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 them? 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.’