She didn’t speak for a while and he chatted on. ‘You’re looking well, long time no see.’
‘I am well, Jimmy, very well. How’s your wife?’
‘Oh, she’s her usual. Gone to see her sister in Brighton.’
‘That’s nice for her. Would you like a ride?’
He looked at the Ferris wheel. ‘No. Can’t stand those things.’
‘Oh, come on, it’ll be fun. I’m here to enjoy myself. Reason I chose here is because I saw an article. Princess Diana brings the princes here, did you know?’
He nodded. ‘That’s the big theme rides over the other side. This is another part, a fairground. It’s not part of the main park.’
‘I fancied that water ride, down a chute. I saw them in the paper. Never mind, we’ll make do with this now we’re here.’
Dolly winked at the spotty boy and paid for the ride, slipping him another tenner. He unbuckled the seat bar and helped her sit down.
‘Dolly, I’ve not got a head for heights.’
‘Oh, get in, Jimmy, I want to see the view.’
Donaldson was ushered into the seat and locked into his safety harness; below, the static interference was breaking up on the radios. Jimmy’s and Dolly’s voices were coming and going with a crackle and a buzz.
‘They’re on the Ferris wheel,’ a droll-voiced officer said into his radio.
‘We can see that,’ DCI Craigh muttered back. They could see them, hear them just about, and so far not one word about the diamonds. Mike was in the car, listening on the radio, clocking the time, wondering if his mother had picked up the fakes yet, getting more and more agitated. He hadn’t even seen Rawlins yet; he didn’t know how he’d deal with it if he did.
‘They’re on the ride,’ crackled his radio.
Mike pushed his earpiece further into his ear, wincing as the static caused by the steel girders on the Ferris wheel deafened him.
Donaldson clung to the safety bar as the wheel turned slowly. ‘There’s nobody else getting on,’ he panted.
‘Oh, there will be,’ she said, smiling.
‘Why are they doing it so slowly?’ he gasped, as they inched higher.
‘They got to allow for the punters to get on. So, have you got them for me?’
She said it so casually, he felt even sicker. ‘Er, not with me, it’s too dangerous.’
She stared ahead, and the wheel turned higher until they were almost at the top.
‘You’ve not got them, is that right?’
‘Yes — no — I’ve got them but not on me. You crazy? I couldn’t carry them around... Oh, oh, holy shit, is this bleedin’ thing safe?’
They remained poised at the top of the wheel and Dolly leaned forward, looking down, around and out to the views ahead. ‘Oh, isn’t it lovely? Isn’t it lovely, Jimmy?’
‘No, I’m gonna be sick.’
She faced him, her eyes like those of a small angry ferret. ‘You will be sick, Jimmy, if you’re trying it on. Are you trying it on with me, Jimmy?’
‘No, no, I swear. Listen, is there an alarm? I’m feeling sick, really I am. I hate swings, I hate heights, I’m dying, Dolly.’
She pushed at the seat with her feet. It swung backwards and forwards. ‘Where are they?’
‘At home! I got them at home!’ He was shaking in terror, his knuckles white from gripping the safety bar.
She looked down, waving cheerfully to the boy, and the wheel began to move down. ‘I’ll come for them tomorrow. I’ll call you.’
‘All right, all right, anythin’ you say...’
She nodded, and then leaned closer. ‘Life is too short to mess around, isn’t it? You won’t mess with me, will you, Jimmy? You see, I’ve been waiting eight years.’
‘Yeah, well, I got to get a good fence. I’m nowhere near big enough. I mean, you’re talking millions so you’ll need the very best.’
‘No, love, you won’t get anything but what belongs to me. I’ll do the rest and you’ll get your cut.’
DCI Craigh was ripping out his hair. They still had not mentioned the word ‘diamonds’. ‘Jesus Christ, say it, woman, say it.’
She never did. She left a white-faced Jimmy Donaldson leaning against the fence, throwing up, as she went out of the exit, carrying the white rabbit. They couldn’t lose her, couldn’t miss her, but she had not said the word diamonds, and neither had the stupid bastard Jimmy Donaldson.
Julia arrived at the station and put in a call to Ester, who when she was told that Dolly had spotted Julia, went into a screaming fit. Julia yelled back, saying that if she wanted to follow Dolly then she should have done it herself. ‘I’m going to see my mother, okay?’ Then she slammed down the phone, picked up the goldfish Dolly had given her and walked on to the platform to wait for the train. She wished she’d never agreed to the Dolly Rawlins business. She wished she didn’t know Ester, she wished she had not fucked herself up so badly, she wished she could start her life over again. She was such an idiot, such a stupid bitch to have got herself into such a mess.
It was after eight by the time Gloria arrived at her old place, which looked even more run-down in the dark. Just as she got out, Mrs Rheece came out of the front door. Gloria ran up the path. ‘Mrs Rheece, it’s me, Gloria Radford. I just come to pick up my stuff. Is that okay?’
‘You can do what you like, no business of mine. I don’t give a shit what anyone does. The council have been round askin’ after you and that bloke was here last night again, the one with the squint. I said to him you wasn’t here and he was fuckin’ abusive.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. You tell him to sod off the next time.’
‘There won’t be a next time, Mrs Radford, ’cos I’ll call the law on him.’
The old woman went off with her shopping trolley down the road, still muttering to herself about the council, as Gloria slipped round the back of the house to the old coal hut. It had been used as a bike shed, and rubbish bins were stacked up inside and out. She shone a torch round and began to move aside all the junk, ripping her tights and swearing. She was filthy as she squeezed her way into the back of the hut and then eased away old wooden boards. She was scared of being disturbed so she switched off the torch and fumbled around in the inky darkness. Then she felt the big canvas bag and began to heave with all her might. It was very heavy, but she managed to drag it out. She went back three times for two more bags before she shut the coal-hut door. She dragged each bag out to the Mini Traveller and hauled them inside, terrified that someone would see her, but no one even passed her in the street. Then she went up into her old flat, washed her hands and face, and collected a suitcase full of clothes before she left. She drove slowly, frightened of every passing police car. She knew that if she was stopped and the car was searched, she’d be arrested. Eddie’s stash, Eddie’s retirement money, was all in the back of the Mini: thirty thousand pounds’ worth of weapons.
She headed on to the motorway towards Aylesbury, her hands gripping the steering wheel, her whole body tense. ‘Please God, nobody stop me, please God, don’t break down, please God, let me get to the manor safely.’
Ester heard the front door slam and looked over the banisters. Connie, still wearing her dark glasses and headscarf, was dragging in her case.
‘Where the hell have you been all day?’
‘I need a fiver for the taxi, Ester.’
Ester thudded down the stairs. ‘I’m not a bloody charity, you know. I paid for everyone’s taxi yesterday.’ Ester stopped in her tracks as she saw Connie’s face. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
Connie burst into tears and ran past her, up the stairs, so Ester had to go out and pay off the taxi driver.
Audrey was in a right state. She had twice paged Mike on his mobile and he’d not returned her call. She now had the fake diamonds from Tommy and just having them in the flat made her freak. She kept on opening the pouch bag and looking at them, closing it up again, then standing over the telephone. ‘Ring, come on, ring me. I’ve got them, I’ve got them.’