see were in darkness. Only one or two passing cars broke the stillness of the night.
Thomas took a deep breath of the cool air and then walked down the steps, shutting the door behind him. The house was only three away from the main road, and Thomas turned immediately into it, heading toward the bridge over the River Thames. He had driven across it with his mother earlier in the evening when they were coming back from the restaurant. It had been covered with tiny white lights, and they’d stopped on the other side to look at it properly because it was so pretty. The Albert Bridge it was called. Named for the husband of Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort. The one who’d died young and broken the Queen’s heart.
However, Thomas didn’t get as far as the river. Two young men with baseball caps turned back to front appeared suddenly, coming toward him up the street. One was walking half in the gutter, and the other was running a beer can along the black railings of the houses so that Thomas realized he would have to pass between them. He could not turn back, as he was too close to them, and there was no one else in sight. He accelerated to get the moment over with, but just before he drew level they both moved into the center of the sidewalk, knocking his shoulders so that he almost lost balance.
Nothing else happened, however. Behind him, Thomas could hear them laughing as they carried on down the street.
“Stupid little cunt,” one of them said. “Did you see the look on his face?”
Thomas didn’t hear the other reply. He carried on, walking slowly down the street, cursing himself for his stupidity in going out so late. His mother had told him to be careful, that London was a dangerous place, and she hadn’t even been talking about walking deserted streets after midnight. He hoped that the noise of the beer can on the railings wouldn’t wake her up, send her into his room to find him gone, but soon it had faded into the distance and he felt safe to turn around and head for home.
He’d gotten almost as far as the little side street when he saw them at the top of the road. They were coming back toward him. They were still walking but quicker, more purposefully than before, and Thomas felt desperately in his pockets for the house key. His mother had given it to him when they first arrived, and he was sure that he had brought it with him when he came out.
They were closer now, and Thomas could see their faces. They were laughing, and one of them was punching the fist of one hand into the open palm of the other. They could see him too, feel his fear.
“Got lost, have you, cunt?” said one. “Why don’t you come here and I’ll give you some fucking directions.”
The other one laughed.
“Got any money?” he asked. “Got a phone?”
Panic had momentarily paralyzed Thomas as they approached, but when the second youth spoke he felt his strength return. He dashed suddenly to his right down the little side street, and in two seconds he was trembling by the streetlight outside his house.
There was clearly no time to lose. He could hear them coming toward the corner. It was obviously worse than pointless running up the front steps if he had no key, and the thugs would catch him if he ran on down the side street. They were three or four years older than him and a lot quicker. He took his only chance and ran down the stone steps into the basement area by the front door of Greta’s apartment.
He’d noticed the house trash cans down there earlier, but when he got to the bottom of the steps they were nowhere in sight. Someone must have moved them since the afternoon. A second later he saw where they’d gone. They were just inside the open entrance to a vault under the sidewalk. Thomas dashed in, taking care not to make any noise. In normal circumstances nothing would have frightened Thomas more than going into a pitch-black vault, but now he went right inside without hesitation, grateful for the enshrouding darkness.
He was not a moment too soon. The two youths had stopped on the sidewalk just above his head.
“He’s gone down in one of these fucking basements. That’s where he’s gone,” said the one who’d offered to give Thomas directions.
“No, he hasn’t,” said the other. “We’d have seen him if he’d done that. I’m not fucking blind, even if you are. Come on, we’ll catch him if we’re quick.”
Thomas heard the sound of them setting off at a run down the side street. He wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his shirt and pressed his hand hard against the left side of his chest, covering the pain of his racing heart.
Breathing deeply, he stepped out of the vault into the basement area so that he was standing outside the front window of Greta’s flat. It was less than five feet away. The bottom half of the window was open, raised no more than six inches from the sill. It had been shut earlier in the day and the curtains had been half open, whereas now they were closed. Thomas noticed the difference because he’d been down in the vault after lunch — part of exploring the house with no risks attached because his mother had said that his father and Greta would be away until the following evening. He’d looked in through the window and seen the gas fire and the two armchairs and behind them a table and chair and a bookcase. Everything neat and tidy. He couldn’t see into the room now, but he could hear voices. One was too soft to make out, but the other was close and Thomas recognized it almost immediately as Greta’s.
“You’ll just have to be patient. It’s not that difficult.”
Thomas couldn’t hear if the other voice replied, but a moment later Greta was speaking again. She seemed to be just on the other side of the curtains.
“No, you listen to me. You can wait a little longer. That’s what we agreed.”
Another pause and then her voice came again. It was farther away this time.
“Can’t you see I haven’t got it yet?”
Or was it “him yet”? Thomas couldn’t be sure. The words were indistinct, and he couldn’t make any sense of them. What was she talking about? And to whom? Why was she home when she was supposed to be in the Midlands with his father until the following evening?
Thomas stood motionless and preoccupied in front of the window, revolving the unanswered questions around in his head, and he would have been entirely visible to the two youths coming back up the street if they hadn’t chosen to advertise their approach. They were talking even more loudly than before, as if to assert their defiance of the rich neighborhood around them. Thomas had just enough time to retreat back into the vault before they stopped outside the house.
“It’s a fucking waste of time,” said the one who’d voted for going on down the street. “He didn’t look like he had anything on him anyway.” But his friend didn’t agree.
“He looked like a fucking little rich kid to me. With a wallet full of Daddy’s money in his back pocket, and he went down in one of these fucking basements. I saw him. I told you that before!”
“All right. So what if he fucking did. He probably lives there.”
“Maybe. But I bet the little cunt was hiding. Probably still is. He went down this one or the one next door.”
“Well, I’m not fucking going down after him. We’ll end up in the nick for burglary.”
Thomas heard the sound of one set of footsteps going off toward the main road. The other youth was still standing by the gate at the top of the steps.
“Cunt,” he said. “Fucking gutless cunt.” He kicked the gate hard so that it hit the wall behind. Then he ran away into the night.
Thomas waited a moment before he came back out of the vault heading toward the steps. Just as he did so the curtains in front of him opened and he instinctively crouched down under the windowsill where he could not be seen.
As he bent over, the house key fell out of his shirt pocket and hit the concrete with a loud clink. Thomas froze, certain that Greta or whoever it was on the other side of the window must have heard the noise. He wondered how he could explain his presence bent over underneath her window and then gave up the attempt. He was eavesdropping and he couldn’t deny it. How he got down into the basement was irrelevant.
It was soon clear, though, that neither Greta nor her friend had heard the key hit the ground. The sound must have been drowned out by the greater noise of the sash window being lifted up as far as it would go. Thomas could now hear her voice inches away from his head.
“I can’t see anyone, but that doesn’t mean anything. There’ve been burglars up there before, and I’m not having them stealing my computer. Mrs. Posh won’t hear. She takes sleeping tablets. And the boy’s at the top of the house.”
