Bad Advice

by S M Mala

  It was a horrible twist of adoration, angst and anger when their eyes met, then all she felt was humiliation and hurt.

  Quickly, she walked out and rushed towards the toilets, never expecting to see Scottie again.

  Forty four

  He couldn’t remember what he was saying. All he saw was Ruby looking shocked before running off.

  Scottie thought he imagined it as he’d been thinking about her all day.

  ‘Are you alright?’ Helen Trott asked. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said, shaking his head for a moment.

  They were quickly ushered off the tables into another area so furniture could be cleared away.

  His eyes searched for her again.

  He was sure he imagined it. Then he turned.

  She was talking to a small man.

  His heart felt like it leapt into his throat.

  ‘Ah, you’ve seen,’ he heard Sebastian whisper. ‘I was going to give her the heads up you were coming but I didn’t get the chance.

  Scottie couldn’t speak.

  He didn’t want to.

  All he could think of was holding her in his arms.

  Then she turned and glanced at him. The look said it all.

  She was hurt.

  Ruby quickly left the room and him.

  Forty five

  The excuse was pitiful. She knew her first reaction on seeing him, after all these weeks, was to cry. It was bubbling away in her chest when she saw the horror on Scottie’s face as he looked at her. Half of her wanted to walk up to him and say ‘hello’ but the other half couldn’t deal with a full blown rejection.

  Walking at top speed, she stopped dead in her tracks seeing who was coming towards her.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Helen Trott said angrily. ‘You don’t come to these things. Who are you with?’

  Ruby glared, slowly eyeing her up and down in her shiny uniform and painted face.

  ‘How are you Commissioner Trott? Long time no see.’

  ‘Ruby, can you answer my simple question?’

  ‘God, isn’t that what you used to call me again and again? Simple? Some things don’t change. I was always simple in your eyes. Had I known you’d have been here, I’d never have agreed. I wouldn’t want to share the same air. Is that a good enough answer, Commissioner?’

  ‘Are you leaving?’

  She knew her appearance would just wind the woman up. Ruby wanted to push Helen Trott over, knowing how much trouble she’d get into if she did.

  Then again, it was Helen Trott so she wouldn’t get prosecuted.

  The vision came into her head. She shook it off.

  ‘Oh there you are!’ said Helen, her stern face suddenly softening. ‘I was on my way back.’

  ‘Don’t let me stop you,’ she heard and gulped realising it was Scottie. ‘I was going to get some fresh air.’

  ‘I’ll join you.’

  Ruby didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t look at him but certainly had no intention of letting Helen Trott get the better of her.

  ‘Lovely to see you again. Let’s not make it a habit,’ Ruby said flatly before hissing. ‘And you owe me a lot of back rent, Helen dearest.’

  She received a filthy look from the Commissioner. Ruby smiled, knowing how to put the knife in.

  ‘Don’t I know you?’ Scottie said and stepped in front of her.

  With all her might, she avoided looking up.

  ‘Don’t think so,’ she mumbled, trying to walk away but he stood in the way.

  ‘You work with my cousin, don’t you? I thought I’d seen you before at one of her parties,’ he said brightly. ‘What’s your name again?’

  ‘Is this your reverse version of piggy in the middle?’ she asked quietly. ‘I’m not important.’

  Looking up at him, it hit her hard in the chest, what she felt, knowing she was heartbroken.

  Ruby walked away trying hard not to cry.

  It looked as if he didn’t remember her, though Scottie was constantly in her head.

  And it pained her to know he was part of Helen Trott’s team, which meant she was on the losing side, once again.

  Forty six

  ‘You know her? I thought you said your cousin worked for the Samaritans? Are you telling me Ruby works there too?’

  The astonishment on Helen Trott’s face was unprecedented. The fact she knew her Christian name stunned Scottie.

  ‘How do you know her?’ he asked, seeing Sebastian walk out then scowl.

  ‘Hey Scottie! Aren’t you supposed to be coming home with me?’ said Sebastian, cheerfully. ‘Come on Commissioner, can’t you let the old boy out before he swelters in that uniform?’

