To Catch a Thief

by Mandy Hartley

  They were just climbing the stairs when they heard a noise.

  “I can hear voices,” whispered Harry.

  “Oh no! It’s Mr Baker and his son. They’re back. We need to hide.” The children were terrified that they would be discovered.

  “Quick Harry, get under those blankets and lie as flat as you can,” said Annabelle, urgently pointing to the pile of blankets which they had dropped onto when they slid into the cellar. She turned off her torch and Harry did the same.

  The children concealed themselves under the pile of blankets just in time. They were so scared they almost dared not breathe. The idea of what might happen to them if they were discovered was too frightening to think about. Annabelle reached for Harry’s hand. He clasped his big sister’s fingers and held them tight. They were alert to every movement in the cellar, their hearts pounding in their chests and the damp and rancid smell of the blankets filled their lungs making them want to cough.

  They heard the trap door to the cellar lift open and the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. A light was switched on.

  “Good steal!” said Mr Baker to his son. “Look at this beautiful dog. We’ll get lots of money for this one. Hold him still while I inject him.”

  Annabelle very slowly lifted the blanket just a fraction so both the children could see what was going on. Harry squeezed Annabelle’s hand even tighter. The men had a beautiful black Labrador with them. The dog whined when he saw the needle and tried to get away, shaking his head and walking backwards. The children watched in horror as the son picked up a stick from the floor and hit the dog with it.

  “Stop messing around!” he shouted aggressively. The dog cowered and then became wobbly on its feet as the drug kicked in.

  “Quick! Get him into the cage before he falls over,” said Mr Baker. “All these dogs are going tonight. We can’t risk keeping them at the house anymore with the police and those troublesome children snooping around. We’ll take them to Manchester tonight. Give me that dog’s collar. We need to burn the evidence.” The children saw Mr Baker locking the drowsy Labrador into an empty cage. He hung the keys from a nail high up on the wall.

  “Are the spare keys there too?” said his son.

  “Yep, all there. Quick, check the other dogs and then come on! We need to get the van and get these dogs to Manchester.”

  “They’re all alright. I gave them all a huge dose of drugs so we shouldn’t hear anything from them. Let’s go.”

  They heard the men climbing the stairs, push open the trap door, switch off the cellar light and then bang the door shut again before turning a key in the lock. A few seconds later they could hear something being dragged over the trap door. It wasn’t long before the front door of the house was slammed closed and they could just make out the noise of a car pulling away outside.

  “I think they’ve gone,” said Annabelle. “We don’t have long Harry. They’re going to collect their van and then they’ll take the dogs away. We need to tell the police so they can catch them. We need to get out.” She felt like crying but knew she had to be strong.

  She dragged Harry from under the blanket and up the stairs, their legs were trembling like jelly. They switched on the light and both pushed up on the trap door to open it. But it was no use. The door was locked.

  “It’s no good, Annabelle. It’s locked. We’re trapped. We can’t get out. What are we going to do?” Annabelle looked across at Milly. They had to get out of the cellar and tell the police they had found the missing dogs. Otherwise Mr Baker and his son would came back and take the dogs away to Manchester to be sold. Then they would never see Milly again. And what would he do to her and Harry if he found them in the cellar? There must be a way, but how? It was hopeless.

  he children stood at the top of the stairs. They looked about, desperately trying to find a way they could escape from the cellar. They were both really frightened and wanted to escape before the men came back. Harry was the first to break the silence.

  “I thought I heard Mr Baker ask his son to check if the spare key was in the cellar. Did you hear that?”

  “Oh yes, you’re right. He did say that. Look up there Harry,” Annabelle pointed to the nail on the wall which had the keys for the cages and, what she hoped was, the spare key to the trap door hanging from it. The children took turns trying to jump up and reach the keys with their hands but the keys were too high up and out of their reach.

  “What about that stick they hit the dog with. Quick Harry, see if that will reach,” said Annabelle. Harry quickly ran over to where the stick had been thrown on the floor. He passed it to Annabelle as she was the tallest.

