For an introduction to The Trivial Trio, read this post before you read any further.
Read this post for Part 1 of “The mystery of the car break-ins“
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Not one to be easily put off by such seemingly ‘unsolvable problems, Jammy by the window of his second floor room that night looking outside thinking about the sequence of events. Suddenly he noticed that the streetlight right next to his house went off and the one next to Vinu’s house came on. And then suddenly ‘Eureka’, a brainwave struck him, and he immediately message Vinu and Maddy to join him for a morning walk the next morning at 6 AM.
The next morning, suited up in his good old Adidas Track Pants and a nice round neck Angry Birds T Shirt, Jammy waited at his gate for his ‘partners’. When Vinu and Maddy arrive, they set off on a brisk walk. Maddy and Vinu knew better than to rush Jammy for answers, they had been friends with him long enough to know that when he got into one of these contemplative moods, they just had to let him get through it and then start talking.
“Ok, Vinu, when you spoke to Sandy and Krishna, where exactly did they tell you that they had parked their cars?”
“Outside their gates, opposite the streetlights” said Vinu.
“Exactly, and consider the orientation of both the cars, while Sandy’s back window was well illuminated, Krishna’s front glass was better illuminated. What does that tell us?”
Maddy’s eyes widened “The thief used the streetlights to ensure that he could clearly see what he was doing!”
“Exactly, and the thief also exactly knew which streetlight would be switched on during the night on which he planned the theft. He knew exactly which streetlight would be switched on and based on that he decided which car would be stolen. After all, he didn’t bother to come near my car or Vinu’s car.”
Vinu stepped into the conversation “So, what are you trying to say? That the thief has the schedule of which streetlight will be switched on in terms of the exact dates?”
“That kind of information is easily available. All you need to do is to give the Electricity Board linesman some money and he will immediately share this information with you and if you pay him enough money, he will even turn on and turn off the streetlights for you” said Maddy.
“Exactly my point. Vinu, haven’t you mentioned that the Chief Engineer of the Electricity Board is also a member of The Sanjaynagar Club and that your dad is friends with him?” asked Jammy.
The trio then decided the next course of action. Vinu was to get the Chief Engineer’s contact details from his dad and arrange for a small meeting at The Sanjaynagar Club. They chose the club so that the Chief Engineer did not get too nosy about why Vinu was making these enquiries.
On that weekend, Vinu then hosted Mr Gowda, the Chief Engineer at the club’s bar. Vinu knew that Gowda was partial to single malt whiskeys and ordered two large pegs of Amrut, the costliest available at the bar. He also went on to order Gowda’s all-time favorite starter – Mushroom Pepper Dry. By the time Gowda arrived, the drinks were served and the Mushroom was also served piping hot. Gowda was extremely impressed with Vinu’s hospitality and by the time he was two rounds down, he would have even sold his soul to him. Not for nothing was Vinu known as “The people person”.
Once Gowda was completely at ease with the ambience and his tongue had loosened, Vinu casually asked the Chief Engineer – “Uncle, I have observed that the streetlights on our road, the 4th Main are switched on and off on different days of the week. Is there some kind of preset pattern or does this happen at random?”
“Illa pa Vinu, that is not how it is. Even today, after all this computers have taken over the Electricity Board, there are still some works that are done manually only. All this on-ning and off-ing of the lights and all are done by linesman only” answered Gowda.
“You stay in 4th Main, no?? Mmmm, the linesman for that area is Sankara, that galeej fellow who always keeps gambling and losing all his money. He comes to the junction box between 5th and 6th Main every evening and on-s the lights. And once again in the morning, he comes back and off-s the lights.”
“Nowadays because of cost cutting measures-u, we have been instructed to switch on only 2 lights in every street. That is why you see that the streetlight opposite your house is on sometimes and off sometimes” he laughed.
His mission accomplished, Vinu then messaged the others asking them to join him for a morning walk the next morning. However, his next half an hour was spent in taking Gowda to the rest room as he seemed to have forgotten his way there. As if that was not enough, he also had to take him to his car, wake his driver up and ask him to drop Gowda Sir off at home safely. The things Vinu had to do to solve cases. He was determined to ask Jammy and Maddy to buy him a couple of drinks once this Car Theft case had been solved.
The next morning after Vinu had briefed them about the conversation with Gowda, Jammy was convinced that Sankara was the missing link on the other side of the dead ends they had encountered. And the fact that Gowda had mentioned the fact that Sankara was a habitual gambler meant that he had more than enough reason to do anything just for some additional money.
The next course of action was for Jammy and Vinu to try and tap into their old Florence School network. Since this school had existed in Sanjaynagar pretty much forever and Jammy and Vinu had also lived most of their lives in the area, this network proved especially useful when it came to collecting information about people in the area, local happenings, rumors, gossip, etc.
And Vinu hit a pot of gold with the first school-mate he got in touch. He not only got Sankara’s address, but also managed to learn that in the recently concluded IPL, Sankara had bet quite a bit of money and lost it all due to a particular Malayalee cricketer’s antics with towels and sweat shirts and the entire spot fixing scandal. He was heard walking around his house grumbling about how he would now have to pay Rs 25,000 to Vasu Anna, the only bookie through whom all bets from the Sanjaynagar area were routed.
What was especially heartening about the news was the fact that Vasu Anna knew Sankara. Vasu Anna and The Trivial Trio had quite a bit of history actually. Back when Vasu Anna was still in his early twenties and the trio were teenagers, they were the only people who always allowed Vasu Anna to play with them despite the fact that he completely sucked at the game. Back in those days, the trio used to allow him to play just for the sake of having some fun at this expense. And although Vasu Anna realized this he allowed the kids to have some harmless fun. He liked them a lot, and was sure to help them out if they were in any trouble.
So that evening when the trio went to Vasu Anna’s house and found him there with his pack of Wills cigarettes and a half tea ordered from the bakery opposite his house, he was more than happy to catch up with them after quite a while. After a good three rounds of half teas and more than a few cigarettes smoked, Jammy brought up the topic of Sankara and asked Vasu Anna about how much money he lost in IPL betting.
Vasu Anna took out his small red book of accounts and flipped a few pages.
“Boss, aa joker Sankara lost Rs 25,000 but he made it seem like he lost one crore bucks. He took so many days but managed to repay only Rs 20,000 to me and I have given him two more days to repay the rest of the money, otherwise I will chase him all over Sanjaynagar and beat him up. After all, Vasu Anna andhre the whole area should shiver no??”
Now this piqued Jammy’s attention. For somebody like Sankara who was working as a linesman with the Electricity Board, arranging a sum to the tune of Rs 20,000 was not a small matter. He had to have done something fishy to arrange for this sum. And finally, some missing pieces of the puzzle started falling in place in Jammy’s devious mind.
On the way back to Jammy’s place after the meeting with Vasu Anna, Maddy immediately mirrored Jammy’s thoughts when he said
“Guys, now I am completely convinced that Sankara is surely behind these car thefts man. Think about it. The glass which was broken faced the lights. The only things that were stolen was stuff that can easily be disposed off for quick money. Sankara owed Vasu Anna Rs 25,000 which he paid reasonably comfortably, although people had heard him grumbling about the amount some days before he paid it up.”
Jammy stopped him “Wait, at this point in time, all of this is conjecture. How do we even know that Sankara is involved in these thefts? Just because the thefts happened right opposite the streetlights? Or just because he managed to repay Vasu Anna a significant sum of money? That just doesn’t fly folks. We need solid evidence. What do you propose?”
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TO BE CONTINUED
