The Stealers Read Online Free PDF

honest.’
    Crane’s eyes hardened as he bent down and scraped the blade against Ryan’s whiskery face. ‘No, you’re not an honest man Ryan; you’re not the type. Tell me and make it quick.’
    â€˜Okay, okay. I’m supposed to be meeting a man right here and hand the boy over to him.’
    Crane straightened up. ‘Who is he? What’s his name?’
    â€˜Bradley. Bradley Kemp.’
    â€˜What’s his interest?’ Crane demanded.
    â€˜I don’t know.’ Ryan gasped. ‘He promised me two hundred quid to make the snatch and meet him here afterwards.’
    The sound of a car pulling up at the entrance to the wooded area made Crane and Ryan turn their heads; it was a Jaguar. The car paused momentarily and its driver poked his head out of the car window. Upon seeing Crane and the prone Ryan, the driver put the Jaguar into gear and sped off.
    â€˜That’s the guy I’m supposed to meet,’ Ryan stated flatly.
    Crane turned back towards Ryan, ‘This Bradley, is he into car theft?’
    Ryan hesitated, but mindful of the knife Crane held replied, ‘I think he does a bit.’
    â€˜Where does this Bradley live?’
    â€˜I’m not sure. My dealings with him were done at Jim’s Cafe in Chelmsford, but I think he’s got a place, a farm, around this area, somewhere between Danbury and Maldon. And that’s all I know.’
    Crane was pensive for a moment before saying, ‘I should be handing you over to the police, but I’m more interested in getting the boy back to where he belongs.’
    Crane backed off towards his van. He stabbed the knife hard into a tree; twisting and breaking the blade as he did so. Ryan was tempted to tackle Crane, but satisfied himself with the thought that there may be another time.

    *

    Penny sat in her bright red Mini Cooper in the supermarket car park. She was feeling tense and anxious. The temptation to report the missing Andrew to the police was great, but she surmised that maybe Crane knew something about it and decided to wait until she had heard from him – if only he had his mobile phone switched on. After an hour, much to her relief, Crane’s van pulled into the car park and young Andrew leapt out and ran across to Penny’s red mini. She seemed puzzled when Crane explained what had happened, wondering what Bradley Kemp was up to.
    â€˜It’s a fair bet that if you find where this Bradley’s farm is located, you’ll find your sister,’ Crane commented.
    Penny bit her lower lip and said, ‘It doesn’t make sense except maybe getting her son, Andrew, would be some kind of sop to keep her there, after all she hasn’t seen him for three months.’
    â€˜There’s a lot of farms, all shapes and sizes, in that area. It’ll take ages to check them all out and what we don’t want to do is to let him know we are on to him,’ Crane replied. Crane finished their meeting with, ‘Keep in touch and let me know as soon as you hear of the next theft.’

    *

    Two hours later Crane headed back towards his home in Palmers Rise, Canford. He had bought the cottage from his parents years ago with a view to getting married but things did not work out. In between army life he had spent his spare time renovating the cottage. Since his retirement from the army, most of his time had been taken up looking after his garden as well as several others in the area. The extra cash earned from doing this supplemented his army pension.
    Crane turned his white Transit van into the lane. On either side lay coils of bramble interspersed with blackthorn bushes. They gave the lane an untidy, but natural appearance. It was not quite scrubland; in between the bushes sprouted a number of tall, willowy ash and sturdy oak trees.
    Deep in thought, Crane parked the van on the drive adjacent to his double garage, jumped out and headed towards the front door of the cottage.