Page 17 of Witness 8

I’m here, said Ruby, in her mind.

You should have cut the boy’s throat. It’s the only way . . .said the red priest.

Ruby shook her head, looked away from the picture and moved quickly onto the stairs. There was no time to talk to the red priest today. She had business. The buzzing noise left her. She was no longer hypnotized by the picture. Only a faint dizziness remained.

She shook it off.

Concentrated.

There were no creaks on these floorboards. No squeals from these stairs. Alison had new stairs and floorboards put in whenthey first moved to the neighborhood. She liked to spend money on the house. She had a major reconstruction project planned.

Upstairs, Ruby was alone. She opened the door to the main bedroom, then moved to the dressing table and opened the top right drawer. Black silk cloth lined the bottom of these drawers, and in each one of the five drawers an array of fine jewelry was laid out. This one contained Alison’s rings and brooches.

Ruby closed the first drawer, opened the second.

Necklaces.

She was looking for the perfect piece. Nothing too expensive. Something that Alison wore regularly. The diamond heart choker was out. Nobody wears a hundred grand of diamonds when they go for morning coffee with their girlfriends. The rose-gold Versace pearl drop was a good choice, but perhaps not important enough.

Pulling the drawer out a little further, Ruby found the silver lace necklace. A beautiful thing. It looked old and fragile. It had been Alison’s grandmother’s necklace. Passed down to her from her mother. There was a story to this necklace. Alison’s grandmother was given the necklace by an aunt as a gift for her eighteenth birthday. A year later, Alison’s grandmother hid the necklace in her boot as she was leaving Poland in the summer of 1939.

Ruby stuffed the necklace into the front pocket of her jeans as she closed the drawer.

Althea saw her coming downstairs. She made a point to let Ruby know that she had seen her. Rubbing her hands together, Ruby smiled at Althea, then smoothed her palms on the back of her jeans, as if she’d just used the bathroom upstairs and her hands were still a little damp.

Tomas had finished his apple.

‘Let’s do some coloring, Tommy-tickles,’ said Ruby, in her singsong voice. She gave him a picture of a squirrel and hiscrayons. Tomas got bored halfway through and Ruby helped him finish the tail.

Her shift was over. She could hear Alison finishing up her call. Althea was upstairs now, vacuuming the carpet.

The front door opened.

Ruby moved to the kitchen door to listen. Then peeked out.

‘Honey, I’m so glad you’re home,’ said Alison, throwing her arms round her handsome husband.

John Jackson hugged his wife, buried his face in her blond hair, like a soldier returning from war. She rubbed his back then they parted and he held her shoulders.

‘How did it go with Al? Did he take you to see the other lawyer?’

‘He did. And they’re gonna take the case.’

Another embrace.

‘Oh, honey, this is great news. This is all going to blow over. Everything is going to be just fine. I know it.’

John’s gaze flitted to Ruby. It was hard to read his expression. It was as if Ruby had trespassed on an intimate moment.

Tomas brushed past Ruby’s legs and ran into the hallway. John scooped him up in a bear hug.

‘Hey, little man. How are you?’

He put Tomas down when he didn’t get an answer. The boy looked shy at first, then hung his head.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ asked John.

‘Daddy, did you do a bad thing?’ asked Tomas sincerely.