‘What do you want?’ Downes said, his eyes narrowing in distrust.
The last person Nathan wanted to turn to for help was a copper, much less the one Ruby had taken to her bed. But the phone call he had received left him no choice, and he used the swiftest way to get the man on side as he uttered three words: ‘Ruby’s in trouble.’
‘How did you find my address? No, don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.’ Downes led Nathan into the living room of his two-bedroom London townhouse. It still carried the feminine touch of the wife who had passed on a year earlier. Floral patterned wallpaper, soft furnishings and a collection of Swarovski crystals in a cabinet. Hardly the décor of a bachelor pad. Nathan knew all about Downes, because he made it his business to investigate Ruby’s closest friends. The two men eyed each other warily as Nathan dipped his hand into the pocket of his black combat trousers. Not his usual weekend attire, but the concealed pockets were effective for carrying weapons and he had a feeling that he might need them.
‘I got a voicemail from Ruby. Listen.’ Ruby’s muffled voice came into life as Nathan pressed the speaker button on his phone. He had listened to it three times now, and the slur in her voice set him on edge.
‘Where’s Sophie?’ A rustling noise ensued. Phone against cloth. Or a pocket, Nathan thought.
A voice responded. ‘She’s here. Would you like to meet her?’ Downes frowned as they leaned into the phone. Nathan caught his expression and mouthed, ‘who?’
Downes pushed his finger against his lips as the conversation continued.
‘Why, Chris, why did you kill those women?’
Nathan tensed as he caught a glint of recognition in Downes’s eye. He wanted to get going, but he didn’t know who Chris was. Was it a male or female name? It was impossible to tell. The conversation continued as Chris spoke in a taut voice.
‘It doesn’t matter anymore. It’s over. Now down you go like a good girl; it’s OK, you’ll have company.’
‘I’m not going down there,’ Ruby replied before the phone went dead.
‘Where’s Ruby?’ Nathan said. ‘And who the hell is Chris?’
‘Chris Douglas, by the sounds of it. He’s our forensic pathologist. I wondered what Ruby was up to when she requested that credit check.’ Downes rubbed the stubble on his chin. ‘But how? All this time we thought it was a woman… ’ Lacing his shoes, he craned his neck up at Nathan. ‘I’ve got to go.’
‘You’ve had a drink,’ Nathan said, eyeing the half-empty decanter of whiskey on the coffee table before him. He would have gladly left without him, but he needed Chris’s location. Nathan gave him a wry glance. ‘We’ll get there quicker in my car.’ Downes did not argue. Nathan’s Mercedes SL 400 was far superior to Downes’s Ford and having a detective inspector in the front seat would negate any police stops along the way. It would not do his street cred any good, but Nathan was beyond the point of caring.
All he wanted right now was to find Ruby. And if he could trace the location of the missing child, then all the better. But as he tore up the streets he had a feeling it would not end well.
The car purred under pressure, attracting admiring glances from pedestrians as the grey metallic paintwork gleamed under the grimy street lights.
‘When did you last see her?’ Nathan said, flipping on the wipers to negate the shower of rain.
‘A couple of hours ago,’ Downes replied, ‘at work,’ he hastily added. ‘But she’s been getting death notes addressed specifically to her.’
‘Shit,’ Nathan said, his voice softening. ‘Ruby… we have a daughter together. She thought she was to blame. But when I last spoke to Ruby she said she was on someone else’s trail.’
‘I know,’ Downes said.
‘You know?’ Nathan repeated, his eyes fixed on the road. It added a new layer to their friendship. Ruby rarely confided in anyone, unless she was at a low ebb. So either Downes and Ruby were getting closer, or she was in a bad place.
‘I was digging into local adoption records so she knew I’d find out anyway,’ Downes said, easing Nathan’s concerns. ‘She was getting emails. She thought Lucy was stalking her.’
His daughter had admitted to Nathan that she had rung Ruby once and visited Joy in the care home, just to say hello. Oakwood’s address had been provided by Lenny: an effort to stir the pot. But further probing revealed that that was as far as it went, and no emails had been exchanged.
