The Adventures of Thor Lawrence

The Wolves

"I think test matches should be telecasted at night." said Thor
"Why?!" I asked
"Because they make you fall asleep. For God sake 5 of 40 balls! This is ridiculous."
I laughed out aloud at his childish statement.
"Test matches are meant to be like that brother." I said
Thor did not reply but shot me daggers with his eyes.
Our conversation was cut short by the doorbell.
"Come in" said Thor.
Entered Thor's friend Inspector Mukherjee.
"Aah, Siddharth what brings you here?"
"Well a murder!" replied Inspector Mukherjee.
"Where?"
"You've  heard of Rathtala Greens?"
"The new complex?"
"Yes. A man was found lying dead in a small flat which was stocked with expensive furniture. No one could identity the dead man. When we reached the flat it was absolute mess. Someone had obviously come looking for something but we don't know what. We have made enquiries regarding the man's identity and his name is Subhojit Sengupta, he was a worker at the Mani Square Shoppers Stop. It'd be great if you came and had a look."
"Sure my friend let's go."
Rathtala Greens was one of the newest finished projects in Kolkata. It had 8 buildings all with 32 floors and extensive security. The flat of the victim was on the 26th floor. We entered and just as we had heard it looked like some storm had blown through this flat. Literally everything was on the floor. All cabinets, all almirahs open. It was a one bedroom flat stacked full of expensive furniture. There were two TVs one in the bedroom a 32 inch LED and another an, old box TV in the living room.
"Well this seems strange" said Thor.
"What?" I asked.
"The TVs. How come a man with such an expensive and unique taste has an old box TV?"
"Maybe it means something special to him."
"Where's the body Siddharth?"
"Sorry I forgot to mention. The body is at the morgue. The man met death 3 days ago. Today morning the sweepers broke through as the smell of the dead body had reached their nose. They informed the security who informed us."
Thor listened and then surveyed the house with utmost care. After half an hour he finished his examination.
"Well Siddharth we are done here. Just before we leave can you give me your stick?"
"Sure." Inspector handed him over his stick.
Thor took the stick and thrashed the screen of the Old Box TV. We were mind blown after seeing what lay inside it. Inside the TV was a heap of jewellery and gems.
"And that is gentlemen why this man had an old box TV in this illustrious flat."
"How the hell did you deduce that?"
"Observations. First of all, everyone was of us was confused about the existence of this old box TV  in this illustrious flat. It cannot be antique as it is something which was available in the market around 7-8 years ago. The wires of the set top box go very loosely behind the TV. If you come and have a look from behind you can clearly see that those are not connected. Next the switchboard. It has 3 switches and a plug point. Usually the switch beside the plug point is the one which controls the device plugged in. Here this switch controls the fan. Two switches remain. One of them controls the tubelight and the other one controls the dim light. Then there are 4 screws drilled in the middle of the box which means something is in there and the TV was cut. It is also regularly opened as there is no dust on the screws. Hence I came to the conclusion that something was hidden in the TV."
"Wow!" The words came out themselves from my mouth.
"But the problem is who was looking for all this smuggled stuff. Anyways it's lunch time now, Siddharth I'll meet you at the morgue around 6pm. Bye!"
We went back home and had our lunch.
"You know there is something wrong with that whole complex."
"Why?!"
"There is extensive security all over the complex but there are no CCTV cameras!"
"Well it's a new complex, maybe they haven't installed them yet."
"Yes, that is a probable explanation."
Thor then took up his laptop, did some vigorous research, called someone and then again spoke when it was 4:30.
"All flats in the complex are sold. It was built just a month ago. Doesn't that seem strange? Moreover all of them are single bedroom flats. Why? And why will so many people invest in single bedroom flats? Yes there are great amenities, it's a good location but still!"
"Um...maybe bookings were open long before the construction was completed."
"But why single bedroom flats?"
"That confuses me."
"So it does."
"I think we'll have to book an appointment with Mr. Vishal Sharma."
"Who is that?"
"He constructed this complex. I think I'll tell Siddharth to send me a picture of the body and the wound. This can wait but we need to talk to Mr.Vishal Sharma. One more thing. We'll go dressed as two  British businessman looking for a one-bedroom flat. You will be Craig Henderson and I, Daniel Henderson. Here take this moustache, put on your hat and the best suit which you've got. I'll be back in a second."
I dressed up, and in the meantime Thor came back and gave me a card. Then he dressed up himself and came back. Anyone who didn't know him wouldn't be able to recognize him.
Mr.Sharma's office was in Shyambazar. We had no problem in finding it as it was just opposite the big Arsalan. Mr.Sharma was fortunately free and met us straightaway. He was a tall and fat man, with very chubby cheeks. He wore a spectacle and looked at us with his shrewd eyes.
"Good Afternoon Mr.Sharma. Daniel Henderson here. You have probably heard of Henderson and co.- the famous watchmakers. Me and my brother -Craig are the owners of that illustrious company. We wanted to setup our business in India and we have come here. We are looking to buy a 1BHK flat so that we whenever we come there is no problem in lodging. We heard that you have recently built the Rathtala Greens. We wanted to buy a flat there."
"Not possible." said Mr.Sharma.
"Why so?"
"It's sold out"
"But I heard that recently one flat became empty due to the death of a man."
"You can leave!" shouted the businessman.
"Listen Mr.Sharma, if you don't want the Blue Bird scandal to go public , then give us the keys." said Thor coldly.
Mr.Sharma sank back in his chair and handed us a key.
"Have a good day Mr.Sharma. It was nice to meet you."
"But you could have gotten the keys from Inspector Mukherjee."
"Yes. But it's part of an elaborate plan. You'll see at night. We'll be sleeping today at the Rathtala Greens."
Instead of going back home we went straight to our victim's flat.
" Don't remove your moustache, wig and stuff. You can change your clothes though. " said Thor.
Throughout the evening Thor was busy and spent his time calling people. Atlast it was night time.
"Don't you dare sleep Rohit! Close your eyes but be awake. And here take this."
Thor handed me over a pistol.
I looked at him. He just gave a nod.
At 12o'clock we heard the door click. Two men wearing masks shaped like a wolves' face entered. Soon they entered the room and just as they did, Thor sprang up and punched one of the guys in the nose and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. The other man had raised his arm to hit Thor and in an instant I shot his arm with the revolver which Thor had given me. That man fell down and Thor ordered-
"Call Siddharth."
I did just as Thor instructed and in an instant the whole block was seized. Inspector Mukherjee came up and Thor handed over the two guys to him. Next day we returned and I asked Thor to explain to me everything.
"You see I did a bit of wrong research.  Only one block was full of single bedrooms. The recent burglaries which have shot up in the newspaper ,like the robbing of the PC Chandra exhibition or the sudden disappearance of the Crown Jewel were all done by this gang. They left a paper cutout of a wolf wherever they successfully managed to get everything they wanted. This whole block was their shelter. No one would ever suspect a thing. Our victim had probable betrayed the crew and hence he was killed. I found deep inside the TV cabinet a small chamber where I found this wolf faced mask.  Then I made a plan of how I could catch them red-handed and told it to Siddharth and yeah, the rest is history as they say!"
"Who was their leader?"
"Why? Mr.Sharma."
"What happened to him?"
"He was arrested as well."
"So what does this prove?"
"What?!"
"A duo of lions is more powerful than a pack of wolves!"