  Scottie glanced over and realised Ruby had gone.

  He desperately wanted to follow her, trying his hardest to hide the turmoil he was feeling.

  ‘You go along. I’ve got things to do,’ Helen Trott replied, looking distracted.

  Sebastian grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the cloakroom.

  ‘What’s going on?’ asked Scottie, noticing his friend flinch. ‘You’re not telling me a lot, are you?’

  ‘It’s no good raking up the past. You got the promotion, you’re doing what you want and now you know your boss knows Ruby Marquis. She did look gorgeous, didn’t she? Rubes?’

  ‘She looked amazing,’ he gulped, crushed seeing her upset. ‘I want to talk to her, to explain why I did it.’

  ‘What good would that do? Anyway, she can see you put your job first,’ he said and the comment hurt Scottie. ‘You had a fling and now it’s over.’

  ‘What’s the point in having all this if you haven’t got someone to share it with?’

  ‘Oh for god’s sake, let’s get out of here!’

  Forty seven

  As soon as she got into her home, she burst into tears.

  From the look on his face and what he said, he didn’t care.

  He’d forgotten about her.

  Ruby felt let down.

  For that single shocked moment when she saw him, she forgot they weren’t together and felt elated.

  But that soon came crashing down to the ground.

  And then there was that bitch Helen Trott, looking down her nose at her, making her feel worthless and not for the first time.

  She got a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured out a large glass, crying as she did. Slowly sipping her drink, she walked to her computer and switched it on, looking at her emails.

  There were a few coming through the newspaper but not as much as usual. Ruby wondered if the sunny days made people forget about their problems.

  ‘I’m such an idiot,’ she sobbed, wiping her face with her hands. ‘What was I thinking?’

  Once again, she searched for him and saw picture among picture from the recent press shoot.

  Scottie looked handsome and happy.

  Then she deleted the history knowing she was pining for a lost cause.

  Forty eight

  They were in a small bar. Scottie was leaning forward on the table, nursing a double scotch. His friend stared at him.

  ‘Why did I have to choose? Why couldn’t I have both?’ he asked, glancing at Sebastian. ‘What aren’t you telling me? Helen Trott was all over Hugh Yates so it can’t be that bad. Why did you tell me about Ruby? Do you want me to be unhappy for the rest of my life?’

  ‘Oh please,’ groaned Sebastian, shaking his head in dismay. ‘Enough of the melodramatics.’

  Scottie felt dismal now, blaming someone else when it was ultimately his decision.

  ‘There are things you don’t need to know about and, to be honest, if Ruby knows your involvement with Helen Trott, she’s not going to want to know you now, is she?’ said his friend. ‘Couldn’t you tell how much they dislike each other? Even I could feel the temperature drop on a warm summer’s evening.’

  ‘Why won’t she want me now? What’s she got against Commissioner Trott?’

  Sebasti
an loosened his tie, making direct eye contact.

  ‘You’re the great detective, can’t you figure it out? Doesn’t take a genius, does it?’

  Scottie sat back and looked at his friend knocking back his drink.

  ‘The Commissioner hasn’t forgiven her about the expose?’

  ‘Warmer.’

  ‘Why aren’t you telling me everything?’

  ‘Because I’m sworn to secrecy. Why don’t you speak to Ruby and find out yourself. I mean, how did you finish it? You must have told her you felt compromised because of your involvement with Trott. Trott? What a ridiculous name for a Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, don’t you think? I, personally, can’t stand the woman even when I defended her all that time ago. How did you end it with Ruby?’

  ‘I told her, had I known her involvement in the investigation, I would have thought twice about seeing her,’ Scottie took a deep breath. ‘Then I told her I didn’t mean it when I said I was falling in love.’

  Sebastian stared at him for a moment, his mouth gaping open.

  ‘Makes sense why she looked upset when she saw you,’ his friend replied sadly. ‘What other way could there be than to call it a day by breaking the heart of someone who deeply loves you? You certainly did that, Scottie.’