‘And now she’s been drugged by some psycho posing as our daughter. Fuck it!’ Nathan said, smacking the heel of his hand against the steering wheel. ‘All these years I’ve been keeping an eye on her and the moment I step back this happens.’ He jabbed a finger at Downes, taking him by surprise as fury raged in his eyes. ‘You were meant to be looking after her. Where were you tonight? She’s being stalked by a nutter and you let her find her own way home?’
‘It wasn’t like that. She said she was working late. She was meant to get a taxi.’
Nathan returned his gaze to the road. ‘You should never have left her alone. You’re all the same you lot, no loyalty. Well, let me tell you, if anything happens to her… ’
‘Ruby’s not an ornament that you put aside to look at. She’s her own woman.’ Downes turned his attention back to his phone as units called to say they were en route.
‘ETA in five minutes, that means… ’ Downes said.
‘I know what ETA means.’ Silence fell between them as Nathan navigated the road.
Downes frowned, lowering his window to take in some air. ‘Your family have caused Ruby nothing but grief. I know what you and your brother have been getting up to. The sooner he goes back to prison, the happier I’ll be.’
‘Don’t give me that,’ Nathan said. ‘Ruby knows the score. If we weren’t there to keep a lid on things there’d be anarchy. If my brother’s been involved in anything, it’s been restoring order upon his return.’
‘Is that what you call it? Restoring order? And what about Ruby? Was he restoring order when he put a knife to her throat?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘So you don’t know? Is that how you do business then? I thought you two were tight.’
Nathan’s jaw tightened. ‘If you’ve got something to say then spill it now.’
‘Lenny’s got a screw loose. Ruby was going home when he pulled a knife on her in the lift. Threatened rape, by all accounts. So why don’t you look closer to home before you start lecturing me about looking after her?’
Nathan shifted in his seat. He had no reason to disbelieve what Downes was saying. That must’ve been the night that Ruby went to the flat, and it explained why she took a knife to bed. Yet she had not told him. This was all his fault.
‘I wanted to have him arrested, but she wouldn’t allow it. Lenny threatened to pay her mother a visit and finish her off. Such a kind and compassionate man your brother: picking on women and the elderly. Yeah, I’d say he’s a real asset to the community.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ Nathan said, pulling up to a set of traffic lights.
‘Sort him out. If you won’t, we will.’
Nathan inhaled a deep breath; his fists clenched over the steering wheel. He needed to regroup, focus on the task ahead. ‘What’s the killer’s MO?’
Downes silently stared out the window, seemingly incapable of relinquishing the words. Finally, he cleared his throat to speak. ‘The victims have died from stab wounds, with attempts at asphyxiation. They had ligature marks on wrists and ankles. Splinters of baubles were found in Emily Edmonds’s stomach.’
‘What kind of weird shit is that?’
‘It’s the kind of weird shit we’re dealing with.’
Nathan negotiated the traffic until the streets of Inner London melted away, bringing them to a tree-lined avenue on the outskirts of Greenwood. Thoughts spun in his head like a fairground waltzer as he tried to concentrate on the road. Why had he gone for Ruby like that when she was only doing her job? He’d come so close to giving up everything to be with her. Was he self-sabotaging because he was scared of letting her in? It was obvious Lenny was pulling his strings and had set the whole thing up. If he hadn’t got to his daughter in time… And she was his daughter. The DNA test had made that clear. She was holed up in a spa with his mum now, trying to comprehend the situation. As much as Frances proudly referred to her as a Crosby, she carried her mother’s dark features. Eyes you could fall into, never to return. Ruby. He needed her more than ever. He couldn’t do this on his own.
‘Turn left here,’ Downes said, his ear glued to his phone.
Nathan recognised the houses from his estate agent’s listing. It was the same street Monica Sherwood had been discovered: one of the latest victims of the door-knocker killer. It had not taken Downes long to find out Chris Douglas’s home address and they’d arrived on par with the police units he had alerted. The strength of Nathan’s heartbeat swished in his ears as he abandoned his car to run up the driveway to Chris Douglas’s front door. The steady thump of his 9mm Glock pistol thumped against his thigh as he ran.