Rest In Peace Ruby Ryan

CHAPTER 1

`Ruby Ryan! Phone call for you!’ There were two nurses named Ruby working on Alexandra ward that day. Ruby hastily recorded Mrs Dunster’s blood pressure reading, then struck it through and recorded it more carefully so that it was actually legible and walked briskly over to the desk where Lynne the ward clerk was patiently holding the receiver in the air. Ruby took it from her and perched on the edge of the desk, her legs swinging to and fro. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Esther Lomax marching into the ward. The fifty-something grey haired beaky nosed consultant gynaecologist was respected and feared in equal measure by the staff and with the reflexes of a cat Ruby sprung to her feet and smoothed down the crisp material of her blue uniform with her free hand.

It was Halloween and Ruby was anxious to finish her shift on time as she and some of her workmates planned on hitting the town. She exited the rambling old building into the bright but chilly October afternoon and pulled her coat tightly around her. The staff car park was a good five minute walk away at the rear of the building. Bordered by a cricket field it could be quite an intimidating route when walking alone at night but today it was quite pretty, the bordering trees looking resplendent with their red and gold foliage and Ruby hummed as she walked along.

Well how very strange. Her car had moved. Ruby stopped in her tracks as her brain registered the fact. She was certain that she had parked next to the blue beetle that was still in position in the corner but her prized silver mini cooper, bought brand new by her parents for her twenty-first birthday two years ago was parked three spaces along. Mystified she shook her head. She had been working extra shifts recently and the days seemed to be running into each other. It must have been yesterday she had parked there. She made a mental note to get in a few early nights. But not tonight. Tonight they were going out in fancy dress and it was going to be wicked. Smiling at her unintended pun she went to unlock the car. Her smile faded. Bloody hell, she had left it unlocked. Odd. She had never done that before.

Fifteen minutes later she turned into the cul de sac where she lived. It was quite select, only five detached houses and hers was the smallest. Well it wasn’t exactly hers; it had been bought by her parents for her to live in when she landed her job at the hospital two years ago. It wasn’t a house she could ever hope to have bought herself on her nurses salary but her parents let her live there rent free. Ruby knew she was lucky. An only child of fairly well off parents her childhood had been pretty privileged and she had been educated at an expensive private all girls’ school. Her parents had not been all that keen on her becoming a nurse; they had set their sights higher for their daughter. A doctor would have been much more to their liking, but Ruby simply didn’t have the brains to be a doctor even if she wanted to. In any case a nurse was all she had ever wanted to be for as long as she could remember and she loved it.

Pulling up in the drive she stepped out of the mini and glanced around to see next door’s ginger Tom crapping in the middle of her lawn again. As usual the cul de sac was quiet. She didn’t see much of her neighbours and didn’t even know their names apart from the family in the house next door. In fact she doubted she would even recognise some of them if she passed them in the street. Her house backed on to woodland. She hadn’t liked that much when her parents first brought her to view it, she thought it would be creepy at night but they had insisted that the open aspect would be an advantage when the time came to sell on. In any case she had Teddy they had said. Teddy was a massive long haired German Shepherd dog and Ruby absolutely adored him. And of course her parents were right; protective by nature he did make an excellent guard dog. Even so she had hated living alone and after six months she had advertised for a housemate. Lia Chen, an oriental beauty and fellow nurse moved in and had lived there ever since.

Pushing open the door she bent to pick up a pile of mail from the mat. Junk, bank statement, junk, envelope addressed to Lia. Why did she never receive anything interesting? Putting the lot to one side she went into the large kitchen at the back of the house where Teddy was eagerly waiting for her. She knelt down and threw her arms around his sturdy neck.

‘Hello gorgeous boy!’ Laughing, she turned her face away in a vain effort to avoid his tongue as he lapped enthusiastically at her face.

‘Have you been in those puddles again?’ His legs and the long fur of his underbelly were coated in drying mud. Not being the outdoorsy type, a major disadvantage when the owner of a large active dog, Ruby had been delighted when Lia turned out to be an avid jogger, and more than happy to take Teddy with her on her daily runs. Timid by nature, Lia said she felt safer when he was with her so it was a win win situation. She decided to ignore the dirty paw prints on the floor. Teddy moulted like the devil and made quite a lot of extra housework but Ruby wouldn’t be without him for the world and today the mess would just have to wait. Now she just wanted something to eat and to put her feet up for an hour before getting ready for tonight. Her stomach fizzed with excitement at the prospect.

She opened the fridge looking for inspiration. Milk, butter, yogurt, a packet of cheese slices, a carton of soup and salad stuff. Nothing very tempting there. She opened a cupboard. Pasta. That will do she decided, something nice and filling to soak up all that lovely wine she intended drinking later. She popped a generous amount into a pan of water and was struggling to get the lid off of a jar of tomato sauce when the phone in the hall rang. Bugger. Probably her mother. Her mother always tried the landline before her mobile, probably because she worried about catching her whilst she was driving. Ruby had to admit that idiotic though it was, she could never resist answering and it drove her mother nuts. She turned down the heat so that the water wouldn’t boil over and went into the hall. Snatching up the receiver she hoped this wasn’t going to be one of her mother’s marathon calls.

