DCI Craigh was standing in the hall. ‘They got them,’ Palmer gasped.
Craigh relaxed. ‘Talk about cutting it fine. Let’s have a look at them.’
‘They’ve not put it on record yet.’
‘I’ll do it when I go in,’ Craigh said, as he eased open the velvet pouch. ‘Holy shit, look at the size of some of those stones,’ he said in awe, then pulled the drawstring tight. ‘Look, we don’t let these out of our sight — that’s your job and yours only, you watch these babies, okay?’
Craigh walked in and held up the bag to Jimmy Donaldson. ‘Saved by the bell, sonny Jim, we got them.’
Donaldson looked over with baleful eyes. ‘Just so long as you get her. She plugged her old man and I don’t want her loose and after me.’
Craigh smirked. ‘That’s the whole point of the exercise, Jimmy. We want her back inside for nicking these.’
Mike stared blankly from his position by the window. He’d just about given up on them finding the stones in time but he couldn’t say anything, daren’t risk going back to Donaldson’s shop or it would look suspicious. All he hoped for now was that Rawlins would arrive, get nicked, and whatever happened about the diamonds could be laid at Donaldson’s feet, or somebody else’s. Anyone could have switched those stones over the past eight years and he and his bloody mother would be in the clear.
‘What time is it?’ he asked. Everyone looked at his watch, including Donaldson.
‘We’ve almost an hour to wait until she collects.’
As expected, Angela and Ester were in London with time to spare. They were parked close to Ladbroke Grove tube station, eating hamburgers. Well, Ester was, Angela couldn’t stomach anything. She was in a state of nerves, wondering if she would have to face Mike.
‘I don’t drive.’
Ester turned to her with her mouth full. ‘What did you say?’
‘I said I don’t drive. Well, I do, but not very well. I never passed my driving test and now, with my nerves I–I just don’t think I’ll be able to drive.’
Ester tossed the half-eaten hamburger out of the window. ‘Well, it’s a fucking brilliant time to tell me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Ester sighed. ‘Okay, we switch. You collect, I’ll drive.’
Angela chewed at her nails. ‘I don’t think we should do this, Ester. I’m scared. What if we get arrested?’
‘For what? For chrissakes, stop bleatin’. All we’re doing is picking up some hot gear. Now shut up, it’s one thirty, we can start to head up the road soon.’
‘It’s one thirty,’ squawked Gloria.
‘You tell me the time just once more...’ snarled Julia, and then looked up ahead. ‘Oh shit, look at the traffic! It’s a bloody jam.’
Dolly slowed down, took a look at the clock on the dashboard. ‘We can still make it. We get on to the flyover, it’s only about fifteen minutes from there.’
‘We’re nowhere near the bloody flyover,’ yelled Gloria, and Julia reached over and whacked her one. Gloria pressed back into the seat as they inched forward, a long line of cars up ahead, bumper to bumper. ‘This is not what I call very professional. You should have made a better arrangement, Dolly. I mean, just saying you’d pick ’em up at two o’clock.’ She yelped as Dolly pulled out and drove up alongside the rows of orange cones and signs depicting workmen on the road. ‘Fuckin’ hell, you’ll get us arrested next,’ she screeched. But they made it to the head of the traffic, nudged into the line of cars as an irate driver gave the V sign, then one finger and a flow of verbals. Gloria wound down her window. ‘I got a pregnant woman here, you prick, fuck off.’
The man stared as Dolly pressed on, horn blasting, as she cleared the rest of the traffic and headed towards Edgware Road.
Ester checked her watch. It was ten minutes to two. She eased into first gear. ‘Let’s go for it. We wait any longer and you’ll be chewed down to your knuckles. It’s at the end of Ladbroke Grove and off to the right.’
They drove down Ladbroke Grove, passing the police station on the right-hand side. ‘Police station,’ Angela whispered.
‘Thank you, I might not have noticed it,’ Ester said, but she drove carefully, not wanting any aggro at this stage.
Heading from the opposite direction, racing off the Harrow Road, came Dolly. Now she asked for a time-keep every two minutes as they headed down the road.
‘It’s off to the right. If they keep to two o’clock, we’ll just catch them.’
Craigh looked at the clock. It was nine minutes to two. Donaldson was sweating now and Craigh leaned towards him. ‘When she rings the doorbell, you answer, bring her in here, bag is open, and all she’s got to do is...’
Mike turned from the window. He pressed his radio earpiece closer. ‘Nothing yet, road’s still clear.’
The two officers outside waited, eyes to the front, eyes to their wing and rear view mirrors. The road remained empty.
Then it happened. The Range Rover was coming towards them just as, screaming up from the opposite end of the road, was the red Volvo but they couldn’t see it clearly because the Range Rover obstructed their view. They saw Angela get down and then all hell broke loose. The Volvo mounted the pavement, Gloria hanging out of the window. ‘Get back, get out of here!’
Angela was hauled into the Volvo, Julia legged it after the Range Rover and jumped aboard, and the two cars disappeared, the exchange taking no more than half a minute. The two officers got out. They turned this way and that, as DCI Craigh hurtled out of the house.
‘What the fuck is going on?’
‘We dunno. Woman ran from one car, driven off in another.’
Craigh started to swear. ‘Was it her? Was it Dolly Rawlins?’
Mike was at the window, shouting, ‘What the hell is going on? It was her — it was Dolly Rawlins, for chrissakes. Why aren’t they going after the goddamned car?’
Palmer turned on Mike. ‘What the fuck for? Drivin’ too fast? We dunno if it was her or not. Just stop actin’ crazy.’
Mike ran out of the house. It was a total cock-up and it was at this moment Jimmy Donaldson saw his chance. He saw the stones, he saw Palmer with his back to him, and he was alone. He picked up the heavy glass ashtray, whacked Palmer over the back of the head, picked up the bag of diamonds and he was out, closing the door. The kitchen door closed as he let himself out the back way, leapt over a fence and took off down the narrow alley running between the houses.
Craigh leaned into the patrol car. He couldn’t believe what had happened. They had three digits of the index on the vehicle, but the two officers were just as confused as to what they’d seen.
‘We saw a Range Rover, right? Cruised up behind us, I mean, it wasn’t a blonde at the wheel, right? But a reddish-haired woman. We saw it stop, young kid gets out, sort of walks a few paces, next minute this fucking car screams up.’
Craigh rubbed his head. ‘You see the driver at all?’
The officer pulled at his collar. ‘Yeah, it looked like a friggin’ car full of women, one was blonde.’
The second officer peered across to the sweating Craigh. ‘No, two were blonde. There was one hanging out the window doin’ all the screamin’. Two blondes.’
Craigh breathed in, told them to see if there was any police car within the vicinity.
‘What you want, Gov?’
Craigh turned in a fury. ‘Not this fuckin’ mess for starters. Just see if we can get a full reg on the car.’
‘Which one? One with the blondes or the Range Rover?’
The Range Rover was already moving out on to the Shepherd’s Bush flyover, Julia panting with fear as Ester pressed her foot down. ‘Not too fast, slow it down, keep in the near lane.’