She’s Out

Chapter 18

Julia urged Helen of Troy forward. She scouted the area at length but there was no one in sight. They had arranged to have a ride before the stables opened for business, on the condition that Julia led them. It was not the first time that Sandy had allowed the women to ride solo with Julia, and none of them wanted her to see how accomplished they were becoming. They had their ride at six in the morning and after every lesson they returned the horses to the stable yard.

Julia and Helen of Troy continued checking the area. Their breath hung in the cold air, and not until Julia was truly satisfied that it was all clear did she lift her hand with the stopwatch as a signal to the waiting Ester, who then relayed it to the others.

The women pushed their horses forward until they formed a line over the brow of a hill, waiting for Julia to join them. Not until she was alongside, stopwatch at the ready, did she give the ‘go’ signal, and they all set off at a gallop. It was not a race against each other but against the stopwatch. Each rider had her own specific job to rehearse and accomplish. They jumped the hedges, split up, paced their positions, reformed and started again. Eight times they timed the ride until exhaustion took over, especially with Dolly. She was gasping and heaving for breath as Julia monitored each one, shouting instructions and orders until it was too dangerous to continue in case they were seen.

The horses were stabled and the women drove back to the manor. Julia was waiting with the stopwatch. They were still out of breath, faces flushed, shirts dripping with sweat. Julia ticked off Connie for not being in her position on time and angrily told Gloria and Ester she had seen both of them almost come off and if they fell and injured themselves it would finish the whole caper. She didn’t leave Dolly out, admonishing her for holding back too long and delaying by reining in her horse.

‘Sorry, I knew I was behind.’ She had to bend over as she had a stitch in her side.

Not until they had discussed in detail the entire morning’s exercise did they sit down for breakfast, laid out and made ready for them by Angela. Later, Dolly took a boat out with the little girls, rowing across the lake, eating crisps and drinking lemonade on the small jetty. The girls had a wonderful time and when they went off to play hide and seek with Angela, Dolly stashed the can of petrol behind the small boathouse. She shaded her eyes to look towards the bridge and saw Julia and Ester sitting on the wall at the end. She then called the girls to get back into the boat as it was time to leave.

Gloria was out of sight at the far end of the bridge. She had an artist’s drawing book and was sitting up on the walk seemingly intent on sketching, when the train passed in front of her. However, she wasn’t looking at the blank page but counting slowly, pressing the earpiece into her ear, heard by Julia and Ester at the opposite end of the bridge. Connie was the only one left at the house. She was on ‘listening’ duty, recording everything from inside the signal box.

None of the women discussed the robbery in actual terms, it had become ‘The Job’, and as the days went by, the rehearsals and timekeeping preoccupied them all and relieved any tension; they had plenty of time to coordinate everything that needed to be done.

There was still one area Dolly had not tackled openly: the stopping of the train itself. It would be done by Julia, on the tracks, with a flashlight, and as she would be wearing Norma’s police cape and hat she would look official. She would hold her position for some time as the train moved over the tracks, giving the driver fair warning that something was amiss. Because the train would be moving slowly, there was no chance of it running into her. The real danger was whether she could hold Helen of Troy steady, standing between the rails side on, with a massive and dangerous high voltage cable beneath her belly.

Julia had rehearsed the sidestepping move many times. On two occasions Helen had bucked and almost thrown her off. She had not rehearsed on the tracks themselves but on mock-ups she had made from logs, and Helen was getting better all the time. What worried Julia was that when she stopped the train and it paused on the bridge, what would make it stay there? If the driver felt any danger, he might start up the engine and move the train forward. ‘It’s all very well, Dolly, marking out where it’s got to stop, but how do we make sure it stays there while we get the bags out?’

‘Semtex.’

‘Pardon?’

Dolly was listening to the tapes she had collected from Mike’s house. She was now sure he hadn’t grassed on her. But could he get the explosives? She still didn’t know.

‘Semtex,’ Julia repeated.

‘Yeah, we’ll blow it on the bridge.’

‘Oh, brilliant. And if it’s not a rude question, where the hell are you going to get Semtex from?’

Dolly continued checking the tapes. ‘I’ll tell you when I’ve got it.’

Julia shook her head, almost wanting to laugh. ‘Oh, fine. Which one of us is going to be mad enough to use it?’

Dolly packed the tapes away, annoyed. ‘I’ll let you know that an’ all, but one thing I will tell you is that I’m not prepared to do anything, not one thing, until I’m sure it’ll work.’

Julia stuck her hands into her pockets. There seemed to be nothing left to say. In any case, Dolly was in one of her moods and it wasn’t worth attempting to have a conversation with her. If anything, she had grown more distant than ever; her mind seemed elsewhere.

