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  SCORNED

  THE DC RUBY KNIGHT

  INVESTIGATIONS BOOK 2

  thrilling murder, mystery and suspense fiction

  DENVER MURPHY

  Published by

  THE BOOK FOLKS

  London, 2019

  © Denver Murphy

  Polite note to the reader

  This book is written in British English except where fidelity to other languages or accents is appropriate.

  You are invited to visit www.thebookfolks.com and sign up to our mailing list to hear about new releases, free book promotions and other special offers.

  We hope you enjoy the book.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-one

  Chapter Seventy-two

  Chapter Seventy-three

  Chapter Seventy-four

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  Chapter One

  ‘Are you sure you can’t move the meeting until tomorrow?’ Ruby asked, pulling the duvet over her head in an effort to drown out the sound of the alarm.

  ‘You know I can’t and, besides, our flight leaves in under three hours,’ Danny replied mildly, reaching under the covers next to him and tickling the first bit of flesh his fingers encountered.

  ‘Stop it!’ Ruby shouted good-naturedly between giggles as she attempted to wriggle away. Although she could feel another hangover setting in, she had no regrets about them making the most of the last night of their long weekend in Dublin. She and Danny, an old school friend she had met again by chance when returning to the area she had grown up in to take up her first detective position, had been going out for nearly six months but this had been their first trip away together.

  Danny had never been to Ireland before and had suggested visiting the capital city in an effort to understand more of Ruby’s dual heritage. A fortnight in the Caribbean exploring her father’s roots might have been preferable to Ruby but with them only able to afford a few days off work, the country of her mother’s birth was far more practicable.

  ‘Plus, as much as I’m looking forward to another Irish breakfast, I’m not sure my arteries could take too many more days of them,’ Danny said, springing out of bed with an enthusiasm that belied the number of pints of Guinness he had consumed in Temple Bar whilst attempting to sing along to the unfamiliar but catchy folk music.

  Ruby smiled as she exited the bed more gingerly. The breakfast, replete with both black and white pudding, prepared in the kitchen of their high-end hotel was symptomatic of the experience Danny had revelled in all weekend. Having spent many summers with her family in the west of Ireland, Ruby knew that their experience of dashing around Dublin’s various tourist attractions was somewhat removed from the reality of life on the Emerald Isle but she had been content to leave Danny in blissful ignorance.

  For her, the main source of enjoyment was spending some time away from the pressures of home, chief among them being their living arrangements. Danny had continued to impress her parents beyond their first meeting, even leading to the unprecedented invitation for him to stay over without being made to sleep on the sofa, and whenever Ruby visited his flat he remained the perfect host. But either option jarred slightly with Ruby’s sense of independence and she had appreciated spending a few nights on more neutral ground, with them both having contributed equally to the trip.

  ‘I shall console myself at the airport by thinking about where we should go to next time,’ she said, stepping through into the large en-suite, resplendent in white marble and expensive fittings.

  Chapter Two

  ‘Usual?’ the young barista asked, already beginning to punch the order into the till.

  ‘Er, today I think I’ll go for something more special,’ Kate replied nervously, receiving a huff from someone in the long queue behind her.

  But the smile she received from the barista was all that mattered. ‘We’ve just introduced a gingerbread latte. How about trying one of those?’

  ‘Sounds great,’ Kate responded, a little too enthusiastically for her own ears and prompting a nervous giggle accompanied by the flushing of her cheeks.

  ‘Any particular occasion?’ he enquired, turning his attention back to the till.

  ‘It’s my birthday,’ Kate replied, casting an anxious glance at the woman next to her, who had pushed herself up so close that Kate could feel her breath on her neck.

  ‘Oh, that’s great. Many happy returns!’ The barista’s hands were now just resting on the till. ‘I’d offer you a cake or something to go with your latte but my manager, you know… You doing anything special to mark the occasion?’

  ‘Oh, I’m not sure,’ Kate replied, beginning to regret starting the conversation, especially now the woman’s handbag was digging into her back.

  ‘Ah, I see, surprise is it?’ he asked, but thankfully allowing Kate to now pay.

  ‘Er…’ was all Kate could think to respond, moving on to the collection area – the woman behind her virtually falling into the space she had vacated.

  ‘I couldn’t help but notice your ring…’ the barista called after her, ignoring the woman’s barked order of a flat white.

  ‘Oh, no, I’m divorced actually. I just like the ring so...’

