Bad Advice

by S M Mala

  ‘Ruby? What was she doing at my flat?’

  ‘You do remember the article you wrote that morning, accusing the police of focussing on her due to a relationship she has with a senior officer?’ added Dave. Scottie glanced out the window, not wanting to betray his fury. ‘I believe she was a little agitated about it being made common knowledge and wanted to find out how you knew.’

  Scottie glared at Mick Dawson. He couldn’t help it.

  ‘She hasn’t been well since a vicious attack took place. You know about that, don’t you?’ asked Scottie quietly, stepping closer to the bed. ‘Someone hit her from behind. She didn’t stand a chance of getting away.’

  ‘We’ve all been made victims out of this,’ Mick Dawson replied, swallowing hard then glancing at his brief. ‘I hear someone has been saying I’m involved. I’ve never heard of this guy!’

  ‘So you don’t know who Nigel Stubbs is?’ asked Dave, frowning a little then smiling. ‘He just wanted to implicate you for the fun of it?’

  ‘Is it that important!’ snapped Mick Dawson. ‘I’m the real victim here. I was the one Annette Hector wanted to kill. Have you caught her? How do you know she won’t try again?’

  ‘I’d gladly leave the door open,’ mumbled Scottie.

  ‘What did you say?’ hissed Mick.

  ‘I said, we won’t leave you wide open.’

  There was an uncomfortable silence in the room.

  ‘We’re trying to track down Mrs Hector right now. It’s only a matter of time before we catch her,’ said Dave calmly. ‘Nigel Stubbs is adamant that you asked him to carry out these attacks and paid him for it. The last one on Edmund Smith was especially vicious. Luckily, Edmund identified him from one of your social network pages.’

  The colour drained from Mick’s face.

  ‘It’s a very serious charge if we find that you paid someone to carry out these assaults,’ Dave said quietly. Scottie noticed Mick Dawson’s solicitor look gravely at his client. ‘What we need to do now is ask you some questions. Are you willing to do that or would you like to wait until you’re fit enough to come to the station?’

  ‘My client will answer anything you have to say right now,’ the solicitor replied on his behalf. ‘Won’t you Mr Dawson?’

  ‘No comment,’ Mick replied, flashing Scottie a dirty look. ‘Had you only bothered to look after us all equally, then I wouldn’t have been a victim.’

  ‘Mr Dawson, I think you created a situation to gain media attention. By getting one of your friends to carry out the deed, you then gained publicity and secured an income from it.’

  ‘That’s a lie!’

  ‘We’ll soon find out, won’t we?’

  One hundred and thirty one

  ‘You went to see him to do what?’ Ruby said, unable to hide the alarm in her voice. ‘Are you mad?’

  ‘You’re the mad one for calling the ambulance,’ sniffed Annette, taking a sip of her wine. ‘Why didn’t you just leave him?’

  ‘Annette! That’s not something I expect to hear coming from you. You’re a good Samaritan. I’m, apparently, the bad one.’

  ‘Personally, I think you’re both mental,’ mumbled Nana Gwen who had now placed the wine box on the coffee table, filling up her glass. ‘You’re going to get locked up for life and you’re probably going to be sent down with her, for aiding and abetting.’

  ‘Then I’ll have a roomie,’ sniffed Ruby, knowing Nana Gwen was right. ‘And I don’t know that she really did it.’

  ‘Bloody hell Ruby! She’s just told you she has and you’ve recorded it! Shit for brains, the younger generation, I’m telling you!’ laughed out Nana Gwen as Annette nodded in agreement. ‘And what are you going to do, Samaritan slayer? If my grandson has anything to do with it, they’ll track you down.’

  ‘Are you going to hand yourself in?’ Ruby asked tentatively and noticed the wide grin on Annette’s face. ‘That’s the best thing to do.’

  ‘I’ve had a rethink and recharged my batteries,’ the woman announced.

  ‘That sounds ominous,’ said Nana Gwen. ‘What exactly does that mean?’

  ‘I think you’re right Gwen, I don’t want to get Ruby into trouble. But now you know my motives. I’ve been doing this for a while and-.’

