She’s Out

Chapter 7

Ester moved on to the fast lane as soon as they hit the motorway.

‘No need to go so quick, Ester, you’ll get picked up for speeding.’

‘Then keep your eyes peeled for cop cars — and stop biting your nails, it drives me nuts.’

The Mini backfired and Dolly hit the dashboard. ‘Next turning there’s a hire firm. Pull in and get a car with something under the bonnet.’

‘Who’s paying for it?’

Julia shouted that she would, and Gloria headed towards Rodway Motors, garage and rental. She drove on to the forecourt and asked who had their licence to hire the car, but as she only had hers with her it was she who went into the reception. The others waited impatiently on the roadside.

‘They should have waited!’ Dolly seethed. ‘If they’d waited I’d have told them not to go.’

‘Well, they didn’t,’ said Julia, looking at her watch, ‘but we’ll be there in plenty of time.’

Dolly was clenching and unclenching her hands. ‘If I miss this board meeting, I’ll... I’ll—’

Julia glanced at Dolly, curiously. She seemed not to care about the diamonds, only that she had been set up. ‘What about the diamonds. Dolly?’ she said.

‘If Jimmy has done me over, he’ll regret it, he’ll pay for it, and he’ll cough up. His shop, his house, I’ll clean the little shit out, then I’ll have him taken out. I might even do it myself.’

Julia blinked, and then heard the toot-toot of a horn as Gloria drove up in a red Volvo. Dolly ordered her to move over as she wanted to drive, and they set off towards the motorway.

At twelve fifteen, one of the officers at long last returned to the wall they had first checked, but it wasn’t until almost one o’clock that they found the pouch of diamonds. There was no time to record it, just to get it driven at top speed to Donaldson’s house on the Ladbroke estate. It was handed over to DI Palmer, who snatched it with hardly a thank-you.

‘I’ve not logged it yet, Gov.’

‘I’ll do it, thanks.’

Palmer looked up and down the street, afraid the exchange might have been seen, but there was no new vehicle parked so he hurried into Donaldson’s house.

DCI Craigh was standing in the hall. ‘They got them,’ Palmer gasped.

Craigh relaxed. ‘Talk about cutting it fine. Let’s have a look at them.’

‘They’ve not put it on record yet.’

‘I’ll do it when I go in,’ Craigh said, as he eased open the velvet pouch. ‘Holy shit, look at the size of some of those stones,’ he said in awe, then pulled the drawstring tight. ‘Look, we don’t let these out of our sight — that’s your job and yours only, you watch these babies, okay?’

Craigh walked in and held up the bag to Jimmy Donaldson. ‘Saved by the bell, sonny Jim, we got them.’

Donaldson looked over with baleful eyes. ‘Just so long as you get her. She plugged her old man and I don’t want her loose and after me.’

Craigh smirked. ‘That’s the whole point of the exercise, Jimmy. We want her back inside for nicking these.’

Mike stared blankly from his position by the window. He’d just about given up on them finding the stones in time but he couldn’t say anything, daren’t risk going back to Donaldson’s shop or it would look suspicious. All he hoped for now was that Rawlins would arrive, get nicked, and whatever happened about the diamonds could be laid at Donaldson’s feet, or somebody else’s. Anyone could have switched those stones over the past eight years and he and his bloody mother would be in the clear.

‘What time is it?’ he asked. Everyone looked at his watch, including Donaldson.

‘We’ve almost an hour to wait until she collects.’

As expected, Angela and Ester were in London with time to spare. They were parked close to Ladbroke Grove tube station, eating hamburgers. Well, Ester was, Angela couldn’t stomach anything. She was in a state of nerves, wondering if she would have to face Mike.

‘I don’t drive.’

Ester turned to her with her mouth full. ‘What did you say?’

‘I said I don’t drive. Well, I do, but not very well. I never passed my driving test and now, with my nerves I–I just don’t think I’ll be able to drive.’

