Read A Cold Killing (Rosie Gilmour) for Free Online Page A

that night and the awful brutality, everything died – not just their mother – in the inferno of their home. Judy had retreated into her silent world, and she hadn’t spoken a word for years. While Ruby grew up shunted from one children’s home to the other, she had believed her sister was dead. The social workers had even told her so. No details. Nothing.
    Ruby walked towards Judy and stood in front of her and the window.
    ‘Hey, Judes. How’s it going, big sis?’
    She bent over and kissed her cheek. She put her arms around her and held her close, wanting to bury her face in her sister’s hair and again feel safe, like they used to when they had curled up in bed like spoons at night.
    ‘Oh, Judy,’ Ruby said, fighting back tears. ‘I do miss you so much.’
    She composed herself and pulled up a chair so that they both sat facing each other. Judy stared past her. Ruby moved around again, so that she was in her line of vision. She knew she could see her. Judy had to know she was there. She had to.
    ‘Guess what, Judy,’ Ruby said, pouring them both a glass of fizzy water from the bottle in the ice bucket. ‘He’s dead.’ She smiled broadly. ‘I did it.’
    She reached out and stroked her sister’s hair with one hand, while clutching her soft hand with the other.
    ‘He’s gone, Judy. I did what I said I would do. I killed the bastard.’ She squeezed Judy’s hand and looked into her eyes. ‘They say shit doesn’t burn, Judy. But it’s a lie. Because let me tell you, pal, that piece of shit burned like a fucking stick.’
    She smiled, willing Judy to respond – anything. Then, to her astonishment, Judy’s empty gaze slowly moved from the window. Her eyes flickered a little, then focused on Ruby, who sat barely breathing, terrified to break the spell. Then Judy’s pale eyes glistened with tears, and Ruby watched as they spilled over and down her cheeks. But it wasn’t like crying, because Judy’s lips had a hint of a smile. Then Ruby felt her sister squeeze her hand tight.
    ‘I know you can hear me, Judy. I know you can.’
    Ruby wrapped her arms around her sister, and her own tears fell as she felt Judy’s arms slip around her for the first time in twenty-five years.
    *
    Ruby lit up a cigarette as she sat in the conservatory of the home’s cafeteria. She took a long, satisfying draw, held the smoke in and then let it out slowly, still feeling elated over how Judy had reacted. Somewhere behind those eyes, her sister was there, and her chat afterwards with her specialist was encouraging. It would take time, he said. Time, she told him, was all she had now. But he stressed there were no guarantees.
    The couple from the table at the window got up and left, and Ruby squinted at the copy of the
Post
the man had left on the table. She could see a headline on the front page: ‘M YSTERY S COT F LED C AFÉ B LOODBATH .’
    She automatically glanced around the empty café before getting up and going across to the table. Beneath the
Post
was a copy of the
Sun
, and another headline jumped out at her: ‘R UNAWAY S COT M AY H OLD K EY TO C AFÉ E XECUTION .’
    ‘Fuck me!’ Ruby said quietly, scooping up both newspapers and going back to her table.
    Her eyes quickly scanned the front page of the
Post
.
    A mystery Scots woman fled the King’s Cross café murder scene before police arrived, the
Post
can exclusively reveal. The woman vanished seconds after the assassins blasted university lecturer Tom Mahoney in the head at point-blank range. Police have confirmed that this woman is the only person in the café unaccounted for. One witness to the execution told the
Post,
‘The woman had a Scottish accent. She was very edgy, and as soon as it happened and the men left, she left right behind them.’
The witness described the mystery Scot as in her thirties with dark hair and wearing shabby denims. Scotland Yard would not say if she was a suspect, but confirmed they are eager to speak to her as a