"This is so boring…" Katy muttered, pushing the mop Kat had given her half-heartedly across the floor. "How can you stand to do this for a living?"
"Not all of us were lucky enough to have a shit ton of cash dropped into a bank account for us, were we, princess? Some of us have actually got to work hard to put food on the table." Kat pointed out with a scowl. Catching sight of Shirley leaning back in her chair, spraying furniture polish into the air, she snapped. "Can you give it a bit of elbow grease?"
"Do you ever give your mouth a night off?" The older blonde asked lazily, not moving.
"You can't bear it, can ya?"
"Cleaning up other people's muck isn't exactly my forte."
"You want this to go belly up."
"Yeah…" Shirley rolled her eyes at the younger blonde beside her. "'Cos I really wanna spend Christmas at Her Majesty's pleasure."
"Admit it… I've done good."
"Look, no one's saying you ain't." Katy sighed, realizing that the two women being at each other's throats wasn't going to get them anywhere. "All we're saying is we don't actually have to do any cleaning, unless someone's watching, do we? And seeing as there's no one else here…"
"Well, I suppose considering everything, it's not that–" Shirley started, conceding that Kat might have a point.
She was interrupted by the door springing open and an older man entering the room with a large bouquet of flowers and a balloon. The two blondes exchanged a wary look, as Shirley shot out of the chair she was lounging in. The expression on Kat's face was complete shock, before she rearranged it into something a little less suspicious.
They muddled their way through a conversation. Kat introduced the two women by their fake names, although he clearly had no interest in anyone but the brunette. Awkwardly, Katy and Shirley started doing some actual cleaning, exchanging yet another look as the brunette engaged in small talk with the security guard.
The second he left the room in search of a vase for the flowers, they rounded on her. Shirley was absolutely furious, her expression venomous as she made her feelings known. "You told me he was at the hospital with his mother!"
"That's what he said to me." Kat defended herself quickly.
"You've gotta get rid of him."
"He's coming back!" Katy hissed, scooting away from the door where she had been keeping an eye out.
"I've found one!" He announced cheerfully, re-entering the room and holding a vase aloft like a trophy.
Kat stuttered, blinking rapidly. "You should really give them to your mum."
"I bought them for you, Kathleen. No offence Daenerys… Sansa." He looked curiously at the two blondes. "Don't say a lot… do you?"
"No, we don't." Katy told him, putting on an accent and arching her eyebrow at the man.
"No, they're shy…" Kat shot Katy a look over her shoulder, "and she's Russian?"
"You are a diamond." He told her, shaking his head fondly. "Put everyone else first. Could I tempt you to something frothy? One of them choccychino whatsits?"
As Shirley and Katy attempted to stifle their laughter, Kat shook her head, motioning at them. "Not right now… I can't really leave them."
"Suppose I'd better do a walk around, now I'm here." The security guard pointed out disappointedly.
"There's no rush, is there?" Kat leapt in, stepping towards him quickly.
"Don't worry, I'll be back."
"Look, why don't you stay here… keep me company?" Kat suggested. "I wanna get to know you a little bit more."
"Why don't I make us a cup of tea?" As he walked to the window, Shirley motioned wildly across the room to the brunette, signalling that she was going to leave the room. Beside her, Katy grabbed her jacket and followed her carefully to the door. Kat seemed to get the message, nodding nervously and backing towards the closest door. "Do you hear sirens? Must be something going on."
"Oh, you know what it's like round here."
"Here come the boys in blue…"
Katy let the door close silently behind her, before following Shirley to the stairs. They rushed down them quickly, meeting up with Kat on the floor below and heading for the basement. Katy swore under her breath, one hand on her rounded stomach as she ran, cursing Phil and Ben for getting her involved. She knew, however, that as soon as they were safely away from the building she wouldn't feel the same.
"The old bill has just turned up!" Shirley informed the three men as they crashed into the underground parking lot.
"Oi! Shirl, Katy, get in!" Ben shouted urgently.
The two blondes didn't need telling twice, rounding the bonnet of the car he was sitting in. There was a brief pause as Shirley expected Katy to squeeze herself into the back, while the younger woman pointed to her bump meaningfully, before she exhaled sharply and scrambled into the car. Katy eased herself into the passenger's seat and slammed the door.
It was barely shut before Ben was flooring the accelerator and speeding through the raised security gate. They shot outside and past the assembled police cars and officers, disappearing into the darkness.
"What was that about, eh? Going all Villanelle on me?" Shirley asked with a snort, glancing sideways at the younger blonde. Seeing the arched eyebrow, she chuckled. "Killing Eve? The accent?"