  Forty nine

  The phone was bleeping as she woke up and grabbed it from the side, opening the message.

  ‘Check the news.’

  It was from Jacinta.

  Ruby felt tired from too much wine and crying, so she went to the bathroom and took a shower, pressing her head against the cold tiles. When she felt she could cope, she extracted her head and got out.

  Half an hour later, all dried and dressed, she headed down the stairs, noticing the empty bottle of wine and the dirty glass in the sink.

  ‘Oh well,’ she said and tidied up the room, washing and putting all the things away, switching on the kettle and slumping at the table.

  The sun was streaming through the window and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day.

  She made a cup of tea and sat there, vegetating for a moment, wondering what she was going to do. Other than work, she had nothing planned for her empty weekend until her son was returned to her on Sunday evening.

  It was the perfect time to change and wash the bedding. She drank her tea and went back upstairs, tidying the bedrooms and changing the beds. Ruby started the wash and then found the inner strength to clean her home.

  Anything to stop her thinking about Scottie.

  A few hours later, she had completed her tasks and now could face the world.

  There was no food in her house, so she sauntered off to the supermarket for some provisions, stopping off at a coffee shop.

  Her mind was full of Scottie, thinking if she had been some sort of game.

  Seduce a woman then make them fall for you before kicking them into touch.

  Probably that’s why he had three different kids with the same amount of women.

  ‘Nip them in the bud,’ she mumbled, now mortally embarrassed.

  Ruby shook her head and sighed, ‘simple’, again and again, immediately thinking of Helen Trott which upset her even more.

  Her phone rang. It was Jacinta.

  ‘Have you seen the news?’ her friend asked. ‘Isn’t it awful?’

  ‘What’s awful?’ she replied, looking at the froth of her cappuccino.

  ‘Seriously? When you call me in the early morning to do something, I do it, and when I try and give you the heads up on something, you just simply ignore me!’ she said, sounding pissed off in her posh way.

  ‘I’m depressed,’ she moaned, blowing the froth off the top of her cappuccino.

  ‘You’ve got good reason to be. You know our agony aunt, Cass Parker?’

  ‘Of course I do! We used to go to her parties. She gave me advice when I got my first few freelance jobs. Crap advice mind.’

  ‘Well she died last night.’

  ‘What?’ Ruby said loudly, startling a young woman sitting next to her. ‘How?’

  ‘She was killed while dealing with an intruder. It’s awful. Has Hugh called you?’

  ‘Oh my god, that’s terrible,’ she said, feeling upset and this time it had nothing to do with the copper.

  ‘Ruby,’ her friend said quietly. ‘Don’t get alarmed but I need to tell you something.’

  ‘I’m alarmed when you say that.’

  ‘What are you doing for lunch? Want to meet up?’

  ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Let me tell you face to face our theory, okay?’

  Fifty

  He walked around the house watching everyone work, searching for clues. Scottie looked at the body lying on the floor. She was sprawled out on the ground in her nightdress, her face turned away, as if sleeping. He knew who she was from the papers, web and television.

  ‘Why am I here?’ he asked, feeling the banging of his hangover.

  ‘Because it’s a probable murder investigation linking it to the other two murders,’ replied Dave, grinning. ‘Nice evening?’

  ‘No,’ he replied bluntly, still pissed off with Sebastian for not telling him anything about Helen Trott and the connection with Ruby. ‘Couldn’t they get anyone else?’

  ‘You’re the top man. Come and look at this.’

  Feeling like death, he stepped over her body seeing Dave look down. Bending closer, he noticed something written on her lips.

  ‘What’s that?’ he asked, trying to examine the words. ‘‘Bad Advice’. Another one?’

  ‘The thing is there’s no evidence she was injected like the others.’

  ‘What if it’s someone doing this to people and, because there’s no more publicity, they’re making a stand by picking on a high profile agony aunt?’

