The Shoplifting Mothers' Club (14 page)

It wasn’t an invitation, but given that Jessica’s attendance was subject to a police indemnity, she didn’t have a problem agreeing.

Despite Jessica insisting they shouldn’t go near the jewellery factory until they were sure about the job, the others were equally insistent on casing the ‘joint’, as Hailey laughingly called the factory.

‘This is a heist, right? I’ve seen those in the movies. I agree with Chelsea – we need to plan our moves. For the actual gig I am going to wear all black.’

Clothes! That’s what she’s worried about?
‘Won’t people think that’s strange?’ Jessica asked. ‘All of us wandering about in black?’

‘Who’s going to see in the dead of night?’ Hailey pouted. ‘That’s the point. Dark clothes give you cover, don’t they?’

‘Dead of night? But don’t you always do this ‘above the counter’?’

Chelsea threw one long leg over the other. ‘Poor delusional Jessica. You think we can just walk off with about five million pounds’ worth of diamonds in broad daylight?’

‘How should I know? You’re the experts. But you seem to have done well with your usual tactics until now. I don’t see why you would change them?’

‘We’re moving up in the world, tubby,’ Rita told her. ‘It’s important to adapt to the job at hand. And this job is a ‘dead of the night’ kind of thing.’

‘But we still need to check out the factory,’ Chelsea said. ‘How many alarms, that sort of thing. Now, who volunteers?’

‘Me, me, me,’ said Hailey, waving her hand about like a first grader.

‘As long as it’s not Jessica, then it’s fine with me,’ said Rita, scowling at the newest member of the Club as if she stank of something putrid.

‘Okay, seeing as she’s the expert with locks, Hailey should do it. Tomorrow.’ She turned to the super-tanned bimbo beside her. ‘You’re looking for the easiest entrance – and the position of the cameras and alarms, got it?’

Dopey Hailey smiled broadly. ‘Got it.’

The next morning, Jessica sat in an unmarked police car with DCI Courtauld. She’d called him last night, after the kids were in bed, to provide the Club’s response to the million pound offer. After hearing that Hailey would case ‘the joint’, Gerry suggested he and Jessica perform a covert mission to make sure the four women weren’t up to something behind her back. Bored and sad at the state of her marriage, Jessica had readily agreed to ride along.

‘Isn’t this a bit James Bond?’ she asked, as they drank coffees in his car, watching Hailey pick her way through the crowd to the factory, which stood at the end of a row of posh shops in a small town just outside Reading.

The woman was as brown as a conker, in fluoro
Juicy
Couture
hoodie and tight white jeans, with a killer pair of black stilettos completing the outfit.

‘You think? For that’d we’d need a criminal genius, and that Hailey is anything but, especially wearing that get-up. Those guys in the factory might be helping us out, but even they will have a hard time not noticing
that
lurking about.’

Hailey staggered on her Jimmy Choos until she reached the border of the factory and a snazzy looking retail dress store, then headed for the later.

‘Hang on, she’s not going into the factory.’ Jessica frowned. Hailey and the others had agreed she would go in, flirt with the men, while checking on the situation regarding CCTV, locks and so on. Now, however, Hailey seemed to be on a diversion of some sort.

‘Great.’ The detective inspector didn’t appear surprised. ‘So I suppose we wait while she shops.’ Fiddling with the car seat, he adjusted it until the back reclined a little. ‘You know, you ladies wouldn’t have to steal if you’d just stopped shopping.’

Jessica took a sip of coffee so as to appear nonchalant, but the comment made her burn inside. Rachel’s face and mental health were hardly on par with ‘shopping’. ‘Hey, I had a justifiable reason for doing what I did!’

‘Girlfriend, yes. Of ten years. I finally broke it off because I couldn’t take the weekend shopping trips for things we couldn’t afford; the urge to constantly upgrade; to compete with the neighbours. Then she wanted a kid and I knew, deep down, that she would use it in the same way she used me. As an accessory. So I broke it off.’

‘That’s sad. Ten years is a long time, you must have loved her.’

‘I suppose, in the beginning. But bad behaviour can wear down love until there’s nothing left but tears and accusations.’ He looked pointedly at her, no doubt referring to Ronald’s disgraceful behaviour, which he’d witnessed previously.

‘Well, all relationships go through bad patches. Maybe you should give it another go? The older she gets, the less high maintenance she might become.’

‘Unlikely. Her mother married some sort of Italian Count or Baron or something. Complete con artist but he has money. You know what they say – the daughter will be the mother in a few years. And let me tell you, the mother is a walking advertisement for the dangers of plastic surgery.’

