‘Julia’s got a horse.’
Gloria peered up into Helen’s face. ‘Cor blimey, it’s enormous this, isn’t it?’
Connie reached out to stroke the horse and then stepped back. They all turned as Norma drove up in a clapped-out Land Rover. She hopped down. ‘I’ve brought her tack and feed. Is that the stable?’
The women looked at one another, not sure what was going on, as now Dolly and Kathleen came to the kitchen door.
‘Hi, Dolly. This is Norma and this is Helen of Troy.’ Julia grinned like a schoolgirl. ‘She’s been given to us, for free.’
‘Oh, yeah …’ Dolly looked on as Angela squeezed out, running to the horse.
Norma smiled at Dolly, and walked towards her, hand outstretched. She gave a hard handshake that almost floored Dolly. ‘She’ll be marvellous with kids. She’s thirteen years old, retired, but if you’re opening this as a children’s home she’ll be ideal. You can drop a bomb in front of her and she won’t even flinch. She can walk through a band or a riot and she’s as cool as a cucumber.’ Dolly felt a bit confused as to what was going on. Norma continued, ‘I’ve got a new hunter and I needed a home for Helen.’
Julia looked almost pleadingly at Dolly. ‘She’s a police horse, Dolly.’
Kathleen flinched as if the horse was about to arrest her. Dolly looked at Connie. Her voice was hardly audible, when she said, ‘Did she say what I think she just said?’
‘Yeah, it’s a police horse.’
‘Not the horse, Connie, the woman.’
Norma handed out bags of feed to Angela as Julia opened up the stables.
‘A minute, love,’ Dolly said, and went back into the kitchen, followed by a flushed Julia.
‘She’s beautiful, isn’t she? And free! We don’t have to even pay for her feed.’
Dolly folded her arms. ‘Really? And Norma’s a policewoman, is she?’
Julia nodded. She was still plastered and reeked of booze.
Dolly sighed. ‘You should have asked me. I don’t like the filth, mounted or otherwise, poking their nose around and that one looks like she’s ready to move in.’
‘Oh, well, I can take it back. I just thought …’
‘You thought what? I don’t ride, I’ve not got any kids here yet and you’re leaving so what the hell am I gonna do with a horse?’
Julia gripped the back of the chair. ‘I want to stay on, Dolly. I’ll groom her, feed her … You wouldn’t have to do a single thing, and I’ll make sure Norma keeps her distance.’
‘You better. We got an arsenal of guns on the property and none of us are what you might call environmentally friendly.’
Julia was about to return to the yard when Dolly told her that Ester had gone. She was stunned. ‘Gone?’
‘About fifteen minutes ago. And if you don’t mind me saying it’s good riddance.’
Julia hadn’t believed that Ester could walk out without even saying goodbye. She checked that her belongings had gone from their bedroom before finally accepting it. She slipped downstairs for a bottle of vodka, which she took back to her room. She drank it neat from her tooth-mug, slugging it back, then decided not to bother with the tooth-mug and drank it straight from the bottle. Ester had gone, left her without so much as a note. Julia rested back against the pillow that still smelt of her perfume and started to cry, awful, silent tears, the way she had learnt to cry in prison. Ester had taken such care of her, she was afraid of nothing, and she had chosen Julia, walked straight up to her. The other girls sitting with their dinner trays had moved away from the table, but Julia had said nothing, just continued to eat, her eyes down, afraid of what Ester wanted.
‘You shooting up?’ Ester had said.
Julia had swallowed, still unable to look at her.
‘Bad stuff in here. You’d better go cold turkey. I’ll take care of you.’
Julia reached for the bottle, wanting to pass out. She didn’t want to hear that deep, wonderful gravel voice in her head, smell that thick sweet-scented perfume. Ester had walked out on her without saying goodbye. Ester was the love of Julia’s life and without her the fear returned, her confidence dwindled and her deep-seated guilt and shame resurfaced.
Hours later, so drunk she was hardly able to lift her head, she heard the phone ringing, cutting through her dulled senses, but she was incapable of standing upright.
‘I’m at the station,’ Audrey said.
‘I’ll be there, just wait in the car park.’ Dolly replaced the phone and went out to find Gloria. She was with Kathleen, hanging over the stable door. Dolly held up the keys to Gloria’s Mini. ‘I won’t be long, just get some groceries.’