  “It’s no good Harry even if I stand on my tip toes I can’t reach it.”

  “What if you pick me up?” said Harry. Annabelle picked Harry up, holding him as high as she could. She staggered about under his weight.

  “Be careful! Don’t drop me!” said Harry. They were so close but couldn’t quite reach to knock the keys off.

  “It’s no good. They’re just out of reach,” said Harry sadly. Annabelle carefully put him down. They both sat on the stairs. Harry tapped the torch against his hand.

  “Can you stop that please! It’s really annoying,” said Annabelle feeling scared, anxious and frustrated.

  “You’re really annoying and I want to go home,” said Harry, crossly and nearly in tears.

  “Hold on that has given me an idea. We need a magnet,” said Annabelle excitedly.

  “What gave you that idea? I know, I’ll just pop to the shops and get you a magnet, shall I?” said Harry sarcastically.

  “You tapping the torch gave me the idea. We’re going to make a magnet, Harry. An electromagnet like Mum showed us in her electricity workshop. Don’t you remember?” Annabelle smiled.

  “Of course! You’re a clever big sister. Sorry about before. I’m just scared. I didn’t mean it. I just want to get out of here. Tell me what we need and what I can do to help.”

  “Don’t worry, Harry. I feel the same. But you can help. We need a battery which we can take from your torch and a nail. Look – there is one over here by this cage and we need wire. We can use the old wire that has been used to keep the water bowls attached to the cages. We’ll also need some string to tie it to the stick. Harry, you get the wire. I’ll get the battery, string and the nail.” The children sprang into action. They knew that every second counted. By now the men may already be on their way back to the house with the van.

  Harry handed Annabelle the wire. The wire was insulated with plastic apart from the ends which were just bare copper strands. Annabelle carefully linked the wire together and then started wrapping it neatly and carefully around the large iron nail she had found on the floor.

  “We have to have a complete circuit with no breaks at all or it won’t work. The more wire I can wrap around this nail, the stronger the magnet will be. It all has to be wrapped around in the same direction or the current will go in different directions and the magnet won’t work.”

  Annabelle was talking out loud, partly to explain it to Harry but mainly to help herself calm down. Harry watched as Annabelle attached one end of the wire to the battery with Sellotape from the backpack. She then attached the other end of the wire to the opposite end of the black and gold coloured battery.

  “Help me attach it to the stick, Harry. We have to do it quickly before the battery runs out. It must be working I can feel it getting hot. See if that other nail on the floor over there sticks to it.”

  “Yes! Get in. It works!” said Harry in delight as the nail stuck to the wire. Quickly the stick was hoisted in the air. With the homemade electromagnet at the end and Annabelle holding Harry as high as she could they were able to reach up to where the keys were dangling from the nail on the wall. He aimed the magnet at the keys. There was a satisfying click as the keys attached themselves to the magnet. Harry lifted them free from the nail and slowly lowered them down.

  “Yes! We did it!” said Annabelle. She put
Harry down and shook her arms which ached with holding on to him so tightly. She couldn’t believe how heavy her little brother was. It must be all that pizza he ate!

  Harry pulled the keys off the magnet and ran as fast he could over to the cage where Milly lay. As he unlocked the padlock and opened the cage door, Harry watched as Milly’s tail wagged. With an effort Milly turned her head and tried to lick Harry. It was almost as if she was saying: “thanks for rescuing me”.

  Annabelle stood behind Harry. “She’s still really drowsy,” she said “I don’t think she’ll be able to walk. I’ll carry her. We must shut the cage door too so it doesn’t look like anyone has been here.”

  “Harry, grab the backpack and the stick then go and unlock the trap door. I feel really bad we can’t get the other dogs but if we do the men will know we’ve been here. Hopefully they won’t spot that Milly is missing. Once we get home we can send the police in for the other dogs. Come on! We need to get out of here right now!”

