Page 109 of No Safe Place

Monday | Morning

Field

Field met Maxwell in the station’s reception. They stood awkwardly for a second, before she buzzed him through, and they made their way towards the cells.

‘That looks nasty.’ He nodded to her black eye, inexpertly covered up with Young’s concealer.

‘I’ve had worse.’ Field shrugged.

Field was replaying the bollocking she’d given Riley. The warnings she’d dished out to everyone about being small-minded – before she took an immediate dislike to the therapist.

She stopped in a quiet stretch of corridor. ‘Look, Maxwell – I know we didn’t get off to a great start—’

He snorted.

‘—but I really appreciate you coming in for this,’ she finished.

He shrugged. ‘Apology accepted.’

Field narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t apologised as such – but then she caught the smile at the corner of his mouth.

‘It’s a good job I need you this morning,’ she grumbled, half laughing.

The team were in two minds about whether Ruby Jacobs warranted a 132 – whether they should section her. Field had wanted to bring Maxwell in as the doctor for the assessment. The approved medical practitioner had already arrived.

‘Wilson gave you the context, right?’ she asked, as they descended the stairs to the basement.

‘I’ve had the exec summary, yeah,’ Maxwell said. ‘And I’ve got a rough idea of the questions you want me to put to her.’

‘She’s not even “no comment” when we speak to her.’ Field pressed her ID to the scanner at the bottom and held the door open for Maxwell. ‘She just screams.’

They went through three more doors, and then they were at the cells. At the furthest end there was an open door, with a PC stationed outside looking in – a twenty-four-hour constant watch.

‘You can get a break now, ta,’ Field said to her, as they approached.

She jumped up gratefully, stretching out her legs. ‘Thanks, ma’am.’

The AMP shook Maxwell’s hand, notebook and pen at the ready.

‘I’ll wait out here, okay?’ Field said. ‘Any sign of trouble, don’t engage with the suspect, just get yourselves out of the way.’

Maxwell nodded, straightened his collar.

Ruby was sitting in the middle of her bunk, hands gripping legs. From Field’s vantage point outside the door, she could only see the back of Maxwell’s head, but she could hear perfectly.

‘Hi, Ruby, I’m Dr Maxwell. This is Celia Garfield, she’s a community mental health nurse.’

Ruby didn’t lift her head, but Field watched her fingertips start to scratch at her legs.

‘Can you tell me where you are, Ruby?’ Maxwell asked.

A long pause, then: ‘Police station.’

‘Good,’ Maxwell said. ‘And do you understand why you’ve been arrested?’

She nodded. ‘David Moore. Samantha Hughes.’

‘And can you tell me, Ruby, why you attacked Callum Mulligan and Lily Stewart in their home this evening?’

Now Ruby did lift her head. Her body seemed to rise with it, like she was about to get up onto her tiptoes. Field braced herself, ready to launch herself into the cell – but Ruby stayed sitting.

‘Would you sleep with a patient, Dr Maxwell?’ Ruby’s voice was a rasp.

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ he said, evenly.

‘Would you sleep with someone underage?’

‘No, Ruby. I wouldn’t.’

Ruby gave an exaggerated shrug. ‘Well then.’

Maxwell considered her for a moment. ‘Can you tell me, Ruby, did anyone tell you to attack those people?’

‘I’m not mad,’ she spat.

‘Okay.’ Maxwell held up a hand.

‘If I was mad, I couldn’t have planned it all, could I?’ Ruby threw her hands into the air. ‘I followed them. I made notes.’

Field sighed. None of what she said could be admitted as evidence, or even recorded – not if it was part of a 132. But Christ – it was quite something to hear Ruby say it.

‘And why did you plan it?’ Maxwell kept his voice low.

‘Because I know the crash was deliberate.’ Ruby matched his volume, leaning towards him.

Field got up from the chair, standing in the door of the cell. From this angle, she could see Maxwell’s face in profile.

‘Back then, I knew Paige had crashed the car deliberately, but no one believed me, because there was no note,’ Ruby said. ‘But she didn’t need to leave a note, did she? Not when we had that – that whole record of their conversations.’

‘You believe your sister’s death was suicide?’ Maxwell asked.

A firm nod.

‘And you blame David Moore?’

‘Him, and the brats that covered it up for him.’

It angered Field, that Sam’s killer could sit there and call her a brat. Lily was clinging to life in a hospital bed.

Callum had managed to tell Field about the play, from his hospital bed in A&E, before he went in for surgery. They’d recovered it at the scene – the second time in a week his house was swarming with forensics.

‘If they’d spoken out, she might have got help,’ Ruby said.

Ruby might be deluded about her sister’s play, but she wasn’t mad. She was calculating, and her crimes were premeditated. There was nothing preventing them from taking her to court and seeing her remanded in Belmarsh.

Maxwell kept his voice calm. ‘Why did you leave those pages at the scene, Ruby? From the paper about the trial?’

The last question on Field’s wish list.

‘I wanted the others to work it out,’ Ruby whispered. ‘They knew what they did. I wanted them to know I was coming for them.’