Ester looked at the dregs in the bottle. ‘Well, this is the last of the wine.’
Dolly held her glass by the stem and sipped. She put it down, got up and opened a drawer in the desk. She took out one of the girls’ big blank-paged drawing books and slowly undid the cap of a thick black felt-tipped pen. ‘Right, this is what I intend to do. I don’t know if we can do it, not yet, but this is what I’ve been working on.’
They sat in front of her, squashed on to the sofa as if they were at some kind of lecture.
‘I don’t want any interruptions, not until I’ve finished, then you can ask whatever you need to know.’
They nodded, waiting, staring at the blank sheet of paper. Dolly spoke quietly, without any kind of emotion whatsoever. She took her time, clearly drawing each section as she spoke, starting from the manor which she marked with a big cross, the stables, and detailing how they would pick up their rides and move silently down the lane.
She drew the railway tracks, the bridge and the lake. She then marked in red the danger cables, the areas of vulnerability, and no one said a word as, slowly, her plan began to shape up. It was ridiculous, it was insane. She was not even thinking about hitting the security wagon itself. She was aiming to remove the money from the train. And not, as they had supposed, at the level crossing or just before it or after, but on the bridge. She wasn’t waiting for a reaction but her eyes narrowed as she looked over the rough drawings, her face set in concentration.
‘Er, you gonna do it... Did I hear right? We’re not going for the cash on the security wagon but when it’s on the train?’ Gloria’s mouth was dry as she spoke, not really believing what she’d heard.
‘Yes, that’s right, we go for the train.’
Gloria swallowed. ‘And we go for it, not at the station or at the level crossing, but, er...’
‘On the bridge,’ Dolly said softly.
‘Bloody hell,’ Gloria muttered, and looked at the others, but they remained silent, staring in turn at the drawings and Dolly, who still seemed intent on them.
Ester was just about to find her voice when Dolly stabbed at the thin lines depicting the rail tracks. ‘These are live wires, very high voltage. There’s a narrow parapet right alone the entire edge of the bridge, two good positions to cover us, and a big notice here.’ She smiled. ‘One that says “high voltage, danger”, but it’s big enough for one of us to hide behind. There’s another boarding here and one on the opposite side of the lake. The railings are lower so we position two of us there.’ She made neat crosses and then turned the sketch round. ‘We’ve got to stop the train halfway across the bridge. We mark out the position with fluorescent paint. I’ve paced it and I reckon we can stop it almost dead centre of the bridge.’ She continued in a quiet, almost monotone voice, taking them through each stage of the raid. What she never said was exactly which of them was to do what, and no one was inclined to interrupt. She drew the signal box, the electric cables, the telephone wires and as her drawings began to take up one page after another, she became more animated.
The women realized just how much thought Dolly had given to the overall plan; how they would drop the money from the bridge, where the horses would be tethered. They were still silent, hardly daring to breathe, let alone question her. They noticed that on some pages there were neat lists of items required, further pages had more odd drawings, and Dolly flipped through them, tapping her pencil on the table. ‘Well, I think that’s nearly all of it. I’ll need to know if we can get one of the speedboats, and if not, we have to find one. We also need a big powerful flashlight positioned here on this jetty. It’ll blind the guards but, most important, we’ll be able to see the live cables, especially Julia as she is in the most dangerous positon of all, right here, up ahead of the train.’ Dolly snapped the book closed and looked at the row of stunned faces. ‘So that’s it.’
Ester let out a long, drawn-out sigh. ‘It’s even more crazy than I thought possible. It’s not crazy, it’s bloody insane, and no way will Julia ride her horse up on to the tracks.’
Julia got up and stuffed her hands into her pockets. ‘I’ll speak for myself, Ester.’
Ester sprang to her feet. ‘But you can’t take this seriously, none of us can, we couldn’t do it.’
Julia sniffed and put her head to one side. ‘You know how much is on the train?’
Dolly ripped up the drawings and threw them on the fire. ‘Yes.’
Gloria’s eyes were on Ester. ‘How much?’
‘That copper was useful, he found out for me.’
Ester said sarcastically, ‘You telling me he knows everything?’
‘No, not everything, but I got him, I can trust him.’
‘You mean like you did Angela?’ Connie said.
‘How bloody much is on the fucking train?’ shouted Gloria.
‘And I’ve warned you about swearing,’ Dolly said crossly.
Gloria fell back in disbelief. ‘Oh, fine. I say a few four-letter words and you get pissed off. At the same time you’re standing there planning how to rob a fucking train.’
‘Stop swearing,’ Dolly snapped.
Gloria hugged her knees, about to get up and slap Dolly as she had warned Ester she would. Ester was standing with her hands clenched so tightly, also trying to stop herself from walloping Dolly.
‘How much is on the train?’ Connie asked softly.
‘Could be up to forty million, usually between thirty and forty million.’
You could have heard a pin drop. Dolly looked at their gaping mouths and that smile came again as she said softly, ‘Penny for them?’ None of them could speak so Dolly said she fancied a cup of tea and went to put the kettle on.
Julia was the first into the kitchen after Dolly. She lolled at the door. ‘Well, that gobsmacked the lot of them. You even stunned Ester into silence.’
Dolly set down the mugs on a tray and gave a sidelong look at Julia. ‘They sent you in, did they? See if the crazy old cow’s stripping naked and dancing in the full moon?’
‘Nope, they’re sort of discussing it.’ Julia drew out a chair. She began to roll up a cigarette. ‘They’re also scared, you know — scared to dismiss it as a no-hope situation and scared to face the fact that it might just work.’
Dolly rested her hands on the edge of the table, her body inclined towards Julia. She almost whispered, ‘It’s crazy but it’s also brilliant and I know it could work, I know it, Julia.’
Julia licked the paper, her eyes on Dolly. ‘Yeah, I guess you do know it but it’s also very dangerous. We could all get ourselves killed, just like little Shirley Miller.’
Dolly froze. Julia watched her eyes narrow, her hands form into tight fists. ‘So what I want to ask you, Dolly, is why? I mean, you could maybe manage this place, get some kind of job, we all could for that matter.’
She ground out, ‘Money.’
‘No other reason?’
‘What do you want, a moral one? Well, I don’t have it. With money you can do what you like. Without it in this world you’re nothing, you don’t count.’
Julia patted her pockets for her matches, the cigarette dangling from her lips. ‘Does it scare you?’
Dolly turned to the teapot. Behind her Julia struck the match, still keeping her eyes on Dolly’s rigid back.
‘Look, Dolly, all I know is you got a lot of contacts for semi-crooked deals, maybe you could do some kiting, bit of this and that, unless you’re trying to emulate your old man. Harry, wasn’t it?’
Dolly took out the milk from the fridge, crossed back to the tray of mugs. She carefully placed the bottle down on the tray.
‘You know, somebody once told me he always worked with ledgers or books, I dunno, but he used to write everything down, like you’ve been doing, and I was just wondering what’s going on in your head, Dolly. You trying to be him, go one better than him? Only I don’t fancy risking my life for some screwed-up reason.’ Dolly lifted the tray and stood poised. ‘I killed him, Julia, I looked straight into his face, into his eyes, and I saw the expression on his face the second before I pulled the trigger. It was a combination of shock, disbelief and, best of all, fear. After doing that, nothing scares me. I’m not like my husband, I’m better, I always was. I was just very clever at always making sure he never knew it. Now, will you open the door and I’ll take the tea in. I’m sure they’ve all got a lot to ask me.’ Julia laughed softly, opening the kitchen door to the hall, standing back for Dolly to pass her.