‘I nearly went back inside for this crap, Tommy, so you tell me who ordered you to make them up.’
Mike knew something was up the moment the Tannoy rang out for him to go into DCI Craigh’s office. Craigh looked up at him as he knocked sheepishly and entered. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk and told Mike to sit down. Mike could see a stack of files on his desk, one with Dolly Rawlins’s name printed across it. ‘Right, let’s go from the top and don’t bullshit me.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘I think you do. I am in it right up to my fucking ears over this Donaldson business. I’ve got the Super, the prison authorities, Donaldson’s wife, his parole officer, all breathing fumes all over me so I’ll kick it off, shall I? How did you know that Rawlins had bought the manor house?’
‘My informant.’
‘Oh, yeah? Which one?’
Mike flushed and explained about Angela, how he’d busted her along with Ester Freeman.
‘You booked her, did you?’
‘No, she was never charged. She wasn’t on the game, she was just serving food at the house for the tarts and their punters.’
‘So she told you all about Rawlins, her buying the manor?’
‘Yes.’
‘So who was the informant on the diamonds? Same source? You said it was a kid in Brixton with Donaldson. That’s the only name I’ve got down as an informant.’
‘Yes, that’s true. When he told me, I contacted Angela and that’s how I knew all the women were staying there.’
Craigh pushed his chair back and wandered around the office, hands stuffed in his pockets. ‘Anything else? I mean, is there anything else you’ve not told me?’ Mike licked his lips as Craigh came to stand close, leaning down so his face was almost touching Mike’s. ‘What about that diamond robbery, Mike? You want to tell me about that? Better still, tell me about Shirley Miller.’ Mike closed his eyes. Craigh prodded him and he hunched away. ‘This was personal, wasn’t it?’ Mike nodded. ‘Your sister was killed on that diamond raid.’
‘Yes.’
‘Not on your original application form, Mike. There is no mention that you even had a fucking sister.’
Mike gave a half-smile. ‘I didn’t reckon it’d look good on my C V, Gov.’
‘Don’t you fucking joke with me, this isn’t funny. Let’s go from the top again. Your sister worked with Dolly Rawlins and—’
Mike interrupted, ‘She used her, she manipulated her, she was only twenty-one, a beauty queen and...’
Craigh returned to his desk. Mike was close to breaking down, his voice faltering. ‘I didn’t have all that much to do with her. I was in the army, stationed in Germany when she was killed. Then when I joined up with the Met it was, like, all in the past, but my mum, er—’ He was floundering, trying not to implicate Audrey. The sweat was pouring off him. ‘I saw her grave, right? And I felt guilty that I’d never come home, never even sent flowers, and... my mum, always on and on about Dolly Rawlins. I’m sorry, I am really sorry...’
Mike sniffed, trying to hold on to his emotions because he wasn’t acting any more. The more he tried to explain about Shirley, the more her face kept flashing across his mind and in the end he bowed his head. ‘I loved her a lot. She was a lovely kid.’ Craigh remained silent, staring at him. ‘I know Rawlins instigated that robbery, I know it.’
‘Eh, Mike son, Rawlins was sent down for murder, she killed her husband. It was never proved that she ever had anything to do with that diamond heist.’
‘But she had.’
‘You don’t have any proof.’ Craigh pursed his lips. ‘Listen, to what i’m saying, Mike. Dolly Rawlins was never even charged with that heist. There was never a shred of evidence to link her to it. But your sister was no angel, her husband was a known villain, so don’t give me all this whitewash Mother Teresa act. All I know is you used personal motives to instigate a full-scale operation, drawing in me, DI Palmer, the whole team on a mad caper that has landed us all in shit, making us all look like prize fucking idiots.’
‘I know she was going for those diamonds,’ Mike stuttered.
‘No, you don’t. You don’t know anything. It’s all been supposition because you had a private and personal motive against Rawlins.’
‘She got away with murder.’
‘She didn’t, she served her sentence, and as far as being implicated in the Donaldson business she has an alibi, and a very strong one, that she wasn’t even near Ladbroke Grove the day he was run over.’
‘We had any joy tracing the car?’
‘What car? How many red Rovers or red Volvos are there in London?’
Mike remained silent as Craigh jangled the change in his pockets, relenting slightly.
‘We’ve got Traffic running around like blue-arsed flies — they always love a challenge. We got nothing from the road where Donaldson got hit, we’ve not got one decent eyewitness. In fact we’ve got bugger all. But we do have a nasty, dirty mess that I’ve got to clear up.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I hope to Christ you are. And from now on you stay clear of this Rawlins bitch or I’ll have you back wearing a big hat, understand me?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Now piss off and I’ll see if I can iron all this out.’
Craigh watched Mike walk out with his head bent. Picking up Rawlins’s file, he stared at her hard profile in the mug-shots and began to flick through her record sheet. He put in a call to the Aylesbury social services to double-check one more time that Rawlins was, as she had stated, being interviewed by the board members of the council.
Angela knew something was very wrong when Dolly walked stiffly back to the taxi. She opened the door and got in. ‘Go back to the manor — get the train home.’
‘Aren’t you coming with me?’
‘No. Just get on your way. I’ve got someone to see.’
‘Well, don’t you need a lift?’
‘No, I want to be on my own for a while.’
Dolly passed over a ten-pound note and walked off down the road as Angela directed the cab driver to take her back to Marylebone station.
Mike let himself in and called Susan, but the house was silent. He checked the time and assumed she was collecting the kids. He sat down in the hall, knowing he’d had a narrow escape. The phone rang and he jumped.
Angela was at the station in a phone booth. She was relieved when Mike answered but taken aback when he yelled at her never to call his home again.
‘Well, I needed to speak to you. I’m in London, I came here with Dolly. She got the diamonds, Mike, she had them with her.’
Mike stood up, trying to keep his voice calm. ‘You sure? Where is she now?’
Angela told him where she had been, and then Mike said he had to go, he couldn’t talk any more. His head felt as if it was blowing apart. If Dolly Rawlins had the diamonds then she had to have run over Jimmy Donaldson.
She had to have killed him. She had the diamonds, she killed Donaldson, she must know by now they were fakes. It seemed that any way he moved the shackles were on him, getting him in deeper and deeper. One thing, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. She wouldn’t go to the law, but he knew one place she would go and his panic went into overdrive. He hoped to Christ his mother was out of the country. He grabbed the phone and dialled her number.
Angela sat on the station platform. She had tried to call Mike again but the number was engaged. She kept trying but it was constantly busy. She was near to tears, sure he’d taken it off the hook. There was also something else she had to tell him: she’d missed two periods.