  ‘A while?’ Ruby said, sitting on the edge of her seat. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Ruby, figure it out. I’m not a novice to this. Since I joined the Samaritans I’ve taken it upon myself to seek justice where I feel people have abused the level of trust. I used to have a revolver and make them take a cocktail of poison. All very simple.’

  Ruby heard Nana Gwen gulp really hard in the background.

  At this point, Ruby didn’t know what to think.

  ‘You better not lay a hand on Ruby, like I said,’ hissed Nana Gwen, slurring slightly. ‘I have to protect my great granddaughter.’

  ‘Who said it was a girl?’ asked Ruby, snapping out from staring at Annette.

  ‘I know these things,’ the old woman replied and put her hand down the side of the armchair. ‘So this is like a hobby of yours? Killing people?’

  ‘Not a hobby but I feel justice is necessary. And to be perfectly honest, I’d need an army of volunteers to deal with this modern time. Help lines giving advice when you know they’re making money out of phone charges? Psychics down the line, telling you stuff and nonsense and worse of all, people pretending they care when they don’t. That bothers me the most. The ones who think they can manipulate people who are coming for help. That’s just not right.’

  ‘Killing people isn’t right,’ said Ruby quietly, shaking her head. ‘And why have you been prolific in the attacks? It’s like you’re on a spree!’

  ‘It’s been hard work, fitting it in between the gardening and volunteering. I don’t know how I managed to find the time!’ laughed Annette.

  ‘Bloody mental, the lot of you!’ said Nana Gwen, shaking her head from side to side.

  ‘And why attack Cass Parker? You must have known you were going to attract an enormous amount of publicity.’

  ‘Never liked her,’ Annette sniffed, taking a sip of her wine. ‘Sandra was always a pretentious so and so. Then she started to rub our noses in it because she made a fortune out of being completely useless as an agony aunt. I heard about her involvement in the English Defence League. Well, I was infuriated. And her column! What a lot of right wing nonsense and, can I say, rather sexist in this given day and age.’

  ‘And that’s why you killed her?’ asked Ruby. ‘Because you didn’t like her?’

  ‘I didn’t kill her, I’d like to point out. She kicked the bucket when I told her what I thought and my intention. I just wrote the message on her lips. You know I used a wonderful lip liner you recommended, Ruby.’

  ‘Oh shit!’ was all Ruby could say.

  ‘Lancôme! Isn’t it fantastic?’

  ‘Barking mad,’ sighed Nana Gwen gravely.

  ‘And Cass did me a favour by kicking the bucket on her own.’ She shrugged and smiled. ‘I’m surprised that your ex-husband didn’t sack her before then.’

  ‘So am I,’ muttered Ruby, examining the woman, her hair in bunches looking like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. ‘How did you know how to make a concoction to kill people? You’re not diabetic and how did you get the medication?’

  ‘I was friends with Florence Nightingale, isn’t that what they say?’ Annette cheekily answered.

  ‘Were you?’ asked Nana Gwen and Ruby now knew the lady was getting pissed very quickly.

  She put that down to nerves.

  ‘It’s a joke,’ shrugged Annette. ‘I needed to find another way to get justice so I did some research. Then I was watching ‘Panorama’ or something about the new diabetic medicine from America that causes major side effects.’

  ‘You’re all heart,’ mumbled Nana Gwen. ‘Like a top up?’

  ‘Yes, that would be lovely,’ replied Annette. ‘And then I thought a sedative would help and it would be a restful end fo
r the person in question. I think that was particular kind as some of their victims didn’t get a happy ending.’

  ‘Some of them committed suicide or had breakdowns. Well, that’s what the papers said and that man who took advantage of young men. Shocking!’ added Nana Gwen, filling up the glasses and handing one to Annette.

  Ruby sat there, realising Annette Hector was telling the truth and she didn’t know what to think. The whole thing seemed totally surreal.

  ‘I didn’t see this coming,’ Ruby mumbled. ‘Maybe my journalist skills have gone rusty. Why didn’t I see it? Why couldn’t I figure out it was you?’

  ‘Because you had a fixation about Mick Dawson, so you couldn’t see past your own dislikes and prejudices. You weren’t far off the mark. He did arrange to get one of his friends to terrorise and hurt his colleagues. That’s just not on.’

  ‘But murdering them is fine?’ gasped Ruby, feeling her heart beat faster. ‘You’re not a serial killer. God, you don’t even look like one and how do I know you’re not lying to get some weird publicity?’

