The story so far: After Rhea’s parents had dropped her off, she and Sam began to play a game of Modern Wonders. Sam’s mother was just setting out on her walk and Rhea noticed the unusually large laundry box. They were just about to start a conversation and play a game when the bell rang and they heard a cry. Rhea stayed back in the room and listened...
Once the men had the three inmates of the house in one room, they shut the door and latched it from outside and walked into the drawing room.
The leader pulled out the wire of the landline phone and smashed the Wi-Fi router. “There must be at least one mobile phone around here. Did you check the mother and the kid?” he asked.
“You were the one who grabbed her…” replied Red-Eyes.
“Hmm — I didn’t feel anything in her pockets…”
“Anyway, she and the boy are tied up and the old lady is unconscious. None of them can do anything with a mobile even if they have one.”
“Right — let’s get the stuff and get out!” agreed the leader.
“It’s this way,” said the tall bearded man. He went through to the dining room and then turned to the right and went into the study. There was a door in the corner. Tall-Man opened it. “Just as I remembered,” he said. “This leads to the garage. It’s here.”
Treasure hunt
The garage was in semi-darkness because the shutters were down. Tall-Man felt around on the wall and pressed all the switches he found. As the room lit up, his voice trailed off.
But for a small car parked inside, the garage was empty.
The leader barked, “Where is it?”
“Have you been stringing us along all this time?” snarled Red-Eyes.
“No!” protested Tall-Man. “The garage was a mess and I hid it in one of the cartons at the back.”
“Are you sure this is the place?” the leader said.
“I am 100% right!” growled Tall-Man. “I remember the house because of the stones and glass that decorated the walls outside, but I didn’t enter the house. I left the bag in the garage. Well hidden.”
“Not so well-hidden because it’s not here now,” said the leader.
Tall-Man charged through the open door, swinging his arms around and dropping things as he made his way towards Grandma’s bedroom. He didn’t notice the slight movement that came from Sam’s bedroom on the opposite side from the study. Neither did the others, as they followed close on his heels.
They burst into Grandma’s bedroom and the leader bent down and shook Mom. “Sit up and start talking!” When Mom just groaned and remained with her eyes shut, he suddenly remembered that he needed to check for a mobile and he looked in Mom’s pocket. There it was! He pulled it out and smashed it.
Sam trembled. He thought that at any moment these men would smash the three of them into pulp as well.
The leader looked at Grandma on the bed — and turned to Sam. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked Sam.
“She’s ill…” Sam said through his gag and it came out as “Shrrrhhhh.” He hoped that Grandma wouldn’t get up. If she sat up, these guys would probably attack her the way they had attacked Mom.
“Who else lives here?” growled Tall-Man, pulling off Sam’s gag.
“Just us,” stammered Sam.
“Where’s the old man I saw in the garden?” asked Tall-Man.
Sam was confused. “There’s-there’s no old man.”
Tall-Man held his fist above Sam’s face. “He was busy with some flower pots, and there were dozens of pots in the garage…
Sam’s breath caught in his chest. He didn’t want the men to make any more searches of the house. “Maybe you mean Grandpa,” he said. “He...he died.”
“When?” asked Tall-Man.
“Seven...eight months ago,” said Sam.
“Who emptied the garage?” asked Tall-Man still beside Sam menacingly.
Sam shrank back. “I...I...I don”t know. We weren’t here… Maybe Grandma…”
All three men looked at Grandma. “Let’s pull off that mask and shake her awake!” said Red-Eyes. “That’s the only way we’ll get information from her!”
The leader snapped at him. “Don’t pull off anything! You heard about that old lady whose breathing machine was cut off? She died and then the people who did it were wanted for murder! Let’s avoid that…”
Sam felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders as he heard that. So, these men didn’t want to kill them. But what did they want? It was something from the garage from the sound of it…What had Grandpa kept there that these people wanted?
To be continued...
