Widows

Dolly lit another cigarette. ‘I don’t know. I’m thinking he could be the fourth man, but I’m almost certain he’s not mentioned in the ledgers. I’ll go to the bank again tomorrow and double check. And I’ll get you all some more cash as well.’

As Dolly studied the notebooks in front of her, the others looked at each other. Linda nodded at Bella as if to say: Go on then, ask her if we’re really gonna do this, but Bella didn’t. With more cash on the way, she didn’t want to rock the boat; it was the easiest money she’d made in a long time.

Dolly flicked a page on her notebook. ‘Shirl — you need to get some large wads of cotton wool dressing, something like hospital issue rolls, to pad out the overalls.’

She was so tired, she couldn’t help sounding a bit whiney. ‘Why do I always have to do the shopping?’ Shirley asked.

‘Because you’re so good at it, darlin’,’ Dolly replied quickly. ‘And we need to fill the rucksacks with something heavy. Linda, you do that.’

Bella picked up one of the bricks left piled around the lock-up. ‘Why don’t we all work on our fitness?’ she suggested.

Linda seized her opportunity. ‘We could go back to that Sanctuary place and lift proper weights there.’ She fancied a treat after all the hard work she’d been doing and the idea of that sauna thing really took her fancy now. She’d felt a whole lot braver since she started having regular sex again.

Dolly frowned. ‘I’m not talking about pissing around with little hand bars, Linda, we’ll be wearing heavy duty gear, and we got to be able to lift those rucksacks onto our back and run fast to the getaway car.’

Shirley was staring at the men’s clothing Dolly was wearing. ‘Are we all wearing boots now instead of the plimsolls I bought?’ she asked doubtfully.

‘No, the plimsolls will be fine, Shirl’,’ said Dolly.

‘I don’t mind.’ Shirley cleared her throat before she dared to continue. ‘Only, if we did wear boots instead, can I keep the plimsolls? Cos they go lovely with the new jumpsuit I bought. You know, the ones we ain’t wearing for the robbery now.’

‘Oh, they do!’ Linda eagerly agreed.

Dolly could hardly believe what she was hearing. ‘Can we get back to the bricks?’ she snapped.

‘Sorry, Dolly,’ Linda said with a sycophantic smile. She was still hoping that they could go back to the health spa at some stage. ‘How many bricks do you think we need in each rucksack?’

‘For Chrissakes, put as many as you think a million cash split into three is gonna weigh!’ Dolly was exasperated. ‘Now, can you all shut up and concentrate? We only got one crack at this robbery, and everything has to be practiced until it becomes second nature.’

She got out a map of a quarry on the outskirts of London and laid it on the work bench. ‘Harry made notes about how he used this old quarry to rehearse jobs. It’s out in the sticks and not used anymore, so it was perfect for them.’ Shirley’s eyes filled with tears, she put her hand to her mouth and started to cry. Linda put an arm round her.

‘I’m sorry. It’s nothing. Carry on, Dolly,’ said Shirley, sniffing.

‘No, come on, Shirl, if something’s wrong, tell us.’ Dolly insisted. ‘We all need to be at our strongest as the job gets closer. What’s upsetting you?’

‘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.