Gloria rushed to her. ‘We got to talk, Dolly. Eddie’s guns – I really need them. I got to get some cash.’
Dolly opened the Mini and got inside. ‘We’ll talk about them later.’
‘They’re worth quite a bit, you know. Nearly thirty grand, Eddie said.’
Dolly wound down the window. ‘And they could have got us arrested. When I come back we’ll talk.’
‘Okay. I’ll cut you in, Dolly, that’s only fair.’ Dolly started the engine and backed the Mini down the drive, Gloria still following her. ‘Say twenty per cent?’
Dolly drove off and Gloria watched the car disappear down the drive before she turned back to Kathleen. ‘They’re my ruddy guns. She’s got to give them back to me, hasn’t she?’ Kathleen shaded her eyes to look towards the gates.
What you think she did with them?’ Gloria asked moodily.
‘Hid them, thank Christ,’ said Kathleen.
Audrey clutched her handbag, standing in the centre of the car park. Dolly pulled up and Audrey climbed into the Mini. The level-crossing gates were closed. ‘What’s up?’ Audrey asked, staring at the railway crossing.
‘Must be a train due.’
Raymond Dewey saw Dolly and waved. She lowered the window. ‘Hello, Raymond, you on duty, are you?’ He came to the car and shook her hand, then introduced himself to Audrey. She pressed herself back in her seat as his square head poked through the window. ‘How long will we be kept waiting?’ Dolly asked.
‘Oh, might be a few minutes. Not like the mail train, always a long delay every Thursday, always a delay. This is the three twenty, local.’ He returned to his stool to jot down notes in his precious book as Audrey and Dolly sat in silence. They watched the train pass in front of them before the gates slowly lifted.
‘Bloody nutter,’ said Audrey as they passed him, now gesturing them on like a traffic controller.
They went into the local pub and Audrey took a corner seat at the bay window as Dolly got the drinks. She clutched her bag, not sure how Dolly would take it, and when the gin and tonic was put down she knocked it back fast to try to calm her nerves. ‘Right, I’ve got you all I could. Twenty grand.’
Dolly sipped her drink. ‘I hope you’re joking.’
‘No, I’m not. It’s all I could get. I brought bank statements, everything, you can see for yourself that’s all I could get. The rest, like I told you, went into the villa. I’ll sell it, split the profits, but it’ll take a while.’ Audrey opened her bag and took out a thick envelope. She was about to pass it to Dolly when Norma walked up.
‘Hello, Mrs Rawlins.’
Dolly gave a tight, brittle smile. ‘Hello, Norma. I’d offer to buy you a drink but we’re just leaving. Audrey, this is Norma. She’s a mounted police officer.’
Audrey gaped. ‘Oh, nice to meet you.’
Dolly waved at Raymond as they passed him again and drove into the station car park. Audrey still clutched her bag. She was sweating with nerves, wishing Dolly would say something, but she drove in silence.
‘I’ll need my passport, Dolly, and me ticket for Spain.’
Dolly engaged the handbrake and leaned over to open the glove compartment. ‘Here, take them, and give me the money.’ Audrey passed her the envelope. She snatched it. She didn’t count the money, just shoved it into her pocket. ‘I don’t want to see you o
r hear from you again, Audrey. Just get out of my sight.’
Audrey fumbled with the door handle, couldn’t wait to get away. She ran into the station, afraid Dolly might get out and attack her – she’d turned those chipped-ice eyes on her with such hatred. But Dolly had no intention of running after Audrey. It was, as she had said, the last time she ever wanted to see her.
Twenty thousand pounds! And she had believed she would have millions. Well, she would make do. Somehow she’d make the house work. She wouldn’t let this set her back.
Gloria and Connie were sitting at the kitchen table playing noughts and crosses when Dolly got back. ‘Did you get milk?’ Connie asked.
‘No. Shops were closed, wasted journey.’ Gloria screwed up the paper. ‘About Eddie’s guns, Dolly.’ Dolly took off her coat. ‘We’ll go and get them when it’s dark but right now I’d like a cup of tea, if that’s all right with you – even if we haven’t got any milk.’