Ester tossed the half-eaten hamburger out of the window. ‘Well, it’s a fucking brilliant time to tell me.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Ester sighed. ‘Okay, we switch. You collect, I’ll drive.’

Angela chewed at her nails. ‘I don’t think we should do this, Ester. I’m scared. What if we get arrested?’

‘For what? For chrissakes, stop bleatin’. All we’re doing is picking up some hot gear. Now shut up, it’s one thirty, we can start to head up the road soon.’

‘It’s one thirty,’ squawked Gloria.

‘You tell me the time just once more...’ snarled Julia, and then looked up ahead. ‘Oh shit, look at the traffic! It’s a bloody jam.’

Dolly slowed down, took a look at the clock on the dashboard. ‘We can still make it. We get on to the flyover, it’s only about fifteen minutes from there.’

‘We’re nowhere near the bloody flyover,’ yelled Gloria, and Julia reached over and whacked her one. Gloria pressed back into the seat as they inched forward, a long line of cars up ahead, bumper to bumper. ‘This is not what I call very professional. You should have made a better arrangement, Dolly. I mean, just saying you’d pick ’em up at two o’clock.’ She yelped as Dolly pulled out and drove up alongside the rows of orange cones and signs depicting workmen on the road. ‘Fuckin’ hell, you’ll get us arrested next,’ she screeched. But they made it to the head of the traffic, nudged into the line of cars as an irate driver gave the V sign, then one finger and a flow of verbals. Gloria wound down her window. ‘I got a pregnant woman here, you prick, fuck off.’

The man stared as Dolly pressed on, horn blasting, as she cleared the rest of the traffic and headed towards Edgware Road.

Ester checked her watch. It was ten minutes to two. She eased into first gear. ‘Let’s go for it. We wait any longer and you’ll be chewed down to your knuckles. It’s at the end of Ladbroke Grove and off to the right.’

They drove down Ladbroke Grove, passing the police station on the right-hand side. ‘Police station,’ Angela whispered.

‘Thank you, I might not have noticed it,’ Ester said, but she drove carefully, not wanting any aggro at this stage.

Heading from the opposite direction, racing off the Harrow Road, came Dolly. Now she asked for a time-keep every two minutes as they headed down the road.

‘It’s off to the right. If they keep to two o’clock, we’ll just catch them.’

Craigh looked at the clock. It was nine minutes to two. Donaldson was sweating now and Craigh leaned towards him. ‘When she rings the doorbell, you answer, bring her in here, bag is open, and all she’s got to do is...’

Mike turned from the window. He pressed his radio earpiece closer. ‘Nothing yet, road’s still clear.’

The two officers outside waited, eyes to the front, eyes to their wing and rear view mirrors. The road remained empty.

Then it happened. The Range Rover was coming towards them just as, screaming up from the opposite end of the road, was the red Volvo but they couldn’t see it clearly because the Range Rover obstructed their view. They saw Angela get down and then all hell broke loose. The Volvo mounted the pavement, Gloria hanging out of the window. ‘Get back, get out of here!’

Angela was hauled into the Volvo, Julia legged it after the Range Rover and jumped aboard, and the two cars disappeared, the exchange taking no more than half a minute. The two officers got out. They turned this way and that, as DCI Craigh hurtled out of the house.

‘What the fuck is going on?’

‘We dunno. Woman ran from one car, driven off in another.’

Craigh started to swear. ‘Was it her? Was it Dolly Rawlins?’

Mike was at the window, shouting, ‘What the hell is going on? It was her — it was Dolly Rawlins, for chrissakes. Why aren’t they going after the goddamned car?’

Palmer turned on Mike. ‘What the fuck for? Drivin’ too fast? We dunno if it was her or not. Just stop actin’ crazy.’

