Ruby launched herself up the stairs, clinging onto the narrow railing for support. After checking Goldie’s pockets, there were no keys to be found, and she prayed that the door had been left unlocked. Pulling back on the door, she was met with resistance. Without a phone signal, she had no way of alerting anyone of her whereabouts. She had pinned all her hopes on the fumbled call she made. But it must not have gone through. Banging on the door with clenched fists, she pounded the wooden barrier between her and the outside world. And then in the silence, a crash of glass.
Somewhere in the distance, someone was coming.
Heavy footsteps drew nearer, approaching the other side of the door.
‘Help,’ Ruby shouted, ‘I’m locked in, can you get me out?’
‘Ruby, it’s me, Nathan. Stand back from the door.’
Ruby had never been so happy to hear his voice. She took a couple of steps down the stairs. Shielding her eyes, she waited as the crack of timber shattered the desolate air. Ruby caught Nathan on the top step as he kicked open the door.
Drawing back a sudden breath, he took in her appearance. ‘You’re hurt,’ he said, the words tumbling from his mouth as he checked her for injuries.
Of course. The blood. She must have looked like something out of a horror movie. ‘It’s okay,’ she said, batting him away as she stepped through the splintered door. ‘It’s not mine. But we need to get to Sophie. I think I know where she is.’
Ruby wanted to ask how Nathan had found her, but such questions could come later. For now, there was a young life hanging in the balance. ‘Where’s Chris?’ Ruby said, throwing a glance over his shoulder.
‘He’s dead,’ Nathan replied, leading her into the long dark corridor.
So that was what Goldie meant when she said he was serving a higher purpose. Chris was her accomplice, and she had killed him to shift the focus from her. Ruby looked around the hall. It carried the same smell of disinfectant, but this was not Chris’s house. ‘What?… Where am I?’ she asked, her words laced with confusion.
Nathan frowned. ‘You’re at the mortuary. Don’t you remember?’
‘I passed out. I… I thought I was in his basement.’ But as she got her bearings she remembered why she was there. ‘But this is better. Come with me.’
Running with her bare feet slapping against the cold tiles, everything felt surreal. As if trapped in a nightmare, she galloped down the corridor, searching for the door which would provide her escape. She turned left. Pushing through the double doors, Nathan was right by her side.
Laced with Goldie’s blood she must have looked a strange sight. Wild-eyed, she pushed her way through Downes and attending officers; their faces clouded in confusion as they stared at her bloodied face.
‘Call an ambulance,’ Ruby shouted. ‘Goldie’s in the basement. She’s cut her throat. I think she’s dead.’
‘Goldie?’ Downes said, holding his hands out in front as if he was calming a wild animal. ‘Ruby… stop for a minute, tell me, what’s going on?’
Ruby darted past him, making her way to the mortuary freezers, where the bodies of the dead were kept. ‘I know where Sophie is.’
There was no time for questions. Downes and Nathan exchanged a glance before following Ruby in haste.
You start down there,’ she said, pointing to the end. ‘And I’ll start here.’
Ruby grasped the handle, pulling back the long heavy drawer. It rolled on its wheels to reveal an elderly woman. Ghostly white with sunken eyes, she was queued for the autopsy that was yet to come. But Ruby had no time to afford her the respect she deserved. Slamming back the door, she paused only to turn and pull out the next drawer. Nathan began in the middle, and Downes was at the end. Under the glow of strip lighting and the faint tang of disinfectant in the air, the only sounds were police boots pounding down the corridor to the basement and the ominous rolling backwards and forwards of freezer drawers.
‘Ruby,’ Nathan said, his voice flat. Pulling open the rest of the drawer, he revealed a waif-like little girl who was lying fully dressed, with hands bound in prayer. Frozen in time, just like Sleeping Beauty.
‘Help me get her out,’ Ruby breathed, clasping her hands under Sophie’s armpits. She was cold, so very cold, and Ruby pressed her hand against Sophie’s coat, praying for the comforting thump of a heartbeat. But there was nothing. ‘Over here, to the radiator,’ Ruby said, as Nathan gently lifted her up. For once, she was grateful for the stifling heat pumping through the building. Placing her on the ground, Ruby pressed her cheek against the little girl’s face. Touching the artery in her neck, she held her own breath, willing Sophie’s to return. She gasped a sigh of relief. ‘We’ve got a pulse.’ But the child was barely breathing.
Nathan pulled off his jacket, wrapping it tightly around her as Ruby drew the little girl into her arms. Like a life-sized doll, she lay with blue lips and hands forced together. Reaching into his back pocket, Nathan drew out a Stanley knife, cutting the bindings and releasing her wrists. Downes stood, rooted to the spot, as he watched the couple try to breathe life into the little frozen girl.
‘Your coat,’ Nathan barked at him. ‘Give me your coat.’
Pulling off his heavy woollen coat he threw it to Nathan; for once in his life devoid of words. Working together, Nathan and Ruby wrapped it tighter around Sophie. Pulling off her shoes, Nathan massaged her feet, then her fingers, cupping his hands and breathing hot air, pressing her to the radiator for warmth.
Ruby drew her tighter, hugging her to her chest. Gently rocking, she begged in ragged whispers for the little girl to come back to them. ‘You’re alright, you’re going to be alright, please, wake up now, there’s a good girl.’ And then she heard it: a little sigh of breath. Followed by a tiny flush of colour to her cheeks.
Nathan wrapped the coat tighter, encouraging murmurs passing his lips. In those few seconds it was just Ruby, Nathan, and the skinny little dark-haired girl.
‘I’m sorry,’ Ruby whispered as she rocked, kissing the top of her head. But she did not know what she was sorry for. Was it for her own daughter, for Sophie, or for her mother, Anita, who was lying in hospital recovering from her ordeal?
Downes turned to the window as he raised his radio to his lips; his face illuminated in the blue flashing lights.
Ruby gently rocked the sedated child, unwilling to release her to the uniformed bodies bustling into the room. Police, ambulance and crime scene investigators flooded in. Head bowed, Downes updated his superiors by phone, pressing a finger against his ear as he engaged in conversation.
‘It’s OK, you can let go now,’ a soothing voice spoke in Ruby’s ear. She swivelled her head to see the green paramedic uniform and a pair of outstretched hands waiting for the precious bundle. She glanced at Nathan, tears pricking her eyes. And in that moment they both saw the pain that giving up their daughter had caused each other. Getting to her feet, she allowed them to work. Her arms were empty, her body hollow. Nathan put a comforting arm around her and squeezed. Unconcerned by her witnesses, she allowed her hand to slip around his waist, taking comfort in his strength.
‘You need to go with them,’ Downes said, nodding at the paramedics.
‘I’m fine,’ Ruby said.
‘She’s coming back to mine,’ Nathan spoke at the same time.
‘We need statements,’ Downes replied, his voice laced with disapproval.
Nathan stared, hard faced. ‘In the morning. You’ll have your statements then.’
Ruby allowed him to steer her away. Downes would send someone to the house, have them bag up her clothes and swab her face for forensics. A nod passed between them, and Downes let her go.