  ‘Ruby? I know you don’t want to hear this but I had good intentions. Chonika was my only mistake and I wanted to stop but I couldn’t. I had to finish off what I set out to do.’

  ‘Have you finished?’

  ‘I need some time to reflect.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Firstly young lady, you have a story there. Make it a good one and sell it to a paper that will give you the chance to be a journalist once again,’ she said gently. ‘I know why you changed your career. You’ve been terribly hurt and let down then your husband did the dirty on you. You thought by helping people, because you were sad and confused about a mistake you made, would make you feel better. Did it?’

  ‘I thought I was helping people with the problem page and as for the journalist thing? I was never as good as Hugh or the others and I did have my own personal axe to grind with Helen Trott.’

  ‘Would you like me to help you out on that front? I still have lots of mixture left over,’ Annette asked.

  Ruby then clicked what she meant, realising she was still recording and hit the stop button.

  ‘Jesus! She’s like a mercenary. I could think of a few people. Would you do it for free?’ smiled Nana Gwen. ‘Look at the child! You’ve scared her witless.’

  ‘No!’ Ruby eventually replied. ‘Is this real? Is this happening?’

  ‘My darling Ruby, just be happy. Marry that man of yours and have his baby. It will be a new start and I know you’ll have a wonderful life together. He is rather gorgeous,’ smiled Annette. ‘I have things to do.’

  ‘Please don’t kill anyone else,’ groaned Ruby, getting up and sitting next to her. ‘I think the world of you. I’d never have guessed in a million years you’d do something like this.’

  ‘It’s just like one of my favourite films ‘Arsenic and old lace’. No one ever suspects the nice little old lady is the grim reaper in disguise, do they? That’s what gave me the idea.’

  ‘And you’re the people to come to for help?’ whispered Nana Gwen. ‘Seriously?’

  One hundred and thirty two

  ‘What do you mean she’s round my grandmother’s flat?’ Scottie asked, confused for a second. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I’m sitting outside the place,’ laughed Stephen down the end of the phone. ‘I’ve never seen so many sprightly old folk. One elderly gentleman was walking down the road stroking some old bird’s arse. I swear they’re taking something to make them randy!’

  ‘And Ruby drove round this morning?’

  ‘Yeah. She said she wanted to check that your Nana Gwen was alright.’

  ‘And she’s been there for over an hour?’

  ‘Certainly has.’

  For a moment he pondered and wondered what Ruby was up to.

  ‘Have there been a lot of elderly people going through?’ he asked, wondering if Ruby had set something up with Annette, then shaking his head in disbelief that she would do such a thing, especially after what he told her.

  ‘They’re going on a coach trip so there were a lot of people coming and going in cars. That’s about it to be honest.’

  ‘I see,’ he replied then clicked.

  Ruby had been a journalist and, to all intent, still was one based on her ability to snoop. And that morning she was doing something on the laptop and didn’t want him to see.

  ‘She wouldn’t dare,’ he said, shaking his head from side to side

  ‘Is there a problem?’

  ‘There might be one.’

  One hundred and thirty three

  ‘And how are you going to break it to lover boy?’ asked Nana Gwen. Ruby knew the woman was a little merry as she sat down opposite her. ‘He’s going to go ballistic. Have you noticed when he gets angry, he can look like a right vicious bastard?’

  ‘I’ve never seen him really angry other than when he shouted at me the other day. He was a bit upset,’ she gulped hard. ‘And he’ll understand I wanted to get to the truth.’

  ‘He’ll think you put us in danger.’

  ‘She wasn’t dangerous.’

  ‘She’s a serial killer as opposed to a cereal eater,’ frowned Nana Gwen. ‘And is that your aim? To get the article published in the morning press to beat the police getting to her? You do know what Scottie does for a living, don’t you?’

  ‘I haven’t really thought about it,’ she honestly replied. ‘I’m starving. Can we go to lunch?’

  ‘To be honest, I don’t know if I can walk in a straight line.’

  ‘Thank you Gwen,’ Ruby said, sitting on the edge of the sofa. ‘I know you were worried and-.’

  The buzzer on the intercom sounded and the pair looked at each other.

