Clasping Doctor Tanner’s arm, Ruby’s fingers bit into his tendons as she tried to force him to release the scalpel. But he was stronger than he looked. Wearing thick-soled boots, he had an advantage over her as she slipped on the wet laminate floor. The clothes she had swapped with Mandy offered little protection, and the pumps on her feet were a half size too big. Ruby knew what Tanner wanted to do, and he voiced the fears taking centre stage in her mind.
‘If Mandy’s not here,’ he said through gritted teeth as he grabbed her by the hair, ‘then you’ll do instead.’ Kicking her legs from beneath her, he flung her to the corner of the room.
With a sickening thud, her head smacked against the corner of the wardrobe on the way down. Searing pain spiked her temple as stars flashed in her vision. Feeling the grasp of the doctor’s hand on her hair, she winced as he took a handful and shook. But as he threw the scalpel to the floor, she knew he was in no hurry to impose a quick death, unlike the one he administered to Ash. He would do to her as he did to Sharon; use her body for his pleasure before disposing of her in some undignified way.
With one hand, he pulled the scarf over his nose before delving into his coat pocket and ripping the bag within. His breath heavy and rasping, he bent over her form.
‘Back off,’ Ruby coughed, the smell of sweat and urine infiltrating her senses. Then she saw it; the steely glint of madness in the doctor’s eyes which made her blood turn cold. The wisest thing would have been for him to turn on his heel and run but this was not a man who backed down. He smiled, his sharp yellow teeth glinting in the moonlight pouring in through the bedroom window.
Ruby groaned as she clawed at the wardrobe, a trickle of blood making a path down the side of her face. Her head injury brought double vision, and as she pulled her body upwards, the wardrobe handle broke off in her hand. The doctor was upon her now, the cloth in his hand filling her vision as it clamped tightly over her mouth and nose.
‘Shh now, don’t fight it,’ he said, swaying from side to side as she tried to fight him off. ‘Go to sleep. Soon it will all be over.’
Don’t inhale, she thought, the sweet smell of chloroform watering her eyes and burning her throat. It would be all too easy to submit, to shut her eyelids and let go. Easy for others who had nothing to live for and no way out. Ruby jerked back her head as Tanner’s fingernails pinched the sides of her face. She thought of Ash, whose life he had extinguished without an ounce of remorse. It stopped here… with her.
Grappling in the darkness, the doctor backed her up against the wall. She needed to put some distance between them to draw her gun. The thoughts of introducing such a lethal weapon made her blood run cold. She was concussed and dizzy. What if he turned it upon her? Unable to hold her breath any longer, she drove her stiffened fingers into the doctor’s eyes.
His howls filled the air, buying her enough time to roll to the side as his grip on the cloth weakened. Anger coursed through her as she thought of the innocent lives taken, and for what? A headline in the newspaper or some warped sense of revenge?
As the doctor clambered onto his hands and knees, he picked up the scalpel he had discarded.
‘Turn around. Put your hands against the wall,’ Ruby commanded. ‘You’re under arrest.’ Heaving for breath, she found her feet.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ the doctor said, his knuckles tightening over the glinting blade. He nodded in the direction of the bed. ‘Why don’t you lie down? I’ve got a bedtime story to tell you.’
She was cornered, and the only way out was through the door he was blocking. That’s if she wanted a way out; what she wanted was to finish this for good. She pulled her pistol from the belt looped under the waist of her tracksuit bottoms. Gripping the handle, she clicked off the safety switch, her face determined as she held it in both hands. ‘I said, turn around, put your hands against the wall.’
Wide-eyed, the doctor inhaled a sharp breath. ‘You wouldn’t.’
Ruby’s lips thinned into a smile. ‘Don’t tempt me. Drop your weapon. NOW! Turn around, hands against the wall.’
Blood seeped from her forehead into her left eye, coating her vision in a red hue. Squeezing her eye shut, Ruby raised her gun as the doctor advanced upon her.
‘Drop your weapon or I’ll shoot,’ she said, swiping the blood from her forehead.
But picking up the cloth from the ground, the doctor took one step, then two. ‘You’re not going to hu—’
‘Thank God, you’re here,’ Ruby said, her relief evident as she stared at the door.
But as the doctor swivelled to see who had come in, she drew back her right hand. The doorway was empty, but the bluff afforded her enough time to distract her attacker. Metal hit jawbone as a sudden cracking noise filled the air. In quick succession Ruby hit him a second time with the barrel of the gun. As he spiralled backwards onto the floor, she drew back her foot and kicked him hard between the legs.
‘That’s for Ash,’ she said, drawing back her foot a second time. ‘And that’s for the others.’
Wheezing and groaning, the doctor curled up into a ball.
Pushing the gun back into the band of her tracksuit, she panted as she stood over him, feeling the satisfaction of a job well done. ‘You weren’t worth the price of a bullet,’ she said, pulling the belt from a dressing gown, which lay on the bed. Tying his hands behind his back, she glanced around the room. Her eyes focused on the trinkets and ornaments taking up shelf space on the dresser. ‘That’ll do,’ she said, taking the thick glass ashtray and pressing it down on his bloodied face. She examined the surface, satisfied contact had been made, and dropped the ashtray to the floor.
Plucking her phone from inside her bra, she dialled 999 and waited for backup to arrive.