‘Will you all start clearing the vegetable patch? I got bags and bags of seeds we can start planting,’ Dolly said, as they started frying bacon and eggs.
Julia walked in, face flushed. ‘You know, those old stables are in quite good nick – be nice to get a horse. I used to have one when I was a kid. They’re not that expensive to keep, or to buy, you’d be surprised.’
Dolly paid no attention but concentrated on her notes.
‘Did you hear what I said, Dolly?’ Julia said, as she threw off her jacket.
‘Last thing we need right now, love, is a horse. Let’s get the garden in order first. We can start that while the house is being done over, no need to fork out for gardeners, most of it’s just rubbish that’s got to be shifted.’
The women looked at one another, having no desire to ‘shift’ anything but the eggs and bacon.
‘I’m going up to London this afternoon. I’ll take Angela with me.’ Dolly left the kitchen and went to the yard.
Ester closed the door behind her. ‘Told you, she’s going for them this afternoon. Get Angela in here, go on.’
Gloria caught Angela dialling. She crooked her finger. ‘Who you callin’?’
‘My mum, let her know where I am.’
‘Well, do it later. Come in here, we want to talk to you.’
Dolly walked up to the woods. It was a beautiful clear day but she stopped as she heard the sound of a train from the small local station. She watched the level-crossing gates open and close, and saw a square-faced boy sitting on a stool, a trainspotter. He was making copious notes in a black schoolbook, checking his watch, face set in lines of concentration. Dolly strolled down from the woods on to the small narrow lane by the crossing.
‘Good morning,’ she said cheerfully.
The boy looked up: his face was even squarer close up and his thick black hair stuck up in spikes. ‘Good morning. My name is Raymond Dewey,’ he said loudly. ‘I’m here every day, checking on the trains. I’m the timekeeper. That was the nine o’clock express, on time, always on time.’
‘Really? You have an important job then, don’t you? Raymond, is it?’
‘That is correct, Raymond Dewey of fourteen Cottage Lane. Who are you?’
‘Well, Raymond, I’m Dolly, Dolly Rawlins.’
‘Hello, Dolly, very nice to meet you.’
She smiled at his over-serious face. Bright button eyes glinted back as he licked his pencil tip and returned to his work.
‘Well,’ Dolly said then, ‘I won’t disturb you. Bye-bye.’
He stuck out his stubby-fingered hand and she shook it. His grasp was strong, almost pulling her off her feet. Close to, he was much older than she had first thought but she thought no more of him as she wandered back towards the manor, going via the small narrow road, then cutting back up to the woods.
Mrs Tilly replaced the receiver and checked her watch. She thought it was probably best to discuss it with Mrs Rawlins personally, so she left her office.
The women were grouped around the vegetable patch. Connie was peering at seed packets as Julia dug the soil, turning it over. Two wheelbarrows were filled with weeds and rubbish.
‘Should these be goin’ in now?’ Gloria asked, as she opened another packet.
Julia began to stick in rods. ‘Bit late, but if the weather keeps fine it’ll be okay.’
Gloria sprayed out the packet.
‘Not there! Over here, what do you think I’m putting the rods in for?’ Julia shouted.
‘Well, I didn’t know. What you got in your packet, Connie?’
Connie pulled at the top to open it and the seeds all fell out.
‘Pick them up,’ said Julia, bad-tempered.
‘What, all of them?’ asked Connie. There’s hundreds!’
Gloria laughed and kicked at the seeds. ‘Who gives a bugger? Just push them over there.’
They saw a Mini Metro pull up by the front path. ‘Who’s that?’ Julia asked.
‘I dunno, she’s driving this way now.’
It was Mrs Tilly. ‘I’m looking for Mrs Rawlins.’
‘Try the back door,’ said Gloria. ‘Drive round the back, past the stables. She was in the kitchen.’
Mrs Tilly smiled her thanks and pulled away.
‘Who’s that?’ Gloria asked.
‘Why didn’t you ask her?’ said Julia, impatiently.
Connie, on her hands and knees, was picking up one seed at a time. ‘Ugh, the soil’s gettin’ under my nails. It feels all gritty and horrid.’
‘Take them off, then,’ said Gloria as she kicked more soil over a mound of seeds.
