Our video camera was flat and that wasn’t even the worst thing. Shortly after the Glass Smashing Bandit had broken our back window, we’d discovered that he, disguised as a mechanic, hadn’t even fixed our vehicle. All he’d done was leave a note in the engine that said, “You’ll never catch me and my beautiful face, suckers.”

Oh, how wrong he was. He’d dropped his fake moustache and glasses shortly before leaving and we had the evidence on our camera. We just had to get it charged. So Watson and I called an auto electrician working around Hobart who was willing to come and tow us to the workshop. After a few hours, we finally got to the capital of Tasmania, our original destination on this crazy holiday.

We asked if the mechanic had a cable that could charge our video camera and he brought us into his office, letting us set up there while he got to work on the car. A few minutes later we had the camera working and began fast-forwarding through the footage for the face of our elusive criminal.

I should have known that he wasn’t a real mechanic sooner. The footage shows that he just stood with the hood of our car open, playing on his Nine-Ten-Do portable video game console. Now that I think back on it, I couldn’t hear any tools being used and he didn’t even check to see if the car was working. It should have been so obvious that he was a fake mechanic. Hobart and Melbourne have a Glass Smashing Bandit on the loose. I never should have let my guard down.

Watson got to the part of the video where our man dropped his disguise. He was talking to us when his fake moustache and glasses fell from his face and onto the ground. We had him!

But as we zoomed in closer, it became apparent that the Glass Smashing Bandit had been wearing a mask under his disguise. 

“That sly dog,” I whispered. “Got us again!”

“Not quite,” said Watson. “I think I can work out where he got his disguise and possibly the mask too if it was from the same shop. Schlock, I think we have a lead.”