She's Out

by Lynda La Plante

  Angela carried in a tray and said that coffee and brandy would now be served in the drawing room.

  Ester saw Dolly stumble slightly as she pushed back her chair. She was obviously enjoying herself and even took hold of Gloria’s hand as they wove their way into the drawing room, where there were more candles and another big blazing fire, the perfumed incense disguising the damp smell, the gentle light hiding the darkened patches on the wallpaper.

  Julia whispered to Ester to keep her eye on Kathleen as she started thumping out a song on the piano, having a ball, almost forgetting why she was there. Julia handed out the drinks as Gloria picked up the box of After Eight mints. “Here you go, Dolly love. Have a mint and tell us what you’re gonna be up to now you’re out?”

  Ester edged closer, wanting Gloria to shut up. Not subtle at the best of times, Gloria now plunged right in. “So you got yourself a nice nest egg, have you, Dolly?”

  Dolly laughed as she sipped her brandy. “I might have.”

  “I bet that old man left you a few quid, didn’t he?” Gloria continued, and then grimaced as Ester stood firmly on her foot.

  “He left me comfortable.” Dolly shrugged, moving toward the mantelpiece.

  Then she turned to face them all as Kathleen staggered away from the piano stool to slump into a big winged chair.

  “So, why don’t you all come clean? What you all after?” Dolly said it calmly but there was an edge to her voice.

  Ester sounded convincingly bemused. “After? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Well, this is all very nice but none of us were what you would call friends. So I just wondered what you wanted.”

  Ester stood up, a furious look on her face. “Oh, thanks a lot, Dolly. We all worked our butts off today to get this place ready for you. You think we did it for what? What you got that any of us would want? We did it, I arranged it, because in the nick you belted that cow Barbara Hunter. I admired that, we all admired that, but if you think we’ve all come here for some ulterior motive, then screw you. We only wanted you to come out to friends, to have one night to find your feet.” She marched angrily toward the door as if about to make an exit.

  “I’m sorry,” Dolly said quietly.

  “So you bloody should be. I know it’s hard to trust people inside but we’re not inside. We’re all out. All we wanted was to give you a bit of a party.”

  “I said I’m sorry. Come on, sit down.”

  Ester gave a tiny wink to Julia as she grudgingly sat on the arm of the easy chair, close to Gloria so she could keep a watchful eye on her.

  Dolly turned toward the fire. “Truth is, I do have a few quid put by.”

  A low murmur from them all, and sly glances flashed between them.

  “Well, that’s good to know,” said Connie. “I hope you have a secure and successful future.”

  They all raised their glasses and toasted Dolly yet again.

  “So how much you got, then?” asked Gloria, getting an immediate dig in the ribs from Ester.

  “It’s not a fortune but . . . I’m all right, comfortable.”

  They waited with bated breath as Dolly drained her glass and placed it on the tray. “I’m going to tell you something.”

  They all leaned forward, listening attentively, hoping she was now about to say “diamonds.”

  “For eight years, I’ve been sort of planning it, in my head. It’s my dream, my future.”

  A row of expectant faces waited.

  “I want to put back something into society. It might sound crazy, but I really want to do something useful with the rest of my life.”

  No one spoke. They felt a trifle uneasy, though—she was coming on like something from The Sound of Music.

  Dolly took a deep breath. “I want to buy a house and I want to open it up as a home, a foster home for kids, battered wives, a home run by me, for all those less fortunate than me.”

  None of them could speak. They looked at Dolly as if she had two heads. She had taken the carpet from beneath every one of them.

  Tommy Malin agreed that he could make up a bag of fake stones, using some real settings and some fake ones. He could do it for two grand cash and have it ready by the following afternoon. Mike tried to push him to have them done by the following morning but he refused, saying if they wanted the stuff to look good, really good, they’d have to wait. He’d have to shop around for some good cut-glass fakes, maybe throw in a couple of zircons, and that took time. Mike agreed and said Audrey would collect them as soon as he called to say they were ready.

