‘Don’t tell me they’re into the vault already, Spence?’
‘No, it’s still all quiet. But there is a slight problem. Hebe Ide, the woman who owns the shoe shop, has turned up and is filling up her van in the yard with shoes.’
‘Well, let her get on with it. In fact help her if need be, so you can get rid of her quicker.’
‘We can see Silas in his yard looking up and down the alleyway. He must have heard something and be wondering what’s going on. Thing is Kath Morgan asked her if we could use the shoe shop to watch the car park for a team nicking classy motors.’
‘Sort it, Spence, and quick. If Silas speaks to her then it could be game and career over for us. I’m on my way down there now. I’ll use the back-street entrance and go to Op Four at the old lady’s’.
Hebe tottered back and forth into the shop, carrying out shoeboxes and piling them into the back of her green Morris Marina van. She was wearing a gold lamé miniskirt, high wedge sandals and a lacy blouse showing off her cleavage. She had gone in through the front door and then unlocked the back to load the van. Gibbs went down to speak with her in the hall.
‘I’m sorry about this, love, but I got a last-minute offer for a Sunday market stall in Kensal Green. Normally I do Petticoat Lane, but there’s more money to be made at Kensal Green. It’s an early start in the morning so I thought I’d just pack up the van and drive it home tonight.’
To get rid of her as fast as possible Gibbs told Hudson who was working alongside him to stack the boxes by the back door for her to load them, but not to go into the yard in case Silas saw him. Surprisingly, Hebe was quite professional, checking the sizes before piling them in a neat and orderly way into the back of the van.
Silas had by now gone upstairs to his flat and was looking out of the back-bedroom window. He could see Hebe loading her van, and thinking that John and Danny were about to start work with the electric drill, he rushed down to the cellar and told them to stay quiet and not move. John said his dad had already been on the walkie-talkie and told them there was a woman entering the shoe shop.
‘Is that bloodies Hebe woman. She owns it and thinks she’s a Yana lookalike – always singing her song “Climb Up The Wall”. She makes me go up the wall sometimes. Anyway I just check out what she doing.’
Silas peered round the shoe-shop rear gate, which Hebe had already unlocked because she’d be leaving, once she had loaded the shoes. She was bending into the van, her skirt riding up her bottom and revealing her lacy knickers. DC Hudson was about to put some more boxes by the back door when he heard Silas’s voice and ducked out of sight.
‘Hello there, Hebe darlin’, how you keepin’? I hear sound in your yard so thought it best I check it out as there been some break-ins lately.’
‘Hey, Silas love, long time no see. The shop’s OK, I’m just loading up for market day tomorrow, and then I’ve got a hot date at a club with a nice young man.’
‘You no change, Hebe. How’s business? Mine not so good.’
‘Same for me, darling – to be honest I’ll be glad to see the back end of this shithole, and some of these shoes I’m gonna be sellin’ at less than cost. Eh, you don’t need a nice pair of loafers, do you? They’re real suede and nice stitching.’
‘No ta – you need any help packing?’
Gibbs was upstairs and could hear everything. His heart was pounding as he prayed that she didn’t say she already had some help.
‘Na, I’m virtually done and these cork-soled sandals don’t weigh nothin’. Thanks for askin’, though.’
‘OK, you have good night, Hebe.’
She lit a cigarette, laughed and said she was intending to do just that as Silas returned to his café.
Gibbs watched from upstairs as Silas closed his yard gates and went inside. It had been a narrow escape. He went downstairs and told Hudson it was all clear.
‘Excuse me,’ she whispered to Gibbs as she stepped inside the shop. ‘You wanna tell me who you’re really watching out for, a gang of car thieves or the fat Greek?’
‘What makes you ask that?’
‘It’s just I noticed you got people at the front and back of the upstairs, and Silas was being nosy, not friendly. That’s why I didn’t say someone was already helping me load the van.’
Gibbs told her she was right, but he couldn’t go into details and asked her to keep it to herself. She said that she was the soul of discretion, and besides she hated the fat leery Greek.
Gibbs went upstairs. It was a further ten minutes before Hebe finished her cigarette and loaded the rest of the shoes into the van, assisted by Hudson who was still stacking them by the door.
‘I’m goin’ now,’ she said, and gave him a come-hither glance.
She winked at him. ‘Maybe we can have a drink sometime.’
‘I’m always very busy,’ Hudson said nervously.
‘What size shoes are you?’ she asked, looking down.
He gulped, unsure what she was actually looking at. ‘I got big feet.’
She ran her hand through her bleached blonde hair, gave him a sensual smile and looked down again.