Mike ran out of the house. It was a total cock-up and it was at this moment Jimmy Donaldson saw his chance. He saw the stones, he saw Palmer with his back to him, and he was alone. He picked up the heavy glass ashtray, whacked Palmer over the back of the head, picked up the bag of diamonds and he was out, closing the door. The kitchen door closed as he let himself out the back way, leapt over a fence and took off down the narrow alley running between the houses.

Craigh leaned into the patrol car. He couldn’t believe what had happened. They had three digits of the index on the vehicle, but the two officers were just as confused as to what they’d seen.

‘We saw a Range Rover, right? Cruised up behind us, I mean, it wasn’t a blonde at the wheel, right? But a reddish-haired woman. We saw it stop, young kid gets out, sort of walks a few paces, next minute this fucking car screams up.’

Craigh rubbed his head. ‘You see the driver at all?’

The officer pulled at his collar. ‘Yeah, it looked like a friggin’ car full of women, one was blonde.’

The second officer peered across to the sweating Craigh. ‘No, two were blonde. There was one hanging out the window doin’ all the screamin’. Two blondes.’

Craigh breathed in, told them to see if there was any police car within the vicinity.

‘What you want, Gov?’

Craigh turned in a fury. ‘Not this fuckin’ mess for starters. Just see if we can get a full reg on the car.’

‘Which one? One with the blondes or the Range Rover?’

The Range Rover was already moving out on to the Shepherd’s Bush flyover, Julia panting with fear as Ester pressed her foot down. ‘Not too fast, slow it down, keep in the near lane.’

‘What the fuck happened?’ Ester screamed.

Julia was white-faced with fear, eyes to the front, to the back as they could hear sirens. ‘Dolly sussed she was being set up, that’s all I know.’

Gloria screamed that Dolly was out of her mind. She had gone right round the Shepherd’s Bush roundabout and was heading back the way they had come. ‘You’re crazy! You’re driving us right back to Ladbroke Grove — you should have gone up on the motorway.’

Dolly said nothing. She turned left on to Ladbroke Grove again and began to move into the side-streets crisscrossing Ladbroke Grove.

‘What are you doing?’

‘What we supposed to have done, Gloria? If we get stopped we was just up in London shopping, now shut up! Besides, if they’re trying to find us, they won’t be looking for us right on his bloody doorstep, will they? I’m going back on to the Harrow Road and then to the station. There’s a train at three and I’m gonna be on it.’ Dolly knew that if she was picked up, they must have Donaldson and he must have talked. She could be arrested.

Palmer was sitting with a damp cloth held to his neck. DCI Craigh was out in one of the cars searching for Donaldson. It was now bordering on utter farce and one they would all be in heavy trouble about.

Mike sat on the stairs, shaking his head in disbelief. His radio crackled. There was still no sighting of Jimmy Donaldson, who was at that moment running for his life with a bagful of fake diamonds. But only Mike knew they were fakes.

Jimmy Donaldson didn’t know he’d risked everything for a bag of glass. He was running and dodging down the alleyways, hugging the pouch bag to his chest. He reached the end of Ladbroke Grove and he was still in the clear. He ducked and dived down Portobello Road, in and out of the stallholders, catching his breath in antique shops. He was making his way towards a back link road that led on to Harrow Road, and he knew he’d be able to nick a motor easy. They were sometimes being worked on by blokes he knew so he reckoned if he made it there he’d be away.

Dolly forced Gloria into the back seat of the Volvo as she knew they’d be looking for a middle-aged blonde. Then she dragged Angela out of the car and shoved her into the driving seat. ‘Get in and drive.’

Angela had never driven an automatic in her life. Dolly crouched in the back seat with Gloria. ‘Just put the gear into “Drive”, Angela, and take it nice and easy. Go up to the end and you take a right. There’s a small slip road, we can ease through it onto the main Harrow Road.’

Dolly was calm, quiet until Angela took a left instead of a right, then she almost punched the back of Angela’s head.

