Dolly hurried out and Mrs Tilly went in to speak to Mr Crow.
‘You know, Mrs Rawlins is so keen, I think we should push forward an on-site visit. I worry she may spend too much money without approval and I don’t want her to waste her savings.’
He looked up from his diary. ‘Well, we’ll have to get some appraisals from her probation officer and the prison authorities. And we’re nowhere near ready even to discuss the project yet.’
‘Well, I would just like us to inspect the manor house. She was so enthusiastic’
He smiled, flattening down his few strands of hair. ‘I’ll see what I can do. If we’re visiting anyone near the location we can possibly have a look over the place as well. You like her, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I do. That said, far be it from me not to do everything through the correct channels.’
‘As I said, I’ll see what I can do but I was also impressed by her. I very much doubt if she will ever be allowed access to very young children, not enough experience, but she may be useful for the older children, the problem ones particularly. Leave it with me.’
Mrs Tilly smiled and left the office. She doubted if Mr Crow would show Dolly Rawlins any favours. He showed nobody any as he was a stickler for rules and regulations, but she knew he had been impressed by her. Everyone had.
Dolly stopped at a phone booth and called Tommy Malin. She asked if he was still in business, unlike Jimmy Donaldson. They had a few laughs, and she said she would be around later in the afternoon as she had something that might interest him. He agreed to meet her but she made no reference to what it was. She then returned to the manor. As she came in she saw Angela on the telephone. ‘Who you calling, love?’
Angela spun round. ‘Oh – my mum. I’ve not told her where I am.’
‘Don’t, and don’t make private calls – that goes for all of you. Fewer people who know what’s going on here the better.’
‘Okay.’
‘I’m going to London. You want to come with me?’ Angela nodded. ‘Good, in about an hour, then.’
The others, who had overheard the conversation in the kitchen, whispered and nudged each other, sure that Dolly was going to fence the stones. Ester gave them all a quiet talking-to: they were to show a lot more willing, they were to get out to that vegetable patch and look like they were working and loving every minute of it. They got to their feet, went out and trudged around with wheelbarrows, spades and rakes, and when Dolly and Angela left in the local taxi, they appeared to be too intent on their labour even to see them go.
As the cab passed them, Dolly laughed. ‘Amazing what a bit of incentive can do, isn’t it?’
‘I don’t understand,’ Angela said, looking towards the women.
‘Well, they all know I’m going to fence the diamonds this morning and they all want a slice so “Let’s show Dolly how hard we’re working!” Understand?’
‘Oh, yes, I see what you mean.’
Mike had waited when Angela put down the receiver. He was hoping she would call back directly but after waiting half an hour he gave up. It had unnerved him to be told that Dolly Rawlins had the diamonds but he didn’t know what the hell to do about it. He could tell Craigh but it was all getting like treacle and he felt his shoes sticking to it.
Susan walked in from the front door with a bag of groceries and looked at him. ‘Hi, I didn’t wake you when I went out, did I?’
‘No, I’m up, had something to eat. I was just going to go actually.’
‘Oh, were you? You stayed out all night. Surely they can’t expect you to work today?’
He sighed. ‘Yes, they can.’
‘There was another call from your girlfriend yesterday –I tried to contact you, she seemed upset.’
‘What?’
‘Angela, she was crying, in a terrible state.’ She stared at him, waiting. ‘She said her name was Angela.’
‘I heard you,’ he snapped.
‘What’s going on with her, then?’
He took a deep breath. ‘She’s a tart, sweetheart, a young kid I helped out a while back when I was on Vice. Now sometimes she acts as an informant. There is nothing going on between us, it’s business, all right? Is that all right with you?’
‘I don’t like tarts having your home phone number or ringing me up screaming and yelling. Is that all right with you?’ Susan went into the kitchen. He dithered, knew he should talk to her, straighten it out, but instead he grabbed his car keys and left very quietly.
