Widows

Bella shrugged and busied herself wiping the false plates with a rag to remove all prints. Dolly suspected Bella did know what the matter was. She looked over at Linda. Wolf was sniffing around Linda’s feet, and the next second Linda kicked the little dog, causing him to yelp in pain. Dolly had had enough.

‘Don’t you ever kick him again!’ Dolly shouted, striding over to Linda and pointing her finger straight in her face.

‘Well keep the mangy thing away from me,’ Linda replied.

‘Come on — out with it. What’s the matter with you?’

Linda kept her head down. ‘Nothing,’ she muttered.

‘Is this about me asking you to get rid of your mechanic?’

Linda looked at Dolly. ‘I did as you asked. He won’t be a problem no more.’

‘Good,’ Dolly replied coldly. ‘He suss anything?’

‘Wouldn’t matter if he did. He’s dead.’

Dolly was stunned into silence. For a moment, she wondered if Linda was trying to make her feel as guilty as possible, but the look of anger and sorrow in Linda’s eyes showed she was deadly serious. ‘I’m so sorry, Linda. What happened?’

‘I saw it, Dolly. I saw the whole thing. Do you want the details or will “he’s dead” be enough for you?’

‘I’m sorry, Linda, I truly am. You should have told me as soon as it happened.’

‘Why? What would you have done to make me feel better about making me kill my boyfriend? Cos that’s what happened, Dolly. You said to grass him up, the police raided his place, and he ran... straight under a van.’ Linda walked away before she did something she’d regret.

As Dolly started to follow Linda, Bella stopped her.

‘She turned up at my flat in a right state,’ Bella said under her breath. ‘She saw him under the wheels of the van lying in a pool of his own blood, so you give her this one, OK? Let her be mad with you. Let her take it out on you. Let her blame you, because the only other person she can blame is herself. You can take it — she can’t. You want this robbery to go ahead? You take this one on the chin.’ Bella went into the office, where Linda was shakily trying to make herself a cup of tea.

As Dolly watched, Bella put her arms around Linda’s shoulders and gave her a hug. She wished she could do the same. She wished she could tell her again how sorry she was. But Dolly knew that Linda would never see her as a friend like Bella; all she could do was provide Linda with enough money to live the life she wanted. Dolly mentally revised her plan for the day. She had been eager to get the girls into a run through, but she thought she’d give Linda some time to drink her tea.

While she waited, she picked up one of the shotguns and tried to cock it but her finger slipped and got nipped between the firing pin and hammer. She stifled a scream, but couldn’t help letting out a little screech: ‘Ow! For fuck’s—’

From the office, Linda snorted in derision. Dolly looked round, annoyed, but after a warning glance from Bella, let it slide. She freed her finger, shaking it up and down till the pain subsided. A large blood blister was already forming. Right — that was it!

‘OK — let’s get our overalls and masks on and have a rehearsal!’ Dolly shouted. This time she wanted to practice unlocking the body harness, picking up the shotgun and sledgehammer, Bella with the chainsaw, Linda with a shotgun and then Bella with the shotgun. ‘Everything has to repeated till it’s second nature,’ Dolly said. ‘I don’t want nothing bad to happen to any of us.’ She tried not to catch Linda’s eye.

They moved out of the annex into the large, filthy main garage. An old furniture truck, minus wheels and one door, would act as the lead truck for the rehearsal. Shirley had already placed the harness over the driver’s seat and unbuckled it. This is where Dolly would be sitting, all strapped in, at the moment she slammed the brakes on, forcing the security wagon to slam into the back of her. The harness had to be strong enough to keep Dolly in her seat during the impact, and simple enough to unbuckle the very next moment. They had to get this right. Dolly’s actions would start the robbery. If she couldn’t get herself free, they’d all be sitting ducks.

Dolly put the sledgehammer in the back of the van, right by the rear doors. Her shotgun dangled from her waist on a makeshift belt. She then got in the driver’s seat and buckled herself into the harness. Shirley watched every move, making sure the straps weren’t twisted, too tight or too slack.

‘As soon as Linda gets the laundry van, I’ll move the harness into that and you can practice for real,’ Shirley said.

Dolly threw herself back and forth in her seat. The harness held fast. She gave Shirley the thumbs up.