Donaldson was panting, sick with having run himself into the ground as he wove in and out of the parked cabs and trucks. He saw the car, saw the door open with the keys inside, and his heart lifted. He got another surge of adrenalin and was ready to make a charge for the parked car.

As he did the run, Angela careered down the alley, terrified, still shouting that she couldn’t control the car, that she had never driven an automatic and hadn’t even passed her test on an ordinary car. Dolly gritted her teeth with fury. She knew they’d only be looking for a middle-aged blonde woman.

‘Stay fucking calm,’ screamed Gloria. ‘I dunno where we are. Where the hell are we? It’s a dead end, Dolly.’

Dolly knew exactly where they were and told Angela to keep going straight ahead. Either side of the road were garages, some with their doors open, mechanics working on vehicles, but no one was paying them much attention. By now they were moving more slowly. As they turned at the top end of the narrow yard and Dolly told Angela to put her foot down on the accelerator, Jimmy Donaldson, scared he was being followed and looking back over his shoulder, didn’t see the car and ran out straight into the Volvo.

His body took the full impact of the car side on. It threw him up into the air, he rolled across the bonnet and slithered to the ground on the opposite side. Angela rammed on the brakes, both Gloria and Dolly lurching forward in their seats. ‘What the bloody hell was that?’

‘A bloke! You’ve gone an’ hit a bloke, for chrissakes!’ bellowed Gloria. She then screamed as Donaldson, still alive, tried to stand, his face pressed against the window, clawing at the door.

‘Back up,’ shouted Dolly, ramming the car into reverse. Angela slammed her foot down on the accelerator again and as the car lurched backwards, Donaldson’s body disappeared.

‘He’s under the fucking car,’ shrieked Gloria. She leaned over and pressed the car into ‘Drive’. Angela was sobbing hysterically as the car bumped forward. They all felt the hideous bump and heard the sound beneath the wheels.

Donaldson’s chest was crushed. He lay face down in the gutter and, as Dolly ran from the car, two mechanics from one of the nearby garages, hearing the women screaming, began to look over. They were too far away to see who was in the car or what had happened.

Dolly almost fainted when she turned the body over and recognized Jimmy Donaldson. As she felt his pulse, she saw the black velvet pouch containing the diamonds. It was half in, half out of his jacket. She didn’t miss a beat. She snatched them, stuffed them into her pocket, and returned to the car. Neither Gloria nor Angela saw her do it. Both were in a state of shock.

‘Get out of here and fast. Move it, Angela!’ Now the watching men were more interested in what was going on at the bottom of the yard. The Volvo’s tyres screeched as it hurtled round the corner and disappeared. Not until they stood in the centre of the road did they see the body.

By the time the police arrived at the scene, Donaldson’s body was covered and being lifted into a stretcher. No diamonds and, for DCI Craigh, useless witnesses who could not say for sure the exact make of the car or even give a description of the driver. All Craigh did know was that it had been a major cock-up. Jimmy Donaldson was dead and no one had seen Dolly Rawlins anywhere near his home. If she had been in the car that killed Jimmy, they had no evidence. They had, as he put it to DI Palmer, fuck all. What was worse, they could all get into very deep trouble over what had taken place, and they all knew it.

Dolly made it to the train just in time. She had to run along the platform and opened one of the doors as the train was moving. The guards shouted but she was on it and she hauled Angela after her. They sat in the compartment heaving for breath. Dolly felt the pouch bag in her pocket sticking into her stomach. She leaned back, closing her eyes.

‘We made it.’

Angela was still panting, scared to death. ‘That — that man I ran over.’

Dolly opened her eyes. ‘Not your fault — you couldn’t stop. Eh, this is where we both get arrested for not having tickets.’

She smiled, but Angela couldn’t. All she could see was that grey object as it hit the windscreen, felt that hideous bump as she ran over him, not once but twice. She started to cry.