  ‘You don’t think she’s come back to snuff us out?’ the old woman said, wide eyed. ‘You never know.’

  ‘Why don’t you write my article? I’m sure you’ll make it more entertaining.’

  ‘So you are thinking about it,’ Nana Gwen smiled, resting in her chair. ‘I think you should. Go and answer it. I might keel over if I get up.’

  Ruby got to her feet and went to the intercom.

  ‘Hello?’ she asked, looking over as Nana Gwen shut her eyes.

  ‘Can I come in?’

  Ruby gulped hard and held her breath for a moment.

  ‘Hello Scottie,’ she replied cheerfully. Nana Gwen’s eyes shot open. ‘Is everything okay?’

  ‘I just wanted to see my two favourite ladies.’

  ‘He’s up to something,’ grumbled his grandmother. Ruby buzzed him through then hurriedly took the box of wine and Annette’s glass away into the kitchen. ‘He can sniff out shit on a pig farm.’

  She washed up quickly and heard a knock on the door. Drying her hands, she put the laptop into her bag and rushed to see Scottie.

  Ruby couldn’t help but smile.

  But he wasn’t returning the gesture.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

  He stepped past her and into the living room.

  ‘Are you alright?’ he asked his grandmother, looking at the glass of wine then glancing at Ruby. ‘Have you been drinking, Nana?’

  ‘Yes,’ Nana Gwen said, sitting shiftily on the armchair. ‘I needed something to steady my nerves. I’m still in shock about what happened yesterday. Ruby told me about Annette.’

  Hiding her smile, Ruby bit her lip and sat next to Nana Gwen, gently touching her hand.

  ‘It’s all a bit traumatic,’ Ruby said sympathetically. ‘Poor thing wanted to talk.’

  ‘I was desperate.’

  ‘Erm,’ was Scottie’s reply as his eyes wandered around the room. Ruby and Nana Gwen looked at each other then back at him. ‘And you two have been alone, the whole time?’

  ‘What’s your problem? You think Ruby’s come here because she’s having a fling with one of the old boys? You’re a very untrusting young man,’ sniffed Nana Gwen. Ruby looked guiltily at her bag then at her lover. ‘I wanted someone
to talk to and asked your fiancé. I now know why they sacked her from the Samaritans. She’s no bloody good to talk to.’

  ‘Gwen!’ Ruby said, turning to the mischievous old woman. ‘They were wrong to let me go.

  ‘Seriously sweetheart, based on what you said today, I think you really are a lost cause.’

  ‘Thanks for nothing,’ she said, dropping the old woman’s hand and noticing Scottie was smiling at her. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be busy tracking down Annette?’

  ‘Mick Dawson has regained consciousness and we’re questioning him about what happened to you and the other attacks. I thought I’d let you know,’ he replied politely. ‘Are you sure you two haven’t been up to something? Annette could have hurt either one of you last night, do you know that?’

  ‘I don’t think that syringe was for us, sunshine,’ mumbled Nana Gwen.

  ‘Why did you say that?’

  ‘Gwen, I have to love you and leave you,’ Ruby said, quickly getting to her feet flashing the woman a warning glance. ‘You’ve had a little bit too much vino so I’ll help you to bed then Scottie can take me out to lunch. Won’t you?’

  ‘I’d love to but I have to get back to the office,’ he said, stepping forward and gently grabbing his grandmother’s arm.

  As Nana Gwen got to her feet, the small knife hidden in the armchair fell to the floor. Ruby looked at it then at Scottie, who bent over to pick it up.

  ‘What’s that doing here?’ he asked and this time he was frowning.

  ‘Jesus, that’s where I put it!’ exclaimed Nana Gwen. ‘I was looking for that.’

  ‘Why was it hidden in your armchair?’

  ‘I like to cut my corns with it,’ she said brightly. Scottie shook his head from side to side. ‘Cheaper than buying corn plasters. Have you see the price?’

  ‘You’re drunk,’ he replied, then flashed Ruby a glance before escorting his grandmother to bed.

  Ruby took the chance to look around the room to see if there were any traces of Annette. She went into the kitchen and quickly tidied it up. As she got back into the room, Scottie left the bedroom door ajar and then looked at her.

  He narrowed his eyes, turning around and walked out the door.