The Lottery Ticket Read Free

asked.
    “Sure I will” John assured him, “I’ll do it with the hose from over the fence, now you go and enjoy yourselves”, he commanded.
    John and his wife stood waving at the front door as the Campbell’s car pulled out of the drive. They had begun their  holiday of a lifetime.

Chapter 2  
    The break-ins 
    With wire cutters the thieves cut through the wire fence at the back of the property which divided the houses from ‘The Rec’.  Three of them squeezed through and into the garden whilst the fourth that had cut the wire stayed on watch. Following the line of the bushes that edged the garden the thieves made there way to the back of the house. All was dark inside. They had been watching the houses on this street before and knew who was away and who wasn’t. They also knew which ones had alarms fitted.
    On reaching the back door the first of the three men kept a lookout whilst the second cut out the glass panel of the back door with expert precision, making sure the sucker was firmly pressed on to the glass so as not to break it and thus not make a noise.  As quick as a flash they squeezed through the open panel. They were all in the house. Each of them had a bag to fill with their booty.
    Systematically they went from room to room, first downstairs and then upstairs. Once they had finished it was back to the fence to where a forth accomplice was still waiting. All that remained was for them to edge around the field to where they had left and the getaway van which was hidden from view of the road by the sports pavilion.
    The gang leader would never allow the booty to be stored at his home and so it fell to the single one of the group to store it in a garage he rented from the council in a block of ten which he could overlook from his flat.
    From here they would deliver the haul to, their ‘Fence’ and split the takings. All of them had served time in prison for various petty crimes and this is where they had hatched out their plan.
    Over the past two years there had been an increase in burglaries throughout the city and the towns and villages in the area. Many of these had been in the little towns, villages and hamlets around the city. The police had a theory that it was the same gang but as yet they had little to go on in their efforts to catch the culprits.
    This night the theft had taken place just down the road from the Campbell’s property which made John Simpson and his wife very nervous. The police had called to ask if they had seen or heard anything. All they could tell the police was that they hadn’t, but that they were looking after the house next door as they were away and that they would appreciate it if the police would patrol the area from time to time.
    The constable told them that he would pass their request on to his superiors when he returned to the station.
          “I had better check the house as far as I can”, John suggested to his wife.
         “Yes I think you should John, the problem is, because the gate is locked, you won’t be able to check the back”, she reminded him.
         “I’ll get the step ladders and have a look over the fence”, he called as he made his way to the front of the Campbell’s house.
    Looking at the house from the front he could see no sign of a break-in. Opening his garage door he collected his step ladders which he used when trimming his hedges and fixed them as close as he could to the fence. He climbed up and peered over next doors back way. Looking at the door he could see no forced entry and all the windows were secured.
    Satisfying himself that nothing was amiss at the Campbell’s home he put the steps back into the garage and went back inside his house.
          “I wish they had fitted an alarm system before they went, it would make it a lot easier”, John commented to his wife.
         “Yes it would, his wife replied, when I spoke to Jennifer before they went away she told me David was planning to have one fitted