‘No, I won’t – they cost a lot of money.’
Gloria peered down at her. ‘Come this afternoon, sweetface, you’ll have a lot too, so come on, let’s go and see what the Metro wanted.’
Mrs Tilly tooted the horn and stepped out of the car as Dolly hurried out from the kitchen.
‘Mrs Tilly, good morning.’
‘Good morning, Mrs Rawlins. I can’t stop but I wanted to tell you personally. We had a cancellation for this afternoon so the board are reviewing your case and, if you’re available, can see you this afternoon at four thirty. I’m sorry it’s such short notice but as they’re all gathered, it seemed a shame not to jump the queue, so to speak.’
Dolly beamed. ‘Is there any advice you can give me, anything I should take with me?’
Mrs Tilly smiled, then said earnestly, ‘My advice to everyone applying for foster caring is always tell the truth because everything is always checked and double-checked.’
‘Thank you very much, Mrs Tilly. Are you sure you won’t come in for a cup of tea?’
‘No, I shouldn’t have really left the office unattended.’
‘I’ll see you later then.’
Angela had overheard. She came to the kitchen door. ‘Mrs Rawlins, about this afternoon—’
Dolly turned and frowned at Angela to shut her up, then turned back to Mrs Tilly. ‘Four thirty, then, Mrs Tilly. Should I wear a suit, do you think?’
‘Wear anything you feel comfortable in. You’ll be asked a lot of questions, some very personal, so whatever you feel most confident and relaxed in. Goodbye.’
Dolly waved. She felt like skipping – everything was coming together so fast and they were obviously taking her proposals seriously. She waited until Mrs Tilly’s car had disappeared before she clapped her hands. ‘Did you hear, Angela? I’ve got a meeting before the social services board. This is positive, isn’t it? I’m going to make this work.’
Angela wrinkled her nose. ‘But what about that Jimmy bloke? You said you’d see him this afternoon. I phoned him yesterday, remember? You can’t go to London for two and be back by four thirty. It’s after eleven now.’
Dolly folded her arms. She’d forgotten – unbelievable but she had. It was the excitement. She’d not felt like this since she was a kid. She hugged her arms tightly around herself. ‘Get the others in. Tell them we need to talk.’
Angela shaded her eyes as the women slowly trooped into the yard. ‘They’re coming in now.’
Dolly whipped round. ‘I hope that Mrs Tilly didn’t cop sight of Ester. Is she with them?’
‘No, I’m here, Dolly,’ Ester called from the kitchen.
Dolly went into the house. She didn’t say a word to Ester but hurried up to her room to sort out what she would wear for the afternoon’s meeting.
They all looked at Angela, then Ester. ‘Don’t ask me what went down, Angela was here. What did that woman want?’
Angela told them about the board meeting and they shrugged, not interested, until Angela said, ‘She was taking me to London this afternoon. Well, now she can’t go.’
Dolly was brushing her hair, talking to herself, trying to sort out exactly what she should do. She had intended making a few calls, just to check out some of Harry’s old fences, preferring to use people she knew rather than trust Kathleen’s contacts. Now she sat on the dressing-table stool. Could she trust the
m? she asked herself. Sure she couldn’t, but she reckoned little Angela was on the level. She made up her mind. She didn’t like leaving Jimmy Donaldson holding the stones for too long. He could get itchy fingers and she’d kind of given him an ultimatum. She didn’t like going back on that as it made her look weak, as if she didn’t mean business. Harry had something on Donaldson but without him, Donaldson might just try it on.
They were sitting at the table in the big kitchen, obviously waiting. As soon as she walked in, she could feel the tension. ‘Okay, this is how we work it. One of you will have to collect the stones for me. I can’t risk losing this opportunity with the board members. They’re doing me a big favour as it is. Someone dropped out and I’m being upped to meet them, so …’
Ester looked at Julia. ‘What do you want to do?’
Dolly sat down. ‘Jimmy’s waiting for me to come at two o’clock. I said I’d be there, to collect at two this afternoon as I’m not too keen on leaving them with him. He’ll have them by now so one of you’ll have to go and do it for me.’
There was a unanimous ‘I’ll do it’ but Dolly shook her head.