Dolly felt at times as if she was a juggler trying to keep all the plates spinning on the ends of sticks, trying to keep the women calm, trying to eliminate the risk factors. Nothing must be left to chance, and if she needed a few more weeks, months, even, she’d take them. She spent hours with her little black notebook, jotting down things she must remember, crossing out others she had accomplished. Sometimes she sat in the dilapidated conservatory, wrapped in a coat, staring into space as she pictured each section of the heist. Could it work? Would it work? Was she insane? As yet the women weren’t restless and she put that down to fear. Even Ester, of late, had simply got on with the job in hand and was no longer pushing for supremacy. Dolly surmised that would probably come. Ester was sharper than the others, more dangerous, and Dolly suspected she was just biding her time. She monitored each one, watching closely as to how their nerves were holding out. So far so good, but it was still like a game. When it became a reality, they would begin to show their real state of mind.

A piece was missing from the jigsaw. Dolly knew it, and kept on returning to the bridge, the train and the damned explosives they still had not acquired. This was the most dangerous and most daring section of the entire ‘game’, and without that, it could not commence.

The missing piece came from an unexpected person. A call came from Mike: he wanted a meeting but not at the manor. Dolly was unnerved by this. Would this be the moment he grassed? Was he wired up? If so, she would have to be too, but she made no mention of the meeting to the women. She travelled by train to London and met Mike in a small café by King’s Cross station.

Mike was not obviously nervous but a little tense, as he put down two cups of tepid tea. It took him a while before he came to the point, looking around then back to Dolly.

‘What do you want, Mike?’

‘I’m out. I’ve given in my formal resignation today. It goes without saying they’ve accepted it and that’s thanks to you.’

Dolly sipped the tepid milky tea with distaste. ‘So what do you want?’

‘Obvious, isn’t it?’

‘Not really. Why don’t you tell me?’

Mike again glanced around and Dolly leaned closer. At no time did he mention the train, the robbery or anything illegal, simply that he would be interested in helping her out on the business she had inferred she was going into, that he had a contact that might help him get the order she had mentioned.

Dolly nodded, tapping the edge of the saucer with her spoon. ‘You ever driven a speedboat?’

Mike tugged at his tie. He waited as she took out her notebook and jotted down three things. That’s what I need.’

Mike breezed into the house where Susan was vacuuming the hall.

She looked at him in surprise. ‘What you doing home?’

He switched off the hoover. ‘Come in. I got something to tell you.’

Susan followed him into the living room, where he sat on the sofa. ‘I just got fired.’

‘What?’

‘I just got fired. Well, not quite, I handed in my resignation. So that’s it, I’m out of a job.’

‘What do you mean, that’s it?’

‘I’m out of the Met. They found out about my sister and—’

Susan sank into a chair. ‘Your sister? What are you talking about? What sister?’

Mike sighed. ‘You’ve seen her face often enough, the blonde girl in the photo frame at Mum’s.’

Susan had seen the photo, it was hard not to, and a long time ago she had asked who it was. She’d never been interested enough or, for that matter, spent enough time at Audrey’s, for the photo to make any impression.

‘She was my sister.’

‘Oh, come on, Mike! What’s this all about?’

‘I’m trying to bloody tell you, if you’d just shut up.’

Susan leaped up. ‘You tell me one second you’re out of the Met, next you’re talking about some sister I’ve hardly ever heard of. How the hell do you expect me to react? What’s she got to do with your job?’

‘She’s dead.’

‘I know — I know she is. Mike.’

Susan flopped back in the chair and closed her eyes. She was just about to say something when he continued.

‘Shirley was younger than me. I’d already signed up when she was still a teenager. I had a brother in borstal so I wasn’t going to lay it on the line about the antics of my family when I joined the Met. A lot of blokes have some member of their family that’s a bit dodgy and Gregg’s just an idiot. I never had much to do with him, even less than Shirley because he was younger than her.’

Susan leaned forward. ‘Will you get to the point, Mike? I’m trying to follow all this, honestly I am, but I don’t understand why you’ve brought her up in connection with your job. She’s dead, isn’t she?’

Mike put his head in his hands. ‘She was married to a right villain, bloke called Terry Miller. He’d done time for armed robbery, then he was on some job, a big raid on a security van and he... he got burned to death.’

‘What? I don’t believe I’m hearing this. If this is some kind of a joke... You said she was killed in a car accident.’

Mike snapped, ‘Just fucking listen! I don’t know all the ins and outs but after Terry died, Shirley got in with some people and...’ The more he tried to explain, the more insane it all sounded. He was almost in tears. ‘Shirley was shot in an armed raid nine years ago.’

