She approached one of the premises and, peering through the crack between the large wooden doors, nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw a huge Alsatian pounce toward her, snarling and barking. She quickly scurried one door along, raised her fist to knock and—
‘You’re early,’ Dolly said from behind her.
‘I wasn’t sure where it was and I don’t like being late.’
The cold had put Linda in a grumpy mood, which Dolly sensed immediately. Fortunately, Dolly was feeling cheerful after losing Andrews and her comfy cab ride over. She smiled at Linda as she unlocked the door. ‘It’s a good way to be.’
Inside the lock-up, Dolly calmly lit a cigarette as Linda stepped from foot to foot trying to warm up. She could murder a cuppa, but Dolly just sat on a packing case, got out her black leather diary and reviewed her notes while they waited for Shirley. Linda was no good at being silently irritated and, eventually, her under-the-breath mumblings made Dolly speak.
‘Kettle’s in the back, darlin’. Mine’s black coffee, no sugar. Keep yourself warm, eh.’
Linda pulled a face and went into the annex, where three brand-new mugs, a new kettle and a packet of unopened custard creams were waiting for her. ‘Come on then, tell me the plan,’ she called.
‘We wait for Shirl,’ Dolly said without looking up. ‘It’s her Miss Paddington thing tonight so she’ll be another twenty minutes.’
‘You might have told me!’ Linda shouted from her tea duties.
‘Why, what were you doing?’ This was hurtful. Dolly knew full well that Linda would have been doing nothing of any interest. ‘We’re a team, Linda. We wait for Shirley.’
Shirley could feel one of her false eyelashes coming loose as she sat in the taxi with her mum, but she didn’t have the strength to fix it. She was wearing a stunning black glittery evening gown, high heels, fake tan and enough hairspray to sink a ship. She also still wore her Miss Paddington number stuck to her shoulder. She looked a million dollars — apart from the make-up running down her tear-streaked face.
There was an awkward silence. Eventually Audrey decided to speak first.
‘I didn’t mean to imply you were turning tricks, darlin’,’ she whispered, hoping the cabbie wouldn’t hear. ‘I just wanted to know where you got the money for that dress.’ Shirley stared out of the side window of the taxi, trying not to cry again.
Shirley hadn’t been able to concentrate at all during the pageant, even though she was by far the most beautiful girl there and should easily have won. Audrey was so incredibly proud and just knew it was in the bag, but then, when Shirl took off her coat and revealed her brand-new dress, Audrey had made the clumsy comment about her daughter being a prostitute and things had gone downhill from there. Audrey had tried to redeem herself by giving Shirley a great big hug just as she was lining up to go on stage. ‘You go out there and steal the show, my girl. You’re beautiful and you’re lovely and you’re a winner.’ Then she said the second stupid thing of the night. ‘Terry and me will be front row center.’ She’d meant to say ‘Greg,’ but it had come out as ‘Terry.’ Audrey could have kicked herself as she watched Shirley’s eyes widen and her lower lip tremble. She’d wanted to apologize to her daughter, but didn’t have the opportunity as Freddie, the master of ceremonies, called Shirley’s name and the floor manager shoved her on stage.
As Shirley had stepped out into the spotlight her mind was so far away that, when Freddie asked her what her hobbies were, she’d mumbled something about liking vegetables and books.
Audrey had taken full responsibility for the whole fiasco. Shirley had let her, but in fact other things had been on Shirley’s mind. As the cab dropped Audrey off and continued on to Liverpool Street Station, Shirley began to pull herself together and thought back to a week ago.
She had been waiting in the ladies’ toilet in Regent’s Park for over half an hour when Dolly had eventually breezed down the steps and calmly started to touch-up her make-up in the cracked and peeling wall mirror.
‘You give them the slip?’ Shirley had asked, referring to Dolly’s constant police escort.
‘No,’ Dolly replied through her stretched lips as she reapplied her lipstick. ‘DC Andrews is outside, looking after Wolf.’
Dolly put her make-up away and handed a stuffed envelope to Shirley, who was still trying to figure out whether or not Dolly was pulling her leg. ‘There’s enough in there to cover your mortgage for a few months and more besides. You’ll get that every month. We’ll meet again next Thursday after Miss Paddington; details are in the envelope.’
‘Dolly, I...’ Shirley started, ‘I’m not sure I can handle it. There’ll be shooters, won’t there?’
‘It’s all right. Listen, if you don’t come, we’ll know you’re not up for it, OK?’
Shirley squeezed the envelope and could feel the wad of money inside.
‘You’ll just have to pay me that back, no harm done, all right, darlin’?’ Dolly said with a knowing smile. Then she walked out.
When Shirley had finally dared to pop her head out of the ladies’ loo, she’d just managed to catch a glimpse of a man in the distance walking to his car, glaring back at Dolly walking off in the opposite direction with Wolf by her side. Balls of steel, Shirley had thought to herself. Bet he doesn’t put that in his daily report!
Linda was on her second tea when she and Dolly heard the banging on the main garage doors. Shirley bundled in, clip-clopping across the uneven floor in her stilettos, banging her suitcase into everything and apologizing for being late.
‘Bleedin’ ’ell, what you come as?’ said Linda. ‘Look at her, Dolly, all dressed up like a dog’s dinner. You wearing false eyelashes?’
Shirley dropped her suitcase on the floor straight into the oily puddle, which splashed all over her newly tanned legs. She jumped backward, snapped a heel, stumbled and ended up seated on the bonnet of the dirtiest car in the lock-up. Tears instantly welled in her eyes.
‘I come eighth! I made a right fool of myself and I was awful to me mum.’
Linda spoke again, but more kindly this time. ‘Eight’s not bad, Shirl. How many of you were there?’
‘Ten...’ Shirley mumbled pathetically, and Linda turned quickly away in order to hide a smile.
Shirley stood up straight and brushed her backside down. When she looked at her hand, it was covered in oil and she could only imagine what her tan coat looked like from behind. The final straw was when she noticed that she’d broken a nail. The tears came and she said, ‘I wasn’t going to come.’
‘Did anyone see you?’ Dolly asked, secretly very relieved to see her. She needed to get things back on track.
‘No, I got off at the station, like you instructed.’
‘Did you see anyone?’
‘Well, course I did! It’s a bloody station at kicking-out time!’ Shirley snapped, then immediately checked herself.
Dolly settled Shirley down, patting and stroking her head like she did Wolf’s. She ordered Linda to make some more coffee.
‘I’ve been here half the night and all I’ve done so far is to act as a bloody waitress,’ Linda muttered, stomping off in a huff.