  Annabelle gathered Milly up in her arms. She felt the little dog snuggle into her as she followed Harry and ran up the stairs. Her heart was beating like an express train. She watched as Harry turned the key in the lock. Would it open? The children almost couldn’t look both fearing that the key wouldn’t work. But then with a single turn came the satisfying sound of the lock clicking open. Harry tried to push the trap door. But it wouldn’t move.

  “There’s something on top of it. Help me Annabelle,” he said. Laying Milly gently down on the top step Annabelle joined her brother in pushing the door. Slowly it moved. The children kept pushing.

  “Did you hear that? That scraping sound,” said Harry.

  “It must’ve been whatever was pushed over the trap door. We must be moving it, whatever it is. Keep pushing I think we’re nearly there. Please don’t let the men come back now,” said Annabelle. She felt really frightened. Gradually the trap door was opening. The children gave one last big push then all of a sudden the door gave way and swung open.

  “We’ve done it! Harry, we are free!” the children hugged each other as the light from the kitchen came flooding in. The fresh air was very welcome after the damp doggy smell that filled the cellar. There was no time to celebrate or collect evidence – they needed to get out of the kitchen and to the safety of their own house.

  “We need to cover our tracks so the men don’t know we’ve been here. Quick Harry, turn the light to the cellar off and lock the trap door. I’ll get Milly. Look: this table and rug were covering the door. That’s why we couldn’t get the trap door open and why the police didn’t find the cellar.” The children both looked at the red woollen rug and wooden kitchen table now dislodged by their actions.

  “Come on Annabelle, we need to put everything back where it was. Hopefully the men won’t realise that one of the dogs is missing.” The children pulled the rug back over the door and dragged the heavy table back into place.

  Annabelle carefully picked Milly up from the kitchen floor. “Follow me!” she shouted to her little brother as she ran towards to the front door. She knew the way as it was in the same place as in their house. Harry was close behind. Milly licked Annabelle’s face as she opened the door. Normally this would’ve made Annabelle laugh but she needed to concentrate. A cold wind blew in as the door swung open. The children leapt through it to the freedom of the front garden. They turned and made sure they closed the front door behind them before sprinting as fast as their legs would carry them down the path for home. They looked straight ahead, not daring to look back in case the men returned.

  “We’re almost there! Keep going,” encouraged Annabelle. She had never run so fast in her life. She was running so fast that she had kept up with Harry! The children burst through their front door almost knocking over Mum. They were completely out of breath, dirty from being in the cellar and shaking with nerves and excitement at what had just happened.

  “We’ve got her, Mum! We rescued Milly from next door!” All eyes turned to the familiar little back dog lying in Annabelle’s arms. Milly managed to wag her tail three times as she realised she was finally back home with her family where she belonged.

  he children sat in the lounge with Milly snuggled next to them under a blanket on the sofa. Annabelle gently stroked Milly’s head which was resting on her lap. She thought how content and happy Milly seemed. In the background they could hear Mum telling the police what had happened.

  “I hope she tells them they have to come quickly and that the dogs are in the cellar,” said Harry, “or the men could get away.”

  “I think she will. We did tell her that it was really important and where to find the dogs,” said Annabelle. Just then the door opened and in came Mum.

  “The police are on their way. We need to stay inside so we don’t get in their way and we need to keep out of sight. Why don’t you go and play upstairs?” Annabelle and Harry didn’t need to be told twice. They ran up to Harry’s room which was at the front of the house and took up positions either side of the curtains.

  “Mum said we weren’t to be seen,” said Annabelle, worried she might get caught doing the opposite of what Mum had said.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Harry. “Why would they look up here? Just keep still and we can watch what happens. She only said we weren’t to be seen and we won’t! Chill out big sister – eyes on the prize!” Harry winked at her, pointed at his eyes and then out of the window towards Mr Baker’s house.

  “Look – those must be the police officers. They’ve parked out of sight. Some of them are going into the back garden. Goodness, they had better be quick. I think that’s Mr Baker’s van!” Annabelle and Harry watched as a large rusty white van pulled into the drive outside Mr Baker’s house.

