Inspector Rames

Chapter 62

"We know, Mrs Sharpe," I murmured. "We know."

***

We left the building and walked west, both of us fumbling to fasten our coats up as an icy wind tunnelled down the road. It dragged its fingers through my hair and draped it over my face. I shoved it back. "Do you think it'll be quicker to walk directly to Ruby and Jade's flat than to find a tram stop?"

"Er, probably." Alex's eyebrows furrowed. "But the PRBs searched it straight after Ruby's murder."

"I don't care. I want to look for myself." If nothing else, maybe I'd find some inspiration. No one's motives quite matched up with all three murders, and evidence was thin on the ground.

Alex was wise enough to say no more and just follow me, and soon we were back in the neighbourhood where everything had started. Shadows clung to the sides of the road. Dark platforms crossed overhead. We found the block of flats Ruby and Jade had lived in and took a lift up to the first floor. There, Alex picked the lock to the front door.

We entered a dark, musty living room. Yellow wallpaper was peeling around a faded sofa bed, its colour washed out in comparison to the sparkly red dress on the cushions. I guessed that was where Ruby had slept.

I snapped on nitrile gloves, then picked the dress up and shook it. I knew that the PRBs would have done this already and gathered what they'd considered to be useful. I knew that nothing would fall out. But, damn it, I had to try. We had three dead bodies in as many days.

Dropping the dress, I turned to Alex, who was examining the contents of the coffee table. Two fake tea lights and a crumb-covered plate had been left on the scratched surface. He looked up and shook his head.

"You take the kitchen now," I said. "I'll see what else is here."

The answer was not a lot. I entered a hallway all of four feet long, which led to a tiny bathroom and cramped bedroom. I stood in the bedroom doorway and observed Jade's living space with little enthusiasm. The carpet was threadbare and the walls had been stripped. They were damp. It was the coldest part of the flat, but the stained duvet on the bed looked thin. A strip of glass had been set into the wall above it, allowing a sliver of light in. A small wardrobe stood opposite.

A chill ran down my spine. The flat was such a world away from Jade's Cakes that it felt wrong, as if two pieces of the universe that shouldn't have fitted had been forced together. But even though it was a dismal place, another question pushed through to the forefront of my mind.

"Why didn't you come back here after you'd seen Levi?" I asked the air. "What drove you to go to work at two o'clock in the morning?"

"Loneliness," Alex said from behind.

I turned around.

"Ruby used to live here with her," he continued, his eyes hooded with his own pain. "And the reminders that she's gone are everywhere."

"So she went to her shop to block it out?"

"It makes sense to me." He strode to the wardrobe, pulling the doors open.

I joined him and peered inside. Jeans, jumpers, and t-shirts were crammed together on the rail. Shoes were stacked on top of each other beneath them, as neatly as Jade had been able to manage in the space. A few pairs were balanced on top of a dog-eared cardboard box.

"There are more clothes in the kitchen," Alex said. "I think they must have been Ruby's. They're underneath the plates in the cupboard, above the sink, folded up in the oven..."

I leaned forward and pulled the shoebox out from the mountain. The pairs that had been balanced on top of it tumbled down with a clatter, and I turned away from them and carried the box to the bed. There, I traced my finger over a scrap of paper that was taped to the lid. Two letters had been scrawled on it. TS.