‘I just remembered something, is all. The week before the... the week before, Terry came home with his trousers and shoes covered in white dust. Do you think this is where he’d been? Practicing with Joe and Harry?’
Linda and Dolly looked at each other. The quarry was exactly where Terry would have gotten dusty. Harry never traipsed quarry dust back to the house, of course, but he was so much more careful than Terry. Linda wiped Shirley’s tears with her hanky. ‘My Joe never brought white dust home with him; but you can bet your life that his blonde bitch’s bed was full of it.’ Linda wasn’t angry as she spoke; she was phlegmatic. She had always known Joe never came straight home to her bed and she knew it was about time she said it out loud. It felt good.
‘I’ll find another place we can use...’ Dolly said gently.
‘No, it’s fine really. I’m just being silly.’
‘Shirley, we’ll use somewhere else.’ Dolly had made her decision. ‘This is our job, not theirs. We’ll use our own rehearsal place.’ And with that, Dolly started to pack everything away. ‘Take tomorrow off and rest up. We meet at 9 a.m. the next day to go through the robbery, step by step, till we get it right. I’ll call you from the safe number at the convent.’ The women watched as Dolly finished packing away, with little Wolf sniffing round her boots, clearly confused by the mixture of smells from Harry and Dolly.
Dolly looked at her girls watching her and she felt a lump in her throat. She was so pleased to be with these women; these women who stood together and looked after each other so well. Yes, they bickered, but that came from caring, not from hating each other. She opened her mouth to say as much, but swallowed the words down.
‘Don’t forget the bricks and the rucksacks, Linda! I’ll bring everything else.’ And Dolly left.
Shirley sniffled and went to check that the fire in the bin was properly out. When she looked down, all she could see were ashes, no distinguishable labels. Pleased to have done something right, she said. ‘It was nice of Dolly to change the venue, wasn’t it?’
‘It was nice, Shirl, yes.’ Bella agreed. ‘Course it’d be nicer if she stuck around to tidy up for once as well.’ Bella collected the rucksacks, put them in a pile so that Linda wouldn’t forget them and set about washing up the coffee mugs.
Linda remained standing in the middle of the lock-up, staring at the door that had closed behind Dolly. ‘I’d love to see what’s in them ledgers.’
‘I wouldn’t,’ said Shirley. ‘I don’t want to know anything I don’t need to know.’
‘And how do you know what you need to know, eh? What if there’s not a single word written in them ledgers and Dolly’s totally off her rocker? You’d need to know that, wouldn’t you?’
‘Not this again.’ Shirley sighed as she picked up her handbag. ‘I’ve got to go. Dallas is on in twenty minutes.’
Linda and Bella watched Shirley leave. Both of them had to go on to work later that night, so there was no point in them going home first.
As Linda made another cup of tea in the freshly washed mugs, she couldn’t help moaning some more. Bella let her because she knew it was good for Linda to get her feelings out in the open, although it made her a pain in the arse to spend much time with. ‘She treats us like right skivvies,’ complained Linda. ‘The name of Rawlins don’t give her the right to tell us what to do all the time. If we’re a team, we’re a team. I mean, it doesn’t feel very “teamy” when we’re the ones who do all the running round.’ Linda handed Bella a piping hot cup of tea, ‘What do you think?’
Bella nursed her mug to warm her hands. ‘We ain’t no team, Linda. She’s the boss and that’s all there is to it. I can’t pay Shirley’s mortgage, or buy you a car or put enough money in my pocket to let me keep my clothes on for a month or two. Can you do that?’ Linda said nothing. Bella continued, ‘And I don’t want to see what’s in those ledgers, cos if this is for real and it all goes tits-up, I’m denying everything. The less I know, the better.’
Linda smiled; she loved Bella’s honesty and clear-sightedness. She took her tea and started to pile bricks up next to the rucksacks.
Bella stayed propped against the kitchen table. There was something niggling her about Dolly, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She hoped Dolly was being straight with them because she really wanted to pull this job. She decided that she’d go along with everything as planned, but from now on she would be keeping a close eye on Dolly Rawlins.
Linda felt pretty knackered when she arrived at the arcade, but just as she was about to go in, she saw Carlos walking past.
‘Where you off to looking that gorgeous?’ she called out to him.
Carlos stopped and grinned as she ran over and kissed him.
‘I’m meeting a bloke who owns a car hire business. He might want me to service his fleet. It’ll be great money if I can get him to say yes.’
Carlos looked behind Linda at the arcade she’d just run out of. She was embarrassed at first; she looked like crap after a day in the garage with the girls. He was off to clinch some big business deal and she was off to stop dirty old men touching up the kids playing her arcade machines. Sod it, she thought. I am who I am. She snogged him right there in front of the whole street.
Looking Carlos up and down, Linda smiled from ear to ear. She couldn’t quite believe that Carlos was all hers. Joe had been a very handsome guy, but he was a bit rough. Linda liked rough, but Carlos was something else; he had everything — he was stylish, macho, beautiful and rugged.
‘You’re late!’ Charlie shouted from behind Linda. ‘I ain’t had my break yet.’
Linda’s smile disappeared in an instant. ‘All you do on your break is stand in the street looking at women’s arses as they walk by. They’ll all still be here in ten minutes, Charlie, so sod off.’
Charlie scowled at Carlos. This must be the reason she’s been so chirpy, he thought. This must be the geezer Linda’s been getting her oats off with. He watched as she arranged to meet Carlos the following day and kissed him goodbye, lingering and pawing all over him. Charlie had been after Linda for years and never got a look in. And Carlos looked like a right ponce, with his pale suit and his huge curly hair. Charlie pushed his way past Linda and out into the street, so she had no option but to go inside and take over the change booth.
Across the busy street, Boxer Davis was eating a bag of fish and chips. This area of Soho was alive after dark with late-night food stalls, clubs, pubs and arcades. The Fishers’ club was the headline act, but there were plenty of lower-ranking venues, too; something to suit everyone. The streets were an eclectic mix of the flamboyantly stylish like Carlos, scruffy no-hopers like Charlie and general dogsbodies like Boxer. Businessmen met working girls, criminals did deals, stags and hens got pissed, people aged eighteen to eighty mixed and mingled. No one was out of place.
Boxer had seen Carlos snogging Linda and was still gawping, chip hanging out of his mouth, when Charlie passed him on his way for food. ‘All right, Charlie?’ Boxer said. ‘Was that Joe Pirelli’s missus you was talking to? Just cos I knew her old man.’
Charlie nodded and moved off. He hadn’t seen Boxer in ages and didn’t like him, or want to chat with him. As far as Charlie was concerned, Boxer was a drunk always looking for handouts. He glanced back at him, noting the well-cut suit he was wearing. He looked decent for a change, might be doing all right for himself — Charlie decided he might be worth acknowledging. ‘See you around, Boxer... if you need anything, I’m working in the arcade.’