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“
Read this post for Part 2 of “The mystery of the car break-ins“
==========
Maddy started off “Well, he still has to repay Rs 5,000 and if my theory is correct, he will surely try to get his hands on another car stereo. If only we could try and tempt him with something, then we could surely catch him red-handed in the act. But what would be tempting enough for him?” He smiled and looked at Jammy to which Jammy also smiled a mysterious smile.
Vinu immediately understood what was happening “Buggers, don’t you even dare think of it. If you guys are planning what I think you are planning, then I am going to strangle both of you with my bare hands” he started shouting.
“Macha, my car is old and has only a stupid stereo with a tape player and radio. It is not a brand new Wagon R with the latest state of the art music system, sub woofers, tweeters, and you also have the latest imported GPS system that your cousin from Singapore bought you. Vinu, dude, take this hit for the Trio man, and in any case, it is not like we will let him break into your car, we will intercept him well before that, won’t we Maddy?” said Jammy.
Anybody who knew Vinu even a little well would have realized that by now he was frothing at the mouth. If there was anything that Vinu really loved, it was his vehicles. Right from his fancy bicycle which cost all of Rs 36,000, to his Bullet motorcycle and his brand new Wagon R, Vinu took care of them better than he took care of himself. Whether he bathed or not, he would wash and wipe all of his vehicles in the morning and keep them shiny neat. And the very thought of using his beloved Wagon R as bait for a thief simply boiled his blood.
But that being said, Vinu was the ultimate team player and The Trivial Trio was the one team that he would trust his life with. So, after a reasonably amount of convincing, and the promise of a couple of free meals at the BEL Road Nandhini restaurant, he finally agreed. His only conditions were that not even a scratch should be put on the car and that they would nab the thief before he could do any damage to any part of the car.
The next thing that the trio did was to pull out Maddy’s old CCTV Camera which his brother had sent over from Muscat two months ago. The original plan that Maddy had for the camera was to install it on his first floor balcony so that he could keep an eye on the car parking area in the ground floor of his house. But somehow, he had never got around to getting it installed.
They managed to position the CCTV Camera at Vinu’s house’s front window in such a manner that it was not visible from the outside but gave them a reasonably good close up of the entire front portion of his house including the car. And as a sample video, they even shot Vinu wiping his car to which Maddy said that it reminded him of a soaped up wet supermodel cleaning a car, except that in this case, the supermodel looked like a hippopotamus.
The only thing remaining now was to tempt Sankara to come and try to steal some gizmos from the car itself. This task was handled by Vinu who parked his car as close to the junction box as possible at around 5 in the evening and started playing loud music which accentuated the full effect of his stereo and the amplifier. And when Sankara came around to switch on the lights, Vinu pretended to answer his phone.
“Hello, yes, this is Vinu here……yes, yes, my address is 67, AEC Layout, 3 Stage, 4th Main, Sanjaynagar…..yes, I will be awake till around 10 PM, please come over before that” and hung up.
Sankara seemed to have taken the bait as Vinu noticed him turning back more than a few times to check the car out. The fact that Vinu had a stereo and sub woofers were evidenced by the 50 Cent song blaring from the speakers. Only time would tell as to when Sankara would make his move.
That night the trio requested Vinu’s parents to sleep on the first floor when they occupied the ground floor themselves. They had to give a cock and bull story about how they were planning to play some board games which they hadn’t done for a good 15+ yrs now and how that would end up disturbing his parents’ sleep. After a lot of convincing they managed to get the ground floor for themselves. They were 99% sure that if Sankara was indeed the thief, he would strike today, and this was evidenced by the fact that the streetlight bang opposite Vinu’s house was switched on tonight.
They switched off all the lights and the TV at around 10 PM and sat silently staring at the monitor on Maddy’s iBook which was connected to the CCTV Camera. They were recording all the proceedings. After around two hours of patient waiting by Jammy and Maddy when Vinu dropped off to sleep on the floor leaning against the wall, Maddy first noticed some movement near the gate on the monitor. He tapped Jammy on the arm and both of them clearly saw Sankara’s face in the light of the streetlight. Their plan had worked.
They didn’t wake up Vinu as he had a tendency to be startled when woken up from sleep and he also has this funny habit of yawning with a loud noise as soon as he woke up. They had no choice but to do this themselves without involving him. But they let him cut open the rubber beading of Vinu’s back window to get themselves clear evidence that Sankara was indeed trying to break into the car. This was the solid evidence they needed. Knowing that Vinu would flip if any more damage was done to the car, they decided to act.
Since the door was not locked, Jammy quietly slid open the only bolt and pulled open the door very quickly, while Maddy who was ready for some action immediately ran out and held Sankara with his arms under Sankara’s armpits from behind. Hearing the door open, Vinu also woke up and helped Maddy overpower Sankara and made him sit on the front steps of the house. Hearing all this commotion, Vinu’s parents and neighbors had switched on their lights and had come out of their houses to see what was happening.
Jammy then brought out Maddy’s iBook and confronted Sankara with the recording “Boss, your story is over. You have been captured on camera trying to break into the car. You are caught now. And trust me, when the police deal with you the way they usually do so, you will also confess how your broke into Sandy’s and Krishna’s cars. We have no choice but to hand you over to the police. Sorry boss, but you knew the risks of getting caught when you started robbing people, didn’t you.”
It was only when he saw the video that Vinu realized that Sankara had actually cut open the beading of his back window. Almost in tears and mad with rage, he would have surely strangled Sankara had not his dad and Maddy physically pulled him away from the thief. It took around 10 mins of smooth talking and convincing form Jammy and Maddy to bring Vinu’s temper down and make him understand that they allowed the car to be damaged only to ensure that they had concrete evidence against Sankara.
They then handed over Sankara and a pen drive with the video to Inspector Reddy from the Sanjaynagar Police Station who had been informed by Vinu’s dad when the commotion occurred and he realized what was happening. Once the cops left, it was around 2 AM in the morning and Saturday had already started dawning in the east.
The trio then briefed Vinu’s dad about their entire investigation and how they finally managed to trap the thief who had broken into the cars. Impressed with their efforts, Vinu’s dad agreed to sponsor the free meals that was owed to Vinu at the Nandhini restaurant for offering his car as bait to trap Sankara.
============
CONCLUDED
