Widows

Coming out of the kitchen, Shirley had no idea what Dolly meant and certainly wasn’t going to ask. Linda stepped toward Dolly with furious eyes, clearly at breaking point. Shirley stepped quickly in front of her with a cup of tea, forcing Linda to stop dead. Unable to ignore the pleading in Shirley’s eyes, Linda took her tea and moved away from Dolly again. Shirley sat down in between them.

‘You said we had “problems” — plural,’ said Shirley, waving away Dolly’s horrible cigarette smoke.

‘The Fisher brothers are coming on heavy and they’re not going to let up. They’ve already started on me, ripping my place apart and next time it’ll be my face. Then they’ll start on you two.’ It was one thing for the widows to have a go at each other, but the Fishers were a different matter altogether. This news changed everything. Linda could walk away from Dolly if she became too much of a pain and Dolly would let her. Tony Fisher, on the other hand, would tear you apart just for turning your back on him. ‘The Fishers want Harry’s ledgers and they’re not taking no for an answer. This fourth man, whoever he was — well, I don’t think he’ll show his face round here again. I reckon he took off weeks ago.’ Dolly stared at Linda and saw the hatred in her eyes for the coward who left her Joe to die such a slow and painful death. She spoke with total sincerity. ‘We’ll get him, Linda, and he’ll get what’s coming to him, but for the moment it’s good that no one can find him.’

Linda broke the gaze first, looking down at the dirty concrete floor before Dolly could see the tears welling up in her eyes.

‘We’re going to pull a raid and I don’t want any of us getting hurt,’ Dolly went on. ‘We’re not big strong fellas, we’re women. But we’ve got to start thinking like men. Boxer Davis works for the Fishers now and I’ll put money on the fact that he’s round there spilling the beans. And when they hear what he’s got to say, they’ll lay off.’

A self-satisfied smirk came over Dolly’s face and, as they waited for her to speak again, Shirley was suddenly reminded of being back in the sauna and learning about the raid for the first time. Whatever Dolly said next, Shirley knew she’d be stunned by it. She was right.

‘I’ve told Boxer that the fourth man, the one that got away, was Harry. Boxer believes that Harry’s alive and when he tells the Fishers, they’ll believe Harry’s got the ledgers. This is the best way to protect us right now. Harry was the only person round here who could keep the Fishers in check cos of what he had on them, so we need Harry to be alive again.’

‘How can you be sure Boxer will tell them?’ Shirley asked.

‘He’ll talk. He always did, especially with a drink inside him. I gave him one of Harry’s suit jackets and two hundred quid so, drunk or sober, he’ll be feeling invincible.’ Dolly finished her tea and handed her mug to Shirley. ‘I’ll be back in touch as soon as I’ve come up with the other member of the team.’ Dolly opened her handbag, took out a bit of folded paper and handed it to Linda. ‘That’s a safe number for you both to call me on — it’s an unlisted line at the convent I volunteer at. You can leave a message there anytime and they’ll contact me. Memorize it, then burn it.’ Without another word, Dolly scooped up Wolf and left.

Linda looked at the phone number for about ten seconds; then handed it to Shirley. ‘I’ve got no matches left; you’ll have to eat it.’

Shirley looked at the phone number too, then was about to pop the note in her mouth when she caught the look on Linda’s face.

‘Joke! It’s a bleedin’ joke, Shirl.’

Shirley wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Today had been far too stressful.

‘I can’t stand her sometimes,’ Linda whispered.

Shirley’s reply wasn’t as supportive as Linda expected. ‘I think the feeling’s mutual.’

Linda shot Shirley a disdainful look. ‘She’s got no right to talk to us like we’re kids. I think you did really well with those jumpsuits.’

‘I didn’t, Linda! They’re completely wrong and you know it. Dolly was right to be angry.’

‘She’s no right to talk down to us or to slap me around. She’s not the boss.’

‘She is.’ Shirley’s voice was quiet, controlled and deadly serious. ‘If this is really happening... she is the boss.’

Linda was well and truly pissed by ten o’clock, and sat in her booth at the shooting arcade in the West End red light district with a sozzled grin on her face. But no matter how drunk she got, she never gave out the wrong change. Charlie stood by the entrance door and kept looking over nervously at the booth as she took swig after swig from the vodka bottle. He worried that if the boss came in now, and saw Linda pissed and singing at the top of her voice, he’d probably get the sack as well. He sighed and smiled — if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. He threw the remains of his coffee onto the street, went over to the booth and peered through the glass at Linda. It took her a while to focus her eyes but, when she did, she gave Charlie her broadest smile.