“I need you to pick me up from Pinetown and drop me off at the Hillcrest,” says Mrs Higgins to Cebo on the phone.

“Alright, I’m on my way,” Cebo starts the car.

“No, not today,” says Mrs Higgins. “on Thursday. I’ll call you then to confirm the time and address.”

After the call ends, Cebo sits back and thinks. He sensed that something was fishy with Mrs Higgins when she asked him to park by the side of the road on Margret Mncadi Avenue and wait for a call. He remembers her reciting a license place as if to memorize it. He remembers that she stood and watched him drive away before she did whatever she wanted to do.

“But what choice do I have?” Cebo mutters to himself and shrugs.

Mrs Higgins calls Cebo two days later with the time and address as promised. He drives her to her destination and she does exactly as before. She asks Cebo to park somewhere, waits for a call and then asks Cebo to drop her of at a nearby place. Mrs Higgins waits until Cebo is gone before she moves.

“What do you do?” asks Cebo as he drives Mrs Higgins to Umhlanga a week later.

“Nothing you need to worry about, darling,” replies Mrs Higgins. She’s now reading another crime novel titled Killer Twin. She lifts her head up. “What does it feel like to shoot a gun?”

Cebo’s head shifts back and his eyebrows furrow. “What?”

“How does it feel to shoot a gun.”

“I’ve never touched a gun in my life,” says Cebo.

“I haven’t either,” says Mrs Higgins. “How is your girlfriend, is she keeping the baby?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’re a nice young man, let me know if you ever need anything else,” Mrs Higgins continues reading her novel.

Two months later, Cebo is parked near the International Convention Centre in Durban, waiting for a person who requested an Uber. He hears an interesting news story on the radio and turns it up.

“The police have recovered sixteen cars that were stolen and left abandoned in random areas around Durban,” says the man on the news. “It seems whoever steals the cars does it just for the fun of it. They leave everything in the car intact. Detective Ndebele of the Durban Metro police urges the community to inform the law if they see or have seen someone abandon a car, especially on the empty freeway or highway areas. Most of the cars had Stallion Car Trackers installed, but the company was unable to track them. Stallion Car Trackers said they were looking into the problem, but did not yet know why their trackers had stopped working.”

Cebo thinks nothing of the news.

Tom is driving home in his BMW M4 when he hears the news too. He smiles, picks up his phone and calls Mrs Higgins.

“Switch on your radio, we’ve finally made the news,” he says.

“Really?”

“Yes, Mrs Higgins,” says Tom. “It’s time to move to the next phase of our plan. I’ll pull some strings and get some small tracker companies to advertise that cars with their trackers haven’t been stolen. That will make people figure out on their own that most of the cars that were taken have Stallion Car Trackers and that the company couldn’t recover those cars. Then you’ll take two cars that have TechQuick and we’ll recover them as soon as you leave that location. Our cars won’t stay missing for days. That should get us our clients back.”

“So the fun is about to end already?” says Mrs Higgins in a childlike tone.

“Don’t get addicted to crime, Mrs Higgins. Gregory will murder me,” Tom laughs.

*****

Mrs Higgins and Tom soon complete their scheme successfully. The media writes articles about Stallion Car Trackers, calling it useless. TechQuick Car Trackers regains its clients and more. Bra Tebza’s boys, Sbuda and Andile, paint their blue Polo Classic red and change the license plate. Mrs Higgins breaks and throws away the SIM card she used during the scheme. Cebo continues with life normally, still expecting to receive a call from The White Grandma.

He’s driving on the N3 headed to Hammarsdale when four police vehicles and a helicopter circle the Avanza and point it to the side. Cebo is frightened and confused as he stops the Avanza on the side of the highway and slowly steps out of it. His hands are shaky and heavy but he keeps them up, afraid the officers pointing guns at him will shoot.

“I didn’t do anything,” he cries.

“We’ve collected camera footage from buildings around the areas where cars were stolen. This car and a blue Polo Classic were in every scene,” says a detective as he handcuffs Cebo. “At first we thought it was a coincidence, but after we saw this same Avanza more than ten times it became apparent that it was part of what was happening.”

Tell us: What do you think is going to happen?