemed to end up there. The pen rose between her fingers, along with a ball of dust. Clicking it on, she wrote on the back of her hand as Lenny recited a street name and number. ‘Are you sure this is Mandy’s address?’ she said, clenching her fist for the ink to flow smoothly. It was in Dalston, not far from her new flat. All this time they had been looking for her, and Mandy was only half an hour away. How on earth could she afford to live there?
‘I’ll give you tonight to sort this out,’ Lenny said, ignoring her question. ‘After that, we do it my way.’
‘I need more time,’ Ruby said, knowing how slowly the cogs of police investigation turned.
‘Just get your evidence and get him nicked. This is the last night my brother’s a wanted man.’
The phone went dead in her hand. Ruby hadn’t told him that Nathan was already in the clear. Finding Doctor Tanner was her priority now. She stared unblinkingly into space, working out a plan. She had two choices: she could go through the proper channels and wait for procedures to be put in place, or she could go it alone. Police attendance could frighten off the doctor from attending Mandy’s address, leaving him free to kill again. As soon as she called it in, a police unit would visit and put safeguarding in place. If they took it seriously enough, they might set up a sting. But such operations took time to approve. Lenny had given Ruby one night before he took the law into his own hands. And the alternative? She could go round there, speak to Mandy and lie in wait. Given what had happened to Ash it was risky but this time she would be prepared.
Within five minutes she had washed her face and removed the mascara shadows from underneath her eyes. She dragged a brush through her hair, quickly winding her long dark locks into a bun: she had to look professional if she had any hope of winning Mandy over. She shrugged on her suit jacket. It felt empty without the reassurance of her police harness beneath it, but it did not mean she was vulnerable. She reached for the tin box she had excavated from beneath the floorboards of her home. Popping off the lid, she wrapped her fingers around the handgun Nathan had gifted her some years before. Nestling it in the waistband of her trousers, she covered it with her jacket before walking out the door.