Bad Advice

by S M Mala

  ‘Is it true you’re going to skip a few ranks and become the new golden boy of the force?’

  ‘I am and, will always be, a detective, first and foremost. I need to change this misconception that the higher you go up the ranks, the less ground work you do.’ Scottie could see Dave was shaking his head. ‘I’m not going to be old school.’

  ‘Course you won’t. The fact you’re barely out of nursery compared to those old buggers might give you a fighting chance!’ laughed out Dave. ‘If the lady Commissioner has asked you to get involved then there must be a reason. You know she fancies you.’

  ‘Give it a rest!’ hissed Scottie as Dave laughed out again.

  ‘You’re talented, I’ll give you that.’

  Scottie looked at the wall and examined the pictures. One murder was done in Tooting Bec and the other in Archway. The Samaritans were the only link.

  ‘My cousin works for the Samaritans and so does my…’ he was going to smile at calling her his ‘girlfriend’. ‘… friend. They’d both be upset if they found out this was going on. For the time being, we don’t mention the writing.’

  ‘Sometimes being good doesn’t pay,’ his friend said, shaking his head solemnly. ‘And these poor bastards now know it.’

  Twenty Five

  ‘Nothing extraordinary happened then?’ she asked Hugh sweetly while Theo was gathering his things for two nights away. ‘Like the murder of people who worked for the Samaritans?’

  ‘Why are you asking?’ he replied and she noticed he was eyeing her up and down. ‘Who knows what person is seeking revenge?’

  ‘Why would you say that? What do you know?’ she asked, immediately picking up her ex was onto something.

  ‘My lips are sealed,’ he grinned. ‘What are you up to this weekend? Got anything special lined up?’

  ‘Dinner tonight then tomorrow I’m going to a party,’ Ruby replied, knowing not to tell him too much. ‘I’ve not gone to one of those in years.’

  ‘You’re looking good,’ Hugh said quietly, letting out a disgruntled sigh. ‘Meeting anyone in particular?’

  ‘Just a friend,’ she replied, hearing her child stomping down the stairs. ‘Have you got everything, Theo?’

  ‘Yep!’ he replied and flicked his hair out of his eyes.

  ‘Are you going to get his hair cut?’ his father asked.

  ‘Next week Hugh, is that okay?’ Ruby just discreetly rolled her eyes.

  ‘How’s the agony aunt thing going?’ he smirked.

  ‘It’s going well. Thanks for asking. Why the sudden interest? Do you need some advice or are you hoping I’m next on the list of good Samaritans?’

  ‘That’s not how I’d describe you,’ mumbled Hugh. Ruby tried not to smile at his snide comment. ‘It’s a waste of your talent. Why don’t you just stop it? You’ve made your point. Come and work for me.’

  ‘You never backed me when you should have and I don’t want to find myself in that situation again.’

  ‘Ruby, that’s unfair.’

  ‘You were unfair to me when I had a good story and now I know why you never let it get printed.’ She glared at him. ‘You cared about someone more than you cared about me.’

  ‘If you want to know the truth, I cared about us, remember?’

  ‘You were worried I was going to find out about all the mischief you got up to, weren’t you?’ Hugh stared at her and she knew she was right. ‘I worked for you once and where did that get me?’

  ‘Marriage and Theo,’ Hugh replied seriously. ‘We were good.’

  ‘Can we go?’ asked their disgruntled son walking up to them. ‘I need to watch something on Cartoon Network.’

  Ruby bent over, kissing her kid then stood back up.

  ‘And you’re still okay to meet us for lunch on Sunday?’ Hugh asked and she knew he was staring. ‘Unless you have other plans? Do you?’

  ‘Lunch with you two would be lovely,’ she sweetly replied. ‘Have you met someone?’

  ‘What do you care?’ Hugh abruptly answered. ‘You’re moving on and so am I.’

  Theo proceeded to walk out of the house, flashing his mother a cheeky smile.

  ‘As long as we’re clear on that,’ she replied and noticed Hugh’s disgruntled glare.

