CHAPTER 20

Ten was the time. A great time to wake up after a night out. Tolly wandered downstairs to find Cap in the kitchen sipping coffee. “Morning,” Cap said, “Coffee?” 

“Sure,” replied Tolly. “What about some toast? I’m famished.” 

“Coming right up. How about eggs?” 

“Sure. What about bacon?” 

“Anything else?” 

“Nope, that will do just fine, thank you. You been up long?” 

“Half hour maybe.”

  “As long as that, eh?  That was a hell of a night. Two nice girls those. She could Lindy Hop for sure. Your… what was her name?” 

“Judy.” 

“Yeah, that’s it. Strange what a skinful can do to the memory. Great dancer. You two looked really good together.” 

“She was good all right.” 

“Going to see her again.” 

“Yeah, why not. But just at the moment we need to concentrate on the Manor House. Get through that and we’ll be set for a long time. Maybe we’ll get enough to get out of this business.” 

“You’re sounding a bit serious, Cap. What’s up?” 

“It’s Judy.” 

“What about her?” 

“Meeting her has made me think. Maybe I’m ready to finally sort my life out. I slept better last night. In fact, it was the first time since the war that I didn’t wake up sweating. So, what do you think, Tolly? Time for a change?” 

“Depends what it is… Did you know Mavis knows what we do?” 

“Nope. Is she a risk?” 

“If you mean will she tell the police, definitely not. If you mean does she want me to be careful, definitely and I suspect she wants me to pack it up. You know how she feels about me, don’t you.” 

“Sure. It’s obvious. So, if we can find something else, would you want to stop?” 

Cap could tell Tolly was thinking. He not only went quiet but also he started fiddling with his hands. Something from the nervous days in the fox holes. “Yeah, sure,” Tolly eventually said. “We came back to a mess, didn’t we. Kind of got thrown into it. I sometimes feel we’ve still been fighting the war. You are for sure. In that dumb head of yours. Old habits and all that. Ten years now. Maybe it’s time we finally surrendered.” 

“Okay, we’ll see how much we get from this blag then we can decide… So, you’re happy with the plan?” 

“Yup. More than. This one’s a piece of cake. In through the office window out through the back door. Fifteen minutes inside. Tops. All sounds good to me.” 

“What are you up to today? You seeing Shirley?” 

“Who?” and he laughed at Cap’s face. “Just kidding… your face… No, I’m not seeing her this weekend. After the blag for sure though. Today I’ve promised to have dinner with Mavis. She was out and about yesterday nattering with her friends and buying something nice. Then at the weekend I’m going to take her to the flicks to see Rear Window. It’s perfect for her. She likes to get a little scared and loves Jimmy Stewart.” 

“What do you think? You come here Sunday and stay over then Monday we head off to the south coast.” 

“That’s what I was thinking… One thought. What about the explosives?” 

“In my cellar. We won’t need much.” 

“How will we get them there? We’ve mostly worked in town before and we’ve always walked. The best way walking. Easy to get lost if it all goes wrong. All those grains of sand to hide in. Eastbourne though that’s a whole different thing.” 

“Not sure. It’s no problem though. I’ll think on it and tell you Sunday.” 

“Fair enough… Well, that’s me done. Thanks for the breakfast. I’m off now and I’ll see you Sunday.” 

 

It was a good feeling finding someone especially when it had been much easier than you thought. Five doors to knock at and that was it. As easy as that. Jimmy Raynott was happy. If you saw his face as he walked away from Dora’s house you would have thought he’d won the football pools. He could feel Dora’s stare burning a hole in his back. He could tell she was annoyed. That stare he gave her; Jimmy knew it would upset her. Make her wonder but that was the point, wasn’t it. The best way to ensure a response: add an element of fear. 

So, he had Dexter Carmichael. When he came back Jimmy thought that maybe he would just have a word. Maybe take a couple of lads just to ram the point home. If he had to deal with Dee he felt there was no way Dexter would let it go. Yeah, he needed to take all the precautions to protect his investments and over the years the one with Gloria Dubonnet had been one of the best. 

Now though he had to get a move on. Two drops to make and quite a few miles apart. Eighty tins of assorted produce to deliver. Why did these people buy stuff without labels? That was an easy one to answer. Greed. They thought they were getting something real cheap. Maybe they were. That was the beauty of tight supply and shortages. If you cannot get what you need all of a sudden any source of supply looks cheap even if it was at extortionate prices. The real mystery though: they all felt grateful and that thought made him chuckle. After all, they just added the cost to their prices and stayed in business. A win, win for sure. 

Reaching his van, Jimmy was still smiling. Things were really looking up. If he could add the fresh meat… well, things would definitely take off. First stop Brighton then on to Worthing. After that the long drive back to Eastbourne and nothing much to do for the next few days except watch the drama between Dee and Gloria unfold. He had to laugh. Gloria could not see it, could she. Dee was the biggest asset Gloria would ever have but she could not see it. Her problem: She was so consumed by ancient bitterness and spite. So wrapped up in counting her money that she failed to appreciate probably the one thing that could transform her business from mediocre to topflight and do it in a way that would quadruple her earning potential. Anyway, that was no concern of his. He was happy the way things were. It gave him a south coast base, a ready outlet for his dodgy merchandise and, of course, somewhere to warm up his cold feet late at night.  

 

At nine-thirty Walter Jones threw back the curtain of room four of The Paradise. The film in the camera in his right hand was full. This was it. He had seen enough. Ten clackers went in last night and ten came out this morning. He had snapped them all. One thing that interested him though was Jimmy Raynott. He had left at six-thirty. But in all the time he had been watching, when he was in residence, Jimmy had never appeared early. He knew all about Jimmy Raynott. One of the slipperiest people on the planet. If there ever was a reason to be suspicious this was it. He was up to something for sure. 

Not bothering to fold anything, Walter threw the few things he had brought with him into a large carrier bag and carefully placed the camera on top. Put his pile of notes, the developed photos and his diary into a thin leather briefcase, took one last look around the room and looked in the mirror and straightened his red tie. Pulling on his trilby he headed out of the door and down the stairs to check out.  

As he stood on the steps of the hotel looking at the Bay View a van pulled up. He watched two men get out, open the back doors, take out a long pole and start to lash it to the Hotel’s gate post. One more glance across the road. It was all quiet which was not surprising with just the mother, daughter and cook inside. Tugging his old blue suit jacket tightly and pulling his trilby down he walked towards the station. Fortunately, his back took the full force of the wind driving off the sea. Slight specks of drizzle landed on his neck. He scowled at the sky and pulled up his collar. It was quite a walk to the police station. Unless the weather eased up he would be soaked by the time he got there. As he turned the corner his gaze wandered back to the hotel. The van was leaving and he noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign swinging in the wind.