Ruby by Heather Burnside (carter reed txt) 📗

but missing his flesh. With nothing to stop his momentum, Ash keeled over.

Calvin was straight on him, pinning him down where he lay on the ground. As Ash tried to break free Calvin held his knife to the side of his neck. But Ash didn’t heed the warning, and continued to put up a fight.

‘If you keep still, you little fuck, you’ll be alright,’ threatened Calvin. ‘We’re not after you. We just want you to send a message to Kyle.’

But Ash carried on struggling, yelling abuse and wriggling around on the ground.

‘Shut the little fucker up!’ yelled Josh, as he noticed a light come on in a house further along the footpath.

Calvin grabbed Ash’s hair at the back and yanked his head up off the ground. Then Josh noticed one swift moment and Ash lay still. It was only when he saw the blood seep from beneath him that he realised Calvin had slit his throat.

Calvin sprang up, away from the body, as though it was contaminated. And for a moment the brothers remained still, both in shock at what Calvin had done. They had only intended to scare him!

But then the girl noticed the blood too. She became hysterical, fighting to free herself from Josh. He held on tight despite her thrashing about and kicking. Then he felt a sharp pain in his hand as the girl chomped down hard. Josh yelled and pulled his hand away. She was about to make a run for it when Calvin pounced on her so she was trapped between them both. Calvin quickly stepped back and aimed a sharp slap to her cheek, stunning her into silence.

‘Shut the fuck up!’ he yelled.

The girl remained quiet, her body trembling and tears pouring down her face as she stared helplessly at Ash’s prone body. Josh grabbed hold of her arm and hissed into her ear.

‘Right, we want you to deliver a message. It’s for your boyfriend’s leader, Kyle. With the knife still in his hand, he pointed it towards Ash. You tell that fuckin’ Kyle that that’s a warning. And tell him to leave Ruby’s Parlour alone, and anyone who works there, or there’ll be worse to come. Do you understand?’

The girl whimpered in response so Calvin grabbed hold of her chin, forcing it upwards till their eyes connected. ‘Are you fuckin’ listening to what he’s saying?’ he yelled.

‘Yeah,’ the girl cried, and Calvin let go of her.

‘Right, well you make sure that fuckin’ message gets back to Kyle or we’ll be back for you. OK?’ The girl nodded but the only sound coming from her was a painful whine. ‘I said, OK?’ Calvin yelled again.

‘Yeah,’ said the girl, but it sounded more like a plea than an affirmation.

‘C’mon, let’s go,’ said Josh, afraid someone might emerge from the house where the light had been switched on.

He let go of the girl and she slumped to the ground, her legs weak with fear and grief. They left her where she fell, and ran.

55

July 2011

Ruby was on reception with Tiffany when she heard her mobile phone ping. She jumped at the sound, aware that it could be Kyle, but also expecting to hear back from her cousins at any time.

‘Who is it?’ asked Tiffany as Ruby picked up the phone. She looked as anxious as Ruby felt.

Ruby scanned the text message then showed it to Tiffany.

Your biggest problem has been dealt with. On our way to deal with the other one. We’ll be in touch soon.

Even if she didn’t have the number stored in her phone as Josh, Ruby would have realised who the text had come from. He was being deliberately cryptic, maybe to cover himself in case of comeback.

Tiffany looked at her knowingly and Ruby nodded back. But although Ruby didn’t say anything her thoughts were alive; wondering, speculating, worrying. If Josh had felt the need to cover himself then how bad had things become? What exactly did dealt with mean? And who had been dealt with: Kyle’s gang or Gilly? She was anxious to know exactly what had happened.

‘Hang on here,’ she said to Tiffany. ‘I’m giving them a ring. I want to find out more.’

She went inside an unused room for privacy but, despite ringing both of her cousins, she couldn’t get a reply. Ruby continued to ring throughout the night but neither of them answered the phone. They were obviously occupied sorting out problem number two.

*

The night’s events had taken Josh by surprise. He didn’t like to resort to killing if he could help it; not so much out of compassion for the enemy, who deserved everything they got, but more because it usually resulted in even bigger problems. He knew Kyle wouldn’t take the news of Ash’s death well so they had to be prepared for comeback from him.

It wasn’t as if it was the first time Josh and Calvin had killed; in their line of work it was an occupational hazard. And, even though the death of Ash was still fresh in their minds, they decided to go ahead and deal with Gilly that same night just as they had originally intended. Calvin was already fired up from the incident with Ash anyway and was eager to carry on.

When they arrived at the Rose and Crown they went straight inside, having already discussed how to play it. It was a short while after last orders so they knew there wouldn’t be many customers inside the pub, just a few of the regulars. They strode straight up to the bar and soon picked out Gilly from the photograph relating to his court case, which Ruby had shown them.

Josh walked up to him and whispered in his ear. ‘We want a word, outside.’

Gilly backed away and looked slyly from one to the other of them. ‘No chance! Whatever you’ve come to say, you can fuckin’ say it here.’

Some of the pub’s customers became interested in what was happening. ‘Everything alright, Gilly?’ Josh