She’s Out

Chapter 3

Jimmy Donaldon’s wife had been informed that her husband was returning home on a ‘special leave’ from prison. She was asked not to mention the visit to anyone and to remain in the house until he was brought home. When he did arrive, in the company of two plainclothes officers, they had only one or two moments alone before he was taken into their sitting room. One officer placed a tape recorder and bugging device on their telephone in the hope that Dolly Rawlins would make contact. The small antique shop was already being searched. DCI Craigh arranged for a rota of officers to remain in the house and to keep an eye on Jimmy. Mike Withey was to take the following morning shift: he couldn’t wait to see his mother and tell her of the developments that had moved faster than he could have anticipated.

At the same time Dolly Rawlins was about to arrive at Grange Manor House. The women had all changed into cocktail dresses. Ester had laid out one of her own dresses for Dolly to change into and as she saw the headlamps of the Corniche turning into the driveway, she gave hurried orders for the women to remain in the dining room and stay silent. Next she briefed Angela that when the doorbell rang she was to open the front door and welcome Dolly into the house. Ester would then make her appearance.

Dolly stepped out of the car. She looked around in confusion and felt unsure, even more so than she’d been when driving down the dark, potholed lane leading to the house. The massive manor looked daunting but in the shadows it was difficult to detect its run-down, neglected grounds. The chauffeur guided her towards the front steps. She stopped.

‘Are you staying?’

‘If you would like me to, Mrs Rawlins. It’s entirely up to you.’ He rang the bell. Some of the stained glass was broken in the panels but the steps had been swept and Dolly wasn’t paying much attention; she was feeling edgy.

Angela opened the door, wearing a neat black dress and white apron.

‘Good evening, Mrs Rawlins. Welcome to the Grange.’

Dolly hesitated and then saw the elegant Ester standing with her arms wide. ‘Dolly. Come on in.’

She walked into the hall.

‘What’s going on?’

‘It’s a welcome out party for you.’

‘Is he going?’ She was almost prepared to walk after the chauffeur.

‘Oh, he’ll be back, and we’ve all got our cars round the back.’

‘All?’

‘Your old mates, Dolly, from Holloway.’

She watched as Angela closed the door, taking Dolly’s small case from the chauffeur, and then Ester embraced her warmly, kissing her on both cheeks.

‘Come, let me show you around. You’ll want a bath, won’t you?’

Dolly looked at the banks of flickering candles, still nonplussed as Ester guided her up the stairs. She stopped. ‘Why are you doing this?’

Ester continued up the stairs. ‘We’ve come out to nothing and no one, Dolly. We all know what it feels like. We wanted to make sure you got a special party, to sort of kick you off in the right direction.’

Dolly followed Ester up the stairs, impressed by the house, then the clean room with the black lace dress laid out on the bed. There were stockings and clean underwear, even a couple of pairs of high-heeled shoes.

‘You did all this for me?’ Dolly said, still nonplussed.

‘It’s not a new dress but it is a Valentino. Would you like me to run a bath for you? Wash your hair?’

Angela slipped in with Dolly’s suitcase and placed it by the bed. She was out again before Dolly could say a word. ‘Who’s that?’

‘Oh, she’s just a kid that used to work for me.’

‘A tart, is she?’

‘No, she’s just here to serve us so we don’t have to do anything but enjoy ourselves.’

Dolly wandered around the room. ‘Who else is here?’

Ester turned on the taps, felt the hot water — it wasn’t what you’d call hot hot — and poured in bath salts.

‘Kathleen O’Reilly, you remember her?’ Ester listed the other names.

Dolly sat on the bed. ‘Well, I wouldn’t call any of them friends, Ester. They all here, are they?’

‘Yes, well, I tried to get as many women as I thought you knew so it’d be a bit of a knees-up.’

‘I’m not sure what to say.’

Ester smiled. ‘Just have a nice bath. I’ll go and tell them you’ll be down soon, okay?’

Dolly slowly took off her coat, and then smiled. ‘Yeah, why not? I could do with a drink.’

They all looked towards the double doors as Ester came into the dining room. ‘She’s getting ready, won’t be long.’

‘I hope not, I’m starving,’ Gloria muttered.