  Fifty one

  ‘That’s seriously stupid,’ said Ruby, laughing hard in the beer garden of her local pub. ‘Hugh will be shocked and horrified that his award winning news team are jumping to this conclusion. Though you don’t count as you do fashion.’

  ‘I’ll ignore your snide comment thought frankly you need some tips.’ Jacinta grinned while Ruby examined her own shabby outfit. ‘But now Cass Parker? Come on, something’s going on and she also volunteered for the Samaritans years ago. It’s just too weird,’ she said, her hands outstretched. ‘I know you’re a lazy arse ex journalist but you have to think it’s more than a coincidence, don’t you?’

  ‘I have you know, I am still a journalist but another type, thanks very much,’ she replied, sipping her wine. ‘Look at it logically. How many gun crimes in the past month? More than four and they’re not linked. These three people worked for the Samaritan, so if that’s the only link, then it’s weak. Plus Cass was a celebrity but, come on, she wasn’t that good to be honest and-.’

  ‘She gave advice, which is what you do,’ her friend said seriously.

  ‘I’m safe because ‘Tell it how it is’ is written by someone called ‘Rebecca Martin’ so, there’s no link,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Did you lot go on the piss last night? Tell Hugh what you think is going on, without finding out the facts. Soon you’ll be working for the ‘Ealing Gazette’ giving styling tips to tramps, even with your private education.’

  Jacinta glowered at her for a moment, shaking her head.

  ‘Only in the centres, where people come in to speak face to face, do we see them,’ continued Ruby, seeing her friend was still not convinced. ‘I take the calls and emails. I don’t see anyone. To target someone when you don’t know who they are is hard enough.’

  ‘There is a link,’ her friend said quietly. ‘But the police aren’t saying.’

  ‘They’re saying the deaths are unexplained.’

  ‘They were injected with poison.’

  ‘What?’ Ruby sat up straight. ‘Why aren’t they saying that?’

  ‘They don’t want to alarm anyone.’

  ‘Jacinta! That means there’s a serial killer out there!’

  ‘O
h, now you’re worried? I tell you about some probable sociopath and you take an interest?’ she replied sarcastically. ‘I do wonder why I bother sometimes.’

  ‘My heads been out of sorts and you know why.’

  ‘Don’t fall in love. Have casual sex and you’ll be fine.’

  ‘He was different.’

  ‘They always are.’

  ‘He’s the new Assistant Commissioner for Special Crimes. I thought you’d like to know,’ said Ruby, letting out a miserable sigh as her friend took a sip of her drink.

  Ruby didn’t see it coming.

  The spray of wine into her face as Jacinta choked, sitting there, open mouthed.

  ‘I know,’ Ruby shrugged, understanding the shock while dripping with white wine. ‘Such a waste of booze and really, he’s not worth it.’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Jacinta said, grabbing a napkin and slapping it in Ruby’s face.

  ‘Yep, Diane’s cousin is really high up in the force. I saw him last night and he’d simply forgotten about me as if I never happened. He even played a game asking if he’d met me before. How shit is that? And guess who was in the audience?’

  Jacinta shook her head from side to side, unable to speak as Ruby wiped her face

  ‘Helen fucking Trott, who else?’

  ‘Oh no Rubes, that’s bad.’

  ‘Oh, it certainly is.’

  ‘Does he know, this man, about her?’ she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Oh my god, you were shagging Jonathan Scott? He’s bloody hot! Did he handcuff you and use a big old truncheon?’

  The laugh was loud as Ruby sat there taking in all the humiliation.

  ‘Modern day cop,’ mumbled Ruby. ‘Just a stun gun to my heart.’

  ‘Oh please!’ laughed out Jacinta.

  ‘Glad I’m cheering you up when I am desolate with grief.’

  ‘You can’t have seriously-.’

  ‘Yes,’ Ruby said gulping hard. ‘When someone tells you that they’ve fallen in love and you feel the same way, then you have to take it seriously.’

  Jacinta suddenly stopped laughing and Ruby knew her pained expression was giving it away.