If She Doesn't Scare You

Chapter 4- 1953- The Thieves

"I see them! I see them!"

The van was parked in the same spot as that first night, around the corner from their home. This time though, it was more nerve-racking. The two men were clothed in various articles of black, including balaclavas to obscure their faces. They had weapons on them, one a gun and the other a sharp knife and had been told not to speak once inside the house. It was crucial that no one would know who they were. Especially the housekeeper.

"Where?" asked Jasper, craning his neck to try and see where Horace was pointing.

"Just over there. In the dark red car." They both saw it this time. The image of the woman waving at a smaller woman, clad in white and with something spotted at her feet. The something was what they wanted.

"Now remember" said Jasper, climbing out and locking the door. "Don't say anything once we're inside and try to avoid using the weapon. I don't want a dead body on my hands." Horace nodded at him and tucked the knife inside his boot. Then, they made their way around to the back of the house's garden, taking care to ensure they weren't spotted on the way.

The house was the second in the street, which meant they had to go through someone else's garden and climb over their wall in order to reach their target. There didn't seem to be anyone in that house from what they could see- all the lights were off and there was no noise. Jasper scaled the wall and edged Horace after him. There was a thud as he landed into the garden next to it. The conservatory lights weren't on- it was really too cold to be sitting around in a room full of glass. In the next moment Jasper was standing up on the garden bench by the window and edging it closer and closer to being fully open- slowly so as not to make any noise. Once open, he turned to his friend.

"Once we're in, don't say a word" he whispered. "Remember your part in the plan?" He saw Horace nod in the near darkness of the garden and with that, he jumped up and pulled his frame up and into the house. He kept watch as Horace did the same, pulling a little as he was larger than his friend, but finally they were both in and Jasper nodded as Horace went to fulfil his role in the plan.

Horace snuck around to the side of the kitchen door and listened. He could hear a woman's voice coming from somewhere close by but he didn't know if he could make it up the stairs without being seen. He waited a little longer, before being certain that she had gone in the opposite direction. Quick as a wink, he had taken off his shoes and skirted up to the top floor of the house. Satisfied he hadn't been seen and that no one was about he set off to his tasks. First, he checked that neither of the dogs nor puppies were up here. There weren't a great many rooms so it was quick job. Now was the hard part. He went into what was clearly the studio of the house were the husband spent his days and then, holding his breath, loudly played a few keys on the piano. There was silence. Then a shout of:

"Hello?" That was what he had wanted to hear. He sprang from the studio and hid in the wardrobe of the bedroom- and there he waited for his cue.

He heard Horace do his part in the plan; the sound of the piano keys echoing through the house. He waited until he could hear Nanny's footsteps going up the staircase and burst into the living room, brandishing two sacks and some dry biscuits. He found his targets immediately. One dog was asleep but woke up at the sight of him. He pulled up his balaclava up an inch and tried to reassure them with kind eyes and holding out the biscuits in his hand. Both dogs did nothing for a minute, not helping his nerves. The housekeeper could come back at any second. But eventually, one ate a biscuit from him and the other soon followed suit. It only took a few seconds before they were both looking more docile than before and his took this opportunity to plunge the sacks over both of them, straining with the weight they were putting on his shoulders. Both dogs immediately started barking and he hadn't heard Nanny retreating back down the stairs- before it was too late.

She screamed at the image before her and he only just had time to pull his balaclava down over the bottom half of his face. He wasn't sure how much she'd seen so he took out his gun and directed it at her. She screamed louder and to distract her from him, he took aim at a window, and fired. Glass scattered all over the small room, a piece of it near missing his face. She yelled even louder than before, quite deafening him, and flung herself down on the brown carpet. He saw his window of opportunity and ran for it. Back out through the kitchen and out the conservatory window. It was harder pushing himself and two very large, very heavy sacks over the wall, but he managed it and took off back to the van.

Horace had heard all of this from his hiding spot upstairs where-thankfully- Nanny hadn't found him. He edged himself out until he could see her from a position on the stairs. She was lying on the floor with her hands over her head- crying too from the sounds of it. He thought briefly about going through the broken window, but didn't want to take the risk of being seen by a neighbour. He ran for it instead, going out the same route as Jasper. He jumped as fast as he could up the wall; scraping both his hands badly in the process and ran back to where Jasper had parked.

Once he was in the van, neither of them spoke. Jasper simply wrenched the van into gear and drove away as speedily as he could manage. They both sat in their seats, breathless from the activity. About 5 minutes later, Horace turned around in his seat and peered through the van window that overlooked the back. He could see the two sacks clearly- neither of them were moving and they were silent too. He was the first to speak.

"Hey Jasper" he muttered, for even though they were alone, he didn't want to speak too loudly. "Are you sure those mutts are alive back there? We can't arrive back with two dead dogs, the boss'll go mad."

Jasper didn't take his eyes off the road, but nodded at him. "They'll be just fine lad. The boss said whatever was in those biscuits won't kill 'em. It will simply knock 'em out for a few hours. Which is good- cos it means once we get back we can grab a bite to eat ourselves. I'm bloody starving."

Neither of them spoke after that. It was becoming harder for Jasper to see where he was going. The house they'd been instructed to drive the dogs to was hard to find in the daylight- in darkness, it required a lot of concentration. The roads gradually got narrower and narrower before they were little more than paths. The men drove more or less blindly for another half a mile before finally reaching the house. It was a crumbling mansion- once a luxury but now abandoned. They could see lights on in the downstairs rooms and smoke coming from the chimney. There must be someone there already.

They both climbed out of the van and took a sack each. Horace nearly fell to his knees with the weight of his, but after a kick in the shin from Jasper, he righted himself and staggered behind him to the house. There was no noise from inside- so they just had to hope they'd caught their boss in the right temper. Otherwise, things could go very wrong.