  ‘You know Ruby, there are many guys who’d take advantage of a woman like you. Just be careful,’ he said gently, touching her hand.

  ‘‘A woman like me?’’

  ‘Yes. Alone and vulnerable.’

  She knew he was trying to make her think twice about moving on.

  Without him.

  ‘Thank you for your kind words and we’ve been apart for over two years so I’m not that naive.’

  He kissed her on the cheek but this time a little too closely to her mouth. She instinctively moved her lips away.

  ‘Have a good weekend and remember you have a child who depends on you,’ was Hugh’s parting shot.

  ‘Pity you didn’t remember that when you had sex with another woman in our bed, after telling me you loved me,’ she hissed, loud enough for him to hear. ‘No wonder I have to move on.’

  He slammed the door shut as she laughed.

  Twenty Six

  She flung open the door and Scottie couldn’t help but smile.

  Ruby looked beautiful and grinned, grabbing his hand, pulling him in.

  ‘Until Sunday morning, this is your home,’ she said, dragging him to the sofa.

  ‘I’ve not really got to look at the rest of your house properly, just your bedroom,’ he said as she pushed him to sit down.

  ‘Well here’s your chance. But I don’t have handcuffs in my underwear drawer so your luck’s not in.’

  ‘There are other things,’ he said and noticed she was eyeing him up.

  He sat back against the sofa, spreading out his arms.

  ‘You look absolutely gorgeous,’ Ruby smiled, letting out a lustful sigh.

  Scottie pulled her to fall onto his lap then gave her a long, lingering kiss. Naturally, his hand went straight for her boob. She put her palm over it and gently extracted his grope.

  ‘This sex thing is wonderful but I want to go out and show you off,’ she whispered. He kissed her soft neck and wanted to go to bed instead. ‘When we come back, we can go straight to what we do best but tonight, we go and socialise.’

  ‘We can socialise on this sofa.’

  ‘But it’s a lovely evening and I want to go out with you.’

  He grabbed her face and smiled, rubbing his nose against hers.

  The feeling of love was overwhelming and he’d prefer to stay with her, on their own, than to go out. But he knew she had a free pass that weekend and wanted to have fun.

  ‘And next Saturday, you’ll bring your kids round?’ she asked quietly. ‘I can’t wait to see the ginger and blonde hair in person. They look lovely. I’d love to meet them and for Theo to meet you too.’

  ‘You might change your mind. Katya is a surly teenager and Riley will just want to play on the games consul.’

  ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’ll play it down and say we’re friends. It’s been nearly three months since we’ve met and I want to move forward with you. The time’s right, don’t you think?’

  ‘Ruby, the time’s always right when I’m with you.’

  ‘Sweet romantic copper,’ she laughed out. ‘Come on, let’s play civilised in public.’

  They didn’t go very far.

  Ruby booked a table in her local gastro pub and they sat in a corner table.

  Scottie, for a moment, forgot about his current promotion dilemma but wanted to discuss it with someone, knowing the only person he could do was with Sebastian.

  He was having doubts about taking on the new role. Helen Trott letting him work on the Samaritan murders was a gentle distraction, before taking up the mantle of the next defining moment in his career. And he glanced at who he’d have to tell and if she’d be happy for him.

  Ruby was examining the wine list and a thought crossed his mind
.

  ‘Why did you want to become a Samaritan?’ he asked. She frowned. ‘You don’t seem the type. And from what you’ve told me, you’re certainly different from the usual lot.’

  ‘Here we go again!’ she laughed, putting the menu down. ‘And what type is that?’

  ‘You’re funny and smart, you don’t seem to act like you’re mother earth and you even work on a problem page. Doesn’t add up as you were a journalist. What sort of things did you investigate?’ he asked, realising he didn’t know much about her work.

  ‘You want to know about me?’

  ‘You’re forever saying ‘tell me like it is’,’ he replied cheekily, grabbing her hand. ‘I want to know all about you. It’s very important.’

  ‘Let’s get some drinks and these lips might loosen up a bit.’

