Widows

Dolly climbed into the driver’s seat, which already had the harness bolted into place.

‘It needs a lot of choke to start and then let it in easy,’ Linda said from the doorway.

The van started first time. ‘Where you gonna sit?’ Dolly asked. Linda climbed into the back of the van and plonked herself down into a basket of fresh, clean white sheets — probably from one of the poshest hotels in London. Dolly laughed and they headed out for a test drive to the lock-up.

The van did stall twice on the way, which worried Dolly, but it was nothing to do with the engine, which Linda had fine-tuned beautifully. It was a loose wire contact where she had fitted the new ignition barrel, but, with a bit more electrical tape round it, the wiring was soon secure and the van didn’t stall again.

When Dolly and Linda arrived at the lock-up, there was nervous tension in the air. Bella was busy preparing and checking over the tools and shotguns they needed for the robbery. Shirley had gone over their overalls and balaclavas so many times she knew every inch of them and she was now double checking everyone’s passports and flight tickets before putting them into the suitcases that they, apart from Dolly, had each prepared for their flight out of the country. Bella had given her notice in at the strip club, Linda had got herself fired from the arcade quite easily and Shirley had told her mother she was going on a holiday.

No one spoke much. They didn’t need to at this stage. Each knew exactly what their roles were during the robbery. Carrying out these final preparations was exciting: they were ready.

Bella had already put the chainsaw in the back of the van Linda would be driving. She now placed a sawed-off shotgun and the sledgehammer in a hockey bag, which she zipped up and put in the back of the laundry van. Tomorrow, Dolly would put the sledgehammer by the rear doors and keep the shotgun up front with her.

Dolly sat in the driver’s seat of the laundry van, all harnessed in, while Linda tightened the straps to fit her exact padded-out body shape. ‘That OK, Dolly?’ Linda asked.

‘Feels perfect.’

‘Right, now see if you can unclip yourself.’ Without looking, Dolly found the buckle on the harness, pressed the release and had got to her feet before Linda could finish her sentence. Linda handed Dolly a spare key for the market stall car park.

‘I’ll take the van back for you and park it where it was earlier. I’ll put the ignition key under the wheel arch.’

‘Is it safe in that underground car park?’ Dolly asked.

‘It will be with me kipping in the back of it.’ Linda smiled. ‘And remember — lots of choke to start, then let her out easy.’

Shirley put Dolly’s overalls, balaclava, plimsolls and rubber gloves in a bag and handed them to her, and then put the rest of the gear in neat piles on top of the work table with three little notes saying whose was whose. Finally, she put the three suitcases in the boot of her Mini Estate.

Shirley showed Dolly the gas mask. ‘This’ll be perfect to disguise your voice, Dolly.’ As Dolly put the gas mask on, Shirley added, ‘It might smell a bit of glue.’

‘Glue?’ Linda joked. ‘What you been up to?’

‘Nothing!’ Shirley was defensive. ‘I had to fix the mouthpiece cos it was a bit wobbly.’

Dolly picked up a crow bar, held it like a shotgun, stood in the middle of the lock-up and yelled: ‘DON’T MOVE!’

‘Bleedin’ ’ell!’ Bella said. ‘You don’t sound like Bambi no more!’

Dolly pulled the mask up and rested it on top of her head. ‘Can you tell that I’m a woman?’

‘Definitely not,’ Linda confirmed.

Dolly placed the mask in the laundry van next to her other kit. As she caught a glimpse of her own left hand, she noticed her wedding ring for the first time in weeks. She twisted it round and slipped it off, not noticing Bella step up beside her.

‘We’re ready.’ Bella said gently.

Dolly’s eyes flickered as she gripped Bella’s arm. ‘You think we can pull it off?’

Bella, taken aback at how nervous Dolly was, put her hand on top of Dolly’s and grinned. ‘With you leading us, we can’t fail.’

Dolly smiled. ‘You’ll have to keep your eye on Linda. Don’t let her go crazy. I don’t want her shooting that gun off.’

Bella shrugged. ‘I’ve changed Linda’s shotgun cartridges to some blanks I got hold of from a mate of Oil Head,’ she whispered to Dolly with a sly grin. ‘If she does pull the trigger there’d be a big bang, but no one’ll get hurt.’

Dolly was still twisting the ring. ‘Shirley will be scared, but she’s up for it and she’ll come through. You back her up, Bella, keep her strong. Know what I mean?’

Bella nodded, but she was worried about Dolly. Was she beginning to crack under all the stress? She was, after all, driving the laundry van, on which the entire robbery depended. If she lost her nerve, then the whole job would be screwed.

‘I know it’s easier for us, Dolly. I mean, we’ll be together supporting each other in the rear van. It’ll be tough for you on your own up front. But you’ll do fine. Out of all of us, you can do that best.’