Dolly was feeling pleased with herself as she and Angela hailed a taxi heading for Tommy Malin’s address. ‘That Mrs Tilly is such a nice woman, I really like her. You know, Angela, if I get the manor opened as a kids’ home it’ll be my dream come true. It was all I used to think about when I was in Holloway.’ She took the girl’s hand. ‘Don’t worry about that hit-and-run. Gloria said there wasn’t a mark on the car and if they’d got anything on you – on any of us – we’d have been copped last night.’ Angela clutched Dolly’s hand tightly. ‘Will you want to stay on, help me?’ She nodded. ‘Good, I’ll be able to pay you a decent wage and you can have cookery classes. Would you like that?’
‘Yes, I would.’
She wanted to tell Dolly about Mike, about everything. She liked her so much, felt protected by her – but how could she tell her? And now, with that poor man she’d run over, it was all so complicated. She wanted to talk to Mike, needed to ask his advice.
The cab headed towards Elephant and Castle and then veered off down a small one-way road, stopping outside a paint-yard. Dolly got out, saying, ‘You wait here, love, I shouldn’t be too long.’
Angela watched as Dolly tapped on the door and disappeared inside the yard.
A young kid in filthy overalls pointed Dolly to the office and then rejoined his colleagues who were stripping down pine furniture.
‘Dolly Rawlins,’ wheezed Tommy Malin, leaning against the doorframe.
‘Hello, Tommy.’ She shook hands and he gestured for her to go in ahead of him. He waved at the workmen and closed the door.
‘I’ll put the kettle on.’
‘Tha’d be nice,’ she said, looking around, taking in the cheap desk, rows of bulging and dented filing cabinets and the massive cast-iron safe. Dolly eased herself on to a newspaper-filled chair. She looked over the equally cluttered desk: the scales, the rows of diamond cutters and pinchers, and rolls of velvet cloth, the only indication that perhaps Mr Malin’s paint and pine-stripping factory was used for other purposes. Tommy Malin would deal in literally anything he could turn round fast. He was famous for his high percentage and his ‘no risk’ attitude. He would deal in hot stuff but always insisted on a long chilling period. That was why he was so wealthy and had so far avoided arrest. He was very, very careful.
The women had done a half-day’s work. Rods had been fixed up, more seeds sown, and the rubbish was now tipped into a skip left for them by the builder. Big John was getting a bit edgy; it was almost payday, he’d laid out all his savings to buy the materials, and still Mrs Rawlins hadn’t given him the down payment. He’d seen all the women working out in the garden but Mrs Rawlins was not with them. He had even looked for her inside the house.
Connie was testing the sauna temperature when he asked if he could have a word with her. She turned and gave him a wonderful smile that made him flush.
‘I’m sorry to bother you but is Mrs Rawlins around?’
‘No, I’m sorry, she’s gone into London. Can I help at all?’
He could feel his cheeks burning. ‘Well, it was just we had an arrangement and Mrs Rawlins is a bit behind in the first instalment, you see, and I have to pay the men, pay for the materials and—’
‘Oh, she’s gone to get some money this afternoon.’ Connie gave another wide smile. ‘You couldn’t have a look at the sauna for me, could you? I think I’ve got it working but I’m not sure.’
He nodded and she brushed against him as they went into the small Swedish sauna hut. John checked the temperature dials an
d the coals. ‘Do you like it hot?’ he asked seriously.
‘Oh, yes, as hot as you can give it to me.’ He flushed again but she seemed to be concentrating on the temperature gauge. ‘Do you work out?’
He stepped back – he couldn’t deal with her closeness. She was the most glamorous woman he had ever seen or been this close to in his entire life. ‘Yes, there’s a good local gym, very well equipped.’
‘Ah, I thought you did, I can always tell. You’ve got marvellous shoulders.’
Now the heat of the sauna was making him sweat but he didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to move away from her. He was automatically flexing everything, tightening his bum cheeks.
She leaned close, touching his biceps. ‘What’s your name?’
John breathed in gratefully as she opened the sauna door. He was getting dizzy. ‘John Maynard.’
She started to swing her arms from side to side. ‘Thanks for your help, John.’
When Connie joined the others, they were sweating and filthy. ‘Sauna’s working, it’s really hot. Do any of you want to work out first?’
