Dolly opened the Mini and got inside. ‘We’ll talk about them later.’
‘They’re worth quite a bit, you know. Nearly thirty grand, Eddie said.’
Dolly wound down the window. ‘And they could have got us arrested. When I come back we’ll talk.’
‘Okay. I’ll cut you in, Dolly, that’s only fair.’ Dolly started the engine and backed the Mini down the drive, Gloria still following her. ‘Say twenty per cent?’
Dolly drove off and Gloria watched the car disappear down the drive before she turned back to Kathleen. ‘They’re my ruddy guns. She’s got to give them back to me, hasn’t she?’ Kathleen shaded her eyes to look towards the gates.
What you think she did with them?’ Gloria asked moodily.
‘Hid them, thank Christ,’ said Kathleen.
Audrey clutched her handbag, standing in the centre of the car park. Dolly pulled up and Audrey climbed into the Mini. The level-crossing gates were closed. ‘What’s up?’ Audrey asked, staring at the railway crossing.
‘Must be a train due.’
Raymond Dewey saw Dolly and waved. She lowered the window. ‘Hello, Raymond, you on duty, are you?’ He came to the car and shook her hand, then introduced himself to Audrey. She pressed herself back in her seat as his square head poked through the window. ‘How long will we be kept waiting?’ Dolly asked.
‘Oh, might be a few minutes. Not like the mail train, always a long delay every Thursday, always a delay. This is the three twenty, local.’ He returned to his stool to jot down notes in his precious book as Audrey and Dolly sat in silence. They watched the train pass in front of them before the gates slowly lifted.
‘Bloody nutter,’ said Audrey as they passed him, now gesturing them on like a traffic controller.
They went into the local pub and Audrey took a corner seat at the bay window as Dolly got the drinks. She clutched her bag, not sure how Dolly would take it, and when the gin and tonic was put down she knocked it back fast to try to calm her nerves. ‘Right, I’ve got you all I could. Twenty grand.’
Dolly sipped her drink. ‘I hope you’re joking.’
‘No, I’m not. It’s all I could get. I brought bank statements, everything, you can see for yourself that’s all I could get. The rest, like I told you, went into the villa. I’ll sell it, split the profits, but it’ll take a while.’ Audrey opened her bag and took out a thick envelope. She was about to pass it to Dolly when Norma walked up.
‘Hello, Mrs Rawlins.’
Dolly gave a tight, brittle smile. ‘Hello, Norma. I’d offer to buy you a drink but we’re just leaving. Audrey, this is Norma. She’s a mounted police officer.’
Audrey gaped. ‘Oh, nice to meet you.’
Dolly waved at Raymond as they passed him again and drove into the station car park. Audrey still clutched her bag. She was sweating with nerves, wishing Dolly would say something, but she drove in silence.
‘I’ll need my passport, Dolly, and me ticket for Spain.’
Dolly engaged the handbrake and leaned over to open the glove compartment. ‘Here, take them, and give me the money.’ Audrey passed her the envelope. She snatched it. She didn’t count the money, just shoved it into her pocket. ‘I don’t want to see you or hear from you again, Audrey. Just get out of my sight.’
Audrey fumbled with the door handle, couldn’t wait to get away. She ran into the station, afraid Dolly might get out and attack her — she’d turned those chipped-ice eyes on her with such hatred. But Dolly had no intention of running after Audrey. It was, as she had said, the last time she ever wanted to see her.
Twenty thousand pounds! And she had believed she would have millions. Well, she would make do. Somehow she’d make the house work. She wouldn’t let this set her back.
Gloria and Connie were sitting at the kitchen table playing noughts and crosses when Dolly got back. ‘Did you get milk?’ Connie asked.
‘No. Shops were closed, wasted journey.’
Gloria screwed up the paper. ‘About Eddie’s guns, Dolly.’
Dolly took off her coat. ‘We’ll go and get them when it’s dark but right now I’d like a cup of tea, if that’s all right with you — even if we haven’t got any milk.’
Julia was lying face down on the bed. She didn’t look up when Dolly tapped on the door and walked in. ‘I need a hand, Julia. We’re going to get the guns and—’ Julia tried to sit up but fell face forward. Dolly saw the empty bottle on the floor. ‘You’d better sleep it off, we’ll manage without you.’
‘We’ll need spades and a wheelbarrow,’ Dolly said to Gloria and then, as Connie, all dressed up, walked into the kitchen, ‘You going too, are you?’
Connie shook her head. ‘No, I’m going out with that builder bloke.’
Gloria nudged Connie and said to Dolly, ‘I told her earlier to get the old leg over and he’d maybe work for nothin’.’
Dolly shook her head at Gloria, as if she was a naughty kid, and then asked Connie to come into the room she now used as an office. She gave her an envelope with ten thousand pounds cash inside. ‘Give this to him, will you? Tell him he’ll get the rest next week and if he could get the men back to work over the weekend, I’d be grateful.’
‘Okay.’ Connie slipped the envelope into her pocket.
Dolly hesitated, then patted Connie’s arm. ‘Be nice to him. Be a help to me, know what I mean?’
Connie bit her lip. ‘Sure, pay my way, so to speak.’
‘Good. So you have a nice evening, then, and we’ll see you later.’
Connie met John outside the manor gates. He’d changed into a suit and Connie was touched by the effort he’d made. He was all fingers and thumbs, easing her inside, apologizing for the van, before they drove off.
‘I thought we’d eat out. Do you like Chinese?’
‘Chinese is fine.’
‘God, I’m hungry,’ complained Gloria, as she pushed the wheelbarrow through the woods.
Kathleen trudged along with two spades. ‘Got to hand it to you, Dolly, if you hadn’t stashed them, we’d be in a right old mess.’
Gloria scowled, all the time wondering just how much Dolly would tap her for Eddie’s guns, but the further they walked, the more she realized how together Dolly was to have hidden them so far from the house and to have done it on her own. As if she was reading her mind, Dolly looked at her. ‘I did it in three trips, Gloria, took half the night.’
Julia listened, her dulled senses making out the sound of the telephone ringing and ringing. She stumbled out of her room and almost fell down the stairs.
‘Anyone here? Hello?’
No one answered and the phone still rang. She lurched towards it, snatching it up. ‘Ester? Is that you?’
‘Is Connie there?’ said a man’s voice.
Julia swung round and stared into the kitchen. ‘Connie? Connie?’
Lennie sat back in the car, gazing out of the window.
‘She’s not here,’ Julia slurred.
‘Okay. I’m coming to meet her but I seem to be in a dead end road. How do I get to the Grange?’
Julia began to give him directions. As they were all leaving the manor, she supposed Connie must have arranged for Lennie to collect her. She was too drunk to think of the implications or to remember that Connie was terrified of him.
Lennie slipped the portable back into the glove compartment of his shining Porsche and started to reverse. He swore when the car sank into a pothole, the mud splashing the gleaming paintwork. Then he drove cautiously down the lane.
Connie giggled as the waiter presented John with the bill and his eyes popped at the amount, due to the champagne she had ordered. But he paid up, digging into the envelope Connie had given him from Dolly. She felt a bit bad about ordering champagne and became over-friendly, rubbing his arm and, beneath the table, pressing her legs hard against his. He flushed as she kicked off her shoe and let her toes stroke his crotch. He had never come across a woman like Connie and he felt inadequate, to say the least. ‘Do you think she’ll be able to pay the rest?’ he asked, trying to appear nonchalant as Connie’s toes stroked the fly of his trousers.