Julia lolled in her chair. ‘She knows who’s down here?’

‘Yes, she does, and don’t drink any more, Kathleen. We’ve got to work her over and if you get pissed you’ll open that yapping mouth. That goes for you too, Gloria.’

She glanced over the table and then went to the kitchen. Angela had her feet up, reading a magazine. ‘We’ll have the first course, then I’ll ring for you.’

‘Yeah, you told me that before.’

‘When she’s ready to come down, I want you to bring her in. Go up to her room when I tell you. I don’t want her wandering around.’

‘You told me that as well.’

‘Fine, I’m just making sure everything’s ready.’

Ester walked out. Angela waited a moment, then followed. As soon as she saw her heading up the stairs she crept to the phone, eased it off the hook, and dialled. She waited, eyes to the dark, candlelit hallway.

Mike answered the phone. Susan was dishing up dinner. He spoke softly and then replaced the receiver. He was smiling like he’d just been given good news.

‘Who was that?’

‘Mum. I said I’d go over later after dinner.’

‘Oh, I’d like to have come with you. Why didn’t you tell me? I could ask the girl next door to babysit.’

‘I’m only going for a few minutes.’

Mike sat down as Susan passed him a plate of stew. She was a pretty girl, with long blonde hair, similar to Mike’s sister Shirley. She was almost as pretty. Both their sons had already been put to bed and she’d half-hoped they could have an evening together.

‘Is your mum still planning to go to Spain?’

Mike nodded, his mouth full. ‘Yeah, that’s why I said I’d drop in, see if she needed me to do anything.’

‘Funny time to go, isn’t it, winter?’

Mike shrugged, forking in another mouthful. ‘Got some friend there with a villa, be good for her, she needs to get away.’

‘Don’t we all. It’s been ages since we had a holiday — be nice to get away.’

‘We will,’ he said, eyes to the clock, wondering if they’d found the diamonds.

Susan watched him: he’d been very distracted of late, moody and snapping at the kids. ‘Everything all right at work, is it?’

‘Yep.’ He pushed the plate aside, only half finished, and wiped his mouth with a napkin. ‘I’ll shove off. Sooner I see her, sooner I’ll be home.’

She picked up her knife and fork and he reached over and kissed her forehead.

‘There’s nobody else, is there, Mike?’

‘What?’

‘It’s just I hardly have time to talk to you, you’re always out, and most weekends you’ve been on duty. If there is somebody else...’

He sat down again. ‘There isn’t anyone else, Sue, okay? It’s been a bit heavy lately, I’ve got a lot on and—’

‘Yes?’

Well, it’s to do with Shirley. The woman Mum blames for her being killed, Dolly Rawlins, got released today, so Mum’s been a bit hysterical, you know the way she always harps on about it.’

‘Well, you can’t blame her. If one of our boys was killed I’d feel the same.’

‘I won’t be long, I promise, okay?’

Mike left and Susan carried on eating but she wasn’t hungry. She was sure Mike was seeing someone else — she’d even searched his suit pockets, looking for evidence. She hadn’t found anything but, then, he was a detective so he wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave anything incriminating. But he was different — colder and impatient towards her and the boys. She told herself to stop it: it was just as he said, overwork, he was tired and she was reading more into his moods than she should. She swiped at the table, muttering to herself. What about her moods? Nobody ever seemed concerned about her or the way she felt.

Ester cocked her head to one side, sprayed lacquer over Dolly’s hair and stepped back. ‘That’s much nicer, softer round your face with a bit of a wave. So, we all set to go down?’ Dolly stood up and admired herself in the wardrobe mirror. ‘This is a lovely frock.’

Ester opened the bedroom door. ‘It was a lovely price a few years back, Dolly. Come on, they’re all starving down there.’

They walked down the stairs together, Angela waiting at the bottom.

‘No men invited, then?’ Dolly asked.

Ester laughed. ‘Well, we could always get the chauffeur back.’

‘Couldn’t you get the Chippendales? They’re all the rage in the nick — girls have got their posters on the walls. Good-looking lads, they dance for women.’

‘I know who they are, Dolly, but they’re a bit passé now. That’s always the problem in the nick. Years behind what’s going down.’

