Widows

Chapter 27

Bella took off the paint mask and stepped back to breathe in some air. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and cheeks. She surveyed the Ford Escort van that was to be their getaway vehicle with pride; she’d never sprayed a vehicle before, but she’d spray-tanned plenty of strippers backstage at the Z-Easy club, and it was pretty much the same.

When Dolly had bought the van — under a false name and in cash — two weeks ago, it was red. Now it was a gleaming white. The engine had been a bit knackered, but Linda had got to work and it had a lot more poke under the bonnet than before. Linda had learned a lot about engines from Carlos during the few weeks she knew him, the most important being how to ‘feel’ the engine. He’d said she could read manuals if she wanted to, but they didn’t replace intuition. That might have worked for him, but she’d read the manuals too — especially for the vehicles in Dolly’s lock-up. If they broke down, they went to jail. Simple as that.

Bella wandered across to Shirley, who was humming to herself as she busily painted magnetic signs for the sides of the getaway van. ‘The van’s ready when you are.’

Shirley looked up. ‘Do you think these are OK, Bella?’ She cared what Bella thought.

Bella nodded. ‘Very professional. It’ll look like a genuine council van when these and the false plates are on.’

On the far side of the lock-up, Linda was sitting on a crate, cleaning the sawed-off shotguns. Her face was ashen, her mouth a thin tight line, and she kept flicking looks toward the exit. She was waiting for Dolly.

‘Is everything OK, Linda?’ Bella asked, worried she was going to blow her top when Dolly arrived. It was early evening now and Bella had been watching Linda all day. At one point she’d tried to persuade her to go home, but Linda had refused. She’d sat in the lock-up, biding her time like a taut wire ready to snap. Now, Bella leaned in and whispered in Linda’s ear.

‘I know you’re hurting about Carlos, but losing it with Dolly ain’t gonna bring him back. Wait until the job’s done and, once you got your cut, you can call her what you want. You can even slap her about if it makes you feel better. Do ya hear me, Linda?’

‘It’s hard, Bella,’ said Linda. ‘It’s like she’s ripped the soul out of me... but I’ll do me best to keep me mouth shut. I don’t want to ruin it for you and Shirl.’

Bella patted her shoulder and went to put the false plates on the van.

Ten minutes later, Dolly breezed in and plonked a bag of shopping on the floor. She was still on a high and eager to tell the girls about her morning. ‘I’ve got us the final route and times for security van,’ she said with a beaming smile.

Shirley and Bella went over and congratulated her. Dolly waved her hand to Linda to join the group, and then cleared a space on the table, laid out the route map Brian Marshall had given her and lit up a cigarette. Bella wanted to ask how she had got the route map, but if Dolly wanted them to know, she’d tell them.

‘OK, so I’ve spent the afternoon driving this route,’ Dolly started. ‘I done it about six or seven times. To do timings, and find the best position for the blocking van to be parked up before we head into the underpass, that sort of thing.’ Dolly quickly flicked through the other papers given to her by Marshall. ‘We’ve got the exact date and time now... it’s two weeks ahead of schedule.’

‘How come?’ Linda asked, just to be awkward.

‘Because that date and time gives us the best balance between cash haul and the opportunity to pull the job quickly and successfully. We’ve got to account for rush hours, road works, school holidays, all that sort of thing. I got it under control, Linda, don’t you worry.’

As usual, Dolly’s patronizing tone got right up Linda’s nose, but she bit her tongue as Dolly continued.

‘Memorize the route and then we’ll burn it. Drive it as many times as you think you need to, so you learn all the tricky parts, the lights, the roundabouts, the zebra crossings, anywhere things could go wrong.’

As a train rumbled by overhead, the big dog in the lock-up next door barked. Wolf started yapping. Linda felt the tide of anger rise.

‘I also marked on the map where the getaway car will be parked, so learn that as well. Drive it from the pick-up point to the car park, where your own motors will be parked, ready to get you to the airport. Time everything down to the last second. Drive it again and again till you can do it blindfolded. You lot got your holiday stories sorted?’ Dolly asked.

They were all prepared; their plans had to be above suspicion. Linda was either to leave the arcade or get herself sacked, and Bella was to quit her job at the strip club. No one must suspect they had any contact with each other. Shirley was uncomfortable lying to her mum, but she’d do it. She had to.

