A Family Affair
Page 5
Chapter Five
Colleen waited till dark before driving to Steve's mother's house to retrieve the stolen cash. She knew exactly where to go because the boys had hidden many goods in this backyard over the years.
Steven's mother was over eighty years old and becoming senile. The old lady probably did not know what day it was. She had recently started calling Steve “Stevie” again, the name he was called as a toddler, which annoyed him intensely. Steve had informed them that his mother spent the majority of each day in the front living room staring at the walls. Steve knew that she belonged in a nursing home, but the old lady still had enough determination to resist this idea, and would start to scream and yell every time the words “nursing home” were mentioned.
Colleen arrived at the property at around ten o’clock. The night was pitch dark because there was no moonlight. Only passing traffic and a cat fight could be heard in the distance. Colleen had brought a flashlight and turned it on as she made her way from the car through the front gate and past the old lady's front porch. She had also brought a small shovel as the cash was probably buried at least a foot underground, to prevent Steve's mother from accidentally discovering it. Colleen found herself singing aloud the tune she had just been listening to on the radio, and then realised that she was not being particularly quiet. Oh, well, she thought. There is not really any reason to be quiet. The old lady will be fast asleep and not likely to stir.
Colleen walked past the old pear tree that didn't fruit any longer, past the outside toilet that hadn't been used in fifteen years, and past the incinerator in which the old lady liked to dispose of things on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The weekend smoke was the cause of much annoyance for the neighbours, but nobody had to heart to call the council because of her age.
Colleen stood in front of the clothesline. It consisted of five pieces of wire held up by two large posts spanning a distance of about eight metres. She would have to search carefully for signs of recent activity. Colleen pointed the torch at the ground and moved it around in a circular motion. Ah ha, she had found some loose dirt and began digging with her spade.
All of a sudden, the backyard was flooded with a bright light, causing Colleen to squint and almost lose her balance.
“It's his wife Colleen,” a man's voice was heard, somewhere above her and to the left of where she was standing.
Colleen looked up into the tree near her, trying to identify where the voice was coming from. A brief moment passed before she realised what was happening. Bugger.
“Colleen Watson, you are under arrest,” boomed a voice from behind.
Colleen turned around and found the same copper that had arrested Ted earlier that day.
“You have the right to remain silent,” he continued.
The copper continued to read her rights, but Colleen didn't hear a word of it. She was amazed at how many police were actually in the backyard. The yard was full of them. How had she not heard them? They were like bugs, crawling out of every crevice. A tough-looking female copper cuffed her and escorted her roughly to the front yard where they waited for a car to pull up.
The senior constable stayed close to Colleen throughout all this and watched her every move. “You see, Colleen, I suspected that you were in on the whole thing when I spoke to you this morning. But what you didn't know was that old Mrs Smith saw the boys digging in her backyard last night and went to investigate their hole once they had left. She watched her own son try and hide the stolen money in her backyard. Can you imagine what that would have been like?” He did not wait for a response. “You cannot blame her. The old girl decided that she had had enough of her no good lying excuse for a son. So she called us, and we retrieved the money. But you see, it was my idea to stake out the property for a couple of nights and try and catch any accomplices that were hiding in the woodworks.” The officer sounded so smug. “I should finally get that promotion they have been promising me,” he told her quietly, so nobody else could hear.
Colleen was barely listening to his words, but they were slowly starting to make sense. She needed time to recover from the shock of her failed plan, and was starting to feel angry at Ted for letting her down again. Useless pig, she thought to herself. I am going to have to take this money-earning business into my own hands when I get out of jail this time.