  ‘Well, have a great day anyway! Was that a medium flat white?’ he asked, seamlessly switching between customers. In the minute it took for one of his colleagues to prepare Kate’s drink, he didn’t look in her direction again.

  And yet the only thi
ng that dissatisfied Kate as she walked out of the coffee shop and into the brisk morning air, was the sickly-sweet taste of the milky concoction in her hand. As she tossed the cup into the nearest bin she wondered what it was with people and ginger – an ingredient that only seemed to turn everything medicinal.

  Glancing at her watch and wondering whether she was left with enough time to grab a proper coffee elsewhere before arriving at the office, she noticed her handbag was gently vibrating. ‘Yes?’ she said by way of greeting. It could only have been twenty minutes since she had left her husband at the entrance to the Tube at St. Pancras.

  ‘Hi hun, it’s me. Look, some of the boys are going to watch the match tonight and have asked me to go along.’

  ‘You don’t like football.’

  ‘Yeah, but it’s a big game and, besides, it’s someone’s birthday so I hate to say no.’

  ‘Fine,’ she replied; the irony of this being the second fabricated birthday of the morning not escaping her. ‘Just try not to wake me when you get in, I’ve got a big day tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay great,’ he responded. ‘Love you,’ he added before hanging up.

  Chapter Three

  Once home from work after a typically boring day Kate microwaved a ready meal that was as tasteless as it was unwanted. Taking it through to the living room, she only watched television briefly before becoming irritated by the cheery presenters on The One Show. Kate was only mildly tempted to try and get into the soaps she had weaned herself off years ago, opting for a bath instead. She had wanted it to be long and luxurious but seemed destined to have shit TV follow her around, announced by the retired couple next door moving their viewing to their bedroom – the density of the wall dividing the two properties no match for the volume at which they liked to consume light entertainment.

  Propping her Kindle on the bedside table in the fashion that usually saw her drift off before finishing a chapter, Kate was looking forward to the end of the sort of anonymous day that defined her current existence. And yet, although her brain refused to focus on what she was reading, causing her to revisit the same paragraph three times, sleep wouldn’t come. Her mind continued to focus on her husband and, more specifically, what he was currently up to. She had spent the last few weeks refusing to acknowledge he was having an affair because there was only one thing she could think of more depressing than her current existence, and that was having to start out again and find a new partner. It might not have been so long ago that she possessed sufficient energy to do so, but she had found comfort in her husband being as affected by their loveless marriage as she was.

  ‘I’m going to confront him and end it,’ she whispered, the very words giving her a sense of power so noticeable by its recent absence. ‘If he thinks he can fuck around let’s see how he likes it when he’s out on the street.’

  Kate sat up and closed the cover on her Kindle. If the dresser mirror at the end of the bed wasn’t obscured by the clothes he hadn’t bothered to put away since she had washed and ironed them, she would have observed the cold smile spread across her face.

  Chapter Four

  I’m really sorry babe, I didn’t know the company was planning on taking the clients to dinner. x

  Ruby re-read the message despite having fully understood its contents first time around. The meeting that had conspired to bring them home early from Dublin was now denying her spending the evening with Danny. His claim that he hadn’t known about it extending beyond office hours was entirely believable given he had begged her not to be dropped off at her parents’ house on the way back from the airport. And any general resentment she felt was tempered by how understanding Danny had always been about the demands placed on her by her own job.

  It’s a shame but I’m just grateful I had you all to myself for a few days. I suppose I had better bite the bullet and return home to be grilled on events by my mother! R x

  The lack of an immediate response to her message satisfied Ruby that she had done enough to allay any concerns that she might have taken the news badly. She began collecting her things whilst wondering whether she should grab a bite to eat on the way over to Hemel Hempstead rather than rely on whatever happened to be in his parents’ fridge.

  ‘What’s the rush?’ she muttered to herself, sitting back down on the sofa. If she delayed it a couple of hours, she might be lucky enough to arrive home just as her parents were getting ready for bed and she might be spared too long a debrief.

  She got out her phone and had a quick scan through Facebook to see if any more of her friends had interacted with her posts from Dublin. Given that they knew both her and Danny, she was offended that the majority of them had merely chosen to like them rather than leave a comment.

  Danny’s absence and her so-called friends’ apparent disinterest conspired to make Ruby feel lonely enough to want to return home. But before she got moving again, she found herself dialling one of her contacts.

  ‘Hey!’ she said with forced cheer when her call was answered.