Susan was stunned into silence. Mike’s face was white as a sheet as he stumbled through the rest of the story: how he hadn’t even returned for her funeral, how he had cut her out of his life and tried for years to cut out his mother too.

Susan’s mouth went dry. She couldn’t go to him to put her arms around him because she was so confused and close to tears. ‘Is this... this little tart you’ve been seeing all part of it, then? Is that why you’re suddenly telling me all this?’

‘No, it isn’t. She’s got nothing to do with it. If you must know it’s Audrey, it’s all down to that stupid bitch my mother. She screwed me up but I’m going to get out of it.’

‘Does that mean you’re leaving me and the kids? Is that what this is all about?’

Mike moved to her side and gripped her arm. ‘Sue, listen to me. I have no intention of leaving you or the kids. I’ve told you that it’s all over between me and Angela, it should never have even started. That was me being fucking stupid and I’m sorry I put you through it. But, Sue, you got to trust me now, really trust me, because I need you. I need you to back me up, not go against me. I want you to do just what I tell you to. It’s very important I have just a few weeks on my own to sort my head out, okay?’

She pushed him away. ‘You are leaving me, aren’t you?’

‘No, I’m not, but I want you and the kids to go and stay with Mum in Spain.’

‘What?’

‘Don’t start with the “what” again, you heard me. Get the kids out of school. I’ve arranged for you and them to go and stay with Mum.’

Again Mike put his arms round her and she fought against him but he wouldn’t let her go. She broke down and started to cry.

‘Don’t, please don’t. You got to trust me, Sue, you have to. It’s for all of us. I’m going to get a job, I mean it, but I’ll just need a bit of time before I can join you in Spain. I swear on my life, I’m not lying. I love you and I love my kids.’

Dolly stood ten yards down the road from Mike’s house. She could hear every word they said and when she heard Susan agree to go to Spain, sobbing her heart out, she removed the small earpiece and slipped it into her pocket. She reckoned she could trust Mike but he had still not got her the Semtex. The conversation he’d had with his wife and his having left the police were good, and he had already implied that he would be willing to be more than just blackmailed into helping her. Now she had him exactly where she wanted him — and she needed him. Dolly had calculated that without him there weren’t enough of them to do it, but until he brought the explosives, she would not be a hundred per cent sure. Cautious as ever, she was not allowing herself to move ahead until she had had a further discussion with Mike as to exactly what part he would be prepared to play.

Dolly was in a very good mood at dinner that evening. She opened a bottle of cheap wine and they all accepted a glass. She made no mention of Mike or her visit to London. It was obvious something had gone down because of Dolly’s good mood, but it didn’t spread to them. Instead it bothered them.

Angela served the dinner, the children having eaten earlier, and after the meal Dolly went up to read them a story. The little girls had become much more open and smiled freely now. In fact their presence made the entire house more relaxed. No one ever spoke about their plans in front of them and, apart from Ester, the women had become genuinely fond of them, especially Angela, whom little Sheena doted on. They had new frocks and shoes and socks, a big room full of toys and they began to use the word ‘home’ for the manor. Having so many rooms to run free and play in, and so many adults caring and making sure they were happy, had had the desired effect: the little girls were happy and loved.

Angela peeped in to see Dolly tucking them up. Sheena had so many teddy bears lined up there was hardly room in the bed for her. ‘I got everything you told me to get so I’ll be in my room if you want me,’ Angela whispered.

Dolly turned off the night-light — the girls were no longer afraid to sleep in the dark — and went into Angela’s room. She sat on the neatly made bed and checked all the passports. It touched her to know she really was their legal guardian.

Angela pointed to hers. ‘Me photo’s terrible. I look like I’m scared stiff.’

Dolly put them back into the envelope. ‘I’ll keep these safe, love, and not a word to anyone or they’ll all want to come on holiday with us.’

‘If anything happens to me, Angela, I want you to promise me you’ll take care of the girls. There’ll be money provided for you, I’ll see to that.’

Angela slipped her arms around Dolly. ‘Have you forgiven me?’

Dolly seemed to cringe from her embrace and Angela quickly released her. ‘Just go about your business here, love. Don’t ask me to say things I don’t mean. You’ll know when I’ve forgiven you. I need you to make up for a lot of trust you destroyed. That’s hard to forgive.’ She opened the bedroom door. ‘Put your TV on, there’s a good film. Don’t come downstairs. I’ll see to the dishes. Goodnight, love.’

Angela had never known anyone like Dolly before: she seemed so lonely and yet there was something about her that made you frightened of trying to get through that barrier, as if it would break a dam of feelings that she covered so well. And Angela began to understand how she had hurt Dolly, hurt her more than she could have imagined, because she had shown Angela a genuine affection not shown to any of the other women. She was glad they would be going away together and she would in no way jeopardize that by telling any of the others about the proposed holiday and the passports.

