Connie went out to the front pathway to wait for John to collect her. It was just growing dark but not enough yet to move the body.
Angela was cleaning the kitchen when Dolly came in. ‘Julia’s looking for you, she’s out in the yard,’ she said.
Dolly opened the back door. ‘Julia?’
She came out of the stables and joined Dolly on the kitchen doorstep. ‘Yeah. Look, I don’t think it’s a good idea for Kathleen to come along tonight. She’s getting all twitchy, says she won’t be a part of it.’
Dolly sighed. She touched Julia’s arm lightly; she liked her, she was straightforward, you knew where you were with her. ‘Right, you and me will do the graveyard shift, Kathleen can stay here with Angela.’
‘What about Connie?’
‘She’s doing something else. Are the guns all loaded up?’ Julia nodded. Dolly glanced at her watch. ‘They should get moving, Tommy said his contact will be there about ten. Ester’s all right to drive, isn’t she?’
‘I think so.’
‘Is she staying on?’ Dolly asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘If she isn’t, does that mean you won’t?’
Julia flushed. ‘I guess so, but I don’t think she’s got anywhere to go, you know, Dolly. She’s got a big mouth but... Well, maybe you should talk to her yourself.’
DCI Craigh got back into the car. Palmer was at the wheel. ‘Gloria Radford hasn’t lived there for a few weeks. Flat was taken over by the council but she returned to collect something from out in the back shed. I had a look round and it’s mostly filled with junk. Maybe she took the guns and stashed them at the manor.’
Mike leaned on the front seat. ‘What are we waiting for? If your tip-off was right and there are guns at the manor, why don’t we just bust the place?’
Craigh looked directly ahead. ‘We already made ourselves look like a bunch of arseholes, Mike. This time we do it by the book. We cover ourselves and check out the fucking information, if that’s all right with you — apart from that I’d like a day off. That all right with you, is it?’
Mike sat back, knowing not to push it. He stared out of the window as they drove down the road. Palmer gave a hooded look at Craigh. ‘So far they’ve found nothing on the vehicle, Gov.’
Craigh lit a cigarette. ‘Let’s see if we can have a chat to Eddie Radford on Monday. He might have some information. That suit you, Mike?’ he said sarcastically.
Whatever you say, Gov. Just, why wait twenty-four hours? They could shift her guns.’
Craigh checked his watch. ‘Okay — we go see Eddie Radford. Then we call it quits.’
Ester eased herself up and winced. The last thing she felt like doing was driving back to London. She wondered if she could get out of it when Dolly walked in, closing the door behind her.
‘How did you get the beating, Ester?’ She sat on the dressing-table stool and waited.
Ester was about to lie, but gave up; she didn’t have the energy. ‘Okay, last time I got sent down I also got a raw deal. When I was busted, a couple of my clients got scared — you know, that I’d plead not guilty and they’d have to prove it and name my clients. They got my little black book — well, it wasn’t little, it was a whopper, and I got K for kings, P for princes, no kiddin’. I was coining it, specials laid on for this Arab royal family. I was told that if I pleaded guilty, my fine would be paid, my back taxes paid and I’d get a few quid on top. I was assured I’d not be sent down. Well, I was. I got five years. They paid my legal costs, a percentage of my taxes and then walked away. Not one name was mentioned. So, I got pissed off.’
Dolly fingered a perfume bottle, then looked up. ‘Go on.’
‘I used to make private videos which clients would take after the show. I never made copies but on the night I got turned over, I stashed one and it was never found. When I got out, I went to them straight, said I felt I was owed some dough. They threw me out, told me that if I showed my face I’d be sorry. I then called them and said they would now be very sorry, that I had a video and I was gonna expose them.’ Dolly tutted. Ester looked at her. ‘It’s not even that bad, just a few slags rolling around with them, but you know how Arabs are. I asked for five hundred grand.’
‘And?’
‘Next thing they got some punk after me with a fucking price on my head. I mean, they’re all crazy! So I kind of hid out here. They won’t leave me alone and the result is what you can see. They beat me up and I ran like hell.’
‘Back here?’
Ester nodded. ‘Yeah, but I won’t be staying long, just enough time to get my face healed.’
Dolly stood up. ‘Okay, at least you told me the truth. So, go do the business with Gloria and you can stay on here until you’re recovered, then you do whatever you want...’
Ester smiled, and regretted it because of her cut lip. Thanks.’
Eddie Radford was really edgy. He knew word would be out he’d been lifted and that the filth were having a talk. Especially coming in to see him at a weekend. Every prisoner there would know within an hour or so — word travels fast in the nick — and he didn’t like it, didn’t like anyone even thinking he could be grassing.
‘What’s all this about?’ he snapped.
DCI Craigh drew up a chair. Mike stood leaning against the wall as Craigh proffered cigarettes. Eddie refused to take one.
‘I want to know what this is about,’ he repeated.
‘You know someone called James Donaldson?’
‘No.’
‘Dolly Rawlins?’
‘No.’
‘Gloria Radford?’
Eddie looked at Craigh. shrugged. ‘Yeah, she’s my wife.’
‘She holding something that belongs to you, is she?’
‘I dunno.’
‘You’re in for dealing in guns, armed robbery.’
‘Yeah, that’s right.’
‘Eighteen years.’
‘Great, you can count.’
‘Can you? That’s a long time, a very long time, Eddie. Be better spending time in an open prison — lot cushier than this dump,’ Craigh said softly.
‘Thinking of taking me out to Butlins, are you?’
Mike changed his position, staring hard at Radford. Craigh flicked his cigarette box over. ‘We think your wife was driving the car that killed Jimmy Donaldson, Eddie.’
‘Oh, yeah? Well, she was never a blinder behind the wheel.’
‘You know about it, do you?’
‘Look, I dunno this Donaldson, I don’t know what you got me up here for, I want to go back to my cell.’
‘But she could be charged with murder, Eddie.’
‘Tough luck. I want to go.’
‘If she’s picked up, who’s gonna flog your guns, Eddie?’ Eddie frowned. They’re being held for you at Grange Manor House, aren’t they?’ Eddie chewed his lower lip. ‘We know they’re at the manor so if we arrest Gloria you’re gonna lose your pension fund. All I need from you is confirmation that they’re there and in return, well, we can talk to people, recommend you get moved. We can’t make promises but we can certainly talk to the right people.’
Eddie shifted his weight on the chair and reached out for Craigh’s cigarettes. ‘I dunno anythin’ about this Jimmy Donaldson bloke or whatever Gloria’s done. I dunno any-thin’ about that.’
‘But you know about the guns, don’t you, Eddie?’
Eddie removed a cigarette, lit it, and let the smoke trail from his nostrils as he decided what he should say. He knew they were worth thirty grand, but what good was that if they were sold by that cow Dolly Rawlins? What good were they to him if he couldn’t get his hands on them? What if they were gonna arrest Gloria?