  ‘I’m very happy,’ he whispered. ‘And you’re not bottling out of coming to meet my friends tomorrow.’ Scottie noticed the slight scowl. ‘Please?’

  ‘If they’re nice there won’t be a problem. If they are little piglets and have that awful arsy attitude, then it will be.’

  ‘Not all my police friends are like that. This is my best mate’s birthday bash so you have to come.’

  ‘The barrister? Okay,’ she nodded, watching the waiter arrive with their drinks.

  He couldn’t help it.

  He was madly in love with her.

  He didn’t care who knew.

  ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’ she asked, leaning closer and kissing him gently on the lips. ‘Now, where do you want me to start regarding my glittering career?’

  ‘From the beginning.’

  Twenty Seven

  ‘It’s pretty straight forward, some of it you know already,’ Ruby said, looking at him apprehensively, not wanting to put him off.

  Scottie seemed to be glowing.

  He was tanned and his blue eyes were shining brightly at her. The man was gorgeous and when he smiled, something flipped in her chest.

  She had completely fallen in love with him and wanted it to be perfect.

  But she also knew, with her background and him being a copper, he might not be impressed.

  Ruby took a deep breath and kissed his soft, full pink lips.

  ‘I needed to give something back. I felt it was my obligation. I thought about other places where I could work but I wanted to do something that had a wider net. My first choice would have been for a children’s support line but…’ She looked at Scottie who was still leaning over as she spoke. ‘Are you sure this isn’t going to bore you to death?’

  ‘I’ll die with you, it’ll be fine,’ he replied, leaning back and taking a swig from his bottle of beer. ‘Something must have made you want to do this type of support work?’

  She pondered hard for a moment, wondering if she should say what she did.

  And she wanted to be honest.

  Honest with Scottie.

  ‘I was investigating a piece about a paedophile living in an area which was densely populated by children. For whatever rules, regulations and registers, people slip through the net. If this country can’t keep up to speed with immigration, then people who do things secretly have a very good chance of staying undercover.’

  Scottie grinned and shook his head.

  ‘What?’ she asked.

  ‘You sound like a policeman.’

  ‘That’s not nice,’ she smirked.

  ‘It was a compliment not an insult.’

  ‘And talking of police, it was someone in the force who gave me the lead about this person.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘And the police don’t talk to the press? Shall I recall what happened not so long ago with the Met and a certain publishing baron?’ Ruby laughed while he grimaced. ‘I was told about this guy and did the research. It was horrific the crimes he’d committed so I went down the right route, asked the local councillors what could be done, spoke to various people. Then I heard he might have re-offended, wasn’t arrested, just an accusation. I had to take things into my own hands.’

  ‘Oh god Ruby, what did you do?’ he said, a look of genuine concern spreading across his face. ‘You didn’t confront him?’

  ‘I thought he was one of those loners. I researched and researched. I spoke to the copper who gave me the lead. I was trying to do my best but what I didn’t know then, which I do now, is that lots of the paedophiles have a double life, a secret life.’

  She stopped, not wanting to say anymore but taking a deep breath.

  It still hurt remembering what happened.

  ‘What did you do?’ he asked gently, grabbing her hand.

  ‘I revealed his identity, if only to name and shame him. Make him leave that place. I gave him notice I would be doing it, sending him a letter so he could go without any vigilante group coming to tear him to pieces.’

  ‘You gave him the heads up?’

  ‘It was the right thing to do. I checked with my editor, actually begged him and he eventually agreed with my plan though he’d have preferred not to tell him. Then we ran the story.’

  ‘What happened?’

  For a moment all words failed her.

  It came flooding back.

  ‘He was married with three kids and his mother lived with them.’

  ‘What did he do?’

  ‘This guy, not wanting his nearest and dearest to find out, killed everyone in the house and then committed suicide the day before the story was published. You see, my source told me he was alone, showed me everything. When this happened, they denied it. Stitched me up like a kipper. Is that a police expression?’

  Ruby avoided looking at him.