‘What, don’t you trust us?’
‘No, if you want my honest opinion, but if I say I’ll give you each a cut, then whoever picks them up will do every one of you in. So that’s a bit of an incentive to come back, isn’t it?’ Dolly’s mind was racing. She never said how much of a cut but it was only to be a few hundred quid each. They could fight that out later, when she’d fenced the diamonds.
She looked them all over: Ester was Julia’s partner, so they wouldn’t do together; Kathleen she wouldn’t trust with a loaf of bread, or Gloria, so she went for Ester, the least trustworthy – but with Julia at home Dolly reckoned she’d return. ‘Okay, Ester, you go.’
Ester couldn’t hide her smile.
‘You sure, Dolly? I mean, what do you think, Ester?’ Julia said, and Ester could have smacked her.
‘I’ll do it. Don’t be stupid.’
Julia shrugged her shoulders. She knew that Ester had people after her but she said nothing. ‘Okay, if you say so.’
‘Take Angela with you, the pair of you do it. Ester collects, you drive, Angela.’ Dolly pointed at them in turn.
Angela seemed scared to speak, looking from one to the other.
‘Why Angela?’ Ester demanded.
Dolly gave an icy smile. ‘I trust her.’
‘And you don’t trust me?’
‘No, but I don’t think you’d leave Julia in the lurch – leave us all in the lurch – would you?’
They glared at Ester, almost as if warning her that she’d better not try anything. Dolly felt good. Yeah, she’d made the right decision.
‘So get yourselves together, take the Range Rover and get moving.’
Julia walked in as Ester was changing, and shut the door. ‘You’re coming back, aren’t you?’
Ester snapped, ‘Of course. She’s not as dumb as you think. She knows I’ve got people after me. I’m not likely to fence the gear all by myself in one afternoon, am I?’
Julia sat on the bed. ‘I dunno. Just seems odd she’d choose you, not me.’
‘Why you?’
‘Because she knows I’d come back if you were here, but I don’t know if you would – that answer your question?’
Ester leaned over Julia. ‘I’ll be back, don’t think I won’t, and she’s tied me to Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, so she’ll be watching me like a hawk. I’ll be back, Julia.’
‘Then what?’
Ester straightened and clenched her fists. Well, you said it the other night. You reckoned Dolly would kill for those diamonds. Maybe, just maybe, I would too if she tried it on. You’ll see which of us is tough. They’re my ticket out, Julia, and I won’t be content with some fucking measly little cut.’
‘What about the others?’
‘Fuck ’em. Now. how do I look?’
‘Great, but then I’m biased.’ Julia smiled: Ester always turned her on when she was hard like this. She liked her like this; she was so icy cold, so arrogant and, uppermost, so dangerous.
Angela stood in front of Dolly, who was close, her voice soft. ‘You watch her all the time. You stay in the car, see her collect, then you put your foot down and come straight back here, okay? This is the address, twenty-one Ladbroke Grove Estate. You all right?’
‘Yes, but I wish you’d ask one of the others.’
‘No, love, I only trust you, maybe because you’re the only one who hasn’t been inside. You’ve still got some honesty about you, some integrity none of the others has. They’d have ’em and be away, I know it. You’re my safety lever.’
Angela was in turmoil but couldn’t see any way out of it. She was still shaking as Ester walked in, dangling the car keys. ‘Okay, we’re all set, sweetface, let’s go and collect.’
Gloria looked at the clock. ‘Well, you got plenty of time.’
‘Maybe we’ll stop off for lunch.’
‘Yeah. Just as long as you don’t stop off any place after you picked them up.’
Ester laughed, unaware that Dolly had already searched her room and pocketed her passport. She was, as they all said, not the pushover they had thought, and now she was sitting drumming her fingers on the side of the desk, wondering if she had made the right decision. She decided to make a few calls just to be sure.
Ester and Angela climbed into the Range Rover. Ester gave Julia a little wink. ‘Right, might as well get, on with it then. See you all later.’
Julia slammed the door as the engine fired. She banged on the side of the door. Take care, Ester, see you later.’
Gloria leaned on a rake. ‘If she doesn’t show, I’ll shove this up her arse.’ They watched the Range Rover drive out and Julia stared towards the vegetable patch. Gloria called after her. ‘She will come back, won’t she?’