Angela opened the dining-room doors wider and Ester stepped back to allow Dolly to walk in ahead of her.

The women all rose to their feet and began to sing. ‘Good luck, God bless you...’

The banks of candles, their dresses and the beautifully laid table made Dolly gasp: it seemed almost magical. The room with its carved ornate ceiling, the huge stone fireplace with a log-fire blazing, the women all lifting their glasses in a toast.

‘To Dolly Rawlins. She’s out.’

Dolly slowly moved from one woman to the next. Like a princess, she touched their shoulders or kissed their cheeks.

Ester drew out the carved chair at the head of the table. ‘Sit down, Dolly. This is your night, one we won’t let you forget.’

Dolly sat down, near to tears. Nothing had prepared her for this. She accepted a glass of champagne and lifted it. ‘God bless us all.’

In the soft firelight with the flickering candles, they looked almost surreal: five women enjoying a celebration dinner. No one caught the strange glint behind the star guest’s eyes because she was smiling, seemingly enjoying every precious moment. In reality she was waiting, knowing they wanted something, and she had a pretty good idea what it was. But she could wait. She was used to waiting.

The officers found it difficult to search the dark, poky little antique shop. There was a lot of junk and clutter to be moved aside and Donaldson had said the diamonds were hidden in a wall recess, but by ten o’clock they still had not been found. The men decided to call it quits for the night and to start again early the following morning.

Audrey was in her dressing gown when she opened the door to Mike. He beamed as he hugged her. ‘Have I got news for you.’

She shut the door and waited impatiently.

‘She’s out, Mum, and, I know exactly where she is, and—’

Audrey sat on the settee as Mike gave her all the details about what had gone down that day, ending by clapping his hands together and laughing. ‘Right now we got blokes searching for the diamonds, right? When they find them, we’ll have Jimmy Donaldson wired up. If she calls, and she will, she’ll go straight for them. We’ll be ready and waiting. She’s going to go right back inside, Mum, just what you wanted.’

Audrey had gone pale. ‘You should have warned me, told me what you were doing.’

‘How could I? It all happened today. It was such a bloody coincidence I couldn’t believe it. First Angela—’

‘You’re not still messing around with that little tart, are you?’

‘For chrissakes, Mum, she’s very useful. Right now I know where Dolly Rawlins is, I know she can give us her every move. Then I got a tip-off about Jimmy Donaldson. It was beautiful, just beautiful, I got my governor jumping around. You know there was a reward for those stones and—’

‘You got to stop this, Mike,’ Audrey interrupted.

‘Why? It’s what you’ve been bleatin’ on about for the past eight years, isn’t it? Well, I’m going to have Dolly Rawlins put back inside for that robbery. She’s going to be copped for those diamonds.’

‘No, she isn’t, love.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘The diamonds.’

‘Yeah, we got blokes stripping Donaldson’s place for them.’

‘They won’t find them.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because they’re not there.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because I took them.’

Mike’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t take it in.

Audrey started to cry. ‘When I read about Jimmy being arrested, I... You see, he knew about them, so did I — she always said I’d get a cut.’

‘Jesus Christ, I don’t believe this.’

‘So when I read he’d been picked up, I went round to his shop. I’ve known his wife for years and, well, she asked if I wanted a coffee, then she went round to a café to bring it back and I knew where he’d stashed them, so I took them.’

‘You’ve got them?’

‘No, I had them.’

‘What the fuck have you done with them?’

‘Sold them.’

Mike stood up. He was shaking. ‘You sold them?’

Audrey took out a tissue and blew her nose. ‘Yes. God help me, I didn’t know what to do with them once I’d got them here and I was scared. I mean, they just sat there and I got more and more scared having that much stuff in the flat.’

Mike slumped into a chair, his head in his hands. ‘Holy shit, you’ve really landed me in it. Who’s got them now?’

Audrey twisted the tissue. Well, I couldn’t really shop around, could I? I knew this dealer, Frank Richmond, he’s dodgy but I took them to him and he said he’d get what he could for them. But you know, they weren’t easy because they were still hot. Well, that’s what he said.’

‘He paid you for them?’