Julia was lying face down on the bed. She didn’t look up when Dolly tapped on the door and walked in. ‘I need a hand, Julia. We’re going to get the guns and—’ Julia tried to sit up but fell face forward. Dolly saw the empty bottle on the floor. ‘You’d better sleep it off, we’ll manage without you.’
‘We’ll need spades and a wheelbarrow,’ Dolly said to Gloria and then, as Connie, all dressed up, walked into the kitchen, ‘You going too, are you?’
Connie shook her head. ‘No, I’m going out with that builder bloke.’
Gloria nudged Connie and said to Dolly, ‘I told her earlier to get the old leg over and he’d maybe work for nothin’.’
Dolly shook her head at Gloria, as if she was a naughty kid, and then asked Connie to come into the room she now used as an office. She gave her an envelope with ten thousand pounds cash inside. ‘Give this to him, will you? Tell him he’ll get the rest next week and if he could get the men back to work over the weekend, I’d be grateful.’
‘Okay.’ Connie slipped the envelope into her pocket.
Dolly hesitated, then patted Connie’s arm. ‘Be nice to him. Be a help to me, know what I mean?’
Connie bit her lip. ‘Sure, pay my way, so to speak.’
‘Good. So you have a nice evening, then, and we’ll see you later.’
Connie met John outside the manor gates. He’d changed into a suit and Connie was touched by the effort he’d made. He was all fingers and thumbs, easing her inside, apologizing for the van, before they drove off.
‘I thought we’d eat out. Do you like Chinese?’
‘Chinese is fine.’
‘God, I’m hungry,’ complained Gloria, as she pushed the wheelbarrow through the woods.
Kathleen trudged along with two spades. ‘Got to hand it to you, Dolly, if you hadn’t stashed them, we’d be in a right old mess.’
Gloria scowled, all the time wondering just how much Dolly would tap her for Eddie’s guns, but the further they walked, the more she realized how together Dolly was to have hidden them so far from the house and to have done it on her own. As if she was reading her mind, Dolly looked at her. ‘I did it in three trips, Gloria, took half the night.’
Julia listened, her dulled senses making out the sound of the telephone ringing and ringing. She stumbled out of her room and almost fell down the stairs.
‘Anyone here? Hello?’
No one answered and the phone still rang. She lurched towards it, snatching it up. ‘Ester? Is that you?’
‘Is Connie there?’ said a man’s voice.
Julia swung round and stared into the kitchen. ‘Connie? Connie?’
Lennie sat back in the car, gazing out of the window.
‘She’s not here,’ Julia slurred.
‘Okay. I’m coming to meet her but I seem to be in a dead end road. How do I get to the Grange?’
Julia began to give him directions. As they were all leaving the manor, she supposed Connie must have arranged for Lennie to collect her. She was too drunk to think of the implications or to remember that Connie was terrified of him.
Lennie slipped the portable back into the glove compartment of his shining Porsche and started to reverse. He swore when the car sank into a pothole, the mud splashing the gleaming paintwork. Then he drove cautiously down the lane.
Connie giggled as the waiter presented John with the bill and his eyes popped at the amount, due to the champagne she had ordered. But he paid up, digging into the envelope Connie had given him from Dolly. She felt a bit bad about ordering champagne and became over-friendly, rubbing his arm and, beneath the table, pressing her legs hard against his. He flushed as she kicked off her shoe and let her toes stroke his crotch. He had never come across a woman like Connie and he felt inadequate, to say the least. ‘Do you think she’ll be able to pay the rest?’ he asked, trying to appear nonchalant as Connie’s toes stroked the fly of his trousers.
‘Oh, so you asked me out to find out about Mrs Rawlins?’
‘No, no! It’s just that I’m a one-man firm and I could go broke over this. I’ve ordered a lot of equipment.’
‘If Mrs Rawlins says she’ll pay you, then she will,’ Connie purred, leaning further towards him over the top of the table as her toes did all the walking below.
‘I’d better get you home.’
She looked up at him and giggled again. He was red in the face with embarrassment.
Gloria had taken over the digging as Kathleen heaved the first bag on to the wheelbarrow. ‘You’re stronger than you look, Dolly Rawlins. These weigh a ton.’