Julia walked. ‘Yeah. I’m the love of her life, aren’t I? She’ll come back. So get your spades, we have to dig a deep trench so the water drains.’
Wandering back to the vegetable garden, dragging a spade, Gloria said, ‘How come you know so much about gardening? I thought you were a doctor.’
‘Bit similar, actually.’ Julia laughed. She had always loved the outdoors. In fact, she liked being at the manor. She just didn’t have the guts to say so.
Dolly dialled and waited. She recognized Tommy’s throaty, chesty breath immediately. ‘Hello, Tommy, it’s Dolly, Harry Rawlins’s widow.’
‘Good God, you’re out then, are you, gel?’
‘Yeah, I’m out, but I need a favour.’
‘You know old Tommy, lovey, if he can do you one, he will.’
‘Just so long as you get paid for it, right?’ Dolly chuckled.
‘On the nail. So what can I do you for?’
Dolly lowered her voice. ‘I’ve got a few things I want to run by Jimmy Donaldson, then maybe bring to you.’
‘Jimmy Donaldson?’ Tommy wheezed.
‘Yeah, you know him?’
‘Course I do. Runs a gig over in Hackney, or he did. You know he’s been away for a few years – still is as far as I know.’
‘Away? Where?’
‘Banged up. Got pinched for floggin’ some Georgian silver. Didn’t you know?’
‘You sayin’ he’s still in the nick? You sure?’
‘Yeah, reason is, a few days back someone was asking after him and … hello? Hello?’
Dolly felt cold, her hand still gripping the receiver. If Donaldson was nicked, how come he was answering his phone? It didn’t make sense. She sat down and ran her hands through her hair, trying to remember everything he had said at the fairground. The more she thought about it, the more she began to think that maybe she was being set up.
The women turned as they heard Dolly calling for Ester. ‘She’s gone. Dolly?’
Dolly ran towards them. ‘They’ve gone? But why, why didn’t they talk to me? I never told them to go.’
‘Well, they couldn’t wait.’ Gloria start
ed to laugh, but seeing Dolly’s expression straightened her face. ‘What is it?’
‘I’m being set up. Jimmy Donaldson’s supposed to be in the nick.’
‘You!’ stormed Julia. ‘They’ve gone!’
Gloria hurled aside her rake. ‘Get me car, we can catch them up. Come on!’
Julia ran after Gloria, Dolly following. Kathleen looked at Connie, who was still half-heartedly digging the trench. ‘What did you make of that?’
‘I don’t know. What do you think?’
Kathleen gazed down at the trench. She rammed in her spade. ‘Keep digging. This looks like a grave. Maybe we’ll be putting somebody in it …’
Chapter 7
Ester moved on to the fast lane as soon as they hit the motorway.
‘No need to go so quick, Ester, you’ll get picked up for speeding.’
‘Then keep your eyes peeled for cop cars – and stop biting your nails, it drives me nuts.’
The Mini backfired and Dolly hit the dashboard. ‘Next turning there’s a hire firm. Pull in and get a car with something under the bonnet.’
‘Who’s paying for it?’
Julia shouted that she would, and Gloria headed towards Rodway Motors, garage and rental. She drove on to the forecourt and asked who had their licence to hire the car, but as she only had hers with her it was she who went into the reception. The others waited impatiently on the roadside.
‘They should have waited!’ Dolly seethed. ‘If they’d waited I’d have told them not to go.’
‘Well, they didn’t,’ said Julia, looking at her watch, ‘but we’ll be there in plenty of time.’
Dolly was clenching and unclenching her hands. ‘If I miss this board meeting, I’ll – I’ll—’
Julia glanced at Dolly, curiously. She seemed not to care about the diamonds, only that she had been set up. ‘What about the diamonds. Dolly?’ she said.
‘If Jimmy has done me over, he’ll regret it, he’ll pay for it, and he’ll cough up. His shop, his house, I’ll clean the little shit out, then I’ll have him taken out. I might even do it myself.’
Julia blinked, and then heard the toot-toot of a horn as Gloria drove up in a red Volvo. Dolly ordered her to move over as she wanted to drive, and they set off towards the motorway.
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