‘Right, here are your tickets to Rio. You got your passports? There’s two flights that day, so I’ve booked Bella and Linda onto the first one. Shirl, you’ll fly later the same day. Keep away from each other till you land,’ Dolly continued. ‘Learn your flight times and numbers, and your weight allowance. We can’t have anyone being stopped for something stupid like their suitcase being too heavy!’ Dolly laughed and Bella and Shirley were polite enough to giggle, albeit a little late. Dolly seemed perkier than usual as she ticked off everything she’d covered in her precious notebook. ‘Right,’ she said with a buoyant tone to her voice ‘Let’s see what you been up to.’

She was pleased with the work they’d done. The paint job and signs on the van were very good, and the set of number plates were a copy of ones they’d seen on a white Ford van on their trip to the beach near Brighton. Bella demonstrated how fast the signs could be peeled off and the van’s false plates changed back to the originals.

Dolly walked over to Linda, who was checking the spark plugs on the van. ‘You sorted the lead truck, yet? You’re going to have to nick it earlier now.’

Linda couldn’t look Dolly in the face. ‘I got a big Leyland laundry van lined up,’ she said offhandedly. ‘It’ll be perfect and a doddle to nick.’

‘How big’s “big”? Will it fit in here or do we need somewhere else to stash it?’

Before Linda could snap back, Shirley butted in. ‘Mum’s block of flats. She’s got a parking bay underneath. You can dump the van there, no problem. Market vans come and go all the time so it won’t look out of place or nothing.’

Dolly remained focused on Linda. ‘Can you get it this week?’

‘I can get it whenever,’ Linda said curtly, straining to hold back her temper. She walked away from Dolly.

‘We need it quick Linda!’ Dolly raised her voice as she followed Linda to the other side of the lock-up. ‘We got to change the number plates and reinforce the rear bumper with a metal bar... you sure a laundry van can withstand a heavy security truck crashing into the back of it?’

Linda ignored her and picked up one of the sawed-off shotguns on top of the tool trolley. She would have liked to turn it on Dolly and blast her right there and then.

‘What’s up with Linda?’ Dolly asked Bella.

Bella shrugged and busied herself wiping the false plates with a rag to remove all prints. Dolly suspected Bella did know what the matter was. She looked over at Linda. Wolf was sniffing around Linda’s feet, and the next second Linda kicked the little dog, causing him to yelp in pain. Dolly had had enough.

‘Don’t you ever kick him again!’ Dolly shouted, striding over to Linda and pointing her finger straight in her face.

‘Well keep the mangy thing away from me,’ Linda replied.

‘Come on — out with it. What’s the matter with you?’

Linda kept her head down. ‘Nothing,’ she muttered.

‘Is this about me asking you to get rid of your mechanic?’

Linda looked at Dolly. ‘I did as you asked. He won’t be a problem no more.’

‘Good,’ Dolly replied coldly. ‘He suss anything?’

‘Wouldn’t matter if he did. He’s dead.’

Dolly was stunned into silence. For a moment, she wondered if Linda was trying to make her feel as guilty as possible, but the look of anger and sorrow in Linda’s eyes showed she was deadly serious. ‘I’m so sorry, Linda. What happened?’

‘I saw it, Dolly. I saw the whole thing. Do you want the details or will “he’s dead” be enough for you?’

‘I’m sorry, Linda, I truly am. You should have told me as soon as it happened.’

‘Why? What would you have done to make me feel better about making me kill my boyfriend? Cos that’s what happened, Dolly. You said to grass him up, the police raided his place, and he ran... straight under a van.’ Linda walked away before she did something she’d regret.

As Dolly started to follow Linda, Bella stopped her.

‘She turned up at my flat in a right state,’ Bella said under her breath. ‘She saw him under the wheels of the van lying in a pool of his own blood, so you give her this one, OK? Let her be mad with you. Let her take it out on you. Let her blame you, because the only other person she can blame is herself. You can take it — she can’t. You want this robbery to go ahead? You take this one on the chin.’ Bella went into the office, where Linda was shakily trying to make herself a cup of tea.

As Dolly watched, Bella put her arms around Linda’s shoulders and gave her a hug. She wished she could do the same. She wished she could tell her again how sorry she was. But Dolly knew that Linda would never see her as a friend like Bella; all she could do was provide Linda with enough money to live the life she wanted. Dolly mentally revised her plan for the day. She had been eager to get the girls into a run through, but she thought she’d give Linda some time to drink her tea.

