Ruby McBride (33 page)

‘You’ve seen the last of me, Father, I swear it.’

‘Then good riddance!’ Pickering called after him.

Pearl had failed to find Kit, so he was unprepared for the torrent of rage that strode on to the tug in the shape of Barthram Stobbs. ‘Right, the game’s up. I want you off this tug immediately. And if I catch you hanging around in future, or within half a mile of Ruby, you’ll live to regret it.’

Kit jerked as if he’d been struck. For whatever reason, Bart was raging back forth, ranting like a mad man. ‘What’re you talking about? I thought we had a deal.’

‘I’ve changed my mind. I’ll make no deals with you. I’ve spoken to Pearl and she’s admitted that you and she have been living together for months. Did you imagine you could get away with it? I know now that you probably cooked this whole plan up between the pair of you.’

‘What plan?’ Kit blustered, aghast at this turn of events. What had the silly fool admitted to?

‘To rob Ruby, or rather use her to get
your
hands on some of my assets. I assume your motives to be pure greed. And though you may pull the wool over Ruby’s eyes, you can be absolutely certain that you have not succeeded so far as I’m concerned, so leave quietly, before I decide to enlighten her about your dishonourable intentions.’

Kit was not sure who to be most angry with: Pearl, for having been stupid enough to spill the beans, or Bart, for being clever enough to ask the right questions. ‘You’ve no proof. You’re surely not going to believe Pearl, to take the word of a . . .’

‘Don’t say it! Whatever misfortune or inadequacy has led the poor girl down that particular path, she is not well served by friends such as yourself, who clearly take advantage.’

‘Are you accusing me of acting as her pimp?’

‘I’d say that’s a pretty good description, yes. If you’d left her to Ruby’s care, she might well have had a chance.’

‘Never. She was always a lost cause, was Pearl.’

‘How would you know, you arrogant bastard? And what were you planning to do in Canada? Dump Ruby, once you’d stolen the pendant from her? Oh, I know all about your long-held resentment against my wife: how you blame her for your being put in the reformatory training ship and losing your family. I’m sorry that happened to you, Jarvis, but it wasn’t Ruby’s fault, and you’d no right to blame her. Yet you were willing to rob her of what she treasured most, and leave her to search for a long-lost brother in a strange country all on her own. That’s always assuming she survived the voyage, of course, and you didn’t take your revenge there and then.’

‘You’re just saying all of this because you can’t face the fact that Ruby prefers me to you.’ There was a sneer on Kit’s face, triumph in the glitter of his brilliant blue eyes. ‘You can’t bear to think she’s sleeping with me, that she’s let me have what you thought was all yours.’

‘By God, I’ll make you take that back,’ Bart roared, and launched himself at Kit with clenched fists. The young man dodged the blow and Bart struck again, this time landing a crack on his jaw, knocking him sideways. Kit was back on his feet in seconds to come charging back at Bart like a steam train. The next blow missed completely as Kit ducked and punched him in the stomach, making Bart gasp. The pair pummelled and pounded till blood spurted from noses, knuckles were red raw and purple bruises stained aching jawbones. As exhaustion began to set in, they fell to wrestling, one moment hanging over the side of the tug as Kit held Bart in a stranglehold, the next sprawling on the deck in their combined effort to land a punch on the other. For once, Bart, by far the larger and less agile of the two men, was the first to get to his feet and it was at the precise moment his fist connected with Kit’s jaw that Ruby came on deck. She flew at Bart desperately trying to intervene, yelling at them both to stop.

‘What are you
doing
? Leave Kit alone. For goodness’ sake,
stop it
!’

‘Tell her,’ Kit shouted, as Bart held him by the collar preparatory to socking him again. ‘Go on, tell her. See if she believes your accusations.’

‘What accusations? Let him go. Stop that this minute, Bart. Let him go, I say!’ Ruby was slapping at Bart’s hand, wrenching his arm, quite certain that he was about to beat Kit to a pulp. ‘Stop it! Stop it! You’ll kill him!’

