The Team and the Move (Team books Book 3)

by S G Read

'What happened?' She asked when she regained her composure.

  'We don’t know, we found you lying on the ground in the car breakers.' Stuart replied. 'You must have banged your head.'

  'I had this weird dream where someone carried me into this room and tied me up!' Jenny exclaimed.

  'You were lucky it was us who found you and not Marmalade!' Stevey added, putting his weight behind the lie.

  'Who’s Marmalade?'

  'The guard dog.' Stuart explained. 'And he’s our friend but I don’t know what he’d do to you, if you weren’t with us!'

  'I asked Dan where you had gone. He told me where you went and how to get there so I came looking for you, he didn’t say anything about a dog!' Jenny replied. 'Then it all seems to be a bit blank apart from that dream!'

  Stuart had visions of Willie coming in after them and decided it was time to move on. 'Are you fit enough to walk?' He asked.

  'Yes but I don’t want to go yet, it’s so lovely here!' Jenny replied. 'Can I visit a lot when you buy this house Stevey?'

  'Of course!' Stevey exclaimed. 'I think you might have to move in, there is a lot of carpentry wanted to bring this place back to its former splendour.'

  'Goody!' Jenny declared. 'Can I go in and have a look? You know as a sort of preliminary examination, just in case my dad has to come out and work here.'

  The two boys looked at each other. Stevey nodded, as much as to say "why not". Stuart turned to face Jenny.

  'You ought to know the house is haunted-' He started.

  Jenny giggled.

  'And if you go in there you have to swear on something you treasure highly that you won’t tell the others about the ghost, until we are ready to let them know!' He continued, ignoring her giggle.

  Jenny looked from Stevey to Stuart and back. 'You’re serious aren’t you?'

  Both boys nodded.

  'Is it a horrible ghost?'

  'No, just an unhappy one by the way he cries.' Stevey explained. 'We ran last time we met it but you are not allowed to run yet so should you go in there?'

  'If I am scared I’ll just walk away at speed, okay?'

  Again the two boys looked at each other and nodded, after all it was better than staying here with the possibility of being captured by Willie.

  'Come on we’ll show you how we get inside.' Stuart offered and walked toward the house.

  Stevey helped Jenny to her feet and followed her in case there was a problem.

  Willie heard the car honk and hurried over to let Silas in but when he arrived there was no sign of Silas! He smelled a rat and hurried back to the house. He saw no one as he hurried across but his fears were confirmed, when the pretty girl was gone. He panicked! He had a picture of the police coming again and they knew what was going on and where it was going on. He propped open the cellar door and ripped the bannister out completely. He dragged it downstairs into the cellar room and ripped the wires from underneath the stairs, now no one could get in without coming out and propping open the door! He walked into the room where Ronnie was tied and looked up at the window. It was so dirty no one could see in. He smiled and gagged Ronnie who was already cursing the day Willie was born! With everything under control, he phoned Silas, he ought to know what was going on.

  'Silas, its Willie.'

  'I told you never to phone me on this phone! What is it?'

  'A girl walked across the car breakers today and as I was a little lonely I-'

  'Tell me you didn’t kill her!' Silas hissed.

  'I didn’t kill her!'

  'Thank God for that, things are a bit hot already without you stirring it up even more!' Silas said with relief but then remembered what Willie was like. 'What happened?'

  'As I said I was lonely and she looked lonely too and lost, so I crept up behind her-' Silas groaned on the other end of the phone, 'tapped her on the head and carried her into the cellar. She was going to be my chocolate orange, you know, tap it unwrap it and so on. I tied her up, then I heard your car horn, so I walked over to let you in.'

  'But I have been in London all day!' Silas almost screamed.

  'But I didn’t know that did I? Anyway there was no car there, so I smelt a rat. I ran back to the cellar and she was gone. I couldn’t see any one about so I ripped out the bannister, so that no one could get inside the cellar without the door being open.'

  'Have the police come yet?' Silas asked.

  'No not yet.'