‘Pull yourself together, Angela, we don’t want anyone to... remember us. So I’ll sit up front, away fro m you, all right, love?’

Dolly made her way up the train, slipped into the toilet and held the bag of diamonds tightly to her chest. She’d got them and she’d still make the meeting.

Gloria took a steady, almost scenic, route back to the rental garage, first stopping at a car wash and checking for any signs of damage or blood on the bumpers, but the car didn’t even have a dent. The windscreen wasn’t cracked either. She was impressed with the Volvo. It dawned on her that there were no diamonds, and she was depressed and fed up by the time she collected her Mini and drove back to the manor. She had Eddie’s guns, though — they’d make a nice packet. Gloria decided she should have stuck with what she knew, not been drawn into the diamond scam by Ester Freeman and her big ideas — she’d get the hell away from that Dolly Rawlins. She reckoned she was unlucky anyway.

Dolly went into the washroom at the town hall and told Angela to see which room they should go to. When she returned, Dolly had carefully stashed the bag of diamonds on top of one of the old toilet cisterns. She reckoned she might have a visit later: if some bastard set her up, they wouldn’t leave it as it was. Somebody was bound to come sniffing around at the manor.

She turned as Angela slipped in and whispered, ‘I said we’d been here for fifteen minutes waiting down the hall. They said they’re running a bit behind and for you to go into the waiting room outside the boardroom.’

Dolly examined her face in the mirror. She looked a bit ruffled but she put on some lipstick and only then did she realize she was shaking.

Angela was biting her nails as she sat next to Dolly in the waiting room. Ten minutes ticked by, during which two women came in and walked out, Dolly making a point each time of saying, ‘Good afternoon.’

Angela suddenly started to cry again and Dolly squeezed her hand tightly. ‘Don’t. Just hold on.’

‘I think he was dead, Dolly. I’m sure I killed him.’

‘You did, love.’ Angela gasped with shock but it calmed her, just as the boardroom doors opened and Mrs Tilly walked out.

‘I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting, Mrs Rawlins, but please do come in.’

Dolly smiled and straightened her jacket. She noticed Mrs Tilly looking at her watch and she said quietly, ‘We got here early. I didn’t want to be late, this is too important for me.’

Mrs Tilly held open the door, allowing Dolly to walk into the boardroom ahead of her. As the door closed behind them, Angela sniffed and pressed her hand to her mouth. She’d killed that poor man, she’d killed him and she couldn’t face it. She pressed her hands to her mouth, then got up and hurried out.

Mike’s wife picked up the phone. She could hear someone sobbing on the other end. ‘Look, whoever this is, don’t keep calling here, do you hear me? Leave us alone.’

Angela sobbed that she had to talk to Mike, it was urgent, and there was something in her terrified voice that made Susan not put down the receiver. She didn’t know where Mike was, but she paused. ‘What’s your name? Do you have a number he can contact you on? Hello? Hello? Who is this?’

‘It’s Angela, it’s—’ Susan couldn’t make out what else was said because of the sobbing, and then the phone went dead. She called the office and they said he was out. She called her mother-in-law. Audrey answered.

‘Is Mike there, Mum?’

‘No, love, I’m waiting for him to call. Did he tell you? I’m going to Spain, I’m just waiting for my passport.’

Susan asked Audrey to get Mike to phone her straight away if he happened to call.

‘Are you all right, Susan?’ Audrey asked, concerned.

‘No, Mum, I’m not. If I ask you something, will you be honest? I mean it, Audrey, I don’t want you to lie to me.’

‘I won’t, love.’ Audrey had never heard Susan so agitated.

‘I think Mike is seeing someone else. I’m getting hysterical phone calls and then sometimes they just put the receiver down on me.’

‘Oh, Mike wouldn’t, love, it’ll be somethin’ to do with his work, he wouldn’t carry on.’

Susan clutched the receiver tighter. ‘You ever heard him mention a girl called Angela?’