Angela pulled the brambles and sticks away from the third hiding place as Gloria stuck in the spade. They were on the brow of a small hill just outside the wooded perimeter of the manor’s land, and could see clearly the signal box below.
‘Who’s at the gates?’ Kathleen pointed.
Dolly looked up. She could see the flashing signal lights, the barred gates, and the builder’s van.
Gloria prodded her in the ribs. ‘Oi, he’s got a lot of hand movement down there. You think he’s givin’ her one or is it just light relief?’
Dolly grimaced. Sometimes Gloria’s crudeness really irritated her but she couldn’t help taking another look and it did seem as if John was having a heavy grope and petting session.
He was. He had Connie’s top undone and was kissing her neck and her breasts as she kept one eye on the signal lights.
‘Train’s coming,’ she whispered into his hot, flushed face.
He moaned, and for a moment she thought he was coming too but then he sat back. ‘I’m sorry.’
She buttoned her blouse and snuggled up to him. ‘Are you married?’
‘No, but I live with someone.’
‘And where does she think you are tonight?’
‘At the gym.’
‘Can I work out with you one day? I love doing weights.’
The train thundered past and the gates slowly opened. ‘Any time you like.’ John put the van into gear and they headed down the narrow lane back towards the manor.
Lennie reversed into a field gateway. He’d already driven past the manor, stopped, had a look at it and decided that the element of surprise would be more beneficial. He was just about to get out when the van passed him. Connie didn’t see him as she was talking to the bloke who was driving. Lennie saw the van drive into the manor and followed on foot, well hidden by the overhanging hedgerow.
They’d loaded the wheelbarrow and were pushing it back towards the manor. Dolly walked ahead, her arm slung around Angela’s shoulder. ‘You know you can join special government courses, get further education, Angela, proper training in something. You should think about it, love, but you’re welcome to stay on here for as long as you like, you know that. Do you like kids?’
‘Oh, yeah, and I’m used to them. I’ve got younger brothers still at school.’
Gloria muttered as she staggered along behind the wheelbarrow with all the guns as Kathleen carried the spades. They were still about a quarter of a mile from the manor.
&nb
sp; Connie leaned in to John and gave him a long, lingering kiss. They broke away and then she kissed him again. ‘You’d better check your face before you go in. Lipstick!’ She giggled as he wiped his mouth. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow?’
He watched her wiggle and sashay her way to the front door, turn and do her Marilyn Monroe pout. He blew her a kiss, felt stupid and quickly put the van into reverse. As he drove out, he didn’t notice Lennie.
‘Connie!’
She knew his voice immediately, but in the darkness she couldn’t see him. ‘Lennie?’
He stepped forward and bowed. ‘Surprise, surprise!’
She began to pant with terror. ‘You stay away from me, Lennie. Don’t hurt me!’
He walked towards her, his arms out wide, smiling. ‘I’m not going to hurt you. Why would I do that? I’ve just come to take you home, Connie.’
‘I’m not coming with you, Lennie. You got to leave me alone.’
He came closer and now he wasn’t playing games. ‘You owe me, Connie, and you’re gonna pay it off or work it off. Suit yourself ’
‘I won’t go anywhere with you.’
She screamed and he dived for her but she kicked out, catching him in the groin. He lost his footing, tripping over a plank left by the builders. He swore, cradling his balls and gritting his teeth in fury as he screamed, ‘Connieeeeeeeee! Don’t fuck with me!’
She was running, anywhere, any place to get away from him. He started after her, yelling with rage, and she sobbed and shouted at him to stay away as she ran on, heading up towards the woods.
Dolly was rigid. She hissed at Gloria to keep her mouth shut as they all heard the sobbing and screaming.
Gloria let go of the handles of the wheelbarrow. ‘It’s Connie.’ She ran towards the sound of the crying.
Dolly started to follow and then turned to Kathleen and Angela. ‘You stay put, the pair of you, until I come back and get you.’ She tore after Gloria through the woods, hearing another high-pitched scream.
Gloria had to slap Connie’s face. ‘It’s me, Connie, it’s me, Gloria.’
Connie clung to her. ‘He’s here. Oh, God, Gloria, he’s here and he’s gonna kill me. He was chasing me, he’s going to kill—’
She's Out Page 19