While she waited, she picked up one of the shotguns and tried to cock it but her finger slipped and got nipped between the firing pin and hammer. She stifled a scream, but couldn’t help letting out a little screech: ‘Ow! For fuck’s—’

From the office, Linda snorted in derision. Dolly looked round, annoyed, but after a warning glance from Bella, let it slide. She freed her finger, shaking it up and down till the pain subsided. A large blood blister was already forming. Right — that was it!

‘OK — let’s get our overalls and masks on and have a rehearsal!’ Dolly shouted. This time she wanted to practice unlocking the body harness, picking up the shotgun and sledgehammer, Bella with the chainsaw, Linda with a shotgun and then Bella with the shotgun. ‘Everything has to repeated till it’s second nature,’ Dolly said. ‘I don’t want nothing bad to happen to any of us.’ She tried not to catch Linda’s eye.

They moved out of the annex into the large, filthy main garage. An old furniture truck, minus wheels and one door, would act as the lead truck for the rehearsal. Shirley had already placed the harness over the driver’s seat and unbuckled it. This is where Dolly would be sitting, all strapped in, at the moment she slammed the brakes on, forcing the security wagon to slam into the back of her. The harness had to be strong enough to keep Dolly in her seat during the impact, and simple enough to unbuckle the very next moment. They had to get this right. Dolly’s actions would start the robbery. If she couldn’t get herself free, they’d all be sitting ducks.

Dolly put the sledgehammer in the back of the van, right by the rear doors. Her shotgun dangled from her waist on a makeshift belt. She then got in the driver’s seat and buckled herself into the harness. Shirley watched every move, making sure the straps weren’t twisted, too tight or too slack.

‘As soon as Linda gets the laundry van, I’ll move the harness into that and you can practice for real,’ Shirley said.

Dolly threw herself back and forth in her seat. The harness held fast. She gave Shirley the thumbs up.

‘Right,’ said Dolly. ‘I’m in the lead van — Linda’s laundry truck — all strapped in, shotgun by my side, sledgehammer by the rear doors. The security wagon’s behind me and you lot are in the van behind the security wagon. Bella, you’ll have your chainsaw and shotgun, Shirley, you’ll have your shotgun, Linda, you’ll be driving.’ Dolly looked at the girls, standing by the side door of her van, listening. ‘Go and stand by the back doors of this van for now. We’ll do everything from the stop to the moment I burst the back doors open.’

Shirley, Linda, and Bella lined up at the back doors of the furniture van. ‘Ready?’ Dolly shouted.

‘Ready,’ Bella shouted back. ‘I’m timing you.’

‘At the twenty-yard marker, I slam the brakes on, the security wagon rams into the back of me, I drive forward, then ram backward, and now the security wagon’s trapped between my van and yours.’

Shirley, over-excited, piped up, ‘I run up to the security wagon and cut their aerial off so they can’t radio for help.’

‘Shut up, Shirley!’ Bella whispered. ‘You don’t do that yet — Dolly hasn’t finished her bit...’

Dolly continued, oblivious to Bella and Shirley, ‘I undo my harness...’

There was a sudden silence. The girls glanced at each other. They closed in on the back doors of the van, and all they could hear was Dolly mumbling ‘fucking thing!’ Bella stopped the stopwatch and they all waited.

Shirley asked. ‘Need a hand with the harn—?’

‘NO!’

They heard the harness buckle drop to the floor. Bella started the stopwatch again.

Dolly shouted, ‘I undo my harness, move to the back doors and...’ with one huge kick from inside, the back doors of the van flung open to reveal Dolly standing there, legs wide apart like a bloke, swinging the sledgehammer above her head. One of the van doors smacked Shirley on the shoulder, sending her flying, and the sledgehammer was so heavy that it topped Dolly over backward.

Bella stopped the stopwatch again. ‘Don’t swing it overarm,’ she said, ‘you swing it underarm, just like you did at the beach.’

Dolly clambered to her feet. ‘Again. From the top.’

The three women stood by the back doors of the van listening to Dolly shouting her routine again. This time, as Dolly kicked the back doors open, she swung the sledgehammer underarm, letting go of it at the end of the swing, sending it flying across the garage and forcing them to dive out of its way. She then swung the shotgun up to her hip, pointed it at the imaginary security wagon and yelled: ‘Stay where you are!’

From where she’d landed on the floor, Bella shouted, ‘Bleedin’ hell, Dolly! You didn’t say you was going to let go of the sledgehammer!’

‘I’m throwing it through the windscreen of the security wagon! Course I’m going to let go of it.’

‘I meant now!’ Bella got to her feet and then helped Linda and Shirley up.

Dolly looked down from the van at them ‘How does it look?’ she asked.