‘He gave me four hundred and fifty grand.’

Mike leaned back, his eyes closed.

‘They were worth millions, I knew it, but I wasn’t gonna start pushing for more money, was I? I was desperate — I knew she’d be out, knew she’d go to Jimmy and then come here.’

Mike snapped to his feet. ‘You’ve bullshitted me, haven’t you? All that crap about Shirley, you’ve lied to me.’

‘No, I haven’t!’

‘Yes, you bloody have. This wasn’t for Shirley. It was for you, you, and now you got me caught up in it.’

Audrey sobbed as he paced up and down the room.

‘Where’s the money?’

‘Well, some of it’s in my bank, some’s in a building society and the bulk of it’s in Spain.’

‘Spain?’

Audrey waited, and Mike wanted to shake or slap her, he didn’t know which. ‘Is that why you’re going there?’

She sniffed. ‘Yes. Wally Simmonds bought a villa for me.’

Mike gaped. ‘A villa?’

She nodded. ‘It was ever such a good buy and we did a cash deal. I’m leaving for good. I was gonna tell you when I’d sorted myself out.’

Mike swallowed. It was getting worse by the second. He could feel the floor shifting under his feet.

‘What am I going to do, Mike?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Do you want a cup of tea?’

He turned on her in a fury. ‘No, I bloody don’t. Just shut up and let me think this one out.’

She sat snuffling as he remained with his head in his hands. Eventually he asked flatly, ‘Do you know anyone who could make us up some dud stones that’d look like the real things?’

Audrey licked her lips, hesitating, trying to think.

Mike continued, ‘I could stash them at Donaldson’s. It could still work but we’d only have a few hours, a day maybe, to get the stuff ready. Do you know anyone?’

‘I’m sorry I’ve done this to you, love. Will you get into trouble?’

He stared at his mother. ‘I could lose my fucking job — that good enough for you? Now, do you know anyone?’

Audrey chewed her lips then took out a worn address book from her handbag. ‘There’s Tommy Malin — he’s probably the best — and if we said we’d pay cash for it he might do us a favour.’

‘Us now, is it?’

‘Well, I’ll just do whatever you tell me to.’ Her brain was a jumbled mess of her own screeching questions. Why, why had she been so stupid? Why had she done it? Was it because she just wanted to get back at Dolly? Was that it? As dumb as Audrey sounded, there was another element: greed. She wanted money. She had always wanted it but it had always been out of her reach. When she read about Jimmy’s arrest, she had believed all the waiting was for nothing and it was her fury at being cheated that pushed her into getting the diamonds. She had not contemplated how deeply she would bring her son into it all. Somehow she had thought he’d just arrest the bitch and put her away, or out of reach, because Audrey was scared. She had always been scared of Dolly Rawlins.

‘I’m so scared of her, Mike. I know she’ll come after me. She won’t understand — like, the fear I had with them stones in the flat and then—’

She started to cry again, and Mike sighed. ‘Mum, you’re in it, whatever excuses you make. Gimme the address book. I’ll call this fence bloke but I can only do so much. Then I gotta walk away from it — from you if necessary.’

They had all had a considerable amount to drink: champagne, white and red wine. The booze had eased the tension and now they all talked freely. Kathleen, well away, was going into an elaborate story about how she found her ex-husband in bed with a lodger and how she’d locked him in a coal hole. Connie was drawing the details of her plastic surgery operations on a paper napkin. Gloria was having a heated argument with Julia about body fat. Their voices were like music to Dolly. She didn’t listen to whatever anyone was saying: it was the freedom, the roaring laughs, and the relaxed atmosphere. Ester did not drink as much as the others but watched Dolly throughout, noting how often her glass was refilled, biding her time to choose the right moment to open up the conversation about Dolly’s future arrangements.

Angela carried in a tray and said that coffee and liqueurs were now served in the drawing room.

Ester saw Dolly stumble slightly as she pushed back her chair. She was obviously enjoying herself and even took hold of Gloria’s hand as they wove their way into the drawing room, where there were more candles and another big blazing fire, the perfumed incense disguising the damp smell, the gentle light hiding the darkened patches on the wallpaper and the holed curtains half off their rails. The room was comfortable and friendly, the glasses of port and brandy handed round liberally.

