Ruby turned the chairs upside down and stacked them on top of the tables, the clock ticking and the radio giving a static-infested rendition of some Frank Sinatra song Granny liked the only sounds. As crowded as the diner became, the floor seldom required more at closing time than a quick sweep and mop. Granny wiped down the burners, checked the sinks for any traces of food a hungry germ-ridden mouse might consider a jackpot, and would turn the lock when they were all done.
A sudden rapping at the door made her jump, lost in thought and the lyrics to "You Make Me Feel So Young." Any other time, she turned a late-night customer away with a gentle reminder of what time they opened in the morning, but this was Victor's scent, heavy with worry and...oh no. Grief.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, flinging the door open for him. He looked empty, pale.
"I lost a patient."
"I'm so sorry." She threw her arms around his neck. People didn't get him and she almost wished someone could see him now, caring.
"Who is he, Ruby?"
"Who, Granny?"
"The new guy. Gotta admit, you seeing just one is a lot better for business than when you used to take off all the time seeing, well, Storybrooke."
"A doctor."
"A doctor! Moving up in the world!" She'd meant it as a joke, but Ruby could see the little gleam in her eye all the same. "Which one?"
"Victor Whale."
"Oh."
That was that.
"No, I, I have to tell you..." She led him to a table where she pulled down one of the chairs for him to sit. She'd always imagined doctor coats smeared in blood with booze in both hands when they lost patients, but Victor just looked sick. "It was Spencer."
"What?"
"Spencer's dead. Somebody smothered him with his own pillow." He laid his head on her arm that had been bracing him.
"Wouldn't, wouldn't security cameras have caught what happened?" she asked. Think logically.
"Oh, you would think so, but they knew what they were doing. The camera had been disconnected. I...Red, I asked my staff first. I had to. I'm sure that goes against substitute sheriff policies..."
"You didn't do anything wrong!" she said.
"But then do you know how many people go in and out of a hospital in a day? It's not just doctors and nurses. There are orderlies, security guards, the cooks, volunteers, people visiting other patients, there's billing and coding..." He took a breath, falling back more into the chair. "I swear if one of them had to go, I would have picked him, but...son-of-a-bitch, he was my patient! Hey, uh, you have an alibi, right?"
"When did it happen?"
"The camera shut off right at 2:30 this afternoon. When I found him at four, he'd been dead about an hour, a little more." His hands joined where his head rested on her arm. "Dead. Just..."
Ruby leaned down and held him, held a man who so feared and loathed death he'd made it his mission to eradicate it...only to learn too well the consequences of when people tried to do that. Wow, and so few people have actually died here, she thought...
"You've got an alibi, right? In case someone starts poking around?"
"I'm good, worked here all day," she said. "
"Belle?"
"We lucked out. She stopped in here for lunch at 1:30 and worked on, I don't know, mayor stuff, busy day, till, like three. And you know her. Wait...volunteers?"
"The hospital has volunteers. They're in and out all the time."
Yeah, in and out of your bed not so long ago. Cool it, she told herself. A jealous wolf is nothing fun. And now you have a crime to solve. "Any nuns volunteer?"
"Quite a few. Mother Superior herself comes in, has the wing he was in a lot." He stared at her. "Is she a suspect?"
"You feel like staying up all night? Not like that."
"Ruby, what's going on?"
"I think you, me, and Belle need to compare notes. Tonight."
Ruby pounded her fist into the trunk of the tree, ants pouring this way and that to avoid her fist. She'd spent the night at Belle's apartment, refusing to leave a stricken, distraught friend who whimpered in such a broken voice about not knowing if through a mirror would be the last time she and her love spoke to each other. Had it been any other friend, like one who hadn't been a mental patient, she would have been tempted to ask Victor for a sedative. Her fist pummeled the trunk again. Helpless should not be a word to describe a wolf, any wolf, she thought. Snow gone—pow, Belle done being inconsolable only this morning—pow, an innocent kid taken, Billy still not avenged—pow, pow.
Panting, she shook out her knuckles and ran back into town, her hoodie damp in sweat. Her legs pulled her in the direction of the convent, her nose picking up the familiar scent of blood, just, not familiar for around the convent. She stopped right in the middle of the street and faced the steps. Yep, unmistakable, blood. Lurking onto the grounds, she tiptoed near the shrubs along the perimeter all the way to the back. The smell ripened, Ruby's pupils dilating by instinct. Squatting down between two of the larger shrubs, she huddled her knees to her chest and opened her ears, knowing the faint muttering she heard could sharpen if she only concentrated.
"Useless in the old world and useless in this new one."
That came from the basement. On all fours, Ruby lined up with the wall of the convent, the basement window right in front of her. One, two, three...she peeked in. Through a few streaks, she saw Mother Superior with her arms folded, her gray sweater catching every mite of dust.
"Broken vows, cavorting with dwarves, Nova, you have so much to learn."