‘Well,’ Linda replied, ‘it’ll look a whole lot more convincing if you take the safety catch off the shotgun.’

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake!’ Dolly cursed as she looked at the shotgun. ‘I get my finger caught every time. You’ll have to help me, Linda.’

Without thinking, Linda stepped forward and talked Dolly through how to remove the safety catch. Bella watched Linda teaching Dolly, with patience and kindness; they could get on when it really mattered. Suddenly she realized what she was actually watching: a shooting arcade worker teaching a convent volunteer how to work a shotgun. She shook her head, put her hand to her mouth and snickered. Sometimes it was hard to believe what they were doing.

Once Dolly had got the hang of the shotgun’s safety catch, Linda returned to stand by Bella and Shirley. ‘Right, let’s hear what you’re going to say,’ she said.

Dolly swung the shotgun up onto her hip and shouted, ‘Don’t move! Guard in the back, show your face at the hatch!’

Three blank faces stared up at Dolly. ‘Is that what you’re going to say?’ Shirley asked.

‘Well, what do you want me to say? “Stick ’em up, this is a raid”?’

‘Come on, you lot, sort it out. I got to go to work.’ Bella said, resetting the stopwatch.

Linda stepped forward again to help. ‘It’s not what you’re saying that’s the issue, it’s your voice. You sound like bleedin’ Bambi! Apart from pissing themselves laughing, the security guards will know it’s a woman’s voice and the cops will be straight onto us.’

‘Can you lower your pitch?’ Shirley suggested. ‘There was a singing round in a beauty competition I entered once and I had to learn how to sing a semi-tone lower than I normally—’

‘DON’T MOVE!’ Dolly bellowed.

Bella shook her head. ‘That’s still Bambi, just louder. Stick something in your mouth and try again.’

Shirley handed Dolly a white hanky with a red ‘S’ embroidered in the corner. Dolly stuffed it into her mouth and this time when she shouted, the words were completely inaudible and she nearly choked herself.

‘Forget it for tonight,’ Dolly said, spitting the hanky out onto the floor. ‘Bella’s got to go anyway.’

As Bella slipped into her motorbike leathers, they all chatted about Carlos. Dolly watched — three friends gossiping, reassuring, getting on like a house on fire. For a moment, she felt a twinge of jealousy, but she knew she had to keep her distance.

Dolly dished out her final orders for the night. ‘Right, listen you lot. It’s all coming together now, so let’s keep well away from each other as much as possible, right? I know you can only talk to each other about certain things, but it’ll have to wait till you’re all in Rio together.’

‘We,’ Bella corrected. ‘Till we’re all in Rio together.’

‘Don’t start that again,’ Dolly said, picking up her tweed coat and handbag.

Bella continued regardless. ‘It’s the only bit of the plan I still got a problem with, Dolly. But it’s easy fixed.’

Dolly flung her handbag down. ‘Come on, Bella — say what you mean! You don’t want to fly off round the world because — what? Because you won’t know where the money is being stashed, right?’

‘Spot on,’ Bella replied.

‘And you need to know because you don’t actually trust me, do you? Still, you don’t trust me! So far I’ve laid out nearly seven grand of me own money and trusted all of you with that. When the robbery’s done and we all head off in our different directions, who’ll actually have the money at that stage, Bella? Me? No. You will. The money will be in the boot of the getaway car, while I’m in the bleedin’ laundry van that we still haven’t nicked yet. Have I once doubted your honesty and whined about the possibility that you could run off with the money immediately after the robbery? No! I wouldn’t do that to you. I don’t make decisions just for my benefit, I make them to safeguard the lot of you.’ Dolly moved toward the three women. Shirley and Linda stepped slightly behind Bella for protection. ‘I know you all much, much better than you think,’ Dolly continued. ‘Do you reckon, after a few drinks, Linda could keep her mouth shut about all that money if she knew where it was? Do you think Shirley might not be tempted to slip her mum a couple of hundred?’ Dolly paused briefly to see if any of them would be brave enough to answer... they weren’t. ‘I’m not telling you where the money will be stashed because one slip of the tongue and we’ll not only have the law down on us, but every villain in London including the Fishers who, you may have noticed, have gone to ground. Boxer’s dead, Carlos was raided — that’s why the Fisher brothers are keeping their heads down. They’re scared, confused and they don’t know what’s going on. All they know is that it looks like someone might be out to get them and they don’t know who. They think it’s Harry — good.’