Julia whispered to Ester to keep her eye on Kathleen as she was well pissed and now thumping out a song on the piano, having a ball, almost forgetting why she was there. Julia passed out the drinks, as Gloria picked up the box of After Eight mints. ‘Here you go, Dolly love. Have a mint and tell us what you’re gonna be up to now you’re out?’

Ester edged closer, wanting Gloria to shut up. Not the most subtle of women, Gloria now plunged right in. ‘So you got yourself a nice nest egg, have you, Dolly?’

Dolly laughed as she sipped her brandy. ‘I might have.’

‘Eh, I bet that old man left you a few quid, didn’t he?’ Gloria continued, and then shut up as Ester stood firmly on her foot.

‘He left me comfortable,’ Dolly said, and moved towards the mantelpiece. Then she turned to face them all as Kathleen staggered away from the piano stool to slump into a big winged chair. ‘So, why don’t you all come clean? What you all after?’ Dolly said it softly but there was an edge to her voice.

Ester played it beautifully. ‘After? What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Well, this is all very nice but none of us were what you would call friends. So I just wondered what you wanted.’

Ester stood up, a furious look on her face. ‘Oh, thanks a lot, Dolly. We all worked our butts off today to get this place ready for you. You think we did it for what? What you got that any of us would want? We did it, I arranged it, because in the nick you belted that cow Barbara Hunter. I admired that, we all admired that, but if you think we’ve all come here for some ulterior motive, then screw you. We only wanted you to come out to friends, to have one night to find your feet.’ She marched angrily towards the door as if about to make an exit.

‘I’m sorry,’ Dolly said quietly.

‘So you bloody should be. I know it’s hard to trust people inside but we’re not inside. We’re all out. All we wanted was to give you a bit of a party.’

‘I said I’m sorry. Come on, sit down.’

Ester gave a tiny wink to Julia as she grudgingly sat on the arm of the easy chair, close to Gloria so she could control her.

Dolly turned towards the fire. ‘Truth is, I do have a few quid put by.’

A low murmur from them all, and sly glances flicked between them.

‘Well, that’s good to know,’ said Connie. ‘I hope you have a good and successful future.’

They all raised their glasses and toasted Dolly yet again.

‘So how much you got, then?’ asked Gloria, and got a dig in the ribs from Ester.

‘It’s not a fortune but... I’m all right, comfortable.’

They waited with bated breath as Dolly drained her glass and replaced it on the tray. ‘I’m going to tell you something.’

They leaned forward slightly, listening attentively, hoping she was now about to say ‘diamonds’.

‘For eight years, I’ve been sort of planning it, in my head. It’s my dream, my future.’

A row of faces waited.

‘I want to put back something into society, might sound crazy, but I really want to make something of the rest of my life.’

No one spoke. They felt a trifle uneasy, though — she was coming on like something from The Sound of Music.

Dolly took a deep breath. ‘I want to buy a house and I want to open it up as a home, a foster home for kids, battered wives, a home run by me, for all those less fortunate than me.’

None of them could speak. They looked at Dolly as if she had two heads. She had taken the carpet from beneath every one of them.

Tommy Malin agreed that he could make up a bag of fake stones, using some real settings and some fake ones. He could do it for two grand cash and have it ready by the following afternoon. Mike tried to push him to have them done by the following morning but he refused, saying if they wanted the stuff to look good, really good, he would need that time. He’d have to shop around for some good cut-glass fakes, maybe throw in a couple of zircons, but he needed that much time. Mike agreed and said Audrey would collect them as soon as he called to say they were ready.

By the time Mike got home he was worn to a frazzle and it was after twelve. Susan heard the front door shut and turned over to her side of the bed, not wanting to speak to him or confront him. She was sure he had another woman and it was breaking her heart.

Mike cleaned his teeth. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face chalk white; he was in it up to his neck and he just hoped he would be able to get away with what he was doing. He had to find some way of stashing the fakes in Jimmy Donaldson’s place. He splashed cold water over his face, patting it dry, half hoping that Dolly Rawlins would never make contact about the bloody diamonds.