‘Hello?’ Nothing. ‘Hello?’ She repeated, louder this time. Still silence.

‘Mum? Is that you?’ Frowning, she replaced the receiver.

At seven o’clock Ruby stepped out of the shower. After briskly towelling herself dry and smothering herself from neck to ankle in strawberry scented body butter, she belted her white towelling robe around her, wound her hair on top of her head and secured it in a turban. Humming, she ran downstairs to grab some cd’s and pour herself a large glass of chilled white wine, loving the satisfying glug glug sound it made. Ruby enjoyed getting ready almost as much as the actual going out and as far as she was concerned the night started the moment the first delicious sip hit the back of her throat. She hurried back upstairs with Teddy hot on her heels, put on the music and turned up the volume.

Her outfit was hanging on the wardrobe door. The choice online had been vast and she had taken ages to decide which to go for. She wanted something sexy. It may be fancy dress but she still wanted to feel glam so anything ghoulish was out of the question. Lia had suggested dressing as a sexy nurse but she had dismissed that idea as too obvious. In the end she had plumped for a horny little devil outfit mainly because she loved the vibrant scarlet colour. The silky dress had a very short flared skirt complete with tail. It came with a red headband with horns and a plastic fork like thing. She didn’t know what it was called but no doubt she would get fed up of carrying it around. It also had a little cape which was a definite bonus as the evenings tended to be chilly.

Shaking her wet hair free she dragged a wide toothed comb through it and winced. Must remember to buy some conditioner. Her mid brown shoulder length hair was naturally straight and she normally wore it loose with a fringe, or tied back in a ponytail for work. Tonight she wanted something different. She rubbed through a generous amount of volumising mousse, hung her head upside down and blow dried her hair roughly, stopping periodically to straighten up and take a sip of wine. When it was finally dry she threw her head back, shook it vigorously and allowed the hair to settle naturally. Finally, holding a can of extra firm hold hairspray at arm’s length she shut her eyes tight and sprayed a generous cloud around her head and carefully put the headband in place. Peering closely at the mirror she studied her face, now framed by the slightly wild mane. Hmm, her striking green eyes definitely enhanced the devilish effect. Her button nose with its smattering of freckles, and mouth which was slightly too wide not quite so much, but overall it was not bad, not bad at all.

Singing along to the music she began to put on her make-up. She didn’t normally wear a lot but tonight she decided to vamp it up a bit and go for the full works. Lia’s Kohl was much harder to apply then she thought and she almost gave up but on the third attempt she managed to achieve something akin to the smoky affect she was aiming for and finished off the look with a slick of bright red lipstick. Time to get dressed. First she went downstairs to top up her wine. She was already beginning to feel ever so slightly tipsy. Lovely. She pulled the outfit over her head being careful not to flatten her hair, and completed the look with red sparkly shoes with killer heels. She appraised herself from all angles in the full length mirror. Wow! What a transformation. Being tall and willowy her legs looked great in the dress but it was much shorter than she would normally wear. She tugged at the hem in an effort to lengthen it a bit but it just sprang right up again. She felt a flicker of doubt; maybe it was a little too daring. But then again it was fancy dress so why worry? Grinning, she began to dance around the bedroom, glass in hand.

CHAPTER 2

The taxi sounded its horn. Ruby drained her glass and after sending Teddy off to his basket in the kitchen she grabbed her bag, locked the door and hurried out as fast as her heels would let her to the waiting car. Moments later she rushed back into the house, grabbed the fork thingy that she had forgotten and returned to where the driver was waiting none too patiently.

The town was buzzing. People in fancy dress were milling around and an air of excitement prevailed. Ruby paid the taxi driver adding a generous tip to make up for keeping him waiting and immediately his hostile attitude softened.

‘Have a good night love’ He called after her. She pushed the swing door into Ramones music bar where the thump thump of the music was deafening. The place was bathed in orange light and filled with people, most of them in fancy dress. Halloween decorations adorned the walls and ceiling and the atmosphere was fantastic. She suddenly realised she had left her devil’s fork in the taxi. Bugger. She scanned the crowd trying to spot Sam who had organised the get together. Eventually she found him standing with Jess and Natalie. All three were fellow nurses. Blond and gorgeous, Sam Lewis would not have looked out of place on Bondi beach and Ruby had fancied him from the off. Unfortunately for her he had turned out to be gay but they had clicked and now he was her best friend at work. Ruby waved and indicated that she was going to the bar. They had put on extra staff for the evening and she didn’t have to wait too long. She saw on the blackboard behind the bar that they were promoting special cocktails for the occasion. The prices were ridiculous but she spotted a girl carrying a tray of tall glasses filled with vibrant coloured liquor adorned with umbrellas and feathered sticks. They looked so heavenly she decided to have just one to kick off the night. She decided on virgin’s blood, partly because the main ingredient was vodka which was her favourite spirit but also because conveniently the bright red colour complimented her outfit.

Her glass was filled almost to the brim.