The Case of the Pestering Prank Caller

"**The Case of the Pestering Prank Caller**" is the seventh episode of *The InBESTigators*.

## Synopsis

When a prank caller targets Ezra and his neighbours, Maudie believes the Inbestigators can track down who is making the mystery calls.

## Plot

At the Backyard, Ezra begins yet another case report from the inbestigators, saying that an investigative agency needs to have an advanced research skills and cutting-edge technology, which he tried to tell Maudie last Thursday. Inside the Granny Flat, on Thursday, Ezra, holding the tablet, shows that the agency needs cutting-edge technology, but Maudie refuses. Ezra tries to convince several times, saying that Franklin's Cube would be very useful, however, Maudie refuses the same way, where he, because of that, finds it very frustrating, and she would not even need to take the Most Frustrated Person on the Planet award. Ezra begins to remind Maudie that she would only accept facts, so she lets him explain Franklin Cube, however, Ezra is so surprised that he ends up forgetting what he was going to talk about.

While trying to remember, Ezra answers a call, whose person said nothing and simply hung up on him, which, according to him, was happening to him a lot, where he shows to be shy when talking to Maudie because she is very smart. Ezra decides to convince Maudie to go to Tom Franklin, owner of Franklin Locks and Security, which sells various electronic equipment, and among them is Cube Franklin, whose customers received a free quote and Ezra was one of them, who tried to ask his mother But when he went shopping, she refused, and because of that, he went to the store on Saturday. In addition, Ezra says that Tom is the father of Luka Franklin, one of his younger sister Poppy's classmates, but Maudie is confused by the latter fact, where Ezra thought she would be happy to realize that Tom is also single, as well as her father, and explains that they started talking about Franklin's Cube, which tracks calls matching the cell phone, where it selects the call, showing the person's number, the location of the call and the person's name. Ezra tried to offer Tom a Franklin Cube for free just for testing, however, he said he couldn't because the store wasn't making much progress, and he couldn't pay Jack's salary, who only works on Saturday, and Ezra says that they will try to get money. This leaves Maudie confused as to how they are going to get money since they have nothing, and Ezra says they can borrow her father's card. Even hearing the facts, Maudie still refuses, much to Ezra's despair and they are interrupted when someone enters the office.

That person was Mrs. Maniaci, Ezra's Italian neighbor, who soon tells him to assume what he did, and that refers to phone calls, to both his and Maudie's confusion. Mrs. Maniaci accuses him of calling her every day in the middle of her favorite soap opera, and Ezra is unable to defend herself. Upon realizing that the soap opera runs at 4:30 pm, Maudie defends Ezra, since she was with him all the time and he didn't use his cell phone to call anyone. Even so, Mrs. Maniaci is not convinced, since it also occurred on the other days of the week: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and she knew it was a boy because she heard sneezing twice on the call. Maudie agrees to decide to find out who's making phone calls to her, and Mrs. Maniaci promises that if they find the calling prank, she'll make a roast pie. Confused, Ezra decides to start the plan as soon as they will track a prank caller that may be calling from the other side of the country, however, Maudie disagrees with this thinking that the call is local and asks him to unlock his cell phone, the main one being The clue to this was that Ezra also received a strange call and soon realizes that he also received the other three days during the period between 4:30 pm and 5:00 pm. Seeing the urgency of this case, Ezra decides to start investigating, but everything is interrupted when Ezra's mother asks him to dinner, which is a disadvantage for an investigator who is 11 years old.

Maudie and Ezra decided to start the investigation on Friday and tell everything they knew, and decide to organize an interview with other neighbors to confirm who are the other people who are also frequent victims of the prank calls and they need to record the next call. Ava decides to divide: Ezra and Maudie record the call while she and Kyle interview the neighbors, but the two refuse to let them take over the interview because Ava is distracted by the conversation and Kyle forgets what it is to ask, where the latter disagrees and then Maudie asks what they need to ask, and Kyle demonstrates that he has forgotten. In addition, Ezra says they should only interview who they know, and Ava and Kyle say that one of the people they know who lives on Ezra's street is Amelia and Toby. After that, Maudie decides to record the call while the rest goes to interview the neighbors they knew: Kyle was at Toby, Ezra was at the other neighbors he knew and Ava was at Amelia, however, when they saw that she was taking too long, Kyle and Ezra go over to Amelia's house and see Ava leaving, who had lots of things to talk about, and when asked if Amelia was also a prank victim, she realizes that she forgot to ask the main fact and goes back there.