  ‘That’s really bad. It rings a bell,’ he said quietly. ‘We all make mistakes.’

  ‘I should have spoken to him, face to face. Got his side of the story and why he kept committing the crimes. Instead I played all bloody righteous and his family suffered for it. There are two sides to the story, I was so simple on how I did it. That’s what the police snitch told me. ‘You Ruby can be so simple’ and not for the first time.’

  ‘It didn’t put you off?’

  ‘I had people around me who made sure I didn’t suffer the full brunt of it.’

  ‘Who?’

  She looked up and smiled at his quizzical face.

  ‘People who worked on the paper,’ she replied, letting out a weary sigh. ‘And, in a way, it was a sort of good thing if for only one reason. I fell in love with a man who became the father of my child. Hugh was the editor.’ She laughed for a moment. ‘He held my hand through it all and told me not to take it to heart. I was twenty six and wanted to do so well, be a hard line, cutting edge journalist but the honest truth is, I wasn’t at all.’

  Ruby felt his hand on her face, realising she still felt shit about it. Scottie smiled sympathetically as she buried her skin in his palm and closed her eyes.

  ‘That’s why you don’t trust the police?’ he gently asked.

  ‘One of many reasons.’

  ‘But you carried on with your job?’

  ‘I did and, like most women, I was out on seeking revenge on that shit who stitched me up. I did in the end, sort of, but not quite. Give it time.’

  She opened her eyes and smiled, kissing his palm, placing it between her hands.

  ‘What did you do or what are you intending to do?’

  ‘You don’t want to know,’ Ruby laughed, knowing that would just confuse her policeman lover. ‘I wasn’t really getting the support I wanted in the job. The satisfaction wasn’t there. I decided to concentrate on my child and change path. ‘Airy fairy’ my ex calls it. He thinks it’s a strange thing to write an advice column. ‘Filler of pages’, he says.’

  ‘And he still works as a journalist?’

  ‘One of those ball breaking ones you see portrayed in films, except he’s real. I used to idolise him. Then I realised he’s like all people, fallible and not incredibly trustworthy, well not when it came to my heart.’

  She
sat back and admired the gorgeous man who was listening to her, now tilting his head to one side.

  ‘When I figured out you didn’t like reporters, I didn’t want to tell you. I thought you’d think I was an uncaring sort, who only wanted a good story. All I cared about was making the place safer for kids, that’s all,’ Ruby said, leaning closer. ‘And no matter what the guy had done, which was horrible, I didn’t want him to be strung up by maniac neighbours but it went wrong. And do you know what the worse thing was?’

  ‘No,’ he said, moving closer to her face.

  ‘People thought what I did was good. When I actually thought it was really bad. Innocent lives had been taken. Because these people were related to him, they were assumed guilty too. That’s what upset me the most. They became tainted with his crime.’ Ruby knew she was on the verge of crying, so blinked and swallowed to avoid it but Scottie grabbed her face. She didn’t have enough time to look away. ‘And that made me sad for a long time.'

  ‘Oh, Ruby.’

  ‘And to help me through the process of dealing with it, I went to speak to counsellors. I realised I should be supporting people not tearing them apart. After my last foray into a very big story five years ago, I had enough. Too cloak and dagger for me. I wanted some transparency. It does sound airy fairy, I know. Guilt, that’s what makes you do things differently and maybe revenge helps a bit.’

  ‘I love you,’ Scottie said, taking her by surprise. ‘I really do.’

  ‘Even though I’m a bad journalist?’ she smiled, realising she was very much in love with the little piggy sitting opposite her.

  ‘Makes me like you even more because you’re a caring one.’

  ‘Not all the time.’

  Twenty Eight

  They left the pub and walked slowly down the road, back to her house, holding hands. Scottie couldn’t help but smile.

  ‘I suppose you don’t want to tell me what you do on the force as a Commander because it’s confidential,’ she pried. ‘And I have been good, for me, by not asking you questions.’

  ‘But you want to know?’

  ‘I’m interested why you don’t talk about it.’