In turn, Dolly had kept the robbery plans secret from Angela. Forever looking ahead and pre-planning, she was already preparing for the time when she had the money and would leave England with Kathleen’s kids. It would be a long holiday, maybe Geneva or some other place in luxury, and the less Angela knew about what was going on the better. Dolly might be unforgiving but Angela was useful, and she could not help liking her, as she had from the beginning. But as well as being useful for taking care of the kids and keeping them out of the way, Angela was a good cover, and a useful weapon against Mike, should she need it.

Ester was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. ‘You’d better come in and listen to this. It’s got us all anxious.’

Dolly switched on the speaker so that they could all hear the tapes from the signal box. There was a series of phone calls from the station master to Jim. The mail train was never mentioned but something referred to as the ‘special’, due the following Thursday, was being rescheduled due to a fault with the engine. The ‘special’ would not be arriving as prearranged but at a later time and, as Jim’s second already had a previous arrangement, the station master wanted to know if Jim could do the late shift. Jim was heard to moan about his hours on and off duty, and then came the big worrying line.

‘Well, we won’t have this bloody problem for much longer. After Thursday it’ll be rerouted to another station, thank Christ.’

‘So what time is it due?’

‘Be late, Jim. Around midnight.’

Dolly replayed the last line a few times and then switched off the machine. ‘Shit. I hope that’s not what I think it is.’

Ester’s hands were on her hips. ‘You hope? Jesus Christ, what do you think we all feel? If next Thursday is the last mail train through here we’re fucked.’

Dolly was waiting for Mike at the end of the lane, sitting in the Mini estate, smoking. She saw his headlights flash once, twice, as he drew up and parked a few yards ahead of her.

The women were tired of discussing the taped phone call from the signal box. They sat wondering why Dolly had suddenly upped and left them at eleven o’clock without a word to a single one of them.

‘I’m getting sick of this,’ Ester said.

Julia yawned and stretched her arms above her head. ‘Well, she’s a secretive cow, and we all know it, but maybe it’s a good thing. We’ll never be ready by Thursday, so my guess is it’s all off and the question is what do we do next?’

‘Oh, shut up.’ Ester turned on Julia, who laughed. ‘It’s not funny, we’ve been working our butts off and for what?’

Gloria looked at her chipped nails, felt the rough skin on her hands from the horse’s reins. ‘I don’t believe it, after all we done.’

Connie pursed her lips. ‘I never believed it anyway. I mean, I’ve gone along with it, like everyone, but in my heart I never really believed we’d do it. Did you? Honestly?’

Ester glared at her. ‘For forty million quid, sweetheart, I was more than fucking thinking of it.’

‘I’m just repeating what Colin said, Mrs Rawlins. That next Thursday he’s got to be on duty so he couldn’t make dinner with me, something about having problems with the engine, so instead of being back in London he was having to do a late-night drop. He never said the time.’

‘Midnight,’ Dolly said softly and Mike stared. Dolly rolled down the window. ‘Did he say it would be the last train coming this way? Anything about rerouting it?’

Mike bit his lip, shaking his head. He then leaned over to the back seat. ‘You won’t need this, then, will you?’ He unzipped the bag. ‘Mate from Aldershot, owed me a favour.’

Dolly looked into the bag and then into his face. ‘You fancy a walk, do you? Maybe a nice quiet row across the lake? Show you where I plan to blow up the train.’

Mike thought she must be joking, but she wasn’t. He felt his bladder about to explode but he nodded and she sat back.

‘Drive to the end of the lane, we’ll walk via the woods.’

Mike explained in detail how dangerous Semtex was and gave her a diagram as to how it should be used. Dolly listened attentively, making Mike repeat himself a few times, then quietly talked herself through the procedures. He stressed over and over again that only a small amount was needed.

They walked on in silence until they came to the lakeside and gazed into the black water.

‘You’ll need money now you got no job. I might be able to get a few grand to you.’

Dolly stood still as he slowly turned to face her. ‘Can I ask you, and I want the truth, Mrs Rawlins, did you have anything to do with that diamond robbery? Did you set it up?’

She looked into his eyes and lied. ‘No, love, it was nothing to do with me. I admit I was after the diamonds but, then, who wouldn’t have been? Even your mother was after them. It was nothing to do with me.’ Mike kept staring into her face and she held his gaze. ‘I never would have put Shirley at risk. I know I’ve said things to you in the past and said things about her I shouldn’t have but, believe me, I never knew she was on that raid. It was all down to my husband. It was Harry’s doing. You think I’d have let her take the risks?’

Mike shrugged. ‘Just from what you said before, it sounded like you set it up.’

