Noticing the light coming from the open lounge door, she moved slowly and quietly forward, tiptoeing over the broken debris.
Dolly froze as she heard the click-click of a record dropping down onto the turntable, then the eerie silence was broken by the words of her song filling the room. ‘What is life to me without thee, what is life if thou art dead?’ She slowly pushed open the lounge door and held her hand to her mouth — the room was destroyed, the stuffing hung out of her beautiful sofa, pictures were smashed. She had only just straightened everything out after the cops had turned the house upside down — and now this! Anger flooded over her and she kicked the door, causing it to swing open and slam against the cabinet behind it.
Boxer Davis jumped, dropping the framed picture of Harry he held in his hands. His suit and hair were covered in the fluff from the sofa stuffing and he looked so ridiculous she was suddenly not afraid anymore. Without a word, she walked over and lifted off the needle from the record on the turntable. Wolf whimpered, not knowing what to do, running round the room, getting tangled up in the torn cushions.
‘It wasn’t me, Doll, honest,’ Boxer whined nervously.
Dolly turned on him and screamed, ‘Don’t you dare call me that!’
Boxer was nearly in tears as he begged Dolly to listen to him. ‘There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t stop him. If you’d been here, Dolly, he’d have done this to you. I’m so glad you was out! I really truly am glad you was out!’
‘Who?’ Dolly said through clenched teeth.
‘Tony, Tony Fisher. He thinks you know where Harry stashed those ledgers.’
‘You stood by and let him do this? Watched him do this to my home!’
Boxer hovered around her, almost crying with the shame of what had happened, repeating again and again that he had nothing to do with the damage. ‘I’m trying to do you a favor, gal. I’m worried for you. They’re not offering money anymore. They want those ledgers.’
Dolly sat on her torn velvet chair and Wolf jumped up beside her. ‘I’ve told you! I don’t know where the ledgers are. I’ve told you and I’ve told the law.’
‘But they don’t believe you. I do though, Dolly, I believe that you don’t know. But they still have to be somewhere, don’t they? So maybe you and me could take a little look round? And Tony Fisher wants to pay the other widows a visit an’ all.’
Dolly felt her insides tighten. ‘Why the bloody hell would he want to do that? If I don’t know anything, they’re not going to, are they?’
‘Tony doesn’t think like that, Dolly. He just wants to hurt someone till he gets what he needs.’
Dolly sat with her head in her hands, desperately trying to work out if Tony could possibly know about her meetings with Shirley and Linda. She was always so careful, but she worried nonetheless.
Boxer was now sitting on his haunches in front of her, patting her knee like a great ape, his eyes blinking repeatedly. She wanted to hit him. She couldn’t take on the Fishers without a plan and she had no one to turn to. She needed time and she needed to somehow keep the Fishers away from the other widows. Her head was spinning.
‘How did Tony get into my home?’ she demanded.
Boxer smiled and pulled an old plastic card from his jacket pocket, holding it up for her to see.
Dolly stared at him. ‘You do know the police are watching me, don’t you?’
‘You’re not going to get me into trouble are you, Doll?’ Boxer was clearly unnerved. He hadn’t known. Would Dolly have him arrested for breaking and entering?
‘Don’t call me Doll! And I think you’re in enough trouble without me adding to it, don’t you? Working for the Fishers is a dangerous move, Boxer. They’re not smart, see, not like my Harry was. I mean, if the Old Bill did my house over and couldn’t find the ledgers, what makes Tony Fisher think he’s going to do any better?’
Boxer sat there on his heels, looking at Dolly for guidance. His poor brain couldn’t work out how to speak at the same time as think.
‘Leave me alone now, Boxer. Come round in the morning, help me tidy up and we’ll see if we can find any hiding places that the coppers and Tony might have missed.’
Boxer’s eyes widened and his face lit up like a child who’d just been given the biggest ice cream in the world. ‘I will!’ He beamed as he stood up. ‘I’ll be here at nine, shall I?’
‘Seven.’
‘Seven’s better. Yes, I’ll be here at seven. I’m meant to report back to the Fishers this evening, so I’ll let them know you’re co-operating and tomorrow we’ll look properly and everything will be all right.’
Dolly couldn’t believe how gormless Boxer was. She watched him trot off out the front door, with a renewed bounce in his step. She then bolted and double locked every door in the house before tidying the kitchen a little. All her food from the freezer lay on the floor defrosting and her beautiful china and cutlery was smashed and strewn everywhere. She didn’t have the strength to tackle this tonight, so she made herself a coffee and sat back down in her ransacked living room, on her ruined sofa.
Dolly knew she had to start thinking the way Harry would have done, but it was hard as she looked around the room at the collection of Capodimonte figures Harry had bought her, smashed to bits. She looked at Wolf. ‘What would Harry do? Eh, darling? What would Daddy do?’
She thought about the police car outside and was tempted to call Resnick and tell him how his idiot men chose to follow her to the Dorchester instead of stopping Tony Fisher and Boxer Davis from breaking in and destroying her beautiful home. She went to her window and peered out through a rip in her thick velvet curtains. ‘Idiots!’ she seethed. ‘You’ve just watched Boxer Davis leave my home and it doesn’t even cross your mind how or when the hell he got in here in the first place.’
Dolly turned to survey her living room. Amid the horrific mess, the broken framed photograph of Harry dropped by Boxer stood out as clear as day. At first, she felt sad seeing Harry’s handsome face smiling up at her through the cracked glass, but then she felt he was trying to tell her something.
‘What is it, Harry? What should I do?’ Dolly said softly as she knelt on the floor and picked up the broken frame. She stared at his face and with her whole heart and soul whispered, ‘I loved you. I loved you so very much. Dear God, Harry, I still love you. You would never have let those Fisher bastards do this to us.’
Then, as if Harry was suddenly there standing by her side, she suddenly felt comforted. He would guide her through the next few months, through the robbery, she was certain. She was doing it for Harry, after all. She truly believed that he would watch over her now, and wouldn’t let anything go wrong.
That night, with little Wolf curled up on Harry’s pillow next to her, Dolly had her best night’s sleep since she’d heard the terrible news.
Chapter 9
Dolly had been up since 6 a.m., tidying and cleaning. At first, she hadn’t known where to start. Usually, she’d run the vacuum round but this morning she couldn’t even see the carpet under all the debris.
By the time Boxer strolled up the driveway, she was dressed in her oldest clothes, apron and headscarf and was throwing away yet another bin bag full of broken memories. 7 a.m. was clearly way too early for Boxer. He looked like a zombie as he shuffled past her, although he seemed enthusiastic enough to get on with the search for Harry’s ledgers.
The second zombie in the street was the very tired young officer in the car parked six houses down. ‘You’re not paying any attention, are you?’ Dolly said. She glanced down at Wolf. ‘Silly policeman.’