Page 109 of Kill For Me Kill For You
She hit him again, and again, until the blood splashed over the list of phone numbers and the phone, and Raymond slid off the desk, and onto the floor.
Moving quickly, Ruth tore the cellophane of the basket open, untied the silk bow and then wrapped it round Raymond’s neck, tying it in a simple knot. She held both ends of the silk, put her foot on Raymond’s back and pulled.
His thick arms flailed, and he tried to get up onto his knees, but Ruth pressed down harder on his back – putting her full weight on him. His arms stopped moving. Ruth let go of the ribbon, put the gun in her jacket pocket and picked up the basket.
She looked at the elevator. It was vintage, with a scissor gate. She didn’t trust old elevators. Ruth took the stairs, carrying the basket by the handle. Ten flights. Concrete steps in a ten-story cinderblock stairwell. She couldn’t help but make an echoey sound with every footfall. The rhythm of her feet on the stairs sounded like a drum. The beat from her boots melded with the sound of thumping as something inside the old chest began to hammer at the lid from the inside. Her heart beat faster, the higher she got. Three independent beats – urging her on, higher and higher. The closer she got to the top floor, the louder they became.
And then she heard something else. She looked around, thought for a second it might be coming from an apartment on one of the floors closest to her.
But she knew, after a moment, the sound was coming from the chest.
A man’s voice. Gentle and kindly. He was whispering . . .
‘Stop. Stop. Stop.’
‘It’shim, Scott. I know it,’ said Ruth out loud. ‘You can’t protect me. Just shut up.’
In her mind, she draped a heavy cloth over the box, and Scott’s voice quietened.
When she got to the tenth floor, she opened the door to the hallway and the sounds in her head suddenly fell silent. Sweat dripped from her cheek.
She drew the gun.
Apartment 1003 was dead ahead.
62
Amanda
Billy and Amanda got up from their table and left the restaurant. As they walked to the car, Billy made a call.
‘Dr. Marin, it’s Billy Cameron. I’ve found Ruth. She’s at an address in Brooklyn. I’m going to send you the address now via text. Can you meet me there right away? As I said, I think she’s a danger to herself and others. Please, Doctor . . .’
They got into Billy’s car. He put the key in the ignition and ended the call.
‘The doctor is going to meet us there. If she has had a relapse, he needs her to be taken into custody, officially, before she is readmitted to Kirby so he’s going to ask NYPD to accompany him.’
‘He’s bringing the cops?’ asked Amanda.
‘He has to. No choice. It’s all part of the regulations – so he says. That’s okay – I don’t care. We just have to make sure he sees her.’
‘What do you think she’ll do when she sees the doctor?’
‘Who the hell knows? She can pass in normal society, but we both know she’s homicidal. I just hope the doc sees it too. Look, this could be dangerous. I think it would be better if I dropped you off somewhere . . .’
‘Are you kidding me? I need this. I might be arrested at any moment, and if I’m going to spend my life in jail then I’m going to make sure the cops know her part in this. I don’t have a choice. I’m coming with you.’
Billy hit the accelerator, turned the car out of the parking space and into traffic. Cars behind had to brake and some stood on their horns. Billy gunned the engine, handed the newspaper to Amanda.
‘Put that address into the satellite navigation and buckle up.’
Amanda put on her seat belt, ran her hands over her face.
She knew this was her only chance to catch this woman. There was no avoiding Farrow forever. And now she had a story to tell him. One that could help explain her actions. Make sense of them. In the end, she’d just defended herself, but that was only half the story. She still had to tell the truth about why she’d been there in the first place. If anyone would believe her, it would be Farrow.
With trembling fingers, she typed the address into the navigation screen on the dash. It bleeped, then threw up a route.
‘This says we’ll be there in twenty minutes, just before eight o’clock,’ said Amanda.
