Page 109 of Witness 8

‘I’ll be well cared for here,’ said her mom. ‘You go and live your life. I can’t believe you spent all your savings on this . . . you . . . you’ve worked so hard for me . . .’

Ruby choked up when she heard the emotion breaking her mother’s voice.

‘He left us with nothing. You’ve saved me, Ruby. I love you so much.’

She felt the last of her mother’s strength in that embrace. She inhaled her. The Oil of Olay on her skin, the smell of strawberries from her hair. Ruby’s tears fell onto her mom’s gingham dress.

‘I’ll be back in a day or so –’ she almost said out loud she would come to say goodbye, but checked herself at the last moment – ‘to check in. Just call my cell if you need anything.’

Ruby didn’t mind handing over a quarter of a million dollars for her mom’s care. She deserved somewhere decent to live. And this was way better than their ratty apartment. She would be looked after for the remainder of the short time she had left in this world.

It was more than her father, Josef, had ever done. All he knew how to do was spend and lose money, and hurt people.

By the time Ruby left the facility, she was already planning.

She thought about going home and packing up her possessions, but apart from some clothes there was nothing she wanted to take. She had no heirlooms like the Jacksons. Anything of value had already been taken and sold by herfather’s debtors, who failed to track him down. Ruby wondered if they had looked very hard at all, because her father had signed liens on all their property and possessions. The banks and businesses he owed could just take the house and everything in it, and sell it. And that is exactly what they had done.

She would go to the Jacksons and look after Tomas and think things over.

When Ruby arrived at the Jacksons’, she met their lawyer, Flynn. She didn’t like him, didn’t like the way he looked at her.

Ruby found it hard to contain herself when Alison said they were going to a hotel. She helped them pack. John would go to court, and Alison and Tomas would be at the hotel today.

Ruby quickly formed a plan.

She would get her money. Go home and pack her stuff. Rent a vehicle. Go to the Jacksons’ tonight.

And find a way to deal with Mr. Christmas.

She was sweating by the time she reached the bank, a brand-new duffel bag in her hands, which she’d just bought from a Target. When it was her turn at the teller, she explained she had called ahead and wanted to make a withdrawal. One of the bank’s supervisors was called, and he tried and failed to get Ruby to keep her account with them.

Twenty minutes later she was on the street, her account closed.

Two hundred and fifty grand in her new bag.

And a plan forming in her mind.

The man who called himself Mr. Christmas was formidable. Frightening, even. And smart. But not entirely honest. Ruby knew if she gave him the money, his next move would be to put a bullet in her head.

49

Lake

As Gabriel Lake sat behind the wheel of his new car, he thought about the morning’s events. Tony Two Fucks had met him at the old New York Life Insurance Building. Lake got out the driver’s seat, closed the door and hit the fob to lock it.

‘What the fuck is that?’ asked Tony.

‘It’s my new car.’

‘You paid money for that fuckin’ thing?’

‘It’s a car. It’s got four wheels and it drives.’

Tony shook his head, and Lake followed him into the grand entrance of 108 Leonard, which had originally been home to the New York Life Insurance Company, before it was extended, and then subsequently had its clock tower erected. Now, a hundred years later, it was home to more than one hundred and fifty luxury apartments. Tony whispered something to the building’s doorman, who took them straight to see the building manager in a side office off the marbled-floor reception area.

Lake waited on the leather couches, admiring the ornate gold filigree on the ironwork that decorated the walls. Tony came out of the office with the manager, carrying a floor plan. Lake selected an apartment on the south side. Top floor. Beneath the clock tower.

‘We can accommodate our resident in one of our hotels while the maintenance work takes place. The apartment will be on all major rental sites within the hour,’ said the manager.