Audrey sighed because she had. In fact, he’d called an Angela a couple of times from her flat. When she asked about her, he had said she was a kid he was trying to help out. Maybe he’d been doing a bit more than helping her out. ‘I’ll talk to him, don’t you worry about it. I’ll find out. But I think you’ve got it wrong — he wouldn’t, not Mike. I’ve got to go now, love, don’t you worry.’

Audrey could hear Susan crying and then the phone cut off. She replaced the receiver, feeling a bit guilty, but there were more important things on her mind. She looked at the clock: it was almost five. She crossed her fingers. Dolly Rawlins should have been arrested by now. She went back to her packing, half an ear listening for the phone, selecting her clothes for the trip to Spain. The face of her dead daughter stared back from the picture frame. Shirley Miller looked on with that sweet, vague smile.

The women were huddled in the kitchen as Gloria told her side of it, then Ester hers. Julia said nothing. Kathleen looked glum and Connie wanted to cry. She said, ‘So, there’s no diamonds?’

Ester gave a slow, burning stare. ‘That’s fucking bright of you to fathom out, Connie. What the hell do you think we’ve been talking about, Smarties?’

Mr Arthur Crow, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, looked over Dolly Rawlins’s forms and listened intently to her answers. She seemed nervous but that was only to be expected. She described the manor and her intentions, how many staff she felt would be required to run it, how many children she could easily accommodate. That section was impressive: she was concise and to the point, saying the grounds were ample, there were stables and a swimming pool but truthfully that the house was in a poor state of repair. That was why she had pressed Mrs Tilly for an on-site visit as she wished to make the house suitable for children and therefore any structural work required by the social services she would carry out, but did not want to go to unnecessary expense. She had costed the rebuilding and was able to give estimates and overall costs of running the home. No one there could have queried her good common sense. They now turned to her criminal record and she made it clear what her crime was, how many years she had been sentenced to, and, as she had been sentenced for murder, that she would be on licence for the rest of her life. She said quietly that she had never been involved in any criminal activity before the shooting of her husband and that it had been at a time when she was emotionally unstable because she had at first been told he was dead, then had discovered he was alive and living with another woman who had his child. She spoke candidly about the therapy sessions she had been given at Holloway and that she had required no therapy for the past five and a half years.

‘I found great solace in working with the young female offenders, especially in the maternity section of the prison. I developed an interest in working in the group-therapy sessions for the inmates and became a trusty, working with probation officers and therapists, not as a patient.’

Deirdre gave Dolly small encouraging nods and Mrs Tilly was a constant source of encouragement. The men were offhand and cool, showing much more restraint.

‘You have no children of your own, no near relative with young children?’

‘No, I have not.’ Dolly looked directly at a ruddy-faced man, who had made copious notes throughout.

‘You have specifically requested young children.’ It was the stern-faced Arthur Crow’s turn; his thin wispy hair hung in a strand across his bald head.

‘If that were possible, but I would hope for any child, or children, and having so much space and accommodation, if there were children that came from the same family and were to be separated, then I would accept any age, male or female.’

Dolly was asked further questions about whether she would be prepared to work with a foster carer and resident home advisory officers, and she agreed to be available and prepared to do anything the board suggested that would enable her to open the manor as a home.

‘Mrs Rawlins, how are you at this present moment financing the running of the Grange?’

Dolly explained that she had a considerable private income that had enabled her to purchase the manor.

‘Do you know the previous owner?’ It was slipped in fast.

‘No, I do not. I believe her name was Ester Freeman and the place had a very bad reputation. Perhaps that is why I think, and my lawyers feel, I paid a fair price for such a substantial property. At some time in the future I hope I can be self-sufficient as there is a large orchard and a considerable amount of good fertile soil for growing vegetables.’

