As Shirley pulled up, Bella stepped from her hiding place in the cinema entrance and hurried to the car.
‘Linda’s not in position!’ Shirley exclaimed.
Bella was calmer. ‘Have you checked out all the parked cars?’
Shirley nodded. ‘I’ve looked in every last one. It’s like a graveyard up there. But where’s Linda? What should I do?’
Bella looked back up Pond Street. It was empty. She turned back to Shirley. ‘Look, go and get into position. Park right on the corner. Anything goes wrong, just give me the signal, flash your lights.’
‘Yeah, I know what to do, but what about Linda?’
Bella decided to tell her. ‘It’s OK, she’s gone for a gun.’
Riding the bike hard, Micky Tesco came up East Heath Road and on past the ponds, ignoring the car park to his right. He continued toward the Vale of Health, then veered across the road, up onto the pavement and cut the headlights. He moved onto a narrow pathway on the heath itself, then switched the engine off and pushed the bike toward the top of the hill. It took time; the bike was heavy and he needed all of his strength to do it. He heaved it into a position where he had a perfect view of the car park below him. The place was still deserted. He was in good time. Looking up the hill from the car park, Tesco, in black leathers and helmet, on the black bike, would be practically invisible.
Gordon Murphy headed in the opposite direction, coming down East Heath Road toward the car park. He passed a block of exclusive flats overlooking the heath, passed the car park and the ponds on his left, then turned right on to Downshire Hill, making a quick U-turn so he could park facing the car park. His instructions were to keep out of Harry and Micky’s way. His job was to follow Dolly and find out where she was staying. That was all he had to do. He switched off his lights and sat, waiting.
Shirley was unaware that while she had been talking to Bella on the corner, Tesco and Murphy had taken up their positions. As she returned and parked her car, the heath seemed as still and silent as before. She was now in position, facing the car park, waiting. Linda had still not shown up.
Linda had reached Englands Lane. She knew she was late, still more than five minutes from the car park, and the dummy lurched sideways in the seat beside her as she screeched round the corner.
Bella watched Harry Rawlins’ Jag pass the cinema, heading toward the car park. She looked toward Shirley’s parked car. There was no warning flash, so all must be well. But where the hell was Linda? She looked up Pond Street again, toward Haverstock Hill, hoping to see her appearing.
Harry arrived at the car park, drove up past the big oak tree and did a slow U-turn, ending up dead center of the car park, as Dolly had instructed him. He turned his lights off, and for a moment he was in total darkness. He glanced up toward the hill, hoping Micky Tesco was in position. Then he turned and looked across East Heath Road to where Murphy should be parked. He flicked on the interior light and opened the doors.
It was frightening. There he was, sitting in the car just as they had planned, clear as daylight. For the first time, Shirley had a really good look at Harry Rawlins.
As Bella was staring up Pond Street, desperate for a sight of Linda, Dolly drove past, heading toward the heath. With no warning signal from Bella, she drove on.
Shirley saw Dolly in the green Ford heading toward the car park and inched herself up in the seat. As arranged, Dolly parked her car exactly across the exit. Now Harry couldn’t get out. So far, everything was going according to plan. The one missing link was Linda...
Micky Tesco tensed when he saw Dolly’s car pulling up.
Gordon Murphy had the key already in the ignition, poised, ready to follow Dolly as soon as she started to move.
Dolly stared. She could see him now. She watched as he got out of the Jaguar and stood there. He was smiling. He lifted his hands above his head, then shook his arms in a comical gesture to indicate that he had nothing up his sleeve, nothing in his pockets. He turned round, as if he was making a joke of the whole thing. Seeing him there, actually seeing him, just two hundred yards away, made Dolly suddenly unsure whether she could go through with it. His presence totally unnerved her. She clenched her fists hard, her nails almost cutting into her palms, in an effort to pull herself together.
Right, here we go, she thought. She reached over the back of the seat and picked up the shopping bag full of money.
Linda veered right on to Pond Street, her tires squealing — and straight into the path of a car accelerating up the hill. Blinded by her lights, the other driver swerved out of her way and crashed into the wall surrounding the church. Linda pulled up and stared in panic behind her. The driver and a female passenger got out, shouting and screaming at her. The windscreen had shattered, and the front end was badly dented, but they were both on their feet and she couldn’t see any blood, so Linda turned and drove on toward the heath.
Seconds later, the badly shocked driver saw a patrol car passing on Rosslyn Hill and ran toward it to flag it down. Linda was so focused on catching up with Bella she didn’t see it turning down Pond Street behind her, its lights flashing. As she accelerated down the hill, the patrol car was already radioing in for backup: ‘Red Ford Capri heading down Pond Street toward the heath, registration RKT 23X, repeat...’
At the bottom of the hill, Linda already had the passenger door open as Bella ran from the cinema. She was hysterical, shouting, ‘Give me the gun!’
As she drove on toward the car park, Linda tried to fill Bella in on what had happened at the lock-up. ‘There was a motorbike! Harry’s not... It’s the motorbike, the motorbike!’
Bella leaned across Linda and hit the horn as hard as she could, trying to warn Dolly not to hand over the money.
Dolly and Harry were only yards apart. He held his hand out for the shopping bag as he approached her.
Linda and Bella, car horn blaring, screeched up.
Dolly turned; Harry turned.
Bella was out of the car, running like a crazy thing toward Dolly, screaming: ‘Dolly, run! Don’t give him the money! Run! Run, Dolly!’
As soon as Tesco saw the bag about to be handed over, he kicked the bike into life and raced down the hill without lights, wheels lifting off the ground at one point, bumping fast across the pathway. When he hit the car park, he headed straight across the gravel toward Dolly.
Bella was still running toward Dolly, the gun held out stiffly in front of her, Linda trailing behind. Dolly clutched the shopping bag to her chest as she backed toward them. Harry took it all in, saw Tesco coming toward them on his bike, and turned back toward the Jaguar.
From his position, Murphy couldn’t make out what the hell was going on. There seemed to be people running in every direction, car horns blaring, people shouting, lights flashing. He strained forward for a better view, turned the engine on, and then his headlights — still it was chaos. Gravel churned as Tesco hurtled toward Dolly.
Linda screamed at her to get away. ‘It’s the bike — the bloke on the bike’s going to take the money. Run, Dolly!’
Harry started the Jag. Bella was running toward him, shouting something, pointing a gun.
Dolly was dazed, trying to work out who was shouting what. As Shirley jumped from her car and ran for the car park, Tesco tried to grab the shopping bag out of Dolly’s hands. He got a good grip on it, but Dolly wouldn’t let go. As he tried to accelerate away, she was pulled off her feet and, still holding on to the money, was dragged across the gravel behind the bike. With a snarl, Tesco kicked out at her, his foot connecting with her arm, and she lost her hold on the bag. Then he was gone, almost doing a wheelie as he screeched round the tree, out of the car park and down the road toward the cinema.