Gangster Girl

by Dreda Say Mitchell

  In a daze Johnson stepped forward, shaking his head all the time. ‘You stupid bastard. You stupid . . .’ Howls, mixed with tears, erupted from his mouth.

  He bowed his head and rubbed his hand against his forehead. This was all getting out of hand. He knew that Clarke hadn’t been up for the job. He should’ve insisted that Clarke stay out of this, that he didn’t have it in him anymore. He sucked in a deep breath. Pulled himself together. Took out his phone.

  ‘Clarke’s dead.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s eaten his own bullet. I warned you that he was acting funny. That this was pushing him over the edge.’

  ‘OK, that’s bad but you need to calm down and think straight. This isn’t anyone’s fault.’

  ‘So what do I do now?’

  ‘Does anyone else know about this?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘OK then, call the police and report it but don’t give a name. No prints, you know the drill. Then you’re going to have to do the rest of the job on your own.’

  He nodded, but defiantly asked, ‘You still think what we did twenty years ago was right?’

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Eight hours later, dead on five, on Thursday morning, one day before the planned robbery, Stella King barged into Ricky and Daisy’s room where they were fast asleep. She held a bundle of clothing in her hands. Ricky was the first to wake up and shoot up straight in his bed. He pushed the duvet back revealing his bare chest and boxer shorts. Stella ignored him and moved over to Daisy, who was just waking up. She shook Daisy roughly. ‘Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.’

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes Daisy asked, her voice all drowsy, ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘We’re doing it now.’

  ‘What?’ This time it was Ricky who asked the question.

  Stella strode back to the middle of the room so that she could see the both of them. Calmly, as if she was telling them they were going for a stroll around the park she said the words that shocked them both to their feet.

  ‘The bank job.’

  ‘Hold on a minute, Mrs King,’ Ricky shot back. ‘The job’s all planned for tomorrow.’

  ‘Change of plan, handsome. It’s been my way to keep everyone guessing and keeping everyone guessing is the secret of my success.’ She threw what was in her hand on the floor at her feet. ‘Get yourselves kitted out with this lot and be downstairs in twenty minutes.’

  Without another word she twirled around and opened the door and almost bumped into one of her working girls, Tatiana. The other woman nodded and briskly moved on as Stella closed the door.

  ‘Did I just hear what I think I heard?’ Daisy’s voice was clogged with confusion.

  ‘Sounds like your mum has been keeping us all in the dark.’ He moved to stare at what Stella had left on the floor. Crouched down, inspecting the clothing. Tracksuit bottoms. Hooded jackets. Gloves. All black. Daisy bent down beside him and urgently whispered, ‘But we haven’t had time to make plans about the deposit box.’

  ‘I know. We’re just gonna have to play this one as we go along. Now we need to get ready.’ He grabbed the larger clothes and stood back up. He moved to his bed and took out his carrier bag that he’d come out of prison with. ‘I’m getting ready first.’ Without waiting for her response he headed for the bathroom. Shut the door.

  Ricky leant on the door and pulled out his mobile. He stared at it. Knew what he should do. His instructions were clear – if there were any changes he was to give them a heads up immediately. But if he did that he might not be able to get the box. Might miss the chance forever to find out about his sister. But he had a job to do. He swore. Stared back at the phone. Made his decision. Punched in the number. Put the phone to his ear. Shit, he couldn’t hear a dial tone. He pulled the phone away from his face and checked the front of the phone. No bloody signal. Shit, shit, shit. Quickly he tapped in a text message.

  The job’s going down now

  He pressed send and prayed that the message got where it was going.

  He shoved the mobile back in his pocket. Reached inside his bag for the one item he would need for the bank job.

  Daisy popped a pill as she nervously waited for Ricky to come out of the bathroom. She sat heavily on the bed. Couldn’t believe that it was finally happening. That she was about to take part in a bank raid. Fucking hell. Was she really going to do this? Then Charlie’s smiling face swam into her mind reminding her why she was doing it. Charlie had always been there for her and this was her chance to be there for him, to make sure that his reputation remained whiter than white. If Stella ever found out exactly what her plans were . . .