She received a barrage of abuse – as if after digging and wheeling the barrows they needed to work out! All they wanted was a cold drink and a long afternoon in the sauna.
Ester pushed Julia ahead of her. ‘Don’t worry about Dolly, she’ll be gone ages. She’ll only just have got there. We got hours.’
Tommy’s wheezing breath and halitosis were overpowering. The drawn blinds, the bolted door and the hissing gas fire made Dolly feel dizzy. She took off her coat. Tommy’s thick stubby fingers began to unfurl the cord round the pouch bag. He pulled it open and laid it out flat.
‘Is this some kind of joke?’
‘No. Why?’
‘I just made these up for somebody.’
‘What?’
He turned his lamp out and pushed his eye-glass on to his forehead. ‘You didn’t pay a bundle for these, did you, sweetheart?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I made them up. They’re glass, good settings … I mean, I did spend quite a few hours—’
‘You made these?’
Tommy stared at Dolly, whose face was chalk white.
‘Who for, Tommy?’
He wouldn’t usually have said – clients are clients, and he was always a man to keep his mouth shut – but he knew she wasn’t going to leave his office until he told her. He hedged as she leaned across the table, picking up a handful of the stones.
‘I nearly went back inside for this crap, Tommy, so you tell me who ordered you to make them up.’
Mike knew something was up the moment the Tannoy rang out for him to go into DCI Craigh’s office. Craigh looked up at him as he knocked sheepishly and entered. He pointed to the chair in front of his desk and told Mike to sit down. Mike could see a stack of files on his desk, one with Dolly Rawlins’s name printed across it. ‘Right, let’s go from the top and don’t bullshit me.’
‘I don’t follow.’
‘I think you do. I am in it right up to my fucking ears over this Donaldson business. I’ve got the Super, the prison authorities, Donaldson’s wife, his parole officer, all breathing fumes all over me so I’ll kick it off, shall I? How did you know that Rawlins had bought the manor house?’
‘My informant.’
‘Oh, yeah? Which one?’
Mike flushed and explained about Angela, how he’d busted her along with Ester Freeman.
‘You booked her, did you?’
‘No, she was never charged. She wasn’t on the game, she was just serving food at the house for the tarts and their punters.’
‘So she told you all about Rawlins, her buying the manor?’
‘Yes.’
‘So who was the informant on the diamonds? Same source? You said it was a kid in Brixton with Donaldson. That’s the only name I’ve got down as an informant.’
‘Yes, that’s true. When he told me, I contacted Angela and that’s how I knew all the women were staying there.’
Craigh pushed his chair back and wandered around the office, hands stuffed in his pockets. ‘Anything else? I mean, is there anything else you’ve not told me?’ Mike licked his lips as Craigh came to stand close, leaning down so his face was almost touching Mike’s. ‘What about that diamond robbery, Mike? You want to tell me about that? Better still, tell me about Shirley Miller.’ Mike closed his eyes. Craigh prodded him and he hunched away. ‘This was personal, wasn’t it?’ Mike nodded. ‘Your sister was killed on that diamond raid.’
‘Yes.’
‘Not on your original application form, Mike. There is no mention that you even had a fucking sister.’
Mike gave a half-smile. ‘I didn’t reckon it’d look good on my C V, Gov.’
‘Don’t you fucking joke with me, this isn’t funny. Let’s go from the top again. Your sister worked with Dolly Rawlins and—’
Mike interrupted, ‘She used her, she manipulated her, she was only twenty-one, a beauty queen and …’
Craigh returned to his desk. Mike was close to breaking down, his voice faltering. ‘I didn’t have all that much to do with her. I was in the army, stationed in Germany when she was killed. Then when I joined up with the Met it was, like, all in the past, but my mum, er—’ He was floundering, trying not to implicate Audrey. The sweat was pouring off him. ‘I saw her grave, right? And I felt guilty that I’d never come home, never even sent flowers, and … my mum, always on and on about Dolly Rawlins. I’m sorry, I am really sorry…’
Mike sniffed, trying to hold on to his emotions because he wasn’t acting any more. The more he tried to explain about Shirley, the more her face kept flashing across his mind and in the end he bowed his head. ‘I loved her a lot. She was a lovely kid.’ Craigh remained silent, staring at him. ‘I know Rawlins instigated that robbery, I know it.’