‘I wouldn’t do him the favour.’ Bart flung Kit to the deck in a gesture of contempt, and turned to Ruby. ‘He’s filled with bitter resentment against you and had every intention of robbing you of that pendant,
and
me of my livelihood, from the start. He’s been planning this for months, with Pearl.’

Ruby looked at Bart with a dazed expression in her eyes. ‘Rob me? Kit and Pearl? Don’t talk daft. Anyroad, how could our Pearl know anything? Kit has only just found her.’

Kit said, ‘Go on, why don’t you tell her the rest of your daft theory?’

‘I don’t want to hear. You’re making all this up out of a fit of jealousy. Well, it won’t wash.’ Ruby half turned towards Kit, anxious to help him up, but he brushed her hands away and got to his feet unaided, his gaze riveted on Bart. ‘Go on, finish it why don’t you? See which one of us she believes.’

‘I’m listening,’ Ruby said, resigned disbelief in her tone. ‘I’ll hear you out, but if you think I’d ever believe that Pearl, my own sister, would want to hurt me, you are sadly mistaken.’

Bart glowered down at the man he loathed, still snivelling like a coward, and then across at Ruby, the girl who had come into his life on a whim. He’d gone looking for an assistant with a sufficient lack of scruples to be useful in his deals and instead had found himself a bride. He’d fallen for her like some sort of besotted fool, and had been punch drunk with love ever since. Even now as she gazed at him with that defiant, dark-eyed gaze, his heart ached for her. What he wouldn’t give for her to love him in return, as fiercely as she seemed to love this no-good piece of scum. But how could he ever hope to convince this supremely honest, this right-thinking, fiercely protective, rebellious, gloriously lovely girl that the beloved young sister whom she’d been seeking for years was now one of the lowest of the low? That she was totally bereft of both morals and scruples. He simply couldn’t do it.

‘Well?’ Ruby folded her arms, a hint of triumph lifting her voice, as if by his silence he proved his own guilt.

Again he felt the urge to explain his feelings to her, to convince her how very much she meant to him, but she was already turning away, a look of mocking disbelief on her lovely face.

‘Ruby?’ He took a step towards her, impatient to make one last effort to capture her attention. The blow came out of nowhere and caught him full on the nose and chin. He saw an explosion of light, heard the crack of bone, felt the spurt of blood that tasted like rusty metal in his mouth. Rage soared through his veins on a burst of adrenaline as he pivoted about to retaliate. But then just as swiftly it drained away, leaving an amazing sense of release as he seemed to be flying through the air. As a cold dark wetness enveloped him, Bart found himself sinking into an all-pervading peace.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Ruby could hardly take in what had happened. Fear cascaded through her. One minute the two men had been fighting, the next Bart had fallen backwards off the tug and splashed into the murky depths of the canal. Or had Kit hit him? She’d half turned away, hadn’t quite seen what had caused him to fall. And thus far, he hadn’t yet surfaced.

She ran frantically up and down the tug, wild with distress, praying that at any moment she would see him come rising from the depths, spluttering with rage. But al Ruby could see in the dim light of dusk was a spiral of ripples, like a huge black mouth that had swallowed him up. She whirled about, grabbing hold of Kit, her voice raw with pleading. ‘You must go in after him.’ He didn’t answer and she began to shout, shaking him by the collar of his jacket to make him listen and respond. Kit made no move to do anything. He just stood, apparently mesmerised by the swirling black water beneath. Perhaps he was himself injured, Ruby thought, or in shock. And there was really no time to be lost. ‘If you won’t save him, then I must.’

She ripped off her boots, snapping the laces in her haste, and without stopping to remove her work dress, she scrambled up on to the rim of the tug and prepared to leap in. The action must have brought Kit from his daze for he grabbed her just in time and pulled her safely back, holding her fast in his arms for a moment before giving her a little shake of irritation. ‘Don’t be a damned fool, Ruby. You could drown in there. There’s oil, filth,
dead cats, weeds and rubbish, all sorts in that canal. There’s nothing you can do for him now, Ruby. He’s a goner.’