  Suddenly the mattress sagged beside her and she didn’t need to look to know it was her dad. But she did look and saw him sitting there his face as serious as the tailor-made suit he wore.

  ‘You know what the number one mistake bank robbers make is?’ She stared at him mesmerised by his words. ‘After they leave the bank they run. Stupid move, cos when the cops check CCTV or are coming down the street full steam they don’t have to look far to know who done it.’

  She didn’t let him finish, her desperation pushing her words out. ‘I’m scared, Dad.’

  Frankie shoved his hand through his blond hair. ‘I told you to walk away but you wouldn’t listen. Ain’t no way you’re gonna get out of this now. Believe me, I know, Stella.’

  Suddenly she became very angry. ‘I wouldn’t be in this shit if it weren’t for you, Dad. I can’t have a decent life with your shadow hanging over me all the time.’

  Sadness gripped his face. ‘Remember baby, don’t run,’ was his simple response. Then he was gone.

  She wanted to cry, but instead shoved herself to her feet. Despite her dad’s advice she felt like running. She got dressed quickly before Ricky came back. Then she leant over the bed. Pulled back her pillow. Picked up the compact pistol Billy had given her.

  The working girl-cum-palm reader Tatiana sneaked out of the brothel, clutching her belongings, via the back entrance. As her heels click-clacked quickly towards the main road she wondered how a woman with Stella King’s brains could have not realised that the only way to tell the future was to use your eyes and ears. Just like she’d been doing watching and listening at doors gathering all the information she could on the bank job. She made a right turn. Briskly walked across the road and made a left. She spotted the car straight away.

  The driver’s window rolled down revealing a slim, black man. She didn’t know his name, but knew enough about the colour of money he offered her.

  ‘What’s going on?’

  She leant down and stretched her hand out. ‘Cash first.’

  His hand moved with a speed she never saw coming and flew out of the car. His fingers gripped her around the throat and dragged her towards him. ‘You don’t get nothin’ until you tell us what we want to know, you tart.’

  ‘They are going out now to do it,’ she choked out.

  He let go of her neck and she staggered back. He held a bulging envelope towards her. Immediately she forgot about her pain and took it. She walked quickly away. Towards the new life she hoped the ten grand would help her start. There was no way she could go back to the brothel because she knew that if Stella King ever found there was only one thing waiting for her – and it wasn’t ten grand.

  Johnson pulled out his phone as he watched the tom walk away. ‘Sounds like Stella is trying to pull a fast one. She’s doing the job now not tomorrow.’ He stopped and listened. His face grew grim at what he heard.

  ‘Just make sure that whatever’s inside that deposit box stays gone for ever.’

  5.23 a.m.

  ‘I want each of you to take a shooter.’

  They were all gathered around the piano in the meet ’n’ greet room downstairs. This was the first time Daisy had been inside the room. As soon as she’d stepped through the door a shiver went straight through her as her gaze hit the piano. Like she’d been in here before. She shoved the unsettling fe
eling off as she checked out the others. Like her they were decked out in the same gear, all in black. They stood around the gleaming piano looking at the assortment of guns that lay on top of it.

  Semis.

  Pump-action rifles.

  Revolvers.

  Shot guns.

  Daisy felt sick when she saw the weapons. Of course she’d seen guns before and knew how to use one well, thanks to her dad. But she wasn’t going to admit that to Stella. She needed as many surprises up her sleeve as she could if her plan was going to work.

  ‘I don’t know which one to take,’ she stammered.

  It was Jo-Jo who offered her the advice she didn’t really need. ‘You don’t want one of them big bastards.’ Jo-Jo waved her hands over the shotguns. ‘You want one of these.’ She picked up a smaller gun. ‘Double action pistol. That’ll put anyone down if you point it straight.’

  ‘Thanks for your input, dear,’ Stella said sarcastically. She turned to Daisy. ‘You won’t need one darling.’