  By the time Mike got home it was after twelve and he was exhausted. Susan heard the front door shut and turned over to her side of the bed, not wanting to speak to him or confront him. She was sure now he had another woman and it was breaking her heart.

  Mike cleaned his teeth. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face chalk white; he was in it up to his neck now, just like Audrey. He had to find some way of stashing the fakes in Jimmy Donaldson’s place. He splashed cold water over his face, half hoping that Dolly Rawlins would never make contact about the bloody diamonds.

  Susan heard him undressing and then he got into bed beside her, turning his back to her. Neither said a word, Susan because she was sure he was cheating on her, Mike hearing his own heart thudding as he went over the mess he had got himself caught up in. Whatever excuses he tried to make for Audrey, the fact was that she had dragged him back into the world he had tried so hard all his life to escape. Shirley had been well caught up in it, together with her husband, and she had ended up getting shot. In the end, though, it all came back to Dolly Rawlins. If he could get her put away, it would get them all out of trouble. And even if he had to frame her, she still deserved everything she got.

  Ester had a mink coat slung round her shoulders and Dolly wore Gloria’s fluffy wrap as they walked toward the stables. “I mean, look at this place, Dolly. You could have ten, twelve kids here, get a horse even. And there’s a swimming pool, needs a bit of work, the whole house does, but it’s crying out for kids. It’d be perfect.”

  Dolly looked back at the vast house. “I dunno, Ester. I was sort of thinking about a small terraced job, near Holloway.”

  “No. This is much better. Country air, grounds, and it’d be cheaper than any terraced house. I’ll even throw in all the linen, crockery and furniture. I put it on the market for two hundred and fifty grand, but you can have the lot for two hundred. I’ve got the surveyors’ reports. But if it’s out of your league . . .”

  It wasn’t out of her league—in fact it was smack in it: she’d got two hundred and fifty grand to be exact but after shelling out here and there it’d be around the two hundred mark.

  They walked on round the stables to the front of the house, Ester pointing over toward the swimming pool. “There’s an orchard, vegetable patch. You could grow your own veg, be self-sufficient. It’s a dream place for kids, Dolly.”

  Dolly sighed. “I dunno, Ester, it’s an awfully big house.”

  “All the better. And we can all give you a hand, stay on and work it up for you, get the place shipshape. Hell, none of us have got anythin’ better going for us. We’d be your helpers, it’s a brilliant idea.”

  The women watched from the slit in the curtains. Kathleen turned away. “Home for battered wives! She’s out of her mind. I’ve been one most of me life and I’m not about to start livin’ with a bunch of them. She’s got a screw loose.”

  Gloria kicked at the dying embers of the fire. “Well, I’m pissed off. I think this was all Ester was after from the start. She wanted us to break our backs cleaning the fuckin’ place up so she can flog it to Dolly. That’s what she got us here for—she’s used the lot of us to sell this bleedin’ place.”

  Julia poured another brandy and swirled it in her glass. “No, she hasn’t, she’s just being clever.”

  “You can say that again. We all done it up and she’s the only one that’s gonna make any dough out of it,” Gloria retorted.

  Con
nie joined in. “I didn’t even know she was selling this place, she never told me.”

  Julia shook her head. “You really are dumb, all of you, aren’t you? Dolly has got to have a lot of money. Well, this place will swallow that right away so where’s she going to get the money to get this place up and running as a kids’ home?” She drained her glass. “She’ll have to go for those diamonds. Ester knows it. Can’t you see what she’s doing? She’s creaming her, you stupid cows.”

  They looked at each other and then Kathleen yawned. “Well, in that case I’m staying on.”

  The rest of them quickly agreed it was the best thing to do.

  Ester showed Dolly all the estate agents’, valuers’ and solicitors’ letters, and all the old surveys of the Manor House. “Two hundred’s a bargain, Dolly.”