‘No, love, it was my husband. All I ever done was kill him. But that was a personal matter.’ She could feel him hesitating, and she gestured to the bridge. ‘You know how much is on that train, love, don’t you? Now do you want just a few grand in your pocket or a couple of million? Take those kids and that pretty wife of yours to live in Spain. Sunshine, sea and sand, good for kids.’

He was half in shadow, his face caught in the moonlight. ‘What would I have to do?’

It was after two o’clock in the morning when Dolly eventually got home. She opened the front door quietly and didn’t switch on the lights, but they were not asleep and, slowly, in their dressing gowns, they all appeared on the stairs and landing.

Dolly took off her coat and hung it up, picked up the kit-bag Mike had given her and walked over to the bottom stair. She leaned on the newel post.

‘We do it Thursday. In some ways it’s probably better for all of us so late at night. If they change the route then it’ll be our only chance.’

Not one of them said a word, but Dolly could feel their fear rising. She spoke softly and yet they were so silent they could hear every word clearly. ‘We’ve got two days.’ She looked at the frightened faces, one by one. ‘Now we’ll see who’s got the bottle. Are you up for it?’

Ester was the first to say yes, the others took their time but one by one they hesitantly agreed.

‘Good.’ Dolly said it like a school-teacher and then smiled. ‘Goodnight, then.’

No one could sleep that night as it dawned on them that The Job was for real and they had only two days to go. Toilets could be heard flushing throughout the night as their nerves hit their bladders. Only Dolly’s room remained silent and dark as she slept a deep, dreamless sleep, knowing the last piece of the jigsaw was in place. Her only worry was that it might have come too late.

Angela dished up breakfast, aware of the uneasy silence round the table. She put it down to them having argued or something, but none of them felt like talking or finished their eggs and bacon apart from Dolly. She had cut up soldiers for the little girls to dip in their eggs and reprimanded Sheena for using her sleeve instead of the napkin to wipe her mouth. The others could hardly wait for the children and Angela to go on their morning ramble, eager to be left alone to discuss the robbery, but Dolly seemed more intent on making sure they had on their wellington boots, thick scarves round their necks and hats before she waved them out of the back door.

As it closed, they all started talking at once, asking one question after another, but Dolly moved past them and into the hall. ‘I need Gloria and Connie this morning.’

Ester threw down a half-eaten piece of toast. ‘That’s it? Don’t you think we should fucking talk about this?’

Dolly returned and stood, granite-faced, in the doorway. ‘We’ve talked, Ester, and we’ve been talking for months. If I still have to talk any one of you round then it’s off. You know what is to be done, each of you. Now we have to finalize the last stages.’

‘That’s what I want to frigging talk about,’ shouted Ester.

‘No, love. You’ve got your jobs. The last part is to do with Connie and Gloria, nothing to do with you. When that’s done, we’ll have a meet later this afternoon after the ride.’ Dolly left the room.

Ester glowered at Julia. ‘Christ, I’d like to throttle her.’

‘Feeling’s mutual,’ came the reply from Dolly in the hall.

Gloria looked at the sports bag as Dolly unzipped it. ‘Now, I’ve got the instructions written down. You need very little and the most important thing is to know the exact place where it’s got to go. You’ll have to have it in place on the bridge and...’

Connie felt her knees go and she slumped on the sofa. Her mouth was dry. ‘I think it’s just the time of the month. I come over a bit faint.’

Gloria paid her no attention. She was studying the diagrams and then the sports bag. ‘I never handled nothin’ like this you know, Dolly.’

‘Well, you’ll have to practise, so start doing it.’ Gloria goggled. ‘Where do I do it, for chrissakes?’ Dolly wafted her hands. ‘We got enough acres, Gloria. Just go outside and start practising. But remember you need only a small amount. It’s all written down there.’

‘Who gave you this?’ Gloria asked.

‘Mind your own business.’

‘Well, it is my fucking business because we’re dependent on him or her knowing what they’re doing for starters. I’m not playing with Lego here, you know. This is high explosives.’

Connie had tried to stand up but then fell back again. If she’d felt faint before, now she virtually passed out.

Dolly felt her head. ‘You’re not runnin’ a temperature, are you?’

Gloria picked up the bag and looked at Connie. ‘I know what it is. It’s called shittin’ yourself with nerves. You watch her, Doll, she’s a liability.’

Connie struggled up. ‘I’m not, you leave me alone, it’s my period, I always feel like this.’

Dolly gestured for Connie to join her. She had a small, high-voltage generator on the floor. ‘Right, love. You get this over to the little landing-stage on the lake. I’ll get one of the others to carry it with you and then we got to get the light fixed up and hidden.’

