But what about getting away again? She looked up and down the road. There were only two main escape routes, alongside the dock going in either direction, but then again she hadn’t seen the back, so there could be routes there too. She bit her lip, deep in thought. It was a risk. It was a huge risk, but what other choice did they have? If they wanted to earn the thousand pound that Bobby had shaken on to open the safe, then she had to trust Freddie.
More time passed and there was still no sign of any further external security. Ruby sighed. She set off again as George started to stir, back in the direction of the train station. She walked quickly now, her stomach churning, knowing she would give the go-ahead despite the risk.
Ruby returned to Star Lane and dropped George round to a neighbour who would look after him while she spent a few hours with Mum. Cathy had been moved to a hospice as her condition worsened. She needed round-the-clock care and pain relief, and Ruby sadly saw that her mother needed more than her help now. Their mum’s days were numbered.
Sitting at her mother’s bedside, Ruby smiled though her nerves were getting to her. The heist was tonight, and her mum mustn’t know a thing.
‘All right, darlin’? Why the frown?’ Cathy gasped, trying to sit up but failing.
Ruby rushed round her bedside to help her, glad her mum couldn’t see the expression on her face. She realised her feelings were transparent – to her mum, at least.
‘Nothin’, nothin’ at all.’ Out of Ruby’s lips came the first real lie she’d ever told her mum. She felt sick as she plumped up the pillows, avoiding Cathy’s honest gaze. ‘Just tired . . . and worried about you. Now, shouldn’t you be gettin’ some rest?’
‘Now, I’ve been thinkin’ about things, especially my funeral—’
‘Don’t even mention it, Mum,’ Ruby interjected.
‘Rube, it’s important, you mustn’t worry. I’m not bothered about all the fuss. I want ya to know that, no matter what happens, I’ll always love you, Bobby and George. I don’t want ya to go short with money. You’ve got enough on your plate lookin’ after George. I’m worried about how you’ll survive without me.’
Ruby knew that her mum was telling her, in her own way, that she would be happy with a pauper’s funeral, but Ruby didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to acknowledge her mum’s death, let alone what she and Bobby were doing to see that didn’t happen.
‘Don’t be silly, Mum,’ Ruby said through cold lips, ‘we’ll manage. Bobby’s got work and so ’ave I. We’ll be fine . . .’
At that moment a nurse popped her head round the door. ‘Sorry, Mrs Murphy, visitin’ hours are over. Time to go.’
Ruby smiled again, kissing her mother on the forehead, praying that nothing in her expression would give her away.
‘I’ll be in tomorrow, Mum. Love you.’
Ruby left, pondering how life could be so cruel. How could they lose two parents within months of each other, neither of them old enough to justify dying? The anger simmered inside her, and she knew she couldn’t let it out, not now, perhaps not ever, because she had to stay in control, for all their sakes. It was her the nurses spoke to, her they checked her mum’s medication with, her they came to with questions about what would happen when she died. Ruby couldn’t break down. She had George and Bobby to care for. She had her mum to do right by, and she was happy that she could, in private at least, tell the end-of-life team that they would be able to afford a proper East End funeral with the same undertaker as Grandad Jim had, a fleet of limousines and flowers, though those arrangements would come later.
Ruby felt exhausted when she arrived home, but she fed George and tucked him up for a nap before reaching into the fridge to work out what to cook for dinner. She didn’t feel hungry, and she could tell with one look at her brother’s face as he walked in from work that he didn’t either.
‘Too nervous to eat, Rube. Don’t bother with a dinner. I’ll ’ave somethin’ later. You look tired, though. Go and ’ave a lie-down while George is asleep.’
Ruby shook her head. ‘I’ll wait up for ya, I won’t be able to sleep anyway.’
There was a strange atmosphere, both felt equally guilty at taking this unfamiliar path, but Ruby realised she felt something Bobby clearly didn’t, a twinge of excitement.
She hadn’t been lying when she said she wouldn’t be able to sleep but it was because her nerves and fears were mixed with a rush of adrenaline she hadn’t expected to experience. What they were about to do was against everything their parents had taught them. Growing up, Ruby had wanted to please them. She’d turned away from her friend Sarah’s choices, watching as she, and others like her, ended up with a bad lot in life: parents in prison, homes full of dodgy goods and always having to look over their shoulders. Ruby could hardly believe she’d finally taken a step down the same dark path, though she knew she wouldn’t stop Bobby going tonight. They needed that money to survive, and it should buy their mum a good burial too. There was no choice that Ruby could see. Do this robbery or fail their mum completely.
Bobby got changed out of his work clothes. He walked back into the kitchen dressed head-to-toe in black. He was clutching a small bag of tools containing his skeleton keys, which he called twirls. Ruby almost gasped. The sight of her flesh and
