‘I want to be moved,’ Eddie said quietly.
Craigh looked at Mike. They’d already said to him they couldn’t give him a deal on that and that they didn’t have any powers of persuasion to get a prisoner moved — but they would make him think that they could anyway. ‘Open prison, swimming pool, tennis courts and, like you said, Eddie, some nicks are better than Butlins...’
Eddie flicked ash from his cigarette and rested both elbows on the table. ‘She’s staying with her, with Dolly Rawlins.’
They knew they’d got him, and were surprised at how fast, but he didn’t seem to give a damn about his wife or her possible arrest. All he seemed to care about was that he would lose out.
‘They’re worth thirty grand,’ Eddie said, hardly audible.
The same figure the anonymous caller had given to Craigh. He now reckoned the call was on the level, the tip-off legitimate. His weekend was now well and truly blown. He knew they would have to act on the tip-off now.
Dolly and Julia drove to the cemetery, which was in pitch darkness. Julia drove without headlamps, guided by the white tomb-stones as they moved slowly down the dirt-track road towards the recent graves. Flowers and wreaths were still strewn across the ground. They parked when they got as close as possible and took out the spades, zigzagging their way towards the freshly covered grave. They were obscured from sight by a tall, thick hedge. One grave was ready for its occupant, the trench dug, boards place across the deep, gaping hole.
Julia carefully moved aside the wooden planks, and said, ‘Let’s get on with it.’
They began to dig. It was not too difficult because the earth was so fresh and they worked in silence. Only the swishing of the spades could be heard in the silent cemetery. They were digging deeper to place Lennie’s body in the grave and cover him up. The coffin would then be place on top of him at the funeral. Goodbye, Lennie!
While Dolly and Julia were at the cemetery, Ester and Gloria headed for London’s West End to fence the guns. Gloria squinted at the A to Z. Ester had insisted they cut across London by various back-streets and they were now somewhere in Elephant and Castle but neither had any idea exactly where.
‘Wait a minute, go left, first left,’ Gloria muttered.
Ester drove on and turned left, then swore. No entry. She sighed and snatched the book from Gloria. ‘Let me see.’
‘It’s not my fault. Why you had to come your route I dunno, I mean, we been up and down for over an hour now.’
Ester squinted at the small squares on the map. ‘I just think that what we’ve got stashed in the boot is not necessarily a good thing to have if we should be stopped, okay?’
‘Gettin’ lost with them’s not a brilliant move neither,’ snarled Gloria.
‘Okay, I got it, we’re not too far.’ She began to do a U-turn, when, caught in the headlamps, they saw a police officer examining a locked gate. He turned and watched the car bang up on to the pavement.
‘Oh, bloody hell. Do you see what I see?’ said Gloria.
Ester looked in the mirror. He was walking towards them. She turned off the lights, careered up the road and screeched round the corner.
‘Well, that was fucking subtle,’ screamed Gloria.
Julia was waist deep and still digging.
Dolly peered down. ‘Okay, just drop him in and cover him. It’s deep enough not to smell too much, isn’t it?’
Julia started to climb out. ‘Yeah, the maggots’ll have a field day, and it’ll be deep enough, but we’ll have a lot of soil to spread around and over him.’
‘Let’s get him out of the car,’ Dolly said as she moved off, chucking aside her spade. Julia stuck hers into the ground and followed Dolly. The body was wrapped in an old carpet and polythene sheeting. They dragged it towards them and, between them, eased it from the rear of the Mini. It was very heavy and they had to resort to dragging it across the uneven ground towards the grave.
‘One shoe’s missing,’ Julia whispered.
‘Shit! Go and see if it’s in the car, and hurry up.’
Julia searched the car but found nothing. ‘Maybe it’s still in the pool,’ she said, as she helped roll the body down into the grave. They began to shovel the earth back into the hole, both working flat out, as slowly, bit by bit, Lennie was buried. Dolly stamped the earth down on top of him as Julia dragged the planks back to lay across the grave.
Gloria was blazing. She found it hard to believe Ester could be so stupid but at least she now understood why they’d kept to the back-streets.
‘Hot? This bleedin’ car’s hot and you been driving it around London, almost ran over a bloody copper. I’m tellin’ you, Ester, you need your head seeing to. If Dolly was to find out...’
‘Oh, shut up. We’re here now. Go on.’
Gloria got out of the car and knocked on a small door built into the big yard gates. It was opened by Tommy, who had a whispered conversation with her, and the main gates eased back. Ester drove, and Tommy and his contact began to unload the guns, carrying them into the warehouse.
Gloria had never met the buyer before, a small, softly spoken man wearing a camel coat, good suit and pinkish-toned glasses. His expert began to check over each weapon as Gloria placed them on the desk. A large space had been cleared, the blinds had been drawn, and they quietly got on with the business in hand.
Ester was surprised by Gloria, who was controlled and proved adept at handling the guns, making a good, strong sales pitch with each piece. The weapons consisted of two 9mm Browning pistols, semi automatic, four .38 Smith and Wessons, three .35 Magnum colts, two .44s, two .455 Webley’s specials, collector’s items, and boxes of ammunition, Westley and Richard rifles, 26-inch barrels, bead foresight and stands, two Hechler and Koch machine guns and four Kalashnikovs.
While Gloria was doing her business, Ester was selling Tommy the Saab for cash. She would take in exchange an old covered van he had parked in the yard. She admitted it was a bit ‘iffy’ but not too hot. Tommy raised an eyebrow.
‘Come on, man, you know it’s a great deal. You can switch the plates on it, get it out of the country within twenty-four hours.’
Tommy hesitated and glanced over at the gun dealers, then at Gloria who was searching one of the big bags. ‘Ester, a minute,’ she said, and Ester went to join her. Three shotguns missing. You know anything about that?’
Ester shook her head and hissed that Tommy was interested in buying the Saab.
‘Good, I’m not wheeling around in it.’ Gloria returned to the dealers.
‘No shotguns, sorry, miscalculation, but I got a desert Eagle that’s right now the gun to have. You want to see it?’
The officers in the patrol car received the information that the Saab was stolen; the owner had reported the theft two nights ago. The beat officer had succeeded in taking the Saab’s registration number and had flagged down the patrol car, whose window he was now leaning against. ‘I thought it might be, they drove off fast soon as they saw me, headed back towards Tower Bridge, but they could have turned off on any of the roads. Lot of old warehouses round that area.’
The patrol car moved off. As the officer watched them disappear, he turned to continue his street patrol. An old, green-painted van passed him and he didn’t give it a second glance. Gloria was counting the money, licking her fingers to flick through the notes. ‘Bleedin’ ripped us off. Ten grand! It’s disgusting. I couldn’t believe the cheap bastards.’
‘Well, we made up for it with the Saab.’
‘Yeah, but that’s not the point. I hate being skinned. They got a lot for their dough, you know. They were worth at least thirty grand. I mean, two of the rifles would cost you seven big ones alone.’