  'Well stay put and ignore them if they do come!' Silas exclaimed. 'I’m on my way. If they get there before I am there ring me on this phone and warn me!'

  'Yes boss.'

  'And for God sake stop thinking with your willy, Willie!'

  'Yes boss, sorry boss but she was so pretty-' the phone went dead as Silas rang off. 'Well she was pretty.' Willie said into the silent phone, then put in back on the shelf where he kept it.

  Stuart led the way to the shed they now hid their bicycles in, when they brought them and took the keys from the back of the lock. They had put them back there the last time they were there. He opened the door with the second key he tried and they walked inside.

  'Wow, it’s massive!' Jenny declared. She wiped her finger on a rail nearby. 'Dusty though.'

  'Where do you want to go?' Stuart asked.

  'Everywhere, I want to look in every room!' Jenny replied.

  They, had not even looked in every room and it sounded like fun. They went from one downstairs room to another, looking at everything. There was still some furniture in a few rooms, covered in sheets to keep the dust off. They looked under some of the sheets, to see what the furniture was like, before they ventured upstairs. There was the main part of the house, which was squarish in shape and then the east wing which overlooked the car breakers. They looked at all the rooms in the main part before they came to the east wing and Stuart tried what he thought was the right key, as before it took him until the last key to unlock the door.

  'I’ll get it right first time one day!' He moaned and they looked up the corridor. 'It’s that bedroom there!' Stuart said pointing to the bedroom where they had experienced the ghost.

  No one moved, either forwards or backwards. Suddenly the sobbing started and they moved! The door was locked and they were all downstairs very quickly. They regrouped at the bottom of the stairs.

  'I don’t believe it!' Stuart declared. 'We ran again and we knew what to expect.'

  'Was that the ghost?' Jenny asked.

  'Yes.' Stevey replied. 'If you get close enough he goes right through you and it feels like your insides are going to freeze!'

  'What do we do now?' Jenny asked.

  'Now we go back up and get our insides frozen!' Stuart replied.

  'Do we have to?' Jenny asked.

  'You will start to doubt you heard a ghost, if you don’t!' Stuart answered and started back up the stairs.

  'If you are being brave just for me you don’t have to bother.' Jenny said with her feet still firmly on the lower floor.

  'I want to see his face before he freezes my insides!' Stuart replied as he reached the top. 'So I’m going to sneak in and open the door without announcing myself!'

  The other two followed, they wanted to see the ghost as well! They caught him up as he unlocked the door, with the third key again, and followed him inside. They could hear the crying as they walked along the corridor but as they reached the door to the room it was coming from a cold feeling passed through them which made them shiver involuntarily, seconds later they sensed they were alone.

  'I do wish he wouldn’t do that!' Stevey complained.

  'Me too.' Stuart agreed.

  Jenny was still shivering but had a big smile on her face. 'A ghost! A real live ghost!' She exclaimed.

  'Well technically he’s dead.' Stevey corrected. 'He would have been quite old by now if he was still alive!'

  They walked into the room and the pillow had the same shape, it was also damp with the tears.

  'If he’s dead how come the tears are real?' Jen
ny asked.

  'I think you’ll need to ask him that.' Stuart answered. 'We’re not to up on ghosts.'

  'We’ll have to find a way to keep him around long enough to ask him then!' Jenny declared.

  They walked back out into the sunshine, locking up as they went but then Jenny saw the blood on her tee-shirt. Her face paled and she pointed to it.

  'Well, have a look to see what the damage is!' Stuart prompted.

  Jenny turned her back on them and lifted up her tee-shirt. 'Oh it’s only a little leak and it’s stopped already, must have happened when I fell in the car breakers. Come on, there’s a tap in the garden I can use some water to wash it off.'

  The two boys sat on a nearby bench while Jenny washed the blood out of her tee-shirt, then they went on another tour of the garden, hoping to find Dan but he was nowhere to be seen. Smoke was coming out of the cottage at the side of the garden and they assumed that it was Dan’s cottage and he was having a meal. When they had seen all of the garden they walked on further and came to a field with a line of trees on one side.

