Ruby by Heather Burnside (sight word books .TXT) 📕

Crystal. ‘I don’t want that fuckin’ head-case anywhere near me. And, if you’ve got any sense, Crystal, you’ll stay the fuck away from him too!’

She stormed out of the room, leaving Crystal with her mouth hanging wide open. Ruby hadn’t waited for her response. She knew too well that, no matter what Gilly had done, Crystal would still be foolish enough to be waiting for him when he was back on the outside.

Ruby arrived back at the reception desk, relieved to find that Pammy was the only person now in the waiting area. She watched Crystal walk past on her way out of the club and she and Tiffany said their goodbyes.

‘Is everything OK?’ asked Tiffany.

Ruby shook her head. ‘Not really. I’ll tell you later.’

Then, with Crystal gone, Ruby looked over at Pammy and, on receiving her cue from her, Ruby quickly ran to the club’s entrance and locked it so no more clients could come inside. She knew they had a window of at least half an hour in which to act before the girls had finished with their clients.

Ruby raced back to the reception desk where Tiffany and Pammy were already waiting for her. ‘Ready?’ she asked, and they both nodded. ‘Right, let’s go. And let’s hope that nobody comes out of any of those rooms and susses what we’re up to.’

The three of them rushed up the stairs and into Ruby’s Dungeon. The sight of Victor on the floor, still naked and wearing the chastity device, brought tears to Ruby’s eyes. But she contained herself while they did what needed to be done. She could see the look of shock on Tiffany and Pammy’s faces and, as she took in the sight of Victor, his flesh already beginning to lose its colour and his features slack, there was now no doubt in her mind that he was dead.

Ruby tried to block out what she was seeing as she removed the chastity device and put Victor’s underpants back on. The three of them lifted him and between them they managed to get him downstairs. When they reached the door at the bottom Ruby had a quick look round to make sure the coast was clear. Then they dragged Victor into Pammy’s room and plonked him face down on the bed.

Tiffany raced back upstairs to get Victor’s clothes while Ruby and Pammy covered his lower half with towels and smeared massage oil over his back.

When Tiffany came back into the room, Ruby said, ‘Right, he’s ready. Let’s do it.’

Then Ruby went back downstairs to unlock the front door of the club while Tiffany took up her place at the reception desk, leaving Pammy in her room with Victor. Within a minute Ruby was seated at the reception desk alongside Tiffany while they waited for Pammy to act.

It was another two minutes and a client had just approached the reception desk when Pammy ran out of her room screaming. ‘Oh my God!’ she yelled. ‘I think Victor’s dead.’

‘What?’ asked Ruby and Tiffany, acting suitably shocked, before running into Pammy’s room to inspect the body.

Ruby came running out again. ‘Jesus, I think he is!’ she shouted. ‘What the fuck happened?’

By this time, they had made so much commotion that two of the girls emerged from their rooms with their perturbed clients following behind. Word soon spread and within minutes a crowd of girls and clients had gathered in the reception area, sharing their shock and abhorrence at the way in which their owner had died whilst having a massage from Pammy.

Ruby rang the emergency services and reported what had happened while the clients fled the building, worried about being caught in such a place. She gave all the girls the rest of the night off and stuck a notice on the outside door to let any clients know that they were closed for the evening due to unforeseen tragic circumstances.

That would prevent having clients asking about their various services while the police were there, thought Ruby as she hid the key for her upstairs room somewhere where no one would ever find it, disconnected the phone on the reception desk and waited for the police to arrive.

*

It was the end of the night. The police had been and gone, and the only people remaining in the club were Ruby, Tiffany and Pammy.

‘You sure you’ll be alright now?’ Pammy asked Ruby as she put her coat on.

‘Yeah sure, you get yourself home. Oh, and thanks for everything, Pammy.’

‘It’s no problem,’ said Pammy, with a faint smile. ‘You’ve always looked after us girls and I know you would have done it for any of us.’

Ruby could feel her eyes cloud with tears again but she fought them back. Pammy seemed to realise that Ruby didn’t want to give in to tears, and she quickly made her way to the exit, saying, ‘If you need anything else, just ask.’

Once she had left, Ruby turned to Tiffany. ‘Jesus Christ! I could do with a fuckin’ drink after tonight.’

‘Me too,’ said Tiffany. ‘Do you think the police bought our story?’

‘I fuckin’ hope so…’ Then Ruby became pensive before adding, ‘It should be OK. Don’t forget, they’ve got evidence from all the other girls who saw Pammy run out of her room in shock, so that should back up what we’ve told them. And, thank Christ, they didn’t ask to look upstairs. Even if they think we’re running a brothel, they can’t prove it without seeing the dungeon.’

‘Looks like we’re home and dry then,’ said Tiffany.

‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that.’ Ruby spoke ominously. ‘We’ve still got other problems to deal with.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ll tell you when we get home,’ said Ruby. ‘I’ve had enough of this place for tonight.’

47

April 2011

When they eventually arrived home from the club it was the early hours of the morning. Ruby and Tiffany were so tired that they tumbled straight into bed and Tiffany was asleep within seconds. But Ruby couldn’t settle as