Connie’s legs went again and her face was ashen. ‘But do you think it’s a good i-i-idea for us to be lit up? Anyone will be able to see it for miles around and—’

‘We’re not gonna be doing a cabaret act, Connie, we want it on for no more than three minutes at the most. Then we’re out of there. It won’t last much longer — batteries’ll run down.’

Ester moved closer to Julia as they stacked the cladding bags for the horses’ hooves. She pulled away bales of straw to reveal big leather saddle-bags to be strung across the animals’ flanks. She tested one. ‘I hope these’ll hold the weight.’

There was a loud boom! and the sound of breaking glass. Both women froze and Ester peered out of the stable door. ‘What the fuck was that?’

A second boom shook the stables and Ester rushed out. Julia strode after her in a fury, almost knocking her aside. ‘I told her not to do it close to the bloody stables.’

Ester looked back at Helen of Troy. She hadn’t flinched — unlike the pair of them.

Gloria picked herself up. An old greenhouse was devastated, a gaping hole in the ground. She was covered in soil and debris and shakily holding the dustbin lid she had used as a shield.

‘Are you out of your mind?’ Julia screamed.

‘I got to fucking practise, haven’t I?’

‘Not inside a greenhouse, you idiot. Look at the glass it’s showered everywhere. You stupid bitch! You could have made the horse bolt — and you could have killed yourself.’

Gloria dusted herself down and smirked. ‘I know what I’m doing.’

‘You could have fooled me,’ Ester shouted, keeping her distance. ‘Just go further away from the house.’

Gloria yelled back that she was only doing what Dolly had told her and began to check the instructions. ‘I used too much, that’s all. It’s not like dynamite, you know.’

Dolly steamed towards them, passing them without a word. She stood with Gloria, inspecting the damage. ‘How much did you use?’

‘Not a lot,’ said Gloria. She looked ruefully at Dolly. ‘Sorry.’

Dolly opened her notebook. ‘Julia reckons we’ll need it at this point of the bridge, here and here.’

Gloria looked at Dolly’s tight, neat writing. ‘Yeah. We been over it day in day out. That’s the best spot, train still moving very slowly so it’ll get the impact.’

‘Just don’t blow the carriage up, Gloria. You do that, the money will be blown to smithereens. More important, there are three guards inside that carriage, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt.’

Gloria nodded. ‘I’ll have another go.’

Connie and Julia rowed across the lake, the boat low in the water with the weight of the lamp, the cables and the battery-operated generator. Julia did most of the rowing as Connie felt faint and couldn’t stop shaking. They dragged the boat alongside the jetty and then began to move the equipment, constantly keeping an eye open for anyone either side of the shore who might spot them. Julia wore leather gloves and told Connie off because she hadn’t put hers on. They then dusted the lamp down just in case she had left her fingerprints on it. The gear was stashed in bushes, alongside the petrol, and they headed back to the shore, Julia rowing again as Connie trained the binoculars towards the bridge.

Susan and the kids left London the next day, after Mike received the formal acceptance of his resignation. It was Wednesday, and he began to wonder if he really was going to do it. Alone in the house, he started to get nervous but it was too late to back out now... He opened a bottle of vodka and had three or four mouthfuls before he calmed down. He had to rent a car, sell his own — there was a lot to get organized and it began to take his mind off just what he had got himself into. There was no getting out of it now unless he made a run for it and joined the kids and Susan in Spain. But, then, if he did that, what was he going to do with the rest of his life? The phone made him jump, his heart beating rapidly.

‘Hello, love, it’s me,’ Dolly said softly.

Mike answered, and she could tell he was having kittens just by the sound of his voice.

‘The wife and kids gone, have they?’

‘Yes, this morning.’

‘Good. Angela will be at your place Thursday with the girls.’

‘What?’ He sounded like his wife.

‘Two reasons, love. One, you got a nice alibi, just in case you’re ever questioned. She’ll be there all night and will say you was with her. And you will be — well, for part of it. She doesn’t know about the robbery, love. All I’m using her for is to give you a safe alibi if — pray to God you won’t — you need one. Might cause a bit of aggro with your wife but if nothing untoward happens, she won’t know, will she?’

‘Angela’s to stay here, in my house?’

‘Yes, love, because I don’t want her and the kids around when it goes down. Like I said, she’s not involved in this, she’s caring for the girls. Friday she’ll get the first train out and back here. You just go straight to the airport. All right, love?’

His voice was even hoarser. ‘Yes.’

There was a long pause. ‘Well, you get on with your business and keep steady and out of sight. Goodbye.’

When they drove back after their riding lesson, it became obvious that tension was building because they found it impossible to make any small talk. Only Dolly chattered on.

