‘You bloody did that on purpose,’ Gloria yelled. She looked down into the pit again and back to Julia. ‘I got an idea. Why don’t we get the kids to do it?’
Julia gave her a hard push. ‘No way. Just get on with it, Gloria. Sooner it’s done the better.’
Connie breezed into Big John’s yard. He was sitting on the steps of his small hut and looked up and waved.
‘Hi, how are you?’ She beamed as she crossed to him.
He lowered his eyes. ‘Look, Connie, this has got nothing to do with you but that Mrs Rawlins is making me bankrupt.’
Connie sat next to him and passed over the envelope. ‘Here you go, and there’s more coming in a day or two.’
John opened the envelope and then stood up. ‘I’d better go and split this between the men.’
‘Oh, right now?’
He looked down into her upturned face. ‘I got to. When they finish the job they’re on, they’ll be on their way. If you want that roof done at the manor, I got to pay them.’
‘How long will you be?’
‘Ten minutes.’
She got up and slipped her arms around him. ‘Then I’ll wait, but only ten minutes, and we can have a...’ She kissed him and he gasped for breath when he broke away from her. ‘Don’t be long,’ she whispered, biting his ear.
He blushed, glancing towards the gates then back to the small wooden makeshift hut. ‘You know, anyone can walk in here, Connie.’
She giggled. ‘Exciting, isn’t it? Besides, you can lock the main gates, can’t you? But I think it’s better if they’re open and we screw knowing somebody’ll walk in any minute. And look, I brought us a bottle of wine.’
He was all over the place, kissing her, groping her beautiful breasts, and then he ran like hell to his truck. He shouted back that he would be no more than ten minutes.
Connie started to undo her buttons and he could hardly put the key into the ignition. She was still standing there on the steps of his hut, blouse open, as he clipped the gatepost in his haste to get out. She didn’t even wait for the tail end of the van to disappear before she shot into the hut and began to sift through all his papers and order forms. She found a trade supplier and ordered the bags of lime to be delivered directly to the manor for a cash payment. She gave John’s firm’s reference and as soon as she replaced the receiver she hurried out, picking up her bag with the bottle of wine. Next stop, the signal box.
Mike had just finished his lunch and was about to go back to the station when the call came. He was eager not to let Susan answer it in case it was Angela again. They almost collided in the hall, they were both so desperate to reach the telephone.
Mike snatched it up. Susan stood with her hands on her hips.
‘Hello, is that Mike?’
‘Yes, it’s me.’ He knew who it was — he recognized the voice.
‘Who is it?’ Susan said petulantly.
‘It’s my governor.’ He glared at her so hard that she turned away and stomped into the kitchen.
‘What do you want?’ he said quietly, afraid Susan would be listening.
‘Need to see you, love, it’s urgent. I’ll be at the Pen and Whistle pub in the saloon bar, six thirty.’
‘I can’t... I can’t see you.’
‘I think you can, Mike. Six thirty, you be there. It’s the pub on the corner by your mother’s flat.’
Mike was about to speak when the line went dead. He stood there, holding the receiver, and then dialled his station. He was put through to the incident room and told them he was not feeling too well so he would be in a bit late. Then he looked towards the kitchen. He was sure that Susan was listening. All his anger and frustration surged against her as he dropped the phone back down.
Ester, being lazy, called a number of railway museums but was not getting the information she needed. She then tried another tactic by saying she was making a documentary film for the BBC and could she speak to anyone working at the museum who could assist her. She was given various numbers to call for permission to interview railway technicians. However, permission was not granted by British Rail, so she was now contacting the private railways, saying the BBC documentary had full backing of the transport ministry, who were co-financing the film. She looked at the list of essential items listed by Dolly: size and weight of the train compartments, couplings and sidings. Underlined was how long it would take to unhitch one carriage from another. No way was it going to be easy.
Big John had only been gone twelve and a half minutes, during which he had flung the money at his labourers and driven straight back to his yard. He ran a comb through his hair, wished he’d got a spot of cologne and locked the big double gates before he ran to his hut. The door was closed and he threw it open, beaming.
Connie had left, no note, nothing. She’d even, he noticed, taken the bottle of wine with her.
Still carrying her suitcase, Angela walked along the road towards Mike’s house. It was growing dark and it had taken her hours to hitch a ride from the manor. She saw Mike’s car parked outside his house and was in two minds whether or not to go and ring his front doorbell. She wanted to confront him, tell him about the baby, but the nearer she got the more her confidence dwindled. She sat on a wall, wondering if he would come out. She didn’t want to see his wife.
Mike and Susan were having one hell of a row. She was demanding to know about Angela, about the phone calls, and he was refusing to answer. ‘You stay out all night, you come and go and don’t speak to me. How do you expect me to feel?’
Mike clenched his fists. ‘Susan, I’ve told you, there is nothing — nothing between me and this girl.’
‘Then why does she keep calling you? Why was that Mrs Rawlins round here? Is it true that she’s pregnant?’
‘Leave it alone, Susan. I mean it. Just shut up about it. You’re driving me nuts.’
‘And you’re driving me nuts,’ she said in a fury, watching as he grabbed his coat. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Out. I can’t stand it here.’
‘One of these days you’re gonna come back here and the locks will have been changed.’
He sighed. ‘Sue, listen, give me a break. I’ve got a lot on my plate right now and I just can’t tell you about it.’
‘Try me, go on, try me!’ she shouted.
He ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t even know where to begin. How could he tell her about his mother, the diamonds, the trouble he was in at work? He knew she couldn’t deal with it. Right now, Angela was the least of his problems. He was afraid of what Dolly Rawlins wanted, scared he was heading even deeper into trouble, but he couldn’t tell anyone, especially not his wife. Susan broke down in tears as he walked out. She ran up the stairs and was about to open the window, call out to him that they had to talk, when she saw him. And what was worse, she saw Angela.
Mike yanked open the car door when she confronted him. ‘We got to talk, Mike.’
He got in and slammed it. ‘No, we haven’t. I got nothing to say to you, Angela, just go away from me. I don’t want to see you. Stay away from me and my house.’
‘I lost the baby, Mike.’
‘I don’t care, Angela, you hear me? I don’t care.’
She was sobbing, looked like an orphan with her suitcase. ‘I got no one to help me, Mike,’ she wept.
He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took all the money he had and held it out. ‘Here, take this, take it, it’s all I got on me.’