  'These are chestnut trees!' Stevey exclaimed. 'I love chestnuts. We’ll have to walk over here when they’re ripe, if I don’t own it already.'

  'You’d still buy it knowing it has a ghost?' Jenny asked.

  'Of course! Can you imagine what a sleep over would be like in there!' Stevey declared. 'I could invite the whole team.'

  'And they could have a room each.' Stuart added.

  'But they wouldn’t though!' Jenny pointed out. 'You’d all be in one room huddling together!'

  'We’d all be in one room huddling together.' Stevey corrected.

  'You are starting to sound like Toby!' Jenny retorted. 'But yes it would be we!'

  By the time they returned to Stuart’s house Jenny’s tee-shirt was dry but she still went upstairs to change it. She looked at her scar very carefully in the bathroom but it looked alright.

  Stuart and Stevey returned to their room.

  'Do you realise how close that was to disaster?' Stuart asked.

  Stevey nodded. 'Imagine how we’d have felt if he had killed her, like he did Lenny!'

  'But I am still going to prove he did it somehow. We will just have to keep an eye on Jenny!'

  'Or tell her what is going on for her own safety!' Stevey said seriously.

  'What let her know it wasn’t a dream and let her go accusing Willie and what’s more let my dad know I broke my word?'

  'We broke or word.' Stevey corrected. 'I am just saying that she should know enough to keep her safe and it might help us if we get in trouble!'

  'That’s true, she should at least know the come in shooting from the hip signal!' Stuart replied.

  'How dramatic.' Jenny said from the door. 'I think the word you mean is "Hat trick" I heard Simon whisper it to one of the other boys. I wondered what it meant, now I know.'

  'If there is any trouble and we can’t get any grown up help quick enough then you phone either Sherman, C.J or Ben and say Hat trick to them, not a message you have to say it to them personally.' Stuart explained. 'Our reputation with the police is less than good. Two wild goose chases and nothing to show for the good has seen to that.'

  'Don’t worry I’ll remember it but I don’t see when I am likely to need it!'

  The two boys looked at each other but neither of them said any more about the earlier incident.

  Silas arrived at the car breakers and honked his horn. Nothing happened! He repeated the signal ready to drive off at the first sign of trouble but this time he saw Willie look out the door of the house. Silas climbed out of the car and waved. Willie came running over to open the gate.

  'I didn’t know if it was them what honked before, pulling my chain!' He said as he opened the gate.

  Silas drove up to the house and waited for Willie to catch up. 'If the police haven’t been it is because they are either ignoring the boy’s stories or the boys haven’t told them because they don’t think the police will believe them!'

  'What boys?'

  'Who do you think honked the horn to distract you? They must be keeping a watch on the place and saw you snatch the girl, we will have to do something about them!' Silas declared. 'Something as permanent as Lenny Mole!'

  'Who’s he?' Willie asked none the wiser.

  'The boy you killed.’ Silas explained. ‘Did you do what they said you did to him?'

  'Oh that, yes. It seemed such a waste not to and he wasn’t complaining.'

  'But he was dead!'

  'Yeah.'

  Silas shook his head in disbelief. 'Did you wear a ‘you know what’?'

  'No I don’t like those things. It don’t feel the same.'

  'You not wearing one last time, is what got your brother out of prison when they tried the DNA test on the retrieved sample. It will also put you in prison in place of him when they catch you, for the last time you stepped out of line!'

  'They won’t catch me but they might think I’ve been burnt to a crisp! Which is what I intend for Ronnie, then I’ll get all his compensation as well! I intend to be him after he dies.'

  'Well if you get away with that, I’ll drink a toast to you myself but no more little girls or boys!' Silas warned.

  'Not even the two we are going to deal with?'

  'Oh them! You can do what you like to them and while they are alive! In fact I might even watch, just so I can see the smile wiped from their ugly little faces!' Silas declared. 'Now let us see how you are getting on, I had to burn that last lot they were spotted very quickly.'

  'What all of them?'