‘Nice speech,’ Bella said. ‘But this isn’t about trust. This is about knowing where the money is if anything happens to you.’

Dolly’s face was now red with anger and hurt. ‘You think I haven’t thought of that after all we’ve bloody well been through? I’ve left a letter with my solicitor for each of you in case I die. In the letters is what you’re so desperate to know.’

If they were surprised by Dolly’s mention of the letters, it also seemed a very convenient addition to the conversation. She could see the doubt in their eyes. ‘Believe me, don’t believe me,’ Dolly said in a weary voice. ‘But do the robbery as planned.’ As Dolly went to pick up her handbag, Shirley spoke.

‘I believe you.’

Dolly pulled a glove on over her blistered finger and winced. She looked at Shirley and smiled. ‘Thank you, Shirley.’ She headed for the door. Her steps were short and slow; she looked tired and old. ‘Run off with the money, eh?’ Dolly laughed. ‘How would I spend a million on me own?’

Bella shrugged and grinned. ‘We got to get our hands on it first, darlin’.’

‘You said it, Bella. And it’s up to you lot now if we do it or not. Let me know what you decide. Come on, Wolf.’

Wolf was curled up asleep on the office chair and didn’t hear Dolly’s command. Bella picked him up, caught up with Dolly and handed Wolf to her. ‘OK,’ Bella said, looking Dolly in the eyes. ‘Everything stays as planned.’

Dolly moved slowly toward the exit, keen to get out before any of them saw how close she was to tears. She hadn’t really left any letters with a solicitor; she’d lied to get the girls to trust her. But she would write the letters now, just in case something did happen to her. She felt unappreciated and betrayed by Bella and Linda — and after all she had given them! She hugged her little dog for comfort and kissed his head. ‘Let’s go home, my little baby, let’s go home,’ she whispered. As Dolly walked gingerly across the cobbles in the dark, Wolf looked back over her shoulder and gave a low grumble. Dolly glanced back and caught sight of a rat disappearing into one of the lock-ups. ‘Ssshhh, Wolf. It’s just a rat.’ But Wolf’s eyes, like huge, dark saucers, were fixed on something else.

Ten minutes after Dolly left, Bella left. Then Linda and, lastly, Shirley. As Shirley buttoned up her coat, she realized that the big dog from next door hadn’t barked when the others left. She shrugged the thought off and, reaching the main door, turned the overhead strip lights off, ignoring the drip, drip of water echoing round the cavernous lock-up. She was about to open the door when she heard a noise, a sort of scuffle that sounded as if it was coming from outside. She listened closer, ear against the door, and started to shiver. She switched on her small torch and shone it round the dark lock-up.

Bill Grant pressed his face against the cold wall as he stared into the garage through the slits in the air bricks. The blonde seemed to stare straight at him. As the torch light moved toward him, he stepped back briefly in case his eyes glistened in the light beam. Once the beam had passed, Grant returned to his vantage point. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘I could keep you safe in the dark, my darlin’. Nice and safe with me.’

Shirley finally braved opening the main door and stepped out into the darkness of the night. She paused, and once her eyes had adjusted, almost ran toward the main road.

‘The last one’s just left,’ Grant said, turning from his spyhole in the wall. He laughed, a chesty smoker’s laugh with a dirty undertone. He leaned against the wall, arms folded. ‘Who’d have thought it, eh? The chicks are really fuckin’ gonna do it.’ Standing up from the wall, he brushed brick dust from his coat sleeve. His lock-up was identical to Dolly’s, but much dirtier, with lines of wrecked cars covered in dust and pigeon shit. A flashlight shone in Grant’s face and he held his hand to his eyes. ‘Do me a favor! You can turn the lights back on now they’ve gone.’ The flashlight clicked off.

Harry Rawlins held the straining Alsatian by the scruff of the neck while he untied the rag that was wrapped round its jaws like a muzzle. The dog started barking and snarling, its long shiny white fangs dripping thick spittle. Harry suddenly let the dog go and it hurtled forward toward Grant, who jumped backward in fear. The chain round its neck ran out of slack inches from Grant, jerking the animal’s head back and stopping it in its tracks. Harry laughed.

‘Fuckin’ hell!’ Grant exclaimed. He was shaking. Harry looked like the animal now, his mouth open with a snarl and his teeth glistening as he sneered.

‘She’s copying my plans virtually to the letter,’ Harry said. ‘So she’ll be the only one who knows where the money’s stashed when the job’s done. That’s when we move, Bill. It’ll be like taking candy from a baby.’