Susan heard him undressing and then he got into bed beside her, turning his back towards her. Neither said a word, Susan because she was sure he was cheating on her, Mike hearing his own heart thudding as he went over the mess he had got himself caught up in. Whatever excuses he tried to make for Audrey, or she had made to him, didn’t alter the fact she had trapped him into the world he had tried so hard to walk away from all his life. Shirley had been well caught up in it and he knew it, together with her husband and the subsequent robbery, but nothing he could have thought up or dreamed in his worst nightmares would measure up to the reality that Shirley had been shot. He found himself, like his mother, making excuses and eventually laying the blame on Dolly Rawlins. If he could get her put away, it would, he told himself, get them all out of trouble. And he was even able to tell himself that she deserved everything she got or anything he could have her framed and done for.

Ester had a mink coat slung round her shoulders and Dolly wore Gloria’s fluffy wrap as they walked towards the stables. ‘I mean, look at this place, Dolly. You could have ten, twelve kids here, get a horse even. And there’s a swimming pool, needs a bit of work, the whole house does, but it’s crying out for kids. It’d be a perfect place.’

Dolly looked back at the vast house. ‘I dunno, Ester. I was sort of thinking about a small terraced job, near Holloway.’

‘No. This is much better. Country air, grounds, and it’d be cheaper than any terraced house. I’ll even throw in all the linen, crockery and furniture. You can have the lot for two hundred grand. I’ve even got surveyors’ reports. It’s on the market right now but if it’s out of your league then...’

Dolly considered. It wasn’t out of her league — in fact it was smack in it: she’d got about two hundred and fifty grand to be exact but after shelling out here and there it’d be around the two hundred mark.

They walked on round the stables to the front of the house, Ester pointing over towards the swimming pool. ‘There’s an orchard, vegetable patch. You could grow your own veg, be self-sufficient. It’s a dream place for kids, Dolly.’

Dolly sighed. ‘I dunno, Ester, it’s an awfully big house.’

‘All the better. And we can all give you a hand, stay on and work it up for you, get the place shipshape. Hell, none of us have got anythin’ better going for us. We’d be your helpers, it’s a brilliant idea.’

The women watched from the slit in the curtains. Kathleen turned away. ‘Home for battered wives! She’s out of her mind. I’ve been one most of me life and I’m not about to start livin’ with a bunch of them. She’s got a screw loose.’

Gloria kicked at the dying embers of the fire. ‘Well, I’m pissed off. I think this was all Ester was after from the start. She wanted us to break our backs cleaning the fuckin’ place up so she can flog it to Dolly. That’s what she got us here for — she’s used the lot of us to sell this bleedin’ place.’

Julia poured another brandy and swirled it in her glass. ‘No, she hasn’t, she’s being clever.’

‘You can say that again. We all done it up and she’s the only one that’s gonna make any dough out of it.’

Connie joined in. ‘I didn’t even know she was selling this place, she never told me. I mean, is this why she’s got us here?’

‘You really are dumb, all of you, aren’t you?’ Julia shook her head. ‘You heard Dolly say she’s got two hundred grand. Well, this place will swallow that right away so where’s she going to get the money to get this place up and running as a kids’ home?’ She drained her glass. ‘She’ll have to go for those diamonds. Ester knows it. Can’t you see what she’s doing? She’s creaming her, you stupid cows.’

Gloria frowned. ‘So when she’s laid out the cash for this dump, you think she’s going to go for those diamonds?’

‘What do you think she’ll go for?’

They looked at each other and then Kathleen yawned. Well, in that case I’m staying on.’

They all agreed to stay on and wait — wait for Dolly to go for the diamonds.

Ester showed Dolly all the estate agents’, valuers’ and solicitors’ letters, all the old surveys of the manor house. It had been on the market for over two hundred and fifty thousand. She offered it to Dolly for two hundred.

‘That wipes me out, Ester.’

Ester felt her belly tighten: she’d guessed right. It tickled her that she could always suss out people’s cash-flow. It came with dealing for the girls, pushing the punters to the limit. She gave a wide smile. ‘But you’ll get big grants for the kids.’

Dolly looked over the documents again. ‘I dunno, Ester. What if the others won’t stay on? I can’t run this place on my own.’

