The Thief by Ruth Rendell

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    Epub ISBN: 9781409068877
    Version 1.0
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    Published by Arrow in 2006
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    First published in the United Kingdom by Arrow
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    ISBN 978 0 099 49788 2 (from Jan 2007)
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CHAPTER ONE
    T HE FIRST TIME SHE stole something Polly was eight years old. She and her mother had gone in the car to have tea with her aunt, so that she could play with her cousins, James and Lizzie. It was a fine sunny day in the middle of summer. Chairs and tables were out in the garden under a big sunshade. There was a blow-up pool and the hose was on. James and Lizzie were in swimsuits and Polly put hers on. They splashed about in the water. Polly got very excited, splashed water over her mother and Auntie Pauline and took hold of Lizzie, holding her head under the water. Her mother told her to stop and then, when Polly didn’t stop, she told her again.
    ‘Stop that at once, Polly. You’re spoiling the game for the others!’
    Polly had stopped for a while, then begun again, splashing with both hands. Her aunt got up, said to her, ‘Come into the house. I’ve got something I want to show you.’
    So Polly got out of the water, dried herself on a towel and followed Auntie Pauline into the house. She thought she was going to get a present. Auntie Pauline had said that once before and had given her the thing she had shown her. Not this time. As soon as they were inside and the door was shut her aunt put her over her knee and smacked her hard, ten sharp blows across her bottom. Then Auntie Pauline went back into the garden.
    When her aunt had gone and left her crying, Polly had hated her. She would have liked to kill her. Rubbing her eyes, she had walked slowly through the rooms. In one of them was a desk and on the desk, lying face-down, the book Auntie Pauline was reading. Polly took it. She put it in the big bag her mother had left in the hallway. It wasn’t her aunt’s book but one from the Public Library. If it was missing Auntie Pauline would have to pay for it . . .
    When it was time to go, she and her mother got into the car and while her mother was driving Polly took the book out