“Stop it!” he yelled, but his uncontrollable giggles told a different story.

Julia threw him back onto his feet and shoved him away as though she was the one who didn’t like cuddling.

“Now, get out of my sight,” she said with a straight face.

Both kids ran to Rob, who was waiting in the doorway, ready to take them away and give the three women privacy.

For a few moments, the women quietly sipped their wine, enjoying being under the same roof once again.

Connie broke the silence. “He’s a cutie, isn’t he?” Angela and Julia giggled into their glasses. “I’m just saying. I thought Detective Constable Jack Warr was very nice indeed. They could have sent some old wrinkly. I mentioned Lennie early on, ’cos I knew that’d make me cry. Then I gave him my very best ‘Princess Diana’ look, all wide-eyed and innocent through my fringe. He was putty in my hands. Then we just sat and enjoyed the view. I was sorry to see him leave, if I’m honest.”

“Did he ask anything that we need to worry about?” Angela asked.

“He knew about John,” Connie said.

“Whatever you did or didn’t get up to with John Maynard doesn’t matter,” Angela reassured her. “In fact it’s good. He’ll just have confirmed Dolly was converting The Grange into a children’s home.”

“He didn’t ask me anything unexpected, either,” said Julia. “Just mentioned he’d personal experience of the care system—said it had made him understand more about life.”

“There’s one thing, though,” Angela sounded serious. “And it’s why I’ve called you together. Jack Warr asked me if I knew Mike back in ’95 when we were all at The Grange. He thought Mike and I were in some sort of a relationship. I denied it and I made him feel guilty for even asking.”

“Fuck me, Angela!” Julia breathed. “He’s not asking about Mike because you were shagging him two decades ago. He’s asking because he knows Mike’s the bloody body from the fire!”

She caught Connie’s fearful look out of the corner of her eye.

“I think we need to assume he knows everything. To do anything less would be suicide. We are where we are,” she added calmly. “We carry on. And we stick to the plan.”

By eleven o’clock, Angela, Julia and Connie were well on their way. Getting drunk together was exactly what they needed as they came to terms with how far they’d come and what they were about to do next.

“Here’s to Dolly Rawlins.” Connie’s speech was slurred. “The only woman with balls big enough to hide twenty-seven million pounds underneath a copper’s house.” She rolled backward onto the floor, slapped her hands over her eyes and snorted muffled giggles into her palms. “All those police officers! Coming and going at all hours. Wishing Norma well, doing her shopping, tidying her garden . . . right above the money they were looking for! God, if only they knew!”

Blue lights flickered through the branches of the trees as Dolly, Julia, Connie and Gloria raced away on horseback toward The Grange. Gloria’s saddlebags had started to slip off one side of her horse, so she grabbed hold of them and held their weight, as best she could, away from the galloping legs. At some point, Gloria realized exactly what she was doing—she was riding a horse, for the first time in her life, one-handed, while holding on to her share of around £30 million! Gloria let out a scream of unadulterated joy. Dolly hoped to God that they were far enough away from the coppers for that not to be heard.