‘Norma home, is she?’ Dolly asked casually.

‘You know she isn’t,’ she said flatly.

‘Just checking. You got her keys still?’

Julia sighed. ‘You know I have. We’ve been over and over it, Dolly, and it’s the only place.’

Ester leaned forward from the back seat. She looked at Dolly and then Julia. ‘I don’t trust that Norma.’

Dolly paused at the level crossing as the train signals blinked. She pulled on the handbrake as the gates closed. ‘We don’t have to trust her, Ester, just use her. She’s another one. You think her friends at the nick would approve if they found out not only that she was a big dyke but fraternizing with—’

‘Shut up,’ Julia said softly.

‘It’s true, though, isn’t it? Somewhere in Norma’s head she’s getting a kick out of slobbering over you, and you know it, but you’re going to have to watch her like a hawk because when this goes down, she’ll be the first to point the finger our way. Maybe give her even more of a sexual kick.’

‘Leave it out, Dolly.’ It was Ester now, as she saw Julia’s back go rigid.

‘No, you leave it out,’ Dolly said, her mouth a tight thin line. ‘We need Norma, we’ve had Julia play her along for enough time. We got to use her place to stash the money, like we used her to get the cop’s hat and cape. Now we use her picturesque little cottage. It’s the only place close enough to us and the only place the cops are unlikely to search. She’s one of them.’

Ester gave Julia’s shoulder a squeeze. It was funny, really, Julia being such a decent woman that she did not want to involve Norma, and yet prepared to play a major part in the robbery. It really didn’t add up. She felt more love towards her in that moment than she had for a long time, and she liked it when Julia pressed herself closer, their bodies touching in an unspoken embrace.

Dolly’s beady eyes missed nothing. It was good, she thought, the pair of them backing each other up because, come the night, she reckoned Julia would need a lot of confidence, maybe even need to snort that stuff she used. Dolly knew about it — not much escaped her — but she was clever enough not to mention it.

Julia fed Helen of Troy, checked on the sacking and bags for the umpteenth time that day. When she came back, Dolly was standing at the kitchen door, throwing half-eaten sandwiches out for the birds.

‘You’re something else, you know that, Dolly Rawlins?’ Dolly brushed the crumbs from her hands and then stared at them, palms upwards. They were steady and she smiled. ‘My husband used to say that, only he always called me Doll. Funny, I hated to be called that but I used to let him, nobody else.’

‘Gloria sometimes calls you Doll, doesn’t she?’ Dolly looked up into Julia’s face. She was a handsome woman and it was as if only now it struck her just how good-looking she really was. ‘Being in prison I got called a lot of things. Got to the point I didn’t really care any more, but I used to, in the old days.’

‘Prison tough for you?’ Julia asked casually.

Dolly hesitated a moment and then folded her arms. ‘You know, I reckon there were only a few really criminal-minded women in there. Most of them were inside for petty stuff, kiting, fraud, theft, nothing big, nothing that on the outside a few quid wouldn’t have put them right. Everything comes down to money. The rest were poor cows put inside by men, men they’d done something for.’

‘That doesn’t include me,’ Julia said softly.

‘You were a junkie. That’s what put you inside.’

‘No, Dolly, I put myself inside.’

‘Because you were a junkie, your guilt put you in there. You tellin’ me you really needed to flog prescriptions? You wanted to be caught for your shame. I mean, you take how many years to qualify? Doctors when I was a kid were like high society, shown into the best room when they came round on a visit. My mum was dying on her feet but she got up, made sure the house was clean before the doctor came.’

Julia took out her tobacco stash. She began to roll a cigarette, thinking that she had never, in all the weeks she had been living with Dolly, actually talked this way with her.

‘Eight years is a long time inside that place, Julia. Maybe I met only four or five of what I’d describe as dangerous women that deserved to be locked up. The rest, they shouldn’t have been there but when most of them were released, they’d been made criminals by the system, humiliated, degraded and defemalized. Is there such a word as that? Defemalized?’

Julia said nothing, rolling a cigarette, and Dolly continued in a low unemotional voice. The few that were able to take advantage of the education sessions might go out with more than what they come in with but most of them were of below average intelligence, lot of girls couldn’t read or write, some of them didn’t even speak English. Lot of blacks copped with drugs on ’em. They was all herded in together.’

Julia licked the paper. She found it interesting. The more Dolly talked, the more fascinated she became by her. The woman they all listened to, at times were even a little afraid of, Julia guessed was poorly educated, maybe even self-taught. This was accentuated by her poor vocabulary and her East End accent, which became thicker as she tried to express herself.

Julia struck a match and lit her cigarette, puffing at it and then spitting out bits of tobacco. ‘Out of all of us here, who would you say was a criminal?’

