Widows

Chapter 40

Shirley stepped onto the plane clutching her ticket and, unsure where her seat was, turned left. A stewardess standing by the galley asked if she was traveling first class and Shirley held up her ticket. The stewardess looked at it, gave her a cheesy smile, and said economy seats were to the right. As the stewardess politely shuffled Shirley back toward economy, Shirley saw Dolly sitting by the window in first class, sipping champagne and reading Vogue. ‘Bloody typical.’ Shirley muttered.

To make it worse, Shirley was in an aisle seat where people would bump into her and, worse still, she discovered Charles sitting right next to her.

‘I swapped seats to be next to you!’ He beamed. ‘Now we can get to know each other better!’

It had been hours since she’d eaten anything, so Shirley enjoyed the in-flight meal. After eating, she put on her headphones and settled back to watch the movie; she wasn’t really interested in it, but anything was better than having to listen to Charles drone on and on about all the countries he’d been to.

Shirley had fallen asleep during the film when, yet again, she felt someone bump into her. She whipped off her headphones, and was about to give whoever it was a piece of her mind, when she saw Dolly standing there. Dolly apologized as if Shirley was a complete stranger, before walking on toward the toilets. Checking that the toilets were all vacant, Dolly took a cigarette out the pack she was holding and lit up as Shirley joined her, the headphones still dangling round her neck. As the women talked, they kept smiling at each other, as if they were simply passing the time of day.

‘We got trouble,’ Dolly said quietly. ‘The customs system at Rio is different from ours. There’s no red and green area: everyone goes through the same exit. They just swoop on anyone they feel like searching. We have to risk it, though. You OK with that?’

Shirley’s heart sank. ‘No, I’m not OK,’ Shirley hissed. ‘It’s crazy to risk it! The Brazilian customs officers will be watching for the slightest twitch and you know how nervous I get.’

‘I’ll be the one taking the risk by carrying the money bag,’ Dolly pointed out. ‘Without it we’ll soon have nothing left to survive on in Rio — or to get us out of the bloody country if we need to. All I need you to do if you see a customs guy stop me is create a diversion.’

Shirley nervously twisted the wire on the headphones. She knew Dolly was taking the biggest risk. She had no choice but to back her up.

‘I’ll take your silence as a yes, then?’

‘What sort of diversion should I create?’

‘You’ll think of something. You’ve still got six hours before landing,’ Dolly said as she walked off.

Shirley went into the toilet. She held her head in her hands, feeling sick. When she got back to her seat, the film was just ending. They had caught the villains on the Costa Brava with the stolen cash. Shirley ordered a large brandy to calm her nerves and settle her brain. Closing her eyes, she pretended to sleep.

Harry moved softly round the darkened bedroom, trying not to wake Trudie. His hands had stopped bleeding, but he was still feeling the pain from the cuts as he packed a holdall and then opened a drawer in the dressing table. Taking out his passport, he searched around for the fifty quid Dolly had given Trudie for the baby. The thought of Dolly made him twist inside with hate. He would pay her back for this: he would find her and, even after he’d got his money, she’d suffer for doing this to him. He fumbled around in the drawer, wincing with pain when he caught the palm of his hand on a stiff hairbrush. One of the larger cuts reopened, he sucked in air through his teeth and let out a small sigh.

Trudie woke and all she could see was a dark figure searching through the dressing table. Harry moved in an instant to the bedside and put his hand over her mouth. ‘It’s me, Harry,’ he whispered, and she relaxed. She grabbed his arm and pulled it from her face. She could feel something wet round her mouth. As she switched the bedside light on, she saw the blood from Harry’s hand.

‘Quiet, keep it shut, don’t wake the kid,’ he said, wiping his blood from her face.

Trudie looked at Harry’s hands and saw the numerous cuts and blood. ‘Where have you been? I’ve been awake for hours waiting for you! What have you done?’

Harry stood up. ‘Where’s the fifty quid she gave you?’ Trudie opened her mouth to ask why, but Harry made a ‘cut it’ gesture.

