Widows

In the distance, Dolly could hear the sound of police sirens and knew she could be in trouble. The speed of her getaway had been curtailed because of Shirley. It was now or never. Slowing as she reached a side alley, Dolly grabbed her small holdall, slid open the van door and jumped, already running in the air before her feet hit the ground.

The laundry van swerved across the pavement and hurtled straight into a shop window. The glass shattered inward and two women shoppers ran for their lives. Dolly ran down the side alley, ripping off her gas mask and gloves and throwing them into a bin. As she neared the end of the alley, she slowed to a walk in the hope that she’d have got her breath back by the time she emerged and mingled with the commuters. She rolled her balaclava back up so it looked like a woolly hat again, stepped out into the crowds and headed toward the Victorian underground toilets near the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

Linda had driven up Kingsway and then taken a left into the back streets off the Strand, toward the multi-story car park. She pulled up in Floral Street near Covent Garden market, where it was reasonably quiet. Linda and Shirley handed Bella their balaclavas and she put them in a black bin bag along with hers. Bella jumped out of the back of the van and, checking no one was watching, Bella ripped the magnetic GLC signs from the Escort van and snapped them in half before putting them in the bin bag as well. Next, she removed the two false plates, exposing the real number plates underneath. The false plates were the final things to go into the bin bag, before Bella tied it up and threw it onto a pile of rubbish awaiting collection. There were only a few people about, and none of them seemed to take any notice. Thank God you’re all engrossed in your own lives, Bella thought to herself as she jumped back in the passenger seat next to Linda.

Shirley was lying in the back of the van surrounded by the rucksacks, sobbing her heart out. Bella turned in her seat and, reaching over, took hold of Shirley’s hand and squeezed it tight. ‘We did it Shirley, we did it. We did it!’

Dolly was gasping for breath by the time she reached the toilets. She gripped the metal safety rail for support as she hurried down the steps, straight into a cubicle and sat down on the toilet seat. She was sweating like mad and felt as if she was about to have a heart attack. As her breathing calmed, she felt so dizzy that she had to brace her hands against the cubicle wall to stop herself from fainting. Dolly closed her eyes and focused on breathing normally. As her body started to calm, her mind was screaming: I did it! Dear God, Harry. HARRY, I DID IT!

Dolly took a number of deep breaths, exhaling slowly and, when her pulse rate had subsided enough, she stood up and removed her balaclava, overalls and plimsolls. She already had on a dark sweater and trousers under the overalls and, opening the holdall, she removed some shoes, a thin waist-length jacket and a scarf. When she had put everything on, she took out her handbag and put it over her shoulder. Checking her watch, she hoped and prayed that the others had made it safely to the multi-story car park. She was tempted to go straight there as it was so near, but she had to stick to the plan.

Linda drove the van into the three-story car park, nervously wondering if Dolly had managed to make a safe getaway. Bella saw the look of concern on her face.

‘Don’t you waste time worrying about Dolly. She’s a tough old cow.’

Linda smiled. Bella was a real smart-arse mind-reader at times.

Dropping Shirley by her Mini Estate on level one, Linda parked near Dolly’s Mercedes on the upper level and she and Bella loaded the rucksacks full of money into the boot before going over to Linda’s Ford Capri. Both women took one last look at their money, all piled up in the boot of Dolly’s Merc.

‘We gave her such a hard time, Bella,’ Linda said. ‘But here we are with all the money. We could just as easily put it in my boot as in hers. She never questioned us once and I just feel—’

Bella slammed the boot of the Merc. ‘She knows.’

Opening the boot of Linda’s Capri, they took some clothes from their suitcases and went down the stairwell to the ladies’ toilet on the ground floor to change. There was no sign of Shirley, so they both assumed that she had disposed of her overall and gone straight off in the clothes she had on underneath.