‘
Nooo
!’ It was a cry from the heart, from the very depth of her soul. ‘Don’t say that.’

She was crying, sobbing, distraught in her distress as she furiously fought him, desperate to break free from his hold. Kit held her fast, his arms wrapped tightly about her till the hysterics finally abated and she grew calmer, if still weeping against his shoulder as if her heart was broken.

Why didn’t the silly woman see this was the golden opportunity they’d both longed for? Kit thought. They were rid of Barthram Stobbs at last. And they still had his tug and pair of barges.

By morning it was clear to Ruby that Kit was right. All night Ruby had watched and waited with hope and fear in her heart but Bart had not emerged from the water. At one point she’d slipped past Kit, who was snoring his head off in the chair, and made her way along the towpath, swinging a lantern, desperately hoping she’d come across Bart sitting in a sulk somewhere.

‘If you’re trying to frighten me, Barthram Stobbs, you’ve succeeded,’ she called, but only the echo of her own voice came back to her over the cold slap of water. At last, chilled to the bone with the damp and a grey, early-morning mist spreading over the city, Ruby crept back to bed and cried silently into her pillow.

She’d hated him, loathed him, hadn’t she? They’d fought from the first moment she’d set eyes on him, yet never in a million years had she wanted it to end like this. She felt bereft, her world suddenly empty, as if she could see the horizon stretching into eternity, pale and featureless, without hope.

She must have slept in the end for she woke with a jerk to discover bright daylight, the awful events of the previous night flooding in upon the instant, which no doubt accounted for the heavy sense of depression she nursed deep inside. It seemed there was nothing left to do now but to wait for his body to float
to the surface somewhere. Perhaps when the tide had come up the Irwell, and washed the Ship Canal clean and retreated again, he might be taken with it, deposited in some lock or beneath the struts of a quay or bridge along the way. All of this was described to her with painful clarity by Kit, who carefully explained how the accident had occurred, how Bart had slipped on the rope fenders he’d been making earlier in the day, lost his balance and fallen overboard.

‘I know we were having a bit of a barney, but I never meant him any serious harm, Ruby. There was nothing I could do. It all happened too quick.’

She looked at him in blank acquiescence. How could she believe otherwise? The alternative was unthinkable. Not for one moment did she imagine Kit capable of deliberately knocking Bart overboard and leaving him to drown. That would be murder, and Kit was certainly no murderer.

‘We must tell the authorities, his friends. Sparky will need to be told. And Flitch, and. . .’

‘No!’ Again Kit gave her a little shake of exasperation. ‘You’ll tell no one, d’you hear me? No one’s going to believe it wasn’t deliberate. If they hear we had a fight, they’ll be sure to think the worst, then they’ll blame me. Next thing you know they’ll be stringing me up on the gibbet.’

‘Oh, goodness me, that must never happen.’ Ruby was appalled at the very idea.

‘Why would they believe in my innocence, an ex-reformatory lad? Nay, Ruby, you know well enough how it is. I’d be done for.’ Kit placed a finger against her lip. It smelled of tar and coal dust but she made no protest, mesmerised as she was by the urgency of his gaze and the fear in his voice. ‘You say nothing. Is that clear? Bloody nowt!’

She swallowed, fighting for breath, and for some sort of calm in her head, but she seemed to be incapable of a single rational thought, could find no voice, nor anything to say.

He gripped her chin between finger and thumb. ‘I’d never hurt you, Ruby. He got that all wrong, jumping to conclusions just because of my past history. He thought the worst, same as they all do. You believe in me, pet, don’t you? You understand how it is.’ There was an edge to his panic which finally penetrated the cloying layer of mist that separated her from reality.

‘Yes, Kit. I understand. And of course I believe in you. I swear I’ll not say a word.’

His shoulders sagged with relief as he gathered her in his arms. Ruby was weeping again, this time out of an indescribable sense of loss.