"Please! Mother Superior, please! Why are you doing this?" Ruby didn't dare press her face closer to the window. The sound of flesh being smacked followed by a scream forced her to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming herself.
"Tell me what you told that dwarf! Tell me what he tells you about his friends! Where have they gone?"
"Who?" Nova screeched.
"Snow White! Prince Charming! Their little brat who doesn't even get yet that she's a princess! Does he know where they are!"
"No! No, no one does. No one can find their grandson. No one can find the Queen or Rumpelstiltskin. Mother Superior, please let me go!"
Another nauseating smack hit Ruby's ears. Transform, she willed herself. Come on! She'd tried to change at will so many times and she'd felt the stirring in her body, little buds of ears poking out the top of her head, a tail bulging at her end, but nothing more than that.
"Nova, you've been down here for a while and you can be down here even longer if need be," Mother Superior said, her voice still sounding serene and wise.
"I don't know anything!"
"Enough! Henry was taken and his family went after him." Mother Superior disappeared from view, heading towards where Nova's voice was coming from.
"Where?"
Mother Superior laughed.
"Second star to the right and straight on till morning, you stupid little fairy! Peter Pan could have a bigger body, one that can contain magic. Even mine isn't as strong as the Mills' boy's lineage has made his. And if they defeat him, which they won't, the body can belong to me."
"Mother Superior." Nova's voice still wobbled, but a few heaving breaths had calmed her a little. "This is insane! He's just a child! He doesn't deserve to die just so someone else can have more power. You, you don't know what you're saying." Ruby prepared to hear another smack. "Peter Pan or whoever you're talking about can't want an innocent child. You can't want an innocent child. You would have killed him a long time ago!"
"But I didn't know until just recently he was also the Dark One's grandson!" she snapped. "Unlimited power, Nova. Just think of that! The fairies could rule this land and the Enchanted Forest once the next batch of seeds gets planted. No humans running everything, no Rumpelstiltskin to contend with. Choose this." Ruby ducked down when she saw Mother Superior crossing back into view, pulling a pair of scissors out of a drawer. She disappeared again. "Choose to go with fairies on this one. We waited and worked and finally that 'innocent child' has been born. If not, I know a few games we can play until we're ready to go meet them."
Ruby leaped to her feet and stumbled back so fast she tripped, thudding right onto her rear. Scrambling back up, she sprinted back into the street and ran without stopping for Belle's apartment.
Belle kissed the scroll with all the instructions written on it. A lock-pick spell didn't need to just work on the shop's door. Of course, she reminded herself upon entering King George's house and slipping off her shoes on the mat, nothing she found without a warrant could be admissible in a trial, but it could be a lead to something that could.
There was precious little to search, a hat rack, only two coats in the front closet with an umbrella stand. Two brown leather recliners and a coffee table made up the living room. Unsure if she could summon up enough courage to climb the staircase just yet, she turned into the kitchen, no photos, no paintings on the walls. A sudden hooting stopped her heart, leaving her just barely able to stifle a scream. His clock had pictures of birds, a large Great Horned Owl's call noting the hour. Easy, Belle, easy, she mouthed to herself. Fighting off a nervous laugh, she opened drawer after drawer, rummaging through envelopes, paper clips, address books. A stack of index cards spilled onto the linoleum, scattering throughout the kitchen floor. Klutz, she scolded herself. Taking a knee, she raked them to her, stopping when she found one with writing.
A pinch of fairy dust, a chicken claw, a lizard's eye... Rumpelstiltskin hadn't let her into his workspace as a rule, but on more trying days, his work followed him from one corner of the castle to the other, leaving her to ask whether he wanted the piles to stay there or to assemble them into one gigantic pile that could go onto the dining table as a centerpiece. It took a week or two before that cracked a smile out of him. The list of...ingredients continued all the way down to the bottom of the card. Flipping it over, she found "...will slice through any man clean through."
No. She shook her head no. He'd enchanted a blade to chop poor Billy clean in half? How...why...that made it worse somehow. Relieved she'd worn gloves, she stashed the rest of the cards back into the drawer. Hopping back to the entryway, she slipped into her shoes and stepped outside, using the spell in reverse to lock the door. A slight buzz vibrated at her hip. Good thing she'd set her phone on vibrate or she might have relived the owl surprise. Clearing her throat, she brought the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Belle, where are you?"
"I'm, well, I just finished breaking and entering..."
"Meet me at your apartment right now. I'm already here," Ruby panted. "Please. I stumbled onto something."
"Sure." I found something too, she'd wanted to say, but she'd gotten the feeling that was not the thing to say to someone who sounded so near hysteria as Ruby had sounded at that moment.
A/N: I don't think I should have to restate this much, but I do not own OUAT. Please leave a review! Coming up: embarking into the Enchanted Forest. This ALWAYS goes well for people, right?