  Daisy said nothing. Just caught Billy’s quick look. He was the only one who knew that she was packing the heat he’d given her yesterday. He raised his eyebrow. She knew it was a warning that if she used the gun against Stella she was a dead girl.

  The others took their guns.

  Only Tommy made no move to get one.

  ‘Get the rest of that gear off,’ he told Jo-Jo. She gathered the remaining guns and placed them back into the bag on the other side of the room. While she did that Tommy opened the lid of the piano. Inside lay a Remington pump-action shotgun. He pulled it out, his face filled with pride. ‘I never go on any job without Dad’s shooter.’ The gun had belonged to Stevie King and had been the first shooter Stevie had used on his first post office raid as a green criminal making his mark on the world at the age of seventeen.

  ‘Right, I want you lot to listen up. We’ve got two getaway motors as you know. Jo-Jo’s gonna be in one parked a bit of a distance from the bank and Billy’s gonna be stationed in one a few minutes from the bank. Me, Daisy and Ricky are going to get in the one with Billy and Tommy—’ Stella addressed them with a Glock balanced in her hand.

  ‘No, Mum,’ Jo-Jo cut in. ‘You get in the one with me.’

  Stella flashed her steel eyes at her daughter. ‘I’m giving the orders here.’

  ‘But, Mum, two women in a motor are less likely to get stopped by the Bill.’

  Stella chewed over her daughter’s words. ‘Yeah, maybe you’re right.’ She nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s how we’re gonna play it. This is how the rest of it’s gonna go down . . .’

  Chapter Thirty-five

  7.34 a.m.

  A heavy mist covered Kersley Crescent, masking what lay below. The residents were waking up, getting ready to start another day. And the residents at number 12 had no idea that that day was going to be the start of one they would never forget.

  Stella’s crew waited in two cars. Jo-Jo was in one, on her own, at the end of the street, while the others were packed in the car just in front of her. Ricky and Billy were up front, Stella and Tommy in the back with Daisy sandwiched between them. The tinted windows made sure that no one could see inside, but they could spy on the world around them.

  ‘We all know what we’re doing?’ Stella asked, as she eyed each one of them in turn.

  Daisy’s face was pasty-white. Stella leant over and pinched Daisy’s right cheek. Then her left. ‘That’s put the colour back into your cheeks. Don’t forget to act normal.’

  Normal? Was she off her head? None of this was normal. Daisy gulped. Swallowed. Then nodded back. She pulled the brim of her baseball cap tighter over her face. Zipped up her jacket until the top rested over her mouth. She reached for the door handle and stepped outside. Head down she walked briskly towards the house. The mist settled on her already chilled face as her nerves kicked in. Her heart beat like crazy as she finally stood outside number 12. The curtains were still drawn, the house still not woken up. She tried to shake her nerves off as she walked up to the front door.

  She pressed the bell. A child’s laughter shook inside the house. Then she heard footsteps. A woman opened the door. She was shorter than Daisy by at least four inches, aged about forty, with thick black hair tied behind her back, copper-coloured skin, with lines around her mouth that showed she liked to laugh a lot. But she wasn’t laughing at Daisy, instead she hung onto the door frame with a puzzled expression on her face. ‘Yes?’ Her voice was pure South London.

  ‘Mrs Robertson?’ Daisy asked polite and quietly.

  ‘Mrs who?’ The woman’s hand tightened on the edge of the door making Daisy notice for the first time that she had beautifully manicured fingernails painted in a classic red shade.

  ‘Robertson. Isn’t this the Robertson residence?’

  ‘I’m sorry you’ve got the wrong house.’

  ‘Really sorry to have troubled you.’

  Daisy turned away the same time the door slammed. She took long, rushed steps back to the car. Jumped inside. Everyone looked at her expectantly.

  ‘They’re up and about. A woman opened the door, who I think is definitely his wife. She looked more pissed off than suspicious that someone was at her door so early.’

  ‘We’ve got them where we want them,’ Stella said. ‘So all we’ve gotta do now is go and get them.’ She gave Billy and Ricky a grim look. ‘You’ve got ten minutes. Then we drive the car around the front of the house.’

