Ester walked slowly down the stairs and stopped. Angela was hunched over the telephone in the hall, acting furtively.
‘I’m positive, I got to see you.’
‘Who you calling?’ Ester asked.
Angela whipped round, dropping the phone back on the hook. ‘Just my mum. I’ll get you some breakfast.’
Ester continued her slow progress down the stairs; she felt terrible. She felt even worse when Norma drove into the yard, tooting the horn to herald her arrival. ‘Get rid of her, Angela, go on, get out there.’
Angela was scared stiff. ‘But there’s a body in the car.’
‘All the more reason to get rid of her, isn’t it?’
Norma was lugging down some bags of feed for the horse and smiled as Angela approached. ‘Hi, I was just passing so I thought I’d drop this lot off.’
‘Everybody’s out,’ Angela said lamely.
‘Oh, can you just give me a hand?’
Angela began to help her take a sack out of her truck and into the stables. She could see Gloria’s dripping Mini out of the corner of her eye.
‘Did you have visitors last night? I noticed a flash Porsche parked in the lane on my way home from work but it’s not there this morning.’
‘No, we didn’t have anyone call in.’
‘Give Julia my regards. Tell her I’ll maybe drop by later, see if she wants a ride.’
‘Okay.’
That’s a nice car.’ Norma pointed to the Saab.
‘Oh yes, it’s a friend of... er...’ Angela almost wet herself she was so scared.
Norma wasn’t really listening. She was disappointed that Julia wasn’t around and returned to her truck, patting it. This is all I can afford. Ah, well, it gets me from A to B.’
She climbed in, and drove off past the builders, who were having a tea-break, and waved. The sun had come out, they’d been paid, so they were in a good mood, and waved back.
Dolly felt the blood rush to her cheeks as she read the letter. Her application to open Grange Manor House as a children’s home had been turned down. She walked stiffly into the drawing room as Ester appeared.
‘Just a word of advice. That little Angela’s making QT phone calls.’
Dolly nodded, not listening, so Ester went back to bed.
Angela came in a few moments later with a cup of tea. ‘That Norma brought feed for the horse. She even looked right at the Mini — I was scared stiff.’
Dolly roused herself and sighed. ‘I’ve been turned down.’
She proffered the letter to Angela, who read it and then looked at her. ‘But they don’t even say why. You should at least ask them. Why don’t you call them on Monday?’
Dolly considered. ‘Yeah, I got a right to know why they rejected me.’
Connie drove Lennie’s Porsche across the river and to the small garage Dolly had told her would buy it without asking too many questions. She was calmer now and waited as two mechanics looked it over. She’d told them it was her boyfriend’s and he had just got a job abroad. They continued checking the engine and left the cash negotiation to Ron Delaney, the garage owner, a young, flashy, overconfident man wearing a bright track-suit and heavy gold chains. He didn’t waste much time: if he had any suspicions about the car he didn’t press them but gave a cash deal price below the ‘book’. Connie accepted twelve thousand pounds in fifties and twenties, eager to get back to the manor.
Gloria waited to be searched before entering the visitors’ section at Brixton. When her name was called, she hurried over to Eddie, who was already sitting at the table. He looked her up and down. ‘You look different,’ he said nonchalantly.
‘Yeah, it’s all the fresh air.’
‘What you brought me?’
‘Nothin’. I didn’t have any time and I’ve not got any cash.’
‘Every time you come you got a line of bullshit, Gloria. Last time you said—’
‘I know what I said. It all went wrong, there’s no payoff.’
‘No? What about the diamonds?’
‘Fakes. So now I got to sell the gear, Eddie. I’m flat broke and I got to pay her rent. There’s no need to flog the lot but if you got a contact then...’
‘No way.’
Gloria leaned closer. ‘Eddie, I got them at the manor. We’ve already had one bleedin’ search done — they come back and...’ Eddie started to peel off his papers to roll a cigarette. Gloria bent closer. ‘Eddie, she’ll have to have a bit of a cut.’
‘Who?’
‘You know who. Dolly Rawlins. If it wasn’t for her they could have arrested the lot of us. It’s only fair.’
‘Is it?’
‘Oh, come on, Eddie, just gimme a name, I’ll do the business. You know me, you can trust me.’
‘Can I?’
Gloria pursed her lips. ‘What’s the matter with you?’
Eddie opened his baccy tin. ‘That stash is mine, my insurance for when I get out. Now, if it was just you, maybe I’d be prepared to—’
‘What you mean, if it was just me? Of course it is.’
‘No, it isn’t. Now you want to give her a cut, next she’ll want more, so if she wants to make a deal you tell her to come and see me. Maybe I’ll do a deal with her, maybe I won’t.’
‘She won’t come in here, Eddie.’
He fingered his tobacco carefully, laying it out on the paper. Tell her she got no option.’
Dolly listened as Julia described the cemetery and the recent burials also that graves already dug and waiting for funerals were at the far side. Connie returned with the money and passed it over to Dolly. She had seen no one at Lennie’s flat and she had done exactly as Dolly had told her. She was rewarded with a frosty smile of gratitude. Gloria arrived back later that afternoon and told Dolly what Eddie had said.
‘He wants me to go and see him in the nick?’ Dolly was livid. ‘No way, I’ll sort something. He won’t be out, Gloria, for a very long time. In the meantime they’re here, in the house, and I don’t like it. The sooner we’re rid of them the better.’
Tommy Malin wanted a fifty per cent cut. He agreed to arrange a buyer, one he could trust, and they would exchange that night. Gloria was furious — Eddie would go out of his mind. Why pay some bloke fifty per cent? It was madness.
‘We pay because I want cash and I want to get rid of them.’
‘Then go and talk to Eddie.’
‘No. I can trust Tommy.’
‘You sayin’ you can’t trust Eddie?’
‘Can you?’
Gloria was gobsmacked.
‘He’s in the nick. Who knows who he’ll put you in touch with? We do as I say. We sell the guns to Tommy Malin’s contact.’
‘We could bleedin’ sell them to the Queen Mother for a fifty per cent cut,’ stormed Gloria, but Dolly walked out. Conversation over.
Mike ran along the stone corridor and up the stairs to Audrey’s flat. He banged hard on the door and she opened it with the chain still on. ‘It’s me — come on — let me in.’
She looked at him fearfully. What’s happened?’
‘I want you to put in a call for me. I just got a tip-off about something and I can’t do anything about it but maybe we’ll get her after all.’
‘Who?’
‘Who the hell do you think?’
‘Dolly? What do you want me to do?’
‘Call my governor. I know he’s at the station so we’ll go to a pub and you put in a call.’
‘Why me?’
‘You won’t say your name, for chrissakes. I just want you to tip him off about something.’