Widows

Ten minutes after Dolly left, Bella left. Then Linda and, lastly, Shirley. As Shirley buttoned up her coat, she realized that the big dog from next door hadn’t barked when the others left. She shrugged the thought off and, reaching the main door, turned the overhead strip lights off, ignoring the drip, drip of water echoing round the cavernous lock-up. She was about to open the door when she heard a noise, a sort of scuffle that sounded as if it was coming from outside. She listened closer, ear against the door, and started to shiver. She switched on her small torch and shone it round the dark lock-up.

Bill Grant pressed his face against the cold wall as he stared into the garage through the slits in the air bricks. The blonde seemed to stare straight at him. As the torch light moved toward him, he stepped back briefly in case his eyes glistened in the light beam. Once the beam had passed, Grant returned to his vantage point. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘I could keep you safe in the dark, my darlin’. Nice and safe with me.’

Shirley finally braved opening the main door and stepped out into the darkness of the night. She paused, and once her eyes had adjusted, almost ran toward the main road.

‘The last one’s just left,’ Grant said, turning from his spyhole in the wall. He laughed, a chesty smoker’s laugh with a dirty undertone. He leaned against the wall, arms folded. ‘Who’d have thought it, eh? The chicks are really fuckin’ gonna do it.’ Standing up from the wall, he brushed brick dust from his coat sleeve. His lock-up was identical to Dolly’s, but much dirtier, with lines of wrecked cars covered in dust and pigeon shit. A flashlight shone in Grant’s face and he held his hand to his eyes. ‘Do me a favor! You can turn the lights back on now they’ve gone.’ The flashlight clicked off.

Harry Rawlins held the straining Alsatian by the scruff of the neck while he untied the rag that was wrapped round its jaws like a muzzle. The dog started barking and snarling, its long shiny white fangs dripping thick spittle. Harry suddenly let the dog go and it hurtled forward toward Grant, who jumped backward in fear. The chain round its neck ran out of slack inches from Grant, jerking the animal’s head back and stopping it in its tracks. Harry laughed.

‘Fuckin’ hell!’ Grant exclaimed. He was shaking. Harry looked like the animal now, his mouth open with a snarl and his teeth glistening as he sneered.

‘She’s copying my plans virtually to the letter,’ Harry said. ‘So she’ll be the only one who knows where the money’s stashed when the job’s done. That’s when we move, Bill. It’ll be like taking candy from a baby.’

Chapter 28

Linda waited nervously in Warrington Crescent within sight of the Colonnade Hotel, a small and elegant Victorian boutique premises in Maida Vale. It was early Tuesday morning just after sunrise and she was cold, even though she had on a thick red sweater and Puffa jacket.

North West London wasn’t Linda’s usual stomping ground; there was no one here who would recognize her or even notice her. For the past few weeks, she had visited the area on five different occasions. She’d spotted the Leyland laundry van on her second visit, established the regular drop-off at the Colonnade Hotel on her next two visits, and today was the big day.

Linda rarely got nervous about anything, but as she waited she kept wiping her sweaty palms on her trousers, and she could feel her heart beating out of her chest. She felt frightened but, more than that, she felt excited. Linda had never quite understood the glint in Joe’s eyes whenever he set out on a job — but now she did. She checked her watch: the Leyland van was now less than ten minutes away. She felt invincible. The driver had no idea she’d been watching, no idea she was watching now and no idea that he was about to lose his vehicle. Poor bastard, she thought to herself.

The driver of the Leyland laundry van pulled up outside the hotel side entrance, just as she had seen him do on the previous occasions. She watched as he carried out his normal routine, stacking baskets of clean laundry onto a trolley and taking them to the side entrance of the hotel. He whistled away without a care in the world as he rang the side doorbell and was let in. Linda had about three minutes to nick the van before he returned with the dirty laundry sacks.