  Dolly frowned. “That wipes me out, Ester.”

  Ester felt her belly tighten: she’d guessed right. It tickled her that she could always suss out people’s cash-flow. It came with dealing for the girls, pushing the punters to the limit. She gave a wide smile. “But you’ll get big grants for the kids.”

  Dolly looked over the documents again. “I dunno, Ester. What if the others won’t stay on? I can’t run this place on my own.”

  “Listen, none of them have got a place to go. They’ll stay on, believe you me. And then we got Julia, she’s a doctor, just what you need.”

  Dolly was still unsure.

  “Look, don’t do anything right away,” Ester said breezily. “Think about it, take your time. If you’re not interested, fine, I’ll sell it to someone else. No skin off my back . . .”

  Dolly suddenly took out her checkbook. “You’re on. Here, I’ll give you a check right now.”

  Ester put a hand on her arm. “Now don’t do anything you’re going to be sorry for. Maybe you should sleep on it. I don’t want you thinking I bamboozled you into this. It’s your choice. The only thing that might be a problem is the other offer that I got but it can wait at least until tomorrow.”

  Dolly wrote out the check there and then, still heady from the wine. She insisted Ester take it and she did, pocketing it quickly.

  “Where’s the phone?” Dolly asked.

  “In the hall.”

  Ester slipped out of the kitchen, leaving Dolly looking over the papers. The women had all gone up to bed, the fires were dead, the candles burned out. She went upstairs to her own bedroom where Julia was waiting, lying on the bed with her hands behind her head. Ester showed her the check. “I’ll put this in the bank first thing tomorrow before the old cow changes her mind. Not that she will, because we’re going to work that woman over, every one of us. We’ll make her believe we love the idea, want the home to be up and running. We all egg her on and keep it going until she . . .”

  “Goes for the diamonds.”

  Ester smiled. “Right, and then . . .” She made a plucking motion with her fingers.

  Julia stared at the check for two hundred thousand pounds. “You could do okay on this, you know.”

  Ester sighed. “I got debts that’d eat up more than two hundred grand. We need those diamonds—two, three million quid’s worth, Julia, and we’re going to have them.”

  “I love you when you’re like this,” Julia whispered.

  “Like what?”

  “Cruel. Come to bed.”

  Ester gave a soft sexy laugh as she sidled toward Julia and then froze halfway and turned to listen at the door.

  Dolly stood in the marbled hall, the phone in her hand. “Jimmy, is that you?”

  Jimmy Donaldson was in his pajamas, his hand shaking, as DI Palmer gestured for him to keep talking.

  “Yes, this is Jimmy Donaldson. Who’s this? You know what time it is?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to ring so late. It’s Dolly, Dolly Rawlins.”

  Palmer leaned forward, hardly able to contain himself. It was going down even faster than any one of them had thought. Mike Withey had been right. Dolly Rawlins was going for the diamonds. Again he gestured for Donaldson to keep talking.

  “I need to see you,” Dolly said softly. “Tomorrow. I’m out, Jimmy. Have you got my things for me?”

  “Yes, yes, I’ve got them.”

  “Well, what say we meet up tomorrow, about noon?”

  Jimmy looked to Palmer. They still didn’t have the stones but he reckoned they would by the following day. He wrote on a notepad. Jimmy nodded. “Can you make it later—like late afternoon?”

  “They are safe, aren’t they, Jimmy?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Fine, I’ll call you tomorrow, then.”

  Dolly hung up.

  Donaldson looked at Palmer. “She’s gonna call me tomorrow. She hung up before I could say anythin’ different.”

  Frowning, Palmer drummed his fingers on the telephone table. “We better find those diamonds, then, Jimmy. You sure they’re where you said they are?”

  “If they’re not, then some bastard’s nicked them.”

  Palmer jerked his head for Donaldson to return to his bed. He checked the time and replayed the message. Dolly Rawlins had carefully not said the word “diamonds” but she certainly hadn’t wasted much time. She’d only been released that afternoon. She was out all right.

