The Stealers Read Free

floor covering. The dim light revealed nothing.
    Crane straightened up when he heard footsteps and the creak of a door opening at the far end of the garage and he switched off his torch. A woman’s voice called out, ‘Is that you, Trevor?’
    Crane flattened himself against the wall near the door and grunted an assent hoping it may bring her further into the garage. It worked. She flicked on the lights as she stepped inside. Crane pushed firmly on the door, slamming it shut and pressed his shoulders hard against it. The woman, wearing a dressing gown, stood mouth agape facing Crane. Fear spread across her face as she stammered, ‘What… what do you want?’ A large black and white cat had followed her into the garage and it sprang up into her arms. She stroked the cat’s head and said quietly, ‘It’s alright, Felix,’ at the same time trying to regain her composure.
    Crane’s steel-blue eyes locked onto her as he replied calmly, ‘I want my car; where is it?’
    Gaining her composure she said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about – you’d better leave now or I’ll call the police!’
    Crane’s face hardened as he replied menacingly, ‘They’ll never get here in time.’
    Her edginess returned; she looked anxious. ‘What do you mean?’
    â€˜What I say;
you
figure it out.’
    The woman bit her lower lip and her eyes wandered around the garage as if they were no longer willing to meet his cold, icy stare. Crane continued in a soft, menacing voice, ‘I recognised you, despite your change of hair and manner. I followed my car here, and I’m a very dangerous man to mess with. And I want to know where I can find the two guys you were with?’
    She suddenly looked drained and said with resignation, ‘Okay. There was only one man that brought your car here. After garaging it down below, he left. The house is built on a slope. The lift takes a car to the lower level; there’s a garage underneath the house. There’s also a driveway where my own car is parked. There is room for several vehicles. It’s not so apparent in the dark. From the drive at the rear, there is an access to a resident’s service road.’
    The woman looked down, sighed heavily and said, ‘We’d better go in the house.’
    Crane moved towards the door and opening it, said, ‘You’d better not try anything.’
    â€˜I won’t. I’ve seen you in action, remember?’
    They stepped into the spacious hallway and, after closing the door, she walked up to a small picture on the wall, pushed it to one side and revealed a switch. She flicked the switch up and a faint whirring noise seemed to emanate from below. After a few moments the noise stopped and she walked back to the door and opened it. It was a whole new room. Together they stepped inside and Crane’s Mustang was in full view. The woman looked at Crane and said, ‘You’d better take it and go quickly.’
    Crane shook his head, ‘I think the police will be interested in this little setup.’
    The woman looked at him pleadingly, ‘Please, please don’t inform the police.’
    Crane looked at her astounded. ‘What! And let you and your friends carry on stealing cars?’
    She bit her lower lip and said, ‘They are no friends of mine. I think I’d better explain things from the beginning. I wanted no part of this – believe me. Jean, my sister – after her husband died – met a man, who called himself Bradley. He seemed very nice at first. He would take her to places, the cinema, the theatre and buy her flowers and so on, and then after a month or so she introduced him to me. We talked; as you do, and he told me he was in the export business. He seemed genuinely interested when I told him that I belonged to an amateur dramatics repertoire company; it didn’t take long to find out why.