interior had been fitted out with shelves, with larger items like spanners and wrenches hung from hooks drilled in the back.
‘Perfect,’ Marc grinned. ‘All in good condition, too.’
PT always took the lead with anything that involved stealing. As Marc discovered a canvas sack on the earth floor, PT scowled back at Joel and Rosie. ‘One of you should be keeping lookout,’ he complained.
They were grateful to be out of the rain, even if it was just for a moment. Rosie was wringing out her long hair and got annoyed when she looked up and saw Joel still standing there.
‘I did the recon,’ Rosie said bitterly.
‘I’ve done other stuff though,’ Joel complained. ‘I want to dry off for a minute.’
PT looked back furiously. ‘Joel, get your arse out there.’
Marc had put a selection of the larger tools and a length of towing rope into the sack. ‘It’s heavy,’ he told PT as he picked it up. ‘We’ll have to take turns carrying it.’
‘What about another sack?’ PT asked. ‘Rosie, go look around the back of the tractor.’
They’d been stuck together long enough to get on each other’s nerves. Who’s put PT in charge? Joel asked himself resentfully as he stepped out of the barn. The rain had reached a new peak and huge balls of water exploded off the frozen ground.
‘It’s absolutely blasting down,’ Joel told the others. ‘We’re gonna have to sit out here for a bit.’
Rosie had found a couple of extra sacks. She shook out some mouldy onions, shivering with cold as she held the sacks open while Marc redistributed the tools. PT went through the drawers and added a few smaller items such as files and pliers to his satchel.
‘We can’t stick around at a crime scene, Joel,’ PT explained, as he headed towards the door. ‘We’ll find shelter somewhere, but not here.’
But PT gasped when he saw the rain. ‘Holy cock!’
The rush of water hitting the barn roof made a continual roar and the rain had overwhelmed the gutters, creating fountains that spilled from each corner of the roof.
‘We’re all set,’ Marc said as he joined the other boys at the door, but one look at the rain told him they were going nowhere.
And then there was a scream. It was hard to distinguish over the belting rain, but when they heard it again it was clearly, Daddy!
Rosie was the only one not standing in the doorway. She peered through a gap in the wall planks and saw a small girl holding a basket of eggs. She was six or seven, with long red hair. She was in a real state. The wind was blowing her skirt up and she charged panic-stricken through the mud after a wide-brimmed hat that had blown off her head.
Joel instinctively snatched the hat as it blew in from the side of the barn. When the girl saw him she dropped her basket and froze to the spot in her muddy rubber boots. Chasing through mud after a lost hat, the dark, the rain and an encounter with three half-drowned boys was more than the little girl could cope with and she broke down.
‘Hey, don’t cry,’ Marc said, as he took a step towards her. ‘We’re not going to hurt you.’
Back inside the barn, Rosie saw two men running towards the girl.
‘Alice, Daddy’s here,’ one of the men shouted. ‘Why didn’t you stay in the chicken shed, you daft apeth.’
‘Rosie!’ PT shouted, as Marc and Joel started to run. ‘Get the hell out of there.’
Alice started running towards her dad, but by this time the farmer had seen the lads running across his rain-swept pasture.
‘Run back to the house, Alice,’ the other man said firmly. ‘Mummy’s there for you.’
Rosie remained inside the barn as PT, Luc and Joel dashed across the field with the farmer close behind. She hoped that the second figure would follow, but he stopped to see what had happened inside the barn and sighted Rosie before she could take cover behind the tractor.
The lad standing in the doorway was about seventeen, with broad shoulders and striking blue eyes. Rosie guessed that he was the farmer’s son, as he stood in the doorway, looking unsure of himself, with Alice huddled up behind his legs.
‘What is this?’ the boy asked sternly, as Rosie stepped into the middle of the barn, in front of the tractor. He saw the open wardrobe and the stolen tools.
Rosie faked a sob. ‘Those boys dragged me in here,’ she explained. ‘I’m so glad you