‘All the better. And listen, none of them have got a place to go. They’ll stay on, believe you me. And then we got Julia, she’s a doctor, you got a strong group behind you.’

Dolly was still unsure.

‘Look don’t do anything right away, think about it, take your time. If you’re not interested, fine, I’ll sell it to someone else. No skin off my back, think about it...’

Dolly suddenly took out her cheque book. ‘You’re on. Here, I’ll give you a cheque right now.’

‘Now don’t do anything you’re going to be sorry for. Maybe you should sleep on it. I don’t want you thinking I bamboozled you into this. It’s your choice. The only thing that might be a problem is the other offer that I got but it can wait at least until tomorrow.’

Dolly wrote out the cheque there and then, still heady from the wine. She insisted Ester take it and she did, fast, and pocketed it.

‘You got a telephone here?’

‘Course. You called in, remember?’ smiled Ester.

Ester slipped out of the kitchen, leaving Dolly looking over the papers. The women had all gone up to bed, the fires were dead, the candles burnt out. She went upstairs, to her bedroom, closed the door silently and crept to the bed. She leaned over Julia and showed her the cheque. ‘I’ll put this in the bank first thing tomorrow before the old cow changes her mind.’

Julia took the cheque from Ester to look at it for herself.

‘Bet you any money she’ll go for those diamonds. She’s got to when she sees how much this place needs pouring into it. She’ll be desperate.’

Julia leaned back. ‘She might change her mind.’

Ester shook her head. ‘No, she won’t, because we’re going to work that woman over, every one of us. We make her believe we love this place, want the home to be up and running. We all egg her on and keep it going until she...’

‘Goes for the diamonds.’

Ester smiled. ‘Right, and then...’ She made a plucking motion with her fingers. We take them, and then, Julia, we’re free, we’re rich.’

Julia stared at the cheque for two hundred thousand pounds. ‘You could do okay on this.’

Ester sighed. ‘Yeah, but do you think I could cash it? I got debts that’d eat up more than two hundred grand.’

‘What if she doesn’t want to share with you, with any of us?’

‘Like I said, we take them. I don’t give a shit about the others, we’re using them as well. All I care about are those diamonds, two, three million quid’s worth, Julia, and I’m going to have them.’

‘I love you when you’re like this,’ Julia whispered.

‘Like what?’

‘Cruel. Come to bed.’

Ester gave a soft sexy laugh as she crawled towards Julia and then froze, slithered from the bed to listen at the door.

Dolly stood in the marbled hall, the phone in her hand. ‘Jimmy, is that you?’

Jimmy Donaldson was in his pyjamas, his hand shaking, as DI Palmer gestured for him to keep talking.

‘Yes, this is Jimmy Donaldson. Who’s this? You know what time it is?’

‘Oh, I’m sorry to ring so late. It’s Dolly, Dolly Rawlins.’

Palmer leaned forward, hardly able to contain himself. It was going down even faster than any one of them had thought. Mike Withey had been right. Dolly Rawlins was going for the diamonds. Again he gestured for Donaldson to keep talking.

‘I need to see you,’ Dolly said softly. Tomorrow. I’m out, Jimmy. Have you got my things for me?’

‘Yes, yes, I’ve got them.’

‘Well, what say we meet up tomorrow, about noon?’

Jimmy looked to Palmer. They still didn’t have the stones but he reckoned they would by the following day. He wrote on a note-pad. Jimmy nodded. ‘Can you make it later — like late afternoon?’

‘They are safe, aren’t they, Jimmy?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Fine, I’ll call you tomorrow, then.’

Dolly hung up.

Donaldson looked at Palmer. ‘She’s gonna call me tomorrow. She hung up before I could say anythin’ different.’

Frowning, Palmer drummed his fingers on the telephone table. ‘We better find those diamonds, Jimmy. You sure they’re where you said they are?’

‘If they’re not some bastard’s nicked them.’

Palmer jerked his head for Donaldson to return to his bed. He checked the time and replayed the message. Dolly Rawlins had carefully not said the word diamonds but she certainly hadn’t wasted much time. She’d only been released that afternoon. She was out all right.