Mystery at Mavadi!

Chapter 14!

Hey!! I'm back!! 

Half-yearlys were evil and I had this uncanny urge to start typing the next chapter everytime I saw my textbook. Ah well, I did ok on the tests. 

As for this story, it's far from over, so yay?

Anywho... While I was trying to study (emphasis: trying) I got a great idea for another book. It's like a different world where people have special skills and stuff... But I'm gonna have to finish this story first. Keep your eyes open for it please!

Back to this story...

Recap: 

"Well," Robert continued anyway "I caught one of the thieves last night."

My jaw dropped. So did Robin's.

What?

Robert caught a thief? ONE of the thieves?

"You.. you caught a thief?" I stammered.

"The one breaking into houses at night?" Robin managed, stunned.

Robert seemed to love the attention he was getting. 

"Yes" he answered, enjoying the looks on our faces. "But his partner is still on the loose. I doubt, though, that he'd try anything, what with me still around."

That snapped us out of it. 

"How?" Larry asked looking impressed. 

Robert sat down in one of the armchairs and spread out his hands in a let-me-begin-from-the-beginning gesture.

"I do believe I shall have to narrate from the beginning." He gave a dramatic huff "Do you know about the treasure caskets?"

His tone was I-don't-think-you-do.

We all nodded and I had the satisfaction of seeing his face fall.

"Well, your grandmother's hidden it somewhere," he continued halfheartedly.

"Yeah," Robin couldn't help saying, "we know."

Robert studied him. I could sense a spark of mutual hate start between them.

"Yes well," Robert carried on "You must know then that the thieves are after it."

"Duh."

An involuntary smile spread across my face.

"Last night," Robert went on trying to ignore the interruptions "for some unknown reason, the thieves decided to break into a house on the west side of the village."

"Where the police were patrolling first!" Robert exclaimed.

"Yes," Robert said "And I happened to be there since I hadn't known the patrol had shifted to this area. I went to ask the people in-charge of the patrol why they were, which they weren't, patrolling there when the breaking in was clearly down here."

He paused and looked around at our faces, checking for our attention.

We stared back at him.

Satisfied, he continued "That's when I heard weird bird noises."  

Larry turned his laptop around to show us an article that he'd found. 

"Jhembulingam and his men used catcalls and bird like sounds to communicate back and forth." he said " A guy from the gang would be stationed outside the house they were robbing. If he had to alert the men inside, he'd imitate a bird. Different calls for different messages. Most petty thieves in the country use the same technique."