‘And then what?’
She smiled. ‘Well, we want a cut and if she doesn’t like it, we’re gonna take it. But you keep your mouth shut about it.’
‘Who would I tell?’ he said bitterly.
She touched his hand. ‘You’ll have some nice things, I’ll get you anything you want, Eddie.’
He eased his hand away. ‘Who’s looking after my guns?’
Gloria looked round nervously, then leaned close to whisper, ‘They’re still out in the coal hut, I ain’t touched them.’
Eddie closed his eyes. ‘Brilliant! You’re not even at the fuckin’ house, that idiot bloke is hanging around and I got thirty grand’s worth of gear stashed out back. You fuckin’ out of your mind, Gloria?’
‘I don’t want anythin’ to do with them. I get picked up again and that’s me for ten years, Eddie. I told you I don’t want to know about them, it’s too dangerous.’
Eddie stared at her, shaking his head slowly. ‘I don’t believe you, Gloria, I don’t.’
She sat back. ‘Ah, Eddie, it’s too dangerous, you know it is.’
‘You listen to me, slag, you move them out of that place. I’ll get you a decent contact, you’ll flog them when I say so, understand me? You move them, you do that, Gloria. Get the gear, stash it where you’re staying with all the tarts, then I’ll get my friends to contact you. Gimme the number there.’
‘I can’t, the phone’s not connected, Eddie, on my mother’s life.’
Her mother had been dead since she was twelve but Eddie seemed to believe her, even though he also knew her old lady was six feet under. He swore and then the bell rang for the first section of visitors to move out. He gripped her hand tightly. ‘Get them. Then next time you come I’ll arrange for you to meet someone. You do it, Gloria, they’re all I got left in the world, them and you, so I’m depending on you, understand me? I depend on you, Gloria.’
She nodded and he drew her towards him and they kissed. She always felt like crying when he did that but this afternoon she was all on edge and she’d gone and told him about Dolly Rawlins. For a second she’d hoped he’d forgotten but he suddenly smiled. ‘And if that cow don’t want to part with her diamonds, you got the gear to make her, haven’t you? Use them, sweetheart. You get me some dough and we’ll go abroad, nice holiday when I get out.’
He was already being monitored by the officers, pointing for him to return to the corridor outside and be returned to his cell.
‘I love you, Eddie,’ she said softly.
‘I hope so, Gloria. Tarra, see you next week.’
He seemed quite cheerful as he walked after the prison officer, even offering him a cigarette. He’d got eighteen years and there he was talking about when they would go on a bloody holiday together. She’d have a zimmer frame by the time he got out.
Dolly paid off the taxi and carried her purchases inside the front entrance of the manor. Ester’s Range Rover was nowhere to be seen. She went straight to her bedroom and sorted out what she would wear for the afternoon, then started to pack her few things. She was leaving and would leave without a goodbye. She would get the cheque stopped. She swore at herself: she should have done that as soon as she came home. Dolly headed down the stairs as Ester breezed in, wafting a big brown envelope.
‘Hi! They said you’d left when I went to the town hall so I did a grocery shop. Here you go, Dolly, the lease all signed, and now the place is really all yours.’
‘Oh, is it? Well, you can take it and stuff it. I don’t want this place, I don’t want anything to do with you and I’m gonna stop that cheque.’
‘What?’
Dolly glared at Ester. ‘I said, I’m stopping that cheque. You really did me in, didn’t you? Never thought to mention this place was a brothel.’
Ester tossed the envelope down. ‘You knew what I was.’
‘I didn’t know you ran a whorehouse from here, though, did I?’
‘All you had to do was ask.’
‘They all know about this place, they told me at the social services.’
‘So what?’
This place has got such a bad reputation that, along with my record, you think they’ll give us the go-ahead?’
Ester looked to the ceiling. ‘Why should they even know I’m here, for one? This is bloody stupid, Dolly. For chrissakes, look at the place.’
‘That’s just what I have been doing and I’m out.’
Dolly was about to walk back up the stairs when Ester yelled, ‘You tell me where you’ll find a better place for kids. There’s a swimming pool, stables, you can bloody have twenty kids here. They’ll be more likely to give you the go-ahead on a place like this that’s crying out for kids than any terraced place in fucking Islington or Holloway or wherever you planned to buy it — and they cost, Dolly. You’ve been away a long time, any house in that area’s gonna cost you at least a hundred and fifty grand. Here you got beds, furniture, linen, all thrown in, but if you don’t want it, then that’s up to you...’
Julia walked out and leaned on the kitchen door. ‘She’s right, you know, Dolly. This is a fabulous place for kids.’
Dolly hesitated. Julia’s soft voice seemed to calm her. ‘The orchard and the gardens, the pool doesn’t need much doing to it, then you can even get a horse for the stables... You list all those to the services and...’
Ester winked at Julia. ‘She’s right, Dolly. I mean, you’d get grants, wouldn’t you? Each kid’d bring in about two hundred a week. I’m right, aren’t I, Julia?’
‘Yep, and then you’d get grants to rebuild and convert...’
Dolly sat down on the stairs, more confused than ever. Ester glanced at her watch. All she needed was a few more hours for the cheque to go into the system then Dolly couldn’t stop it as it would have gone through.
‘Look, why don’t we make an inventory, list all the gear? There’s all the crockery, glasses, tableware — that’d cost if you started from scratch.’
Dolly frowned. ‘I got to go to London, let me think about it.’
‘You want a lift, do you? To the station?’
Dolly nodded, got up and went to her room.
‘By tomorrow the cheque will have gone through,’ Ester said quietly to Julia. ‘Where do you think she’s going?’
‘I don’t know, do I?’
Ester pulled her into the kitchen. ‘What if she’s going for the diamonds?’
Julia chewed at a fingernail. ‘If she’s got millions of quid’s worth of diamonds, how come she’s getting so hot under the collar about laying out cash for this place?’
‘Because she’s a tight-fisted old bag, that’s why!’
‘Yeah, you may be right, but if she’s tight-fisted now, how do you think she’ll feel if we were to take the diamonds off her?’
‘I don’t give a shit how she feels. If she gets them, then so do we. You make some excuse, say you got to go to London as well, see where she goes and who she talks to.’
‘Oh, for chrissakes, Ester, that’s ridiculous. You mean follow her around?’
‘What the hell do you think I mean?’
By the time Dolly came back downstairs, Julia was already sitting in the Range Rover.
‘Julia’s got to go and see her mother so she’ll catch the train with you.’
‘What’s the matter with her mother?’ Dolly asked as she followed Ester out.
‘She’s old and being kept in the lap of luxury by her beloved daughter. She has no idea Julia was even picked up and put in the slammer, never mind that she was a junkie. Julia’s been paying for her for years, she’s in a wheelchair or somethin’, so that’s housekeepers and cleaners and... you name it. That’s why Julia’s broke.’
Julia knew Ester was talking about her and she turned to stare across the stable yard. Sometimes she hated Ester. As soon as Dolly got into the car, she started asking her about her mother. ‘She’s very old, Dolly. I don’t see why she should be upset or for that matter know what a mess I’ve made of my life.’