‘There isn’t, Sue, honestly, there’s no one. I’m not seeing anyone else, I swear to you, and this is starting to get on my nerves.’
She turned over again, and lay awake for about ten minutes, crying silently, until she couldn’t stand it any longer and turned back to him, but he was fast asleep. She’d been through his pockets again and this time she’d found a crumpled half page torn from an old diary. There was a phone number and a name. Angela. She’d called the number, asked to speak to Angela, but a woman had said she no longer lived there, had no idea where she was, and slapped down the receiver. Susan realized she should have said that the girl on the phone had said her name was Angela, confronted him, but then he could have asked the real Angela if she’d called and spoken to his wife. She punched the pillow. Nothing in the world was worse than lying next to someone, hearing them sleep, when you couldn’t. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. She wondered who Angela was, if it was her, if there was anybody, or if it was her own paranoia, because she sensed, deep down — probably like every woman who suspects their lover or husband is seeing someone else constantly makes excuses, because she is afraid of the truth.
The bottle was empty. The women sat listening to Dolly as she twisted the wine glass round by the stem. ‘There were the four of us, all widows, Linda Pirellie, Bella, Shirley Miller and me. They’re all dead.’
Angela stared. She knew the name Shirley Miller, knew it very well because it was the name Mike was always saying. It was his sister’s.
‘Anyway, when it was over, I knew it would be just a matter of time before they picked me up so I sorted out the stones. I left them with a friend of mine, someone I knew I could trust.’
‘You left them with someone for eight years?’ Ester asked uneasily.
‘Yes, but, like I said, I knew he wouldn’t try anything because I got so much on him. Well, my husband did.’
‘Harry,’ Gloria said eagerly.
‘You’ve read about him, have you?’ Dolly looked at the old newspaper cuttings, the xerox copies. One had his face on the front page: ‘Harry Rawlins Murdered’, screamed the headline. ‘I know what I did was wrong,’ Dolly said softly. No one spoke, but they all watched and listened intently. ‘I killed him. I paid the price. And probably I’m the only person who still mourns him, I always will. In some ways I tried to be him, before I knew what he’d done to me, before I knew he had a cheap little tart of a girlfriend, before I knew she’d got his kid. I tried to be him, as if keeping him alive inside me, but the laugh was on me because he was alive.’
The women began to inch towards them the old reportage of the robbery and the murder; hearing her speaking so softly about what she had done was unnerving.
‘I’m serious about putting something back into society. He took it out for years and years, and I want to make up for it. I truly want to open a foster home. It’s serious with me and I know I can do it. I can give a home for the unwanted, the kids with babies, the drug addicts... I want to have a purpose for the rest of my life.’
Ester nodded. ‘Yeah, well, we all agree it’s a great idea, and you may regret buying this place now but when you done it up, Dolly, think how many kids you can give a place to.’
Dolly sighed. ‘Yeah, it’s just the finances, isn’t it? And that’s what I’m going to use the diamonds for. Now, if any of you have any thoughts about getting a cut, then you’ve not got a hope in hell. I’m not planning on sharing this with any one of you. They are mine, all mine, and I’ll need every penny.’
‘But we know that. All we’re offering is to help you run this place,’ Ester said warmly, and the other women muttered in agreement.
Julia leaned forward. ‘Will you need any help in getting them from this guy? Any help fencing them? Surely we can help you there.’
‘For what? A cut?’ Dolly asked.
‘Hell, no, just to show you how we all feel,’ Ester said, beaming. She could almost feel the money in her hands, she was so close.
Dolly leaned back. ‘Well, you can stay or go, up to you, but you’ll have to earn your wages. I’m going to maybe need some help, I’ve been away a long time, and I’m not sure who to fence them to.’
Kathleen received a dig beneath the table. ‘Eh, Dolly, leave that to me, I know the best. You get them and we’ll soon have them sorted out, and cash in your hand. How much you reckon they’re worth?’
Dolly paused before she answered. ‘Maybe three and a half million... I doubt if I’ll see more than one, maybe one and a quarter back.’
There was a lot of murmuring and quiet sneaky looks as they each suddenly felt rich, their good mood lifting them into suggesting ways of fencing. Then Dolly stood up. ‘I’m collecting them tomorrow so we’ll soon see what the value is. Now I’m off to bed, maybe just have a walk around. Goodnight.’
They all chorused goodnight, as Dolly fetched her coat, refusing everyone’s offer to join her.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Ester put out her hand. ‘Put it there. What did I tell you?’
A few slapped Ester’s hand, but Julia rocked in her chair. ‘She doesn’t seem eager to give us a cut, Ester. Maybe you’re starting to celebrate a bit too early.’
Ester gazed at her. ‘She brings them here and we don’t get a cut, we don’t wait for her to fence them, we simply take them! Agreed?’
They all nodded. They seemed to have forgotten Angela who had not said a word throughout. Ester suddenly realized she was there and reached out to prod her. ‘You just got lucky, darlin’, but open your mouth to her about this and you’ll be sorry, very sorry.’
Angela hunched her shoulders. ‘I won’t say anything to anyone.’ But her mind was buzzing. This was a way to get Mike on the phone. At least he’d talk to her if she told him about the diamonds.
Ester twitched back her bedroom curtain, the room in darkness. ‘She’s still out there, Julia, looking up at the house, as if she’s checking us out.’
‘Try just checking out what you lumbered her with,’ Julia drawled, lying in the bed.
Ester jumped on the bed, crawling towards Julia who opened her arms to her.
‘Can I ask you something?’ Julia said as Ester nuzzled her neck. ‘Would you kill her for them?’
Ester lay back against the pillows. ‘No. Let me ask you something. If she caught us taking them, do you think Dolly would kill?’
Julia thought for a moment and then said, very softly, ‘I’m sure of it.’
Dolly paced round the garden. She was cold, the night chilling her, but she didn’t want to go inside. It was talking about him, it brought it all back. She walked slowly towards the swimming pooclass="underline" the dank, dark water made her remember even more clearly. The way he smiled at her, waiting there by the big ornate lake. He never expected her to kill him, not for a second, and she would never forget the look of total surprise on his face when she brought out the gun and fired: a half mocking smile, then that moment of fear. And then he was dead, his body falling backwards into the water.
She rubbed her arms, turning back to the house. She was going to make this work, with or without that bunch of slags. She knew that she would need help, though, and she toyed with giving them a few hundred each, but the bulk was going to be put into bricks and mortar, into making Grange Manor House her dream come true, on a bigger scale than she had ever hoped for. And it had been her dreams that had kept her going for all those long, empty years in prison.
Chapter 6
Dolly was up at six. She went through the Yellow Pages and earmarked the local building companies. She couldn’t wait to get started. At nine, she had Angela sitting at the reception desk, calling all the companies and asking for them to come and give estimates. She had been making out copious lists of all the contents of the manor, giving the women orders to list what they felt needed to be done in different parts of the house. They all went about the delegated duties with a zest and energy that sparkled like the diamonds they had all expected to get a slice of.