"I wonder what Ethan's coffee shop meeting with Jade was about," I mused as we walked back to our office.
"Maybe he was seeing Jade," Alex said.
"I suppose we'll just have to ask. But when we do face him, I'd like it to be with an arrest warrant. You can file for one on the tram."
"On the tram?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Where are we going now, then?"
"I'd like a word with William Sharpe."
We rode a tram to the Sharpes' flat for the third time in as many days. When William admitted us, he was waiting in the hallway and slowly turning puce.
"Inspector," he said, "I am sick of seeing your face. Are you going to accuse me of murdering the Beaumont girl this time?"
I took a deep, calming breath. "You've heard, then?"
"It's all over Xplora. Which one is it now?"
"Jade," Alex said coldly.
William shrugged. "They're both the same to me: nothing. I don't have anything to do with them and I never have done. So I want you to clear off."
"Tell us where you were between midnight and two this morning," I said.
He heaved a sigh, tipping his head back. "Out for a walk."
"Can anyone confirm that?"
"No." He looked back at us with hard eyes. "Now you are going to accuse me."
"I don't accuse anyone until I have the evidence." I stepped forward. "But you were openly hostile towards Iberia Mills, and I've been told that you're aware of Jade Beaumont's role as the matchmaker between Iberia and your son. So, were you aware that Ethan was having an affair with Ruby Beaumont?"
His nostrils flared, and he closed his hands into fists. "You really think even Ethan was that foolish? Get the bloody hell out, and don't come back!"
Turning away, he strode down the corridor.
"Mr Sharpe --"
Brittany appeared in the doorway to his study. "William? What --"
"Move." He shoved her aside so that he could get through, then manhandled her out the door and slammed it.
The three of us stared at each other.
Brittany's eyes were red and swollen, and her face was bare of make-up. She rubbed the heel of her palm against her chest. "I suppose you'd like to know where I was this morning."
"Yes," I lied. There was no reason for her to know that she'd been under surveillance.
"I was here, sleeping. Or, at least, trying to." Her voice thickened. "Iberia was my only true love. Now that she's gone, the world is all wrong."
Brittany hadn't been the one about to marry Iberia, and she hadn't really been her friend, yet I felt sympathy for her that I hadn't felt for anyone else. There was true love seeping out of her every pore: something simple in its genuineness that no one, not even Ethan, had really expressed.
"I'm sorry to have to ask this," I said softly, "but were you aware of Jade Beaumont's role in Ethan and Iberia's relationship?"
Pain creased her face, and she suddenly looked very old. "Yes. Jade played Cupid with my boy at school. While I was trying to fix things with Iberia, she meddled again and set their marriage into motion. I hated her guts for it." Brittany's eyes filled. "I hated her guts. But I didn't kill her."
I looked at Alex. The motive fitted...
"I know there's no way to prove it, but I swear I was here!" Tears splashed down Brittany's cheeks. "I didn't kill any of them!"
"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.
Alex came to stand beside me. I lifted the lid.
A single sheet of paper lay inside, starting to yellow with age. It looked like a letter.
TS,
I want you to have some
The rest was scribbled out, over and over again so that I could see nothing but black ink. "TS -- to...someone?"
We stared at it, stumped.
"This is getting crazy." I dragged a hand through my hair. "Nothing makes sense. I need to think. This room is too small."
I kicked my boots off and climbed onto Jade's bed. Alex watched me pace across the mattress. "You could have picked another room."
"Shhh." I pressed my fingers against my forehead. "I feel like something's slipping away from me."
The ancient springs were hard beneath my socks. And noisy. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.
"The more tangled webs we uncover, the more we're losing sight of something." Squeak. "Something's getting away from us..."
Squeak. Squeak.
The sound was driving me out of my mind, so I stopped and stared through the window. Another grey street lay below us, deserted. A lone scrap of electro-tape fluttered in the breeze, blue and white stripes flashing. Someone had laid a soggy bouquet of flowers next to it.
God! That was the street Ruby had been stabbed on -- right underneath Jade's window. Had she stood here and looked at it, like me?
I sprung off the bed and swept my boots into my arms. "I need to go down there."
Too eager to stop moving, I managed to hop around and shove my boots on while I was walking back through the living room. Alex followed me out of the flat and into the lift, looking slightly concerned for my sanity.
Once we were out of the block, I ran down to the end of the road and around the corner. For a moment, I thought I could see it all again as I turned onto the fateful street. A woman lying on her back in the middle of the concrete...
But there were only shadows and flowers and broken electro-tape. Not even a bloodstain marked the spot anymore. I relied on my memory to take me to the right place.
"Here." I stopped in the middle of the road. "This is exactly where Ruby died. Stand still and pretend to be her. Well, I'll pretend you're Ruby -- it doesn't matter what you're thinking."
"I think you need more sleep," Alex said, but he stood where I wanted him to.
I positioned myself behind him. It was hard to see past Sergeant Alex Sullivan, but I balled my hands into fists until my nails were pressing against my sticking plaster, trying to convince myself that he was Ruby Beaumont. And that I was the killer.
"Okay..." I took a step back. "So I see you walking ahead of me, down the street. Your back is to me. You're walking away from your flat."
Right, those were the facts. But what was I thinking?
"I was expecting to find you in your flat," I said slowly, "but here you are. I couldn't have known you'd go out for milk; it's a real coincidence. Now I have to improvise, or maybe I've just lost all my patience. I want to kill you now. Yes, I'm furious with you over something. Screw the plan. You're here, and something breaks inside me. I draw the knife."
Settling into my roleplay, I stepped forward. "I reach you, and in my rage, I shove my knife straight into your back." My heartbeat quickened as I started to move around him. My imagination was running just as fast, almost seeing the golden blonde hair. "Then I'm coming around the front to give you the proper wound, the mortal one I was planning. I'm thrusting the knife in almost before I've got there, almost before I know what I'm doing, because you've screamed or you are screaming, and I need to get away. And --"
All my breath rushed out of my lungs. It was like someone had finally switched on a light bulb inside my head, and the voltage was explosive.
Alex cleared his throat. "And...?"
"I'm surprised," I said. "You weren't supposed to die. I thought you were Jade from behind!"