  'Yes! All of them! You will have to do a better job on the next lot or we are going to run out of time, sooner or later they are going to come looking for you here or looking for Ronnie.'

  'I am Ronnie, Willie is as good as dead!'

  Silas saw the piece of wood holding the secret door open. 'Well at least you won’t have any unwanted visitors now but don’t shut yourself out!'

  'I can always open the grate with the hymac and climb down it in through the window below it.' Willie replied. 'I have the key to Ronnie’s little room in my pocket all the time.' He brandished the key as proof. 'I won’t get locked out! And no one knows where the lever to open the door from the inside is.'

  'But they might find it!' Silas retorted. 'Make it so no one can open it but you!'

  'I’ll do that if you want boss.' Willie replied. 'But it will take time!'

  'Do it in your rest time, as it is your fault you have to do it at all!'

  Willie looked up but just said. 'Okay boss, whatever you say.'

  'Just get it done. Now print a note for me, I want to see if I can improve on them!'

  Chapter 10

  Tuesday morning came. Stuart, Stevey and Jenny gathered by the goal posts, far enough away from David and Wendy to discuss things openly. Stuart had not discounted the possibility of another try at kidnapping Jenny, whether to keep them quiet or to stop her telling anyone, as they might just listen to her, he did not know. What he did not know, was how to tell Jenny her dream was actually reality! In fact he did not know what to do next, it was all too much for him.

  'So what are we going to do today?' Jenny asked.

  They sat there looking at each other, no one coming up with any ideas. When Wendy saw them sitting, not doing anything she suggested helping her with her shopping, something which usually made the boys come up with something to do immediately. This time, to her surprise, they said okay and went with her. She had expected the same old excuses from them but thought Jenny might like to go!

  Willie stood on top of an old car looking toward Stuart’s house. 'They’re going out in the car but the dad’s still there! Doesn’t he have work to go to?' He complained.

  'Just keep watching.' Silas replied. 'And tell me what goes on! I need to find a way to get hold of those two boys without anyone knowing about it for a while.'

  'There was three of them!'

  'What three boys?'

  'Couldn’t see f
rom here, could have been one of their friends, hard to say when they’re that far away!' Willie declared.

  'We need to tempt them back here somehow but how?' Silas replied.

  'Leave Marmalade tied up. When he starts his howling, they’ll hear it and come to help him!' Willie replied. 'I reckon it was them what let him loose last time he had a go at you!'

  'It was the dog making me lose that dud twenty pound note which started this whole thing going pear shaped!' Silas exclaimed. 'Does that crusher still work?'

  'No, it needs a lot spent on it to get it working again.' Willie replied. 'If we nab them they can burn with Robbie, when I set fire to this place! It’ll go up like a furnace!'

  'It will get rid of two extra birds without any more stones.' Silas declared. 'Just watch them. When they get back we’ll see what happens when Marmalade howls.'

  'What if they just ignore it?' Willie asked.

  'Then we’ll find something which will get their attention!'

  At the supermarket the boys collected things for the trolley to help out. They new there would be a treat at the end, if they were helpful but that was not Stuart’s reason for being there, it gave him time to think. At the moment he was out of ideas. Stevey walked round with him but he was no better, after all, in reality they were just little boys, not crime fighters! They were in deeper than they wanted to be and now Jenny was at risk! The only one enjoying the shopping trip was Jenny, as it was a long time since she went anywhere to spend a lot of money, although it was not her money, it still felt good! When the basket was piled high Wendy wheeled it to a check out. They were three people back and all had baskets piled high which would have normally annoyed Stuart, now he just stood waiting, still thinking. Suddenly his face brightened and he dragged Stevey away to be out of earshot.

  'They won’t come after us at the house Stevey!' He declared. 'It would show them up for what they are! They’ll wait until we go over there again and grab us. So we just don’t go over there again.'

  'But if we don’t go over there they’ll get away with it!' Stevey complained. 'They did kill Lenny and we know it.'

  'And they’ll kill us, to keep us quiet if they get a chance!' Stuart pointed out, remembering Stevey’s reluctance to go over there in the first place.