Jane Renshaw - Watch Over Me

‘A nice wee glass of milk, then.’ I chuckle. ‘Bairns, eh?’

‘It’s all right, darling,’ goes Pammie, sitting down across the table. ‘Just sit and be good and they’ll soon be gone.’

The man goes, ‘Alec is a scientist. A botanist. He works in the Botany Department at Glasgow University. Ruth is just a housewife.’

‘Aye? Where did she work at before?’

‘I think she was a nurse?’ He turns to Pammie.

Pammie’s hudding her sair arm and smiling at her bairn. ‘She was a paediatric nurse at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.’

Ryan’s got his phone out and he’s keying it all in. Like he’s taking the minutes at a fucking board meeting.

‘And where are the fuckers from?’

‘Alec’s from Perth,’ goes Pammie. ‘That’s where he grew up.’

‘What bit?’

‘What?’

‘What bit of Perth?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘It was near the big park,’ goes hubby, ‘I don’t know what it’s called – he used to talk about how his house was near it and these boys used to hide and ambush him – he used to joke about it, he said it was like Inspector Clouseau…’

‘He got family there still?’

‘His parents are dead,’ goes Pammie.

‘But I think he has some cousins might still live there.’ Hubby’s the class fucking swot. ‘His sister Pippa is working in India, I think… He had family on the west coast as well. Torridon.’ Travis puts a mug on the table in front of him and he goes, ‘Thank you.’

Twat.

‘Whereabouts in Torridon?’

‘I don’t know. But it’s not exactly a populous area, and I’d imagine it’s a close community – I wouldn’t have thought it’d be hard to find the family…’

‘And what about Ruth?’

The bint goes, ‘She’s Australian, originally. After her dad died, she and her mum came to live here. When she was small.’

‘Aye, and?’

‘And what?’ She’s giving me evils.

‘Where did they live when they came to this country?’

‘St Andrews.’

‘And whereabouts in Australia is she from?’

‘I don’t know. Sydney, I think. She never talked about her childhood.’

‘Aye right. Yous were best pals, and she never telt you about her childhood?’

‘No, really, she didn’t. I always thought it was odd that she didn’t. I said to you, James, didn’t I?’ She turns to hubby and he gives her a wee smile. ‘We assumed Ruth must have had an unhappy childhood and that was why she never talked about it.’

‘Ruth was weird,’ goes hubby. ‘I always thought there was something weird about Ruth.’ Mr Brown Nose is that far up my arse he could lick my fucking tonsils.

‘In what way?’

‘Ruth wasn’t “weird”,’ says Pammie, and she’s eyeballing him like she’s thinking Who is this gutless fuck?

‘Okay Pammie. Let’s just see what hubby here has to say about your pal Ruth, and then when he’s done we’ll hear from you, aye?’

Hubby’s right in there. ‘She used to overreact to things.’ He turns to Pammie. ‘Like when Emma tied a scarf round Bekki’s wrists when they were playing prisoners? It wasn’t even tight. Ruth screamed blue murder at Emma. Remember?’

Pammie nods but she’s no saying nothing.

‘And that time they were jumping on our bed, and Bekki fell off and bruised her shoulder, and when you took her home, Ruth went ballistic, called you an irresponsible parent? Even though you’d told them to stop? And Bekki wasn’t even hurt really. It was just a very small bruise.’

‘It’s called being a good mother,’ Pammie raps out. ‘She was right, I should have hauled them out of there and not just told them to stop. That bed’s really high. Bekki wasn’t badly hurt, no, but she could have been.’

I’m pissing myself. ‘Okay, let’s no have a domestic here, let’s keep it civil in front of the bairn, aye? What else was “weird” about the bint Ruth?’

Hubby’s practically got his hand in the air. ‘She never wanted her photo taken. She didn’t even have a passport – we had this idea of the two families going on holiday to France, but we couldn’t because Ruth didn’t have a passport and for some reason was resistant to getting one. Alec used to joke it was because she didn’t want to get a photo from one of those booths – at least I assumed he was joking, but maybe that really was the reason.’

I eyeball Pammie. ‘Right hen. Now you’re gonnae tell us all about your weird best pal Ruth. You’re gonnae tell us what she likes and what she doesnae. You’re gonnae tell us about her friends and family and where she said she always wanted to go and bide. We need to know all this shite, cos that mad bitch has got our wee lassie. Bekki’s our wee lassie, see? And if we dinnae get her back, we’re gonnae be coming for your wee lassie. Wee Emma here. That’s a fucking promise.’

‘Mum!’ goes wee Emma. ‘They can’t get Bekki! Don’t tell them anything!’

‘It’s all right, Emma. We don’t know anything to tell, do we? We don’t know where Bekki and her mum and dad are.’

‘I know, but maybe their family…’

‘Ruth’s parents are dead,’ goes Pammie. ‘She doesn’t have any siblings or cousins. She used to be a nurse, but she gave that up when they adopted Bekki. She worked in Glasgow Royal Infirmary. She’s still in touch – or was in touch – with a couple of the other nurses, Donna and Claire… I don’t know their surnames. They used to meet up for lunch in town and go shopping.’

‘Mum! Stop it!’ goes the bairn, and she’s greeting, the poor wee sweetheart.

I bounce her on my knee and go, ‘Now now hen.’ She tries to wriggle off but I’ve got my arms round her.

Pammie goes, ‘Shoosh, darling, shoosh, it’s all right. It’s going to be all right.’ She reaches for her bairn and grabs wee Emma’s hand.

Jed’s lunging, but I goes, ‘Beat it you!’ and he backs off.

‘These bints still work at the Infirmary, aye?’

‘Claire does.’

‘Right. And who else?’

She’s stroking wee Emma’s hand and smiling at the bairn. ‘Ruth didn’t have many friends… There’s Laura, who’s got a son in Bekki’s class. They live in one of the cottages at Hinksfield… But… I think I was her only close friend. Or I thought I was.’

‘Aye, so what else “weird” is there about her?’

She takes a big breath. ‘Well. When I – we were in a café one day and I said I’m so lucky to have a friend like you or something like that, You’re such a lovely friend , and Ruth just stared at me, and then she said No I’m not! You don’t know anything about me! and got up and ran off to the loos. I guess that was weird. When she came back to the table, she said she was feeling bad about shouting at me that time Bekki fell off the bed, but I don’t know if that was really it, or if…’

‘There was something off about the bitch.’

‘No! All I’m saying is that she was secretive about her past. So I can’t tell you anything much about it. I really can’t. I really didn’t know much about her.’

‘You must be able to think of something,’ goes hubby.

‘Jesus Chutney!’ I chuckle. ‘You’ve got a real diamond there, hen, eh? But aye, you must be able to think of something. Starting with where you think they’d go.’

‘Italy,’ goes hubby. ‘Alec spent a summer in Italy when he was a student, and Ruth always fantasised about a villa on the Amalfi coast. Didn’t she? Pam?’

Pammie nods.

‘She doesn’t have a fucking passport,’ goes Ryan.

‘Maybe she’s got one now.’

Aye, fuck it.

‘And what all else? What about when she was living in St Andrews? What all’s she told you about that?’