They laughed at his little joke, and sat in comfortable silence for a while, until a commotion from the dress store right next to the jewellery factory brought them back to the task at hand.

They could do nothing but watch as Hailey was pursued around the square by a store guard and someone who looked like a manager. Stopping briefly to take off her shoes, she threw them at the burly men, one by one. Both missed their targets. It was a pathetic sight to witness.

‘How is it that we’ve never managed to catch you guys before this?’

‘I don’t think this is a planned theft. She must have just decided to nick something for the sake of it. That breaks a sort of unspoken rule. They don’t shoplift for themselves.’

‘It’s a bit too late for a moral code, isn’t it?’ Gerry said, eyes still on Hailey, who was now being manhandled to the ground by the guards.

‘You can’t touch me,’ Hailey screamed loud enough for the entire square to hear. ‘I’ll sue. Do you know who my husband is?’

The DCI and Jessica just sat there, mouths open. ‘I don’t think this plan is quite working out as we’d hoped,’ Gerry said.

Observing as Hailey was dragged, shoeless, back into the store, Jessica agreed that it certainly wasn’t. ‘We’re going to be one less in the heist.’

Jessica thought of Rita and her problems; of Frieda and hers. Maybe this was a way of saving them. She might be indebted to Gerry for offering her the deal, but the others were fellow mothers – and redeemable. As for Chelsea, well, she wasn’t redeemable, but considering that beast of a husband, she had issues too, didn’t she?

‘Perhaps you should think up another plan. Or just forget it. You’ve got one now, ask her about all those other crimes you’ve got on CCTV.’

‘You mean, ask you to testify like we did you?’

‘Yes.’

Gerry shook his head. ‘Not going to happen. You were it. My boss isn’t making any more deals. Besides, and I don’t mean to be insulting, but if this goes tits up your involvement has been a waste of time. The gov’ doesn’t like waste.’

Feeling the blood drain from her face, Jessica felt as though she might be ill. The rollercoaster ride of her capture seemed never ending. ‘You can’t go back on your word now. You can’t arrest me just because the plan goes belly up.’

Turning to her, the detective placed his huge hand over hers. ‘Jessica, listen to me. I am not playing games with you. The offer stands. Please get a grip, though. Hailey isn’t the sharpest tack in the box, but the others in your group wouldn’t risk getting caught like she has. They’ve committed a huge fraud, online, and many thefts on the ground, and we want them caught.’

‘So you do need me?’
What a whiny thing to ask. Man up, Jessica!

Jessica immediately regretted the intensity behind the words. The detective’s eyebrow took on an accentuated curve. ‘Is there something you’re not telling me? You seem awfully keen for us to let this lot go.’

Chelsea being battered, Frieda finding release . . .why should wimpy old Jessica be the one to make their lives worse?

‘No, of course not. It’s like I said, they could make Rachel’s entire school experience a misery if they find out that I told on them. I don’t suppose you have some witness protection programme we can join?’

‘Not for a first time theft. Sorry.’ Sitting back and observing the liveried police car that had now arrived to transport Hailey to the police station, Gerry checked his phone and then said he’d had to get back to interview her.

With his kind eyes, and brusque but forthright manner, Jessica decided that she did. And forcing herself to ignore the tiny wish that had crept in from nowhere – that she was married to someone like Gerry, and not selfish, sedentary, polarising Ronald, she reached for the seatbelt.

‘Sure. I’ll trust you.’

She shut up for the rest of the journey, content to listen to him give instructions on the radio regarding what to do with Hailey, who had apparently injured her tongue and was demanding to see a plastic surgeon.

THE GOOD HUMOUR CONTINUED until Gerry turned into her driveway and Ronald’s car provided a grim reminder of the hapless state of her marriage. She’d no idea he’d be home.

‘Well, good luck.’

‘Don’t you mean good afternoon?’ Jessica asked.

But the detective just waved goodbye, leaving her standing on the lawn, reluctant to move forward and back into the life she was rapidly beginning to detest.

‘Picking up papers, Jessica, what else? Now don’t forget to get the kids from school – I don’t want to be getting calls from that Ms Scott. I’ll be late; I have a dinner meeting with a client.’

She had to jump out of the way as the car began reversing.

Bloody bastard, Jessica thought, as she stomped to the house.
Why the hell did I ever marry him?

‘Jessica, where have you been?’ Frieda’s lilting accent floated towards her. The Norwegian was standing on the pavement, hands on a pushchair that contained Rita’s youngest – Karl.

‘Oh, Frieda, hi. Are you babysitting?’

Great, now I have to invite her in.
The last thing Jessica wanted to do was socialise.