Dolly reached out and took Julia’s cigarette, smoking a moment. ‘You want the truth?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Ester was first sent down at seventeen. She’s spent how many years in and out of nick — a lot, right? But as much as I don’t like her, I know there’s a shell around her. Dig deep and you’ll just find a fucked-up kid that stopped crying because there was never anybody there to mop up her tears.’

Julia was surprised. She took back her cigarette and sat on the step ‘What about Gloria?’

‘Well, she’s been in and out like Ester and, on the surface, you could say she’s a criminal or been made one by her sick choice of men. But again there’s pain inside that brassy exterior, lot of hurt. She’s borne two kids and given them away — you never get over that. You, Julia, have got all this anger inside you, self-hate, hate for your mother.’

Julia leaned against the doorframe, irritated, wanting to change the subject, but Dolly continued in the same flat voice. ‘Connie’s the same. Few years on she’ll be another Gloria but she’s not as bright. Some man will still screw her up — it’s printed on her forehead. But, you know, we all got one thing in common.’

Dolly gave that cold smile and Julia lifted her eyebrows in sarcasm. ‘Come on, Dolly, you tell me what I’ve got in common with Connie.’

‘Defemalized, Julia. Not one of you could settle down and lead a normal life. Prison done that, it’s wrenched it from our bellies.’

Julia chuckled. ‘That’s a bit dramatic. Speaking for myself, and being gay, I’m not and never was—’

‘You’re still a woman, Julia, no matter who you screw or what you screw. We’re outcasts — that’s what they done to us, made us outcasts of society.’

‘You think men feel the same way/’

‘I dunno, but when you get to my age there’s not much left a man wants from me — can’t have kids, too old, and when did you ever hear of a fifty-year-old bloke going for a woman the same age?’

‘That still doesn’t answer my question. If every woman in our situation turned—’

‘Bad?’ Dolly interrupted, and her arms were stiff at her sides. Her voice was low-pitched and angry. ‘They wouldn’t have given me a chance. Whatever good I wanted to do, without money — like I said before — you’re nothing. Not in this day and age. It’s all that counts.’

Julia persisted, ‘If we’d never tried it on, got you here, how do you think it might have turned out?’

Dolly’s eyes were so hard and cruel, Julia stepped back, shocked. ‘I reckoned there were only five criminals in the nick with me. Well, I was number six.’

‘I don’t believe you, Dolly. You had dreams of opening this place, of doing good, fostering kids, that’s not criminal.’

Dolly turned away and Julia was sure she had hit the vulnerable target: did Dolly blame them, hate them? Would she in the end betray them because of what they had done? She watched as Dolly relaxed, as if in slow motion, turning her head to face Julia, and smiled, this time with warmth, her eyes bright.

‘You telling me with my cut of forty million quid I can’t have this place up and rolling? I can go down Waterloo Bridge, pick them off the street and bring them back. I won’t need any social services, I won’t need anyone telling me what I can and can’t do because with money you can do anything. That’s all it takes, Julia. Money, money, money.’

Julia grinned. ‘Well, let’s hope we pull it off.’

‘We’ll do it, Julia. It’s afterwards we’re going to have to worry about because we’re gonna be hit, and hit hard. We foul up in one area and we will go down. Every cop will come round here, we’ll be searched and the house taken apart. We’ll be questioned and re-questioned, they’ll rip the grounds up... They’ll never leave us alone, for weeks, maybe months.’

‘If we pull it off,’ Julia said quietly, and Dolly guffawed, a loud single bellow.

‘If we don’t, we don’t. But if we do, nothing will stop me. Every single one of us can go for what we want, do what we want, be what we want.’

Julia’s heart began to thud in her chest. Dolly’s face was radiant with unabashed excitement. ‘I’m not scared, Julia, not for one second. I’m feeling alive for the first time since I killed him.’ She lifted both her arms skywards, like an opera star taking the adulation of a packed house of applauding fans. With her arms raised, head tilted back, Julia could see the pulse at the side of her neck beating and felt suddenly terrified, as her heart banged in her chest, and certain Dolly Rawlins was insane. As if Dolly read her mind, she lowered her arms and tapped Julia. ‘Don’t think I’m mad, Julia. If we do exactly as we have planned to the letter, we’ll pull it off. But holding them all steady will take the pair of us all our time, so let’s go back inside.’

She didn’t wait for Julia but walked into the house. Julia, the one she trusted as being steady, had to have a heavy line of coke before she could follow her. It didn’t calm her down, she felt paranoid and sat in the stables, hunched up, her arms clasped round her knees, as her whole body shook with nerves. It was almost ten o’clock and the following night she knew they would be getting ready for the raid. Just thinking about it made it worse.