The Stealers (30 page)

Crane shuffled cautiously towards him and he could see that Bradley's hand no longer held the knife; only its hilt was visible through his open jacket. Bradley had impaled himself and now he groaned as he lay dying.

Crane stood for a while transfixed, staring down irreverently at the man behind so much evil, and he stayed until Bradley exhaled a final breath of air. Blue flashing lights suddenly appeared at the kerbside. Harris leapt out of a police car with Daniella following close behind. Harris strode hurriedly towards Crane and, when he noticed Crane's blood-drenched trouser leg, the officer barked orders into his mobile demanding an ambulance.

Harris stood with Crane as they looked down at the lifeless form of Bradley. Harris broke the silence with, ‘Is he… dead?'

Through a sigh of exhaustion Crane replied, ‘As mutton,' and he dipped a hand into his pocket and produced the police mobile. Harris palmed it and said, ‘Good job you had it switched on. It took us a while to trace you.'

Daniella rushed up to Crane's side put an arm around his waist and with a sigh, breathed out an, ‘It's over.'

*

A few stitches later, Crane was back in his cottage with Daniella and his cherished Mustang. Within a week, Crane and Daniella attended Penny and Girard's wedding, held at St Peters Church in Ashingdon. The Frenchman looked very much at home as he posed with his beautiful wife and little Andrew in tow, for photographs to be taken in front of the small unimposing building set on a hill overlooking the River Crouch. Just like King Canute and his Vikings, who built the little church in the far distant past, Girard was very pleased with his conquest and was sure they would lead an interesting life in the vicinity for many years to come.

After the wedding, Crane took Daniella to Southend Airport for her flight home to Romania. ‘I can't say my stay with you has been uninteresting, but please, next time… '

Crane grinned hugely as he looked at her attractive smiling face and interrupted with, ‘There's going to be a next time?'

‘Oh yes, you'd better believe it! Next time I'm planning to find work in your country. I could end up being your local doctor and maybe have you all to myself.'

‘You're not put off with all this erm… ?'

‘No! Only the next time we meet and it will be very soon, perhaps things will be a little less, erm… less life threatening? Is that the correct expression?'

During my years as a motorhome dealer, I had six vehicles stolen. After each theft I tightened the security until there were no further thefts. Nowadays keys are all important, but if someone is determined to steal a vehicle, they will. Trackers are an excellent device in helping to recover stolen vehicles, but are expensive and the time in reporting the theft is crucial. If you are away and you are unaware that your vehicle has been taken, it would leave the thieves plenty of time to locate and remove the tracker.

There is only one device I know of that would inhibit theft; lockable tyre deflators. A minimum of two would be sufficient. They are inexpensive and once locked in position, they will deflate a tyre in less than half a mile. No thief would want to bother changing a wheel – let alone two or more – on a hot vehicle.

I actually came across such a Rover 620 as mentioned in the story; I took it in part exchange. When I sold it, my regrets were allowing a prospective buyer to take the wheel. I did not realise how he would drive and had to remind him to ‘take it easy'. The dents from my feet may still be in the carpet – if not the floor-pan. Secondly, I should have kept a copy of the glossy motoring magazine article referring to this awesome beast.