Eventually, after over an hour and a half of questions and answers with Dolly maintaining her composure, she was asked if she would allow a visit within the next few days to assess the property. She agreed and stated that they were free to come at any time — in fact, the sooner the better. Mr Crow ended the meeting by saying that everything she had said would be assessed and obviously her past checked into in some detail. They thanked her for her honesty and wished her every success.

She walked out confidently, and was further gratified by Mrs Tilly’s light touch on her arm as she left. ‘Thank you so much for coming in to see us at such short notice, and we apologize for keeping you waiting.’

Dolly returned to the manor by taxi. At the level crossing they were held up for almost ten minutes. The cab driver shook his head and turned to the back seat. ‘Sorry about this, it’s the mail train. Holds us up for sometimes ten, twelve minutes. One night it was fifteen.’ The gates opened, and they drove on down the narrow country lane back to the manor.

Dolly breezed in, all smiles, trailed by a downcast Angela. ‘Well, it went very well. I feel positive and they’re gonna assess everything then come and look over the house.’ She shut the back door and tossed her handbag on to the table. ‘I don’t know about anyone else but I’m starving. Who’s on the dinner tonight?’

Ester stared at her in disbelief. ‘Is that all you’ve got to say? I’m glad everything went well for you!’

The police cars moved silently up the driveway, two officers from Thames Valley in front, followed by DCI Craigh, accompanied by DC Mike Withey and one uniformed driver. Craigh was first out. He walked up the manor steps, sidestepping the sacks of cement, and waited as the local police moved around to the back yard to enter from there. Then he radioed in that he was about to enter.

He gave one soft knock and murmured it was the police and that they had a warrant to search the premises. He then stepped back as the locals banged on the door. They didn’t need much force as it was only on the latch, and they burst into the hallway, Craigh holding up the warrant.

‘We have a warrant to search the premises. This is the police.’

Kathleen ran up the stairs, on to the first landing and legged it out on to a low roof at the back and stayed there. The other women ran this way and that, only Dolly remaining unflustered as she picked up the kettle to put it on the stove. Angela cringed back, crying, terrified that they had come to arrest her for the hit-and-run.

Seeing Angela in such a state was the only time Dolly worried. ‘Angela, keep your mouth shut, you don’t say one word. Just give them your name, nothing more, understand me?’

Gloria was clasping the back of the chair. She grabbed at Ester. ‘What the fuck do we do?’

Ester shrugged her away. ‘Nothing. There’s nothing here.’

Gloria was almost passing out. ‘Yes, there is. We put the bloody things in the cellar. Eddie’s guns are in the cellar.’

Ester froze, but could say nothing as they were surrounded by police and herded into the drawing room.

Craigh looked at Dolly as she calmly opened a tea caddy. ‘I am Detective Chief Inspector Craigh.’

Dolly smiled. ‘Dorothy Rawlins.’ She held out her hand for him to shake.

‘Do you mind if I talk to you first? Do you want to see the warrant?’

‘Of course. I’d also like to know what this is about.’

Craigh passed her the warrant and watched her study it. He looked into the hallway to Mike. ‘I’ll take Mrs Rawlins’s statement first, then the others. Get their names, addresses, you know the deal.’

He looked back at Dolly. ‘My men will begin searching the entire house and outbuildings.’

She nodded, seemingly still intent on reading the warrant. He waited patiently.

The women wandered around the drawing room; Gloria was now crying and Angela hadn’t stopped, but it was Julia who asked in a furious whisper what the hell they were getting so upset about.

‘There’s an arsenal of weapons down in the sauna, Gloria’s husband’s guns, three bags full of them.’

Ester sat down, her face drawn in fury. Julia looked at Gloria, stunned. ‘Are you serious?’ But she knew she was because she had never seen Gloria so scared. Before she could say a word, Mike Withey walked in.

‘I’ll need all your names, dates of birth, present and past addresses.’

Behind Mike, the women could see the officers searching, moving up the stairs, some heading down to the cellar. They remained silent, all of them waiting with trepidation for the police to find the weapons.