  ‘Ruby? I thought you were meant to be abroad?’ DC Cooper responded. He was the second partner she had been paired with since she had started. Her first, DI Jenkins had been carefully chosen by her boss DCI Nelson and, whilst Nelson claimed linking her up with Cooper was similarly deliberate, Ruby suspected it had been more about convenience. Getting to know Cooper had been a far easier proposition than Jenkins but Cooper lacked the depth of character that had made Jenkins so intriguing.

  ‘We’ve just got back so I thought I’d check in to see if I have missed anything.’

  ‘When was your last shift? Thursday?’ Cooper responded absentmindedly, receiving a sigh from Ruby. ‘Oh, well nothing much really. I’m currently looking into an aggravated burglary but, to be honest, there isn’t much to go on.’

  ‘Anything I can help with?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘Nah, nothing that can’t wait. You’re back tomorrow, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ she replied. There followed a few moments of silence that Ruby found a little awkward but, at the same time, a fair reflection of the lack of chemistry that existed between the two of them. ‘Well I guess I’ll see you then,’ she added eventually.

  ‘Right-o,’ Cooper responded cheerfully before hanging up.

  Ruby regarded her handset as though evaluating whether making the call had been worth it. At the very least it meant she could return to Hemel safe in the knowledge that she probably had an easy morning waiting for her the next day.

  Chapter Five

  ‘See, I told you there’d still be plenty of people to choose from,’ Lexie said, nodding her hooded head at the man walking along Station Way. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Hard to tell with his coat on, but at least he’s heading in the right direction,’ Jordan replied evenly. He hadn’t liked the way Lexie had assumed control after the first job but had to admit she had been wise to have them avoid rush-hour this time.

  ‘Are we going then or what?’ Cole said, still sulking from Lexie’s violent outburst when he had dared suggest they cease their activities until they knew they were in the clear.

  ‘Prick,’ Taylor muttered quietly to prevent Cole hearing, but loud enough to provoke a smile from Lexie. Taylor had always been the quiet one of the group but recently he had become determined to impress her, no doubt hoping that she might let him sleep with her one day. The other two men may not have heard his insult but they hadn’t failed to notice his overall change in demeanour.

  ‘Giddy up then, Coley,’ Lexie said, the lightness in her tone belied by her stony expression. She waited until he had begun moving before pushing in front of him to lead her men in pursuit of their target.

  With little reported in the local press following their first attack, anyone who bothered to notice them whilst driving past would have merely viewed them as a typical group of older teenagers; the casualness of their gait deliberately designed to hide that they were walking with a specific purpose.

  ‘Look, he’s crossing the r
oad,’ whispered Taylor, resisting the urge to point and ensuring his head remained angled towards the pavement.

  ‘No shit,’ Lexie responded but not unkindly. She was pleased that their guy was heading away from the city centre. If he then proceeded to turn left on to Clarence Road at the next set of lights, rather than continue into Fleetville, they would know they were onto a winner. It didn’t really matter where he ended up walking to from there, any one of those houses was worth upwards of £1m and far more than the grotty maisonette the four of them shared on the outskirts of town.

  ‘We do it same as last time. I’ll approach as soon as the door is open and, Jordan, you rush behind me and bundle him in. Taylor and Cole, check the rest of the house for other occupants.’ Lexie continued, looking forward but with her ears pricked for the murmurs of assent from behind. In truth, their first job had been a bit of a free-for-all but now it had been established that she was in charge, she was determined they would act more professionally. Their own criminal backgrounds were as long as they were varied, but it was only once they got together that they had begun setting their sights higher than a bit of shoplifting and the odd bag snatch.

  ‘Will everything be like last time?’ Jordan asked, caressing the wooden bat tucked inside his jacket.

  ‘I think it would be better for us if it is,’ Lexie replied. ‘But don’t be slow to bring out your blades if things go south.’

  ‘And if there’s kids this time?’ Cole did nothing to hide the contempt in his voice but did take a step back when Lexie stopped suddenly.

  ‘What the fuck do you think this is?’ she hissed venomously. ‘We should just tap the man on the shoulder and ask if he would be so kind as to give us his stuff and, if it’s not too much trouble, would he mind awfully not telling the police who we are? We need to do what is necessary to protect ourselves but kids are another matter, okay?’ Lexie moved her eyes to each member of the group in turn. At least running with a bunch of pussies meant they were unlikely to do something that would cross her, admittedly low, moral boundaries.