  “Look – Mr Baker and his son are going into the house.” There was an agonising delay when nothing happened and everything was silent. It was almost unbearable and then it all happened very quickly. The children watched police cars and a van pull up with a screech outside the house. A large number of policemen piled out of the van and stormed into the house from all directions. There was the sound of banging and crashing and then silence once more.

  “Look Annabelle: Mr Baker’s front door is opening.” Sure enough the door opened. Out came Mr Baker and his son being marched in hand cuffs down the path to the waiting police car. Harry stood up to get a better view at which point seeing the curtains move Mr Baker looked up.

  “He looks furious! Harry, quick, bob down again.” The police car drove off with the two men inside. Next a police dog-handlers van appeared and what looked like an RSPCA officer. It seemed like a long time but the children watched as the remaining dogs were brought out and into the awaiting vans. The policemen had to carry some of the dogs but some were able to walk although they were very wobbly on their feet.

  “Look: there’s a police officer coming to our house,” said Annabelle. They heard a knock on the front door.

  “Children, can you come down?” shouted Mum. “There’s a police officer here to talk to you.” With much excitement the children ran downstairs and spoke to the police officer. He had a big smile on his face. He told the children they had caught the two men red-handed in the cellar with the dogs. When he asked if they had any further information the children didn’t know where to start!

  “They were going to take the dogs to Manchester to sell,” said Annabelle. “They’ve been drugging them to keep them quiet and if you look on the floor in the cellar you will find all the used syringes. The second man is Mr Baker’s son – we proved that using DNA.”

  “They took off the dogs’ collars and burnt them,” said Harry. “If you look in the fire you’ll find the tags from the collars. It might help you identify the dogs. If not, we have the DNA from our friend’s dogs and proof that two of the missing dogs are Poppy and Scally.”

  “Wow!” said the police officer. “You’ve been really busy. Thank you for all this information. It’ll be really useful. I’m just going to radio over now to tel
l the scene- of-crime officers to look in the fire and for the syringes. We’ll keep you informed of what’s happening.”

  Later the children watched the scene-of-crime officers enter the house in their white overalls. Their thoughts turned with excitement to all the evidence the officers would be busy collecting using their tweezers, evidence bags and cotton buds. Although the officers would call them swabs!

  “There’s so much evidence in the cellar for the police to find, Harry. All that DNA on the cages, the syringes, the hair from the pets and the stick. There is probably a lot more too.”

  “Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t have time to collect it. We wouldn’t have wanted to destroy any evidence that could be used to convict Mr Baker and his son.”

  Annabelle looked over at Harry with a big smile on her face. As a special treat Mum had said Harry could sleep over in Annabelle’s room. Milly was curled up in between them as an extra special treat. She looked delighted to be there. Annabelle thought how tired she was but when she looked over at Harry she laughed to herself. He was nearly asleep already with one arm around Milly and starting to snore! She was in for a noisy night. Maybe this wasn’t such a treat. Mum and Dad poked their heads around the door.

  “We’re so proud of you both. Our very own ‘DNA Detectives’! Well done and sleep tight!”

  Issy and Peter’s parents called in the morning to thank the children for finding Scally and Poppy. Both dogs had been returned to their rightful homes that morning. The police had used the DNA evidence Annabelle and Harry had provided to identify the dogs. The police had also asked if Mum would get DNA from the remaining dogs that had been found and run the results through her database. She found matches and the remaining three dogs were returned to their delighted families.

  Next the phone rang again. This time Dad answered it. When he finished the call his face was beaming. “I’ve exciting news!” he said. “Mr Baker and his son have been charged with stealing pets which apparently they have been doing for a long time. They have both pleaded guilty and it looks like they’ll be off to prison! The police are really impressed with all the help the ‘DNA Detectives’ have given them to catch this pair. To say thank you they would like to invite you to be their special guests of honour at a display by the police-dog display team at the local show. Oh, and a journalist called earlier. They would like to publish the story in the local paper.”