‘Eh, Mike son, Rawlins was sent down for murder, she killed her husband. It was never proved that she ever had anything to do with that diamond heist.’
‘But she had.’
‘You don’t have any proof.’ Craigh pursed his lips. ‘Listen, to what i’m saying, Mike. Dolly Rawlins was never even charged with that heist. There was never a shred of evidence to link her to it. But your sister was no angel, her husband was a known villain, so don’t give me all this whitewash Mother Teresa act. All I know is you used personal motives to instigate a full-scale operation, drawing in me, DI Palmer, the whole team on a mad caper that has landed us all in shit, making us all look like prize fucking idiots.’
‘I know she was going for those diamonds,’ Mike stuttered.
‘No, you don’t. You don’t know anything. It’s all been supposition because you had a private and personal motive against Rawlins.’
‘She got away with murder.’
‘She didn’t, she served her sentence, and as far as being implicated in the Donaldson business she has an alibi, and a very strong one, that she wasn’t even near Ladbroke Grove the day he was run over.’
‘We had any joy tracing the car?’
‘What car? How many red Rovers or red Volvos are there in London?’
Mike remained silent as Craigh jangled the change in his pockets, relenting slightly.
‘We’ve got Traffic running around like blue-arsed flies – they always love a challenge. We got nothing from the road where Donaldson got hit, we’ve not got one decent eyewitness. In fact we’ve got bugger all. But we do have a nasty, dirty mess that I’ve got to clear up.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I hope to Christ you are. And from now on you stay clear of this Rawlins bitch or I’ll have you back wearing a big hat, understand me?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Now piss off and I’ll see if I can iron all this out.’
Craigh watched Mike walk out with his head bent. Picking up Rawlins’s file, he stared at her hard profile in the mug-shots and began to flick through her record sheet. He put in a call to the Aylesbury social services to double-
check one more time that Rawlins was, as she had stated, being interviewed by the board members of the council.
Angela knew something was very wrong when Dolly walked stiffly back to the taxi. She opened the door and got in. ‘Go back to the manor – get the train home.’
‘Aren’t you coming with me?’
‘No. Just get on your way. I’ve got someone to see.’
‘Well, don’t you need a lift?’
‘No, I want to be on my own for a while.’
Dolly passed over a ten-pound note and walked off down the road as Angela directed the cab driver to take her back to Marylebone station.
Mike let himself in and called Susan, but the house was silent. He checked the time and assumed she was collecting the kids. He sat down in the hall, knowing he’d had a narrow escape. The phone rang and he jumped.
Angela was at the station in a phone booth. She was relieved when Mike answered but taken aback when he yelled at her never to call his home again.
‘Well, I needed to speak to you. I’m in London, I came here with Dolly. She got the diamonds, Mike, she had them with her.’
Mike stood up, trying to keep his voice calm. ‘You sure? Where is she now?’
Angela told him where she had been, and then Mike said he had to go, he couldn’t talk any more. His head felt as if it was blowing apart. If Dolly Rawlins had the diamonds then she had to have run over Jimmy Donaldson.
She had to have killed him. She had the diamonds, she killed Donaldson, she must know by now they were fakes. It seemed that any way he moved the shackles were on him, getting him in deeper and deeper. One thing, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. She wouldn’t go to the law, but he knew one place she would go and his panic went into overdrive. He hoped to Christ his mother was out of the country. He grabbed the phone and dialled her number.
Angela sat on the station platform. She had tried to call Mike again but the number was engaged. She kept trying but it was constantly busy. She was near to tears, sure he’d taken it off the hook. There was also something else she had to tell him: she’d missed two periods.
Audrey picked up the phone and Mike started yelling before she’d even said hello. ‘She knows about Tommy. She’s been to see him about the diamonds this afternoon.’
She's Out Page 17