  Chapter 4

  Dolly woke with a start, unable for a moment to orientate herself, and it scared her. Her heart thudded, she started to pant, then realized it was the sound of birds, rooks cawing from the woods, a sound she had not heard for a long, long time.

  She got up and drew the curtains, then looked out of the window. “Holy shit.” In the harsh light of day, for the first time she saw the derelict gardens, the dank, dark poolside. “Oh my God, what have you got yourself into, gel?”

  She listened at her door, could hear no sound of movement so she went out onto the landing. In the cold light of morning, she moved silently round the old manor, peeking into each unoccupied room, from the attic to the ground floor, her heart sinking at every turn as she realized what she had let herself in for. The rundown state of the house was obvious, from the peeling wallpaper to the cracked ceilings and crumbling woodwork. The banister rail was fine, thick mahogany, but many of the pegs were missing and the carpets worn and dangerous on the old wide stairs. The smell of mold, damp and mildew made her nostrils flare but she kept on moving from room to room until she finally entered the old kitchen, easing back the bolts from the back door to walk outside into the stable yard.

  She inspected the pool, the woods, the neglected orchard, and the wild, overgrown mess of brambles and throttling weeds that was the vegetable garden. She returned to the kitchen, her shoes covered in mud, her legs scratched from the brambles, and the hem of her coat sodden. No one was up so she put on the kettle, working out how to use the big lidded Aga, fetching a mug and making a cup of tea, her mind working overtime.

  The house was a dog, she knew that, but she couldn’t help liking it all the same. Perhaps it was fate; it was meant to be. Dolly sat with her hands cupping the chipped mug. From what she could see, the place could certainly accommodate at least ten, fifteen kids with ease, and she hadn’t even been down to the basement. She went over the survey reports, all a few years out of date. She started to calculate on the back of an envelope just how much money it would take to get a place this size back into order. All her cash would go with the one check to Ester so it would mean she was dependent on the sale of the diamonds. Although she knew she hadn’t got all of the stolen gems, she calculated that what she had would be valued at two or three million. The need to fence them quickly would bring the price down, but if she was able to work with Jimmy Donaldson she reckoned she would probably clear one to two million cash. The house would need a hell of a lot of money spent on it but she could use ex-prisoners to help her, perhaps even the women from last night.

  Dolly spent over an hour making notes and working out costs and then went down to the basement. There was a sauna, a steam room, an old gym and a large laundry room. None of th
e machines appeared to be in working order and the stench of damp was even worse down there. She looked over the old boilers and knew they’d all have to be replaced. Maybe it really was all too much . . .

  By the time she returned to the kitchen, Gloria was up and Ester and Julia were washing dishes in the big stone sink. Angela was clearing the debris in the dining room and came in carrying a tray filled with dirty glasses. “Good morning, you’re up bright and early, Mrs. Rawlins.”

  Dolly gave a brittle smile. “Yes. Is everyone else up yet?”

  “No, not yet. Do you want breakfast?”

  “Yes.”

  “Eggs and bacon coming up.”

  Dolly opened the front door to look down the big wide drive.

  “Good morning, Dolly.” Connie beamed, wrapping a silk kimono round herself.

  Dolly turned round as Kathleen appeared. “My God, I’ve got a bastard of a headache. How about you, Dolly?”

  Watching the women coming and going made Dolly feel a bit better. “Get some coffee down you,” she said to Kathleen, and then walked behind the old reception desk to look for a telephone directory.

  Ester appeared at the kitchen door. “Good morning, Dolly. You looking for something?”

  “Directories.”

  Ester wandered to the desk. “Be out of date, get the operator. Who are you calling?”

  Dolly sighed. “Well, I should have a word with the local social services, just to see about the possibilities of opening this place up as a home.”

  “You don’t waste much time, do you?”

  “Nor do you, Ester. You did a good job hustling me into buying this place.”