‘You didn’t find the money, did you?’ she said, realization dawning. ‘And where’re Eddie and Bill?’

Harry ignored her, picked up her purse and took out the fifty quid, plus what was left of her child benefit. He stuffed it into his pocket and then pulled out his bedside drawer. Taped to the underside was the false passport Bill had got for him. He stuffed it into his holdall and walked out of the bedroom.

Trudie got out of bed and followed him. ‘Where are you going? Harry? Where are you going? You’re not leaving me, are you?’

Harry shook his head, but Trudie ran to the door and positioned herself in front of it. ‘Are you going back to Dolly? Do you still love her, or is it for the money?’

Harry stood face to face with Trudie and spat the words out. ‘Don’t even say her name. She’s gone... gone forever!’

Trudie grabbed hold of him. ‘The money — what about the money?’

Harry pushed her to one side and wrenched the door open. Trudie clung onto him tight.

‘I love you so much, Harry. Please stay. I need you here with me... I love you.’

Harry held her tightly and pulled her head into his shoulder as she began to cry. He lifted her chin up and stared down into her eyes as he whispered. ‘I know, but I can’t stay. We went to the house. Neither Dolly nor the money was there. Then the police turned up and all hell let loose. Eddie and Bill got nicked and we both know there’s no way Eddie will keep his mouth shut once he’s been roughed up a bit in a cell. I have no choice. I have to go.’

Trudie let out a howl and Harry covered her mouth with his hand.

‘I’ll be back for you, I promise, but I just got to make it on me own for a while.’

He moved out onto the landing. Sobbing, Trudie held onto his coat, pulling him backward. Harry stopped, and jerked his hand backward to get her off him.

‘I won’t let you go; I won’t let you!’ she said, weeping so hard she was shaking.

Harry held her cheeks and squeezed them hard. ‘The kid — he’s mine isn’t he? Isn’t he?’

Trudie winced as his grip tightened. ‘Of course he’s yours,’ she said, looking into his hard and cruel eyes.

‘He’d better be; he’d better be mine! I’ll be back for you both.’ He turned. Trudie’s grip on him was so tight that he had to jerk his hand sharply away and, as he did, he knocked her backward.

He was off, running down the stairs as Trudie fell and cracked her head against the wall, but he didn’t look back. Trudie felt sick as she crawled to the banister.

‘Harry, you bastard!’ she screamed as she hauled herself up and looked down the staircase. ‘You run to her — go on, RUN TO HER! She was the brains behind you all along and you never even knew it!’ Slumping onto the stairs, she wept even harder.

Mrs. Obebega came out of her flat below and looked up. ‘You all right, Mrs. Nunn? Mrs. Nunn, you OK?’ she asked, coming up the stairs toward Trudie.

Below them, they heard wood cracking and splintering as the front door was smashed in against the inside wall, and the sound of heavy boots running up the stairs.

Detective Sergeant Fuller was leading the raid. Jimmy Nunn’s address had been barely legible on the blood-soaked scrap of paper Resnick had given him. Seeing Trudie on the floor, Fuller waved his warrant card at her and then ran past her. ‘Where is he? Tell me right now, where is he?’ Fuller shouted over his shoulder.

‘He’s gone... he’s gone... now GET OUT!’ Trudie screamed over and over again, becoming ever more hysterical.

Tenants were coming out their flats as uniformed police entered and swarmed the building. Back on the top landing, Fuller hauled Trudie up from the floor by her dressing gown as the uniformed officers stomped into the flat. One of them kicked open the bedroom door and woke the baby, who began to howl.

Fuller held Trudie by the arm and pulled her toward her front door. ‘Where’s Jimmy? You’d better tell me where he is, Mrs. Nunn, or I swear I’ll nick you as well.’

Trudie could hear herself laughing, a crazy sound. Like a needle stuck on a record, she just kept repeating: ‘I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything.’