Ruby shook her head, and before Bobby could reply she said, ‘No, I did.’
There was silence.
Bobby looked over at her. ‘Tell me it ain’t true. You killed George?’
Ruby sat down heavily onto the bed. ‘Yes,’ she said flatly. ‘I killed our brother. I did it to stop my husband and his twin rippin’ him to bits.’ A single tear ran down Ruby’s face.
Then she heard Bobby break down. With his head in his hands, he sobbed. ‘Our bruvver, our little bruvver . . .’
‘I know . . . I’m so sorry. If there’d been any other way . . .’ Ruby said.
Archie said nothing.
She waited for Bobby to finish crying. His face when he turned to her was red raw. ‘I can’t believe George’s dead.’
‘I can’t believe it neither,’ Ruby replied, ‘but it’s dealt with. He was a dead man the minute he touched her.’
Archie coughed. ‘We couldn’t do it no other way. He sealed his fate and paid the price for attackin’ our daughter,’ he said.
‘Listen, we can’t tell Cathy ever. She must never know what I’ve done,’ Ruby added.
‘So, what do we tell her?’ Bobby replied. He knew the truth would kill her, and in his own way, he accepted the simple fact: George’s murder must be hidden from her.
‘We tell her we found him and gave him money to leave. We say he’s not welcome back, and won’t be returnin’.’ Archie took charge.
‘We’d better go to her. If we stay up ’ere too long, she might suspect—’
‘That we’re lyin’ to her?’ Bobby said bleakly.
‘Yes,’ Ruby said simply. ‘From now on, we ’ave to stick to the story, and we ’ave to make her believe it. We’ll tell her that George has gone to America. He won’t ever be back.’
Downstairs Cathy was nibbling at a piece of toast while Belle sat next to her looking anguished.
‘She doesn’t want to eat. It’s the shock. Everything OK?’ Belle said, looking straight to her husband for an explanation.
Bobby shook his head.
‘Baby girl,’ Archie said tenderly. ‘We found George . . .’
‘You found him?’ Cathy looked up. Her face was white as death, her eyes red from crying and lack of sleep.
‘Yes, love, and we dealt with it. He won’t ever be back. We gave him money to leave,’ Ruby said, not able to meet her daughter’s eyes.
‘Leave?’ Cathy looked like she couldn’t take in her mum’s words.
Ruby glanced at Archie, sharing each other’s concern.
‘I’m sorry, darlin’, but George has gone for good. He knows he’s not welcome in our family any more. He’s gone for ever.’ Ruby searched her daughter’s face. She was unusually quiet. Where were the tears? The shock? Where was the need for revenge, the agony at his departure?
‘Mum?’
‘Yes, darlin’?’
‘Is that the truth?’ Cathy’s question almost floored Ruby. She steeled herself for the lie that had to be told.
‘It is, love, now eat up. You need your strength.’ Ruby felt a chill as she spoke.
God, forgive me, she thought, I’m doin’ this for you, darlin’, to keep you safe, so that your innocence isn’t totally destroyed by it all.
Deep inside the pit of her stomach, she could feel the doubt seeding like an acorn deep underground.
‘We gave him money – a lot of money – and he’s gone to America.’ Ruby listened to her words like they were flies buzzing around a carcass. Regret, shame and guilt hummed inside her heart but she carried on anyway. This was all to protect Cathy, wasn’t it? ‘It’s best he’s gone, for all our sakes. He won’t see any of us ever again. He knows never to return. If he does, your dad and Alfie will kill him.’
Tears slid down Cathy’s face now, and it took all Ruby’s willpower not to break down and confess the truth, to beg forgiveness of the daughter she adored. I have no choice, I have to protect her from any more grief. The thought steadied her. Cathy’s gentle tears would be nothing compared to the wild grief she’d feel if she knew that George was already dead.
Cathy turned her tear-stained face up to her mum’s. ‘I would’ve forgiven him, you know.’
CHAPTER 42
Ruby watched from the kitchen as the last wall of the office was pulled down. She stayed there as the base was covered with decking, destroying and covering the evidence piece by piece. She thought of the unwritten rules, the codes of conduct that were followed by the criminal world, and how deeply they were enmeshed in lies and secrets. She thought of Bobby’s natural grief, grief that was as raw and unfiltered as hers was buried and hidden.
Ruby had watched him, seeing the pain she had caused him, knowing there had been no other choice for her. She told Bobby she did it for love of their brother, not for revenge. He’d understood that Alfie would’ve maimed him, abused him and revelled in the killing, so it had to be her. Yet, despite this, she sensed a distance open up between them.
Somehow she knew that, in that one act, everything had changed. For Cathy’s sake, she also knew that they’d try to be the family they once were, but it wasn’t the same. Their family would never be the same again.
This knowledge made Ruby’s next decision seem obvious. She would relocate to Spain with Cathy and Archie, and leave England behind for ever. Alfie had flown back to South America on the first available flight after George’s death, and there was now a sense that she was rewriting history, remaking their future far away from the terrible truth.
Too many questions were already being asked in the week since Ruby killed George. Several of his mates had rung asking for him. People were commenting they hadn’t seen him. Archie put the news out on the grapevine that George had gone to America after being kicked out of yet another school, but the murmurs didn’t stop. Why hadn’t George said goodbye? Why was his mobile turned off? Because it’s at the bottom of the
