Page 68 of What's the time, Mr. Wolfe
He laughed and pulled me closer.
“I have a plan,” I said, and laughed before I divulged it. “Let’s have sex in every room of this house, and then outside as well. I’ve always wanted to do that, although it’s a bit cold, isn’t it? Or maybe we’ll forget the outside—”
“Ruby, shut up,” he said, then leaned down to kiss me.
We slid down the sofa and I lay on top of him. He placed his hands down the back of my... his shorts and cupped my arse cheeks. I kissed his face, moving around until I found his lips.
We lay like that for a while, just talking. Sharing our favourite songs and movies. I rested my chin on my arms crossed on his chest.
“Was your childhood really awful?” he asked.
My heart fluttered. “I can’t say it was awful, not compared to yours. My parents were hippies, I guess. There were too many drugs around. Grandma gave my dad some money to buy a house in Spain because she worried about me. But that just gave them a base toparty from. I ingested cocaine once. I was born drug and alcohol dependent, apparently. It stunted my growth,” I said.
“Really?”
“No,” I replied and laughed. “The drug and drink part is real. My mum was short. You know, I can’t really remember what she looked like now.”
“How did she die?” he asked.
I didn’t speak for a little while and then I sighed. I pushed myself off him and sat on the edge of the sofa beside his stretched-out body.
“Maybe I need to tell you something, before this goes any further.”
He shuffled up. “What do you need to tell me, Ruby?”
“I... I helped her die. I killed her.”
I didn’t look at him and it was the first time I’d ever spoken the words out loud to anyone before. Although I suspected my dad knew which is why he had disappeared.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked, calmly.
“Erm... You’re not likely to call the police, are you?”
“You’ve just admitted to killing someone. Perhaps you should have asked me that before.”
I looked at him. He offered me a smile. “Tell me what happened.”
“She wanted to take her own life. I knew it. She had no choice, Sebastian. She couldn’t get clean, and she was dying anyway.” Tears started to fall, and I hiccupped. He sat up and wrapped his arms around me.
“Take your time, but tell me. Let it out,” he said.
“She wanted to die. She said it was the only way she could keep me safe.”
“Did you understand what she meant by that?”
“Yes. I was getting more exposed to their lifestyle. She believed if she wasn’t around, it would end. So I thought. I scored the drugs for her, Sebastian. I cooked up the heroin.”
He was silent, just looking at me. “You didn’t kill her, Ruby. She killed herself. You wouldn’t have known what you were doing,” Sebastian said quietly.
“But I did. I knew exactly what I was doing. And that makes me guilty in Spanish law. My dad dragged me away in the middle of the night and let the police just find her.”
I took a few deep breaths and lifted the t-shirt to wipe my face.
“I heard when they found her, they started to look for me. My dad didn’t even bury her. I don’t know what happened to her body.”
“That still doesn’t mean you knew what you were doing. Or that you intended to kill her. You were a childfucked up by her parent’s behaviour.” His voice became sterner.
“The police pulled in the dealer, and he told them that I’d scored the drugs to kill her. The police wanted to speak to me.”