  A dog howled from the back of one of the houses. Both men slipped on their balaclavas. Stepped outside.

  1

  2

  3

  4

  The minutes passed like the blows of a hammer. The tension inside the car was high. No one spoke. Stella tapped the side of the steering wheel. Tommy fingered the trigger of his shotgun. And Daisy? Well, she just sat there like a statue.

  5

  6

  7

  8

  The waiting was eating away at Daisy. She fiddled inside her pocket and found a packet of chewing gum. She popped one into her mouth with shaking fingers.

  ‘Get rid of it,’ Stella growled. Daisy caught the older woman’s eyes watching her in the rear-view mirror.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The fucking gum.’ She swung around to face Daisy. ‘Wanna know one of the ways they caught the Great Train Robbers? The story goes that one of ’em got all soppy and gave the cat at the farm they were hiding in some milk in a saucer.’ Still seeing Daisy’s puzzled expression. ‘Left his bloody fingerprints all over the dish. Your DNA is gonna be all over that gum and we can’t afford for you to chuck it in the house.’ She held out her palm. Daisy took the gum from her mouth and rested it in Stella’s hand. Stella shoved it in the ashtray. Then she flicked her wrist up and checked her watch.

  ‘OK. Let’s do it.’

  It took the car less than ten seconds to get to the house. Daisy’s heart pumped so violently she thought it was going to pop out of her chest. They all looked up at the house, but nothing happened. They waited.

  11

  12

  And waited.

  13

  14

  Tommy’s voice broke the silence, finger still on the trigger. ‘Where the fuck are they?’

  ‘Hold your horses and stay calm.’

  ‘Calm?’ he bellowed back at his mum. ‘Something must’ve gone wrong. I told you, you should’ve let me do it instead of that old tosser you keep by your side twenty-four seven.’

  Stella’s face grew red at his unflattering reference to Billy. ‘Shut it.’

  But he wouldn’t let it go. ‘Something’s wrong. We need to get outta here. Now.’

  ‘Tommy . . .’ But she never finished talking because her son suddenly leant over her trying to grab the steering wheel. His sudden attack took Stella by surprise. She fell against the door. His hands made it to the steering wheel. Stella lurched up pushing her hands against his chest. He fell back. He reared up, but stopped dead still when he realised that Stella
had her Glock pointing straight in his face.

  ‘Don’t think because you’re my boy I won’t pull the trigger. Now ease back, settle down and keep that –’ she pointed at his mouth, ‘– shut.’

  Their breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the heavy silence. Stella turned to Daisy, the gun still in her hand. ‘Go back up to the house. Knock on the door and check out what’s happening.’

  Daisy leant urgently forward. ‘But what am I going to say?’

  Stella lost her rag. ‘Some lawyer you are. Use your imagination. That’s what you lawyers are all good at, making up stories. You’ve got less than a minute.’

  Daisy fumbled with the door handle. Jumped out. Tiny drops of rain spat in her face. She tried to pull the baseball cap deeper down her face but it wouldn’t budge another inch. Her legs trembled as she walked across the street. Up the driveway. Towards the door. She looked up at the upstairs windows and saw a movement. A small body. One of the kids. She wiped the thin sheen of sweat from around her mouth. Pressed the doorbell.

  ‘Coming,’ a voice called. The voice was calm. Too calm if there were intruders in the house.

  The door jerked open. But abruptly stopped because this time the chain was on. The same woman peered at her. Because of the chain Daisy could only see a slice of her face. The woman’s expression was suspicious now.

  ‘You again?’

  ‘I’m really desperate to find the Robertsons . . .’

  The woman cut in. ‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to.’ Daisy’s face became pale. ‘We’ve had lots of you junkies knocking on the door telling some sob story to get money. Now sod off or I’ll call the police.’

  The door slammed in Daisy’s face. Daisy quickly turned and rushed back to the car.

  ‘This time she was suspicious.’

  ‘I told you we need to get out of here.’