Katy laughed. "When he talks, which he will, they'll be looking for a Russian, won't they? Even if my excellent accent didn't fool you, it definitely fooled him."
Shirley rolled her eyes, clearly not believing that it wasn't the criminal masterstroke that Katy obviously did. Instead of commenting, she told Ben what had happened before they'd headed down to meet them. His face twitched with annoyance, but he refrained from saying anything about it.
Letting them all into the house, Ben offered to make tea. The two women accepted immediately and perched themselves on the sofa as he moved around in the kitchen. They kept glancing towards the door and the clock, expecting the others to appear at any moment.
When Ben returned, handing them each a mug, there was still no sign of them. They sat in silence for a while, before the tension got too much for each of them and they took to pacing around the living room.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"Where the hell have you been?" Shirley demanded as Kat and Phil all but crashed into the house. "We thought you got caught!"
"Just making sure the old bill weren't following us." Phil assured her quickly. "What was I supposed to do, eh? Drag him in?"
"I should have waited instead of just leaving him…"
"Where's Kush?" Ben demanded, holding up his hands and looking between them in concern.
"Getting nicked!" Phil snapped back. "Spilling his guts for all I know! I mean, what sort of idiot is he, eh?"
"You're not fucking serious?" Katy demanded, looking between the two latecomers angrily.
"Anyone could see they was right on top of him!" Her step-uncle continued, ignoring her words. "A blind man could tell he didn't stand a chance…"
"Not if he's a gambler." Shirley cut in, making everyone turn to look at her. "Jean told me."
"She what?"
"She's worried, alright?"
"And you brought him in on the job?"
"Why not? It's got nothing to do with what just happened." Kat defended herself.
"Because he was getting a buzz… a buzz! That's what!"
"I should have just waited, just for a few seconds."
"What and end up down the cop shop with him?" Katy retorted bluntly.
Phil shook his head. "I knew it would be a disaster, you two. You're a liability, the pair of ya! Just get out of my sight. Out of my sight!"
"Just calm down, Phil." Shirley cautioned quickly.
"You've earned thousands for a few hours' work, thanks to me." Kat reminded him.
"Oh, and you think that's worth doing time for, do ya?" He barked, not taking any notice of the older blonde's words. "I tell you what, you'd better hope Kush don't get picked up, because if he even dares whisper my name to the old bill, I'm telling ya–"
"He wouldn't!"
"Did she tell you about the security guard that turned up?" Ben cut in, folding his arms and scowling at the brunette.
"Look, it's sorted, alright? He won't say anything."
"Oh, that's alright then." Phil told her sarcastically. "As long as you've sorted it, that's alright, init?"
"You know what, this isn't getting us anywhere." Shirley attempted to soothe things down again. She shot a look over her shoulder towards the pregnant woman who was pacing agitatedly, pausing only to shoot a dangerous glare at her cousin when he attempted to reach out and touch her arm. "Why don't you go home? Chances are, he's waiting."
"Yeah…" Kat nodded at her, before turning on Phil. "You are out of order!"
As the door slammed behind her, Shirley glanced around again. "We need to go over to the Vic… show our faces."
Katy shook her head. "I've got my alibi set up already, so I'm gonna go home."
"How did they know that we were there?" Ben asked, ignoring them both and rubbing his temple agitatedly. "D'you think Kat's opened her mouth?"
"What? And drop herself in it? Even she ain't that stupid, is she?"
"She ain't the only one that knew, though, is she?" When three Mitchell faces turned to look at her, she shrugged. "Halfway."
"What about him?" Ben demanded, immediately defensive.
"He ain't off limits."
"He ain't gonna grass us up and then send us a text to warn us, is he?"
"Unless that's what he wants us to think." Katy pointed out. "What if that text was to throw us off his scent?"
"Oh, of course you're having a dig." Ben snapped at her.
"Kush must have set off a silent alarm or something, you know, when he put the wrong code in." Phil theorised. "And as for Callum… Callum knows exactly whose side he's on."
Katy shook her head. "I'm going home. I really hope you're right about him."
Shirley went to the back door with her, pausing by the door. "You alright?"
"Yeah… you sure you don't wanna come with me? Tina's covering for me… gonna swear blind I've been in bed ill if anyone asks. You could pretend you've been there with her?"
Shirley shook her head. "Nah, it's alright. I should go to the Vic."
"If you're sure."
"You believe that Callum's on the level?"
Katy snorted as she stepped out into the night. "He's a copper… you can never tell."