It was Myra who eventually yelled for a break. ‘Fuckin’ ’ell, Yukko — I’m knackered!’
As Yukko called a halt, he gave Shirley a little nod.
Yes! I’ve made it, she thought to herself.
Bella let herself into their lock-up. She’d had to travel by Tube, which she hated, and now she was here in this filthy hole, terrified of the dead or dying rats. She sat down on a box and wondered why the hell she’d come. The truth was, she just didn’t want to be at Shirley’s on her own. Plus, she quite liked the fact that Dolly had ordered her not to. And if she did find out something useful... well, that would teach Dolly not to be so high and mighty.
The noise of Harry’s lock-up being opened startled her out of her thoughts. She stood up, listening to the heavy door being drawn across, then stepped up on the crate.
On the other side of the wall, Micky Tesco was filling the kettle, while Ray Bates dumped a pile of uniforms on the floor. Harry Rawlins followed Ray in, along with Kevin White. The men were relaxed and chatty, Harry standing immediately below Bella’s peephole.
If only they knew, she thought.
‘You sorted out a double-up Transit van for the getaway?’ she heard Harry ask Ray.
‘All sorted. Extra van plus driver.’
‘Fine,’ Harry said, nodding. ‘Five hundred for the driver — that sound fair?’
‘Sure, Harry.’
Standing on the crate, Bella could hear them as clearly as if they were all sitting together in Shirley’s kitchen. She just hoped they couldn’t hear the booming of her heart.
Dolly sat in the boat, trying her best not to have a good time. But it was hard, with the wind blowing in her hair, the sun glinting on the water and the gentle up and down motion of the boat rocking her. She felt herself beginning to doze off when a speedboat zipped past, towing a water-skier behind it. The man waved to Morgan as he weaved dangerously close to the boat, sending a plume of spray into the air. Dolly was transfixed — how graceful and effortless it looked! Until the wind blew the spray all over her. Morgan quickly put the boat on automatic, then took off his jacket and offered it to her. She swiped his hand away in a fury and his jacket sailed over the side and into the water.
Morgan gaped. ‘That’s my—’
Dolly tried not to laugh at the expression on his face. It was obviously an expensive jacket and he’d worn it to impress her. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.’
Dolly had no idea why she thought it was so funny, but she just couldn’t help herself. Maybe it was all the tension of the last few days suddenly coming out. He was leaning over the side, shouting for her to get hold of his belt, reaching over toward the jacket, which was gently floating away out of his reach.
‘Get the boat hook!’
Dolly spotted it on the deck. She bent down to pick it up and then almost did a Buster Keaton as she turned round, nearly taking Morgan’s head off as he reached for it.
‘Oops, sorry!’
He yanked the pole out of her hand, and for some reason his furious expression started the laughter again.
‘Come on! Grab hold of my belt again,’ he shouted, leaning over the side of the boat and reaching out with the pole. Dolly grabbed hold and hung on for dear life as he finally managed to snag the coat and start dragging it toward him. But even with Dolly holding on to him, he was leaning too far over to keep his balance, and just as it seemed he was about to pull the coat out of the water, his head dipped under. Dolly pulled as hard as she could, thinking that the boat itself was about to tip over, and with an almighty heave he managed to raise himself out of the water, still clutching his precious jacket.
Dolly sat down on the deck and tried to get her breath while he rummaged in the pockets of the sodden jacket, eventually pulling out his wallet.
‘Thank Christ for that,’ he said, closing his eyes.
She looked at him, at his big, dopey face, with water dripping down it, and started to laugh again. She gave in to it, hysterical laughing, unable to stop.
He looked at her and shook his head. ‘What a funny woman you are, Mrs. Rawlins.’ He came and sat beside her, and put his arms round her, holding her gently.
She turned to him and smiled, brushing a piece of weed from his forehead. ‘Thank you, Vic. Thank you so much.’
He looked puzzled. ‘For what?’
‘For making me laugh,’ Dolly said.
Bella was starting to shiver and she was getting cramp in her calves. But she didn’t dare move. The men were trying on their uniforms and once each of them had found a uniform that fitted, and had taken them off again, Harry called them over and the men began to group round the orange boxes to listen to the guv’nor.
Harry was brisk and businesslike. The men were mostly silent, listening intently, no one interrupting. Harry assigned them their roles in the raid — who was to carry the shotguns or hammers — and carefully explained the timing. The men nodded in silence. Only when Harry had finished delegating their tasks did they ask any questions.
Bella noticed that the men didn’t seem to like the only black man among them. He didn’t say much, and nor did the small, younger-looking man. The handsome blond guy, on the other hand, was very much in evidence, laughing and joking confidently. Less confident was a white-haired, rather elegant man with horn-rimmed glasses, who seemed constantly to be looking to Harry for approval. She wondered about him.
One by one the men left. The white-haired man handed Harry a brand-new passport before going, saying something about DI Fuller that Bella couldn’t quite follow, while Harry counted out his payment in cash.
‘Tomorrow, then,’ Harry said, shaking his hand.
Then Harry and the handsome blond boy were alone. They both seemed so relaxed it was hard to believe they’d just been going over the details of an £8 million jewel raid. She heard Harry call the other man Micky, and she made a mental note of the name.
‘What about your model, then?’ Harry asked.
Micky laughed. ‘I got her in the palm of me hand, Harry.’
‘Make sure you get all the info out of her, Micky. Everything, yeah?’ Harry gave Micky a playful cuff round the ear.
Moments later the lights went off, leaving Bella blinking into the darkness. But she didn’t relax until she heard Harry finally driving away. She gave it another couple of minutes before slipping out, then Bella opened Harry’s lock-up and went in.
The girls were gliding up and down the ramp in formation, moving like tigers.
‘In the midst of all this madness, let’s dance, come on an’ dance.’
Jukko screamed for the lights — now they were strobing, swirling round the girls’ heads, then... blackout.
The next second the girls’ heads and shoulders were picked out by spotlights, each girl lit to show off the final display of the jewels. At this precise moment they were wearing, in all, over eight million pounds’ worth of gems.
The lights came back on and the girls fell down in exhausted heaps. Jukko clapped his hands and declared a break. Amid cheers they crawled down the ramp. Shirley jumped down, laughing, and Myra grabbed hold of her.
‘Babe, why do we let them do this to us?’
Shirley loved the fact that the other girls included her naturally in the discussion about where to go to eat. But the truth was, she would have been happy eating a sandwich in the middle of a roundabout, she was so excited. As they all streamed out of the club, Shirley saw Micky standing on the corner, leaning against his E-type. Myra nudged her, making kissing sounds. Shirley would have preferred to go and eat with the girls, but Micky waved her over.