Ava, after that, returns to the granny flat saying that Amelia denied receiving prank calls during 4:30 pm and 5:00 pm. After that, it was concluded that the others who also received the calls were Toby, Mr Queen and Belinda in the green house. Thus, it is concluded that whoever did this fear a number of people and at the same time is a child who seems to have the flu. The four began to hear the most recent call from the prank caller that Maudie had recorded, and heard him / her sniffle. Even so, Ezra is not convinced, saying that if they had Franklin's Cube, they would know who the prank caller is effortlessly, and that makes Maudie realize that the product quotes were released on Monday, the same day that the calls started, making it necessary for them to return to the other people who also received the prank calls to see if they also received the budget, concluding that, to sell something that would remain calls, it would be easier to sell in another way instead of making boring calls to force everyone to track them.

That even encouraged him to send a letter to Maudie's father sometime thanking him for sending her to his school and getting them to start an investigation agency together. They returned to the people who also received the prank calls, and everyone confirmed that they had received the free quote. Maudie concludes knowing who the prank caller is. Ava is unbelievable that it would be Tom, and Maudie denies that. After that, they meet at Franklin Locks and Security on Saturday, but before that, Ezra announced that Jack is the prank caller, however, Maudie denies it was Jack, much to his confusion. This is because the budgets were made available on Monday and Jack works during Saturday, making it impossible for him to be. This leaves Ezra confused, since no one else works at the store, but Maudie recalls that there is one person who is always at the store: Luka, who started sneezing, and Maudie concludes that, in fact, he is allergic to cats, because in the conversation she had with Ezra on Thursday, he said that Tom said they were allergic to the cat, however, he did not suffer any allergic reaction, which could be that he was referring to someone else. Even so, Ezra is in doubt as to how they will prove that he is the prank caller, so Maudie goes over there and says that she answered Ezra's cell phone on Thursday, and Luka corrects her, which made him afraid that his father would find out and he ends up in trouble.

Luka, when going out of the store together with the group, assumes that she did it just to get people to buy the Franklin Cube to help his father, however, Ava considers it rude because it is annoying and not everyone is wants the device, and suggests a better way to publicize it: set up a table near the store, demonstrate and place cupcakes, balloons, etc. Ezra concludes that when it comes to events, Ava is not distracted by anything. Her suggestion made Tom sell three Franklin Cubes and have four orders of camera for the door and remote locks, and that made him very happy. Ezra decided to make Tom give something to reward, however, he does not give him a Franklin's Cube, but a sensor light for night work. The episode ends with Ezra finishing installing the sensor and his mother orders him in.

## Cast & Characters

 Aston Droomer
 Abby Bergman
 Jamil Smyth-Secka
 Sebastian Tremantona
 Tim Potter
 Dylan Jett Georgiades
 Marita Wilcox

## Features

### Locations

* Australia
	+ Unnamed Residential Area
		- Granny Flat
		- Middle Primary School (mentioned)
		- Franklin Locks and Security

### Items

* Notebook
* Franklin Cube

### Groups

* The InBESTigators
	+ Maudie Miller
	+ Ezra Banks
	+ Ava Andrikides
	+ Kyle Klimson

### Report Details

#### Characters

* Ezra Banks
* Sarah Banks (voice)

## Crime Details

### Victim

 Belinda in the Green House

## Videos

The Inbestigators 🔎 Bite Size 🍊 12The Inbestigators 🔎 Bite Size 🍌 13
## Trivia

* This episode introducts other characters that live on Ezra's neighbourhood, like Mrs Maniaci.

### Cultural References

* The surname "Franklin" of the characters Tom and Luka is similar to the American polymath Benjamin Franklin.
* The equipment that Ezra uses to install the sensors is similar to that of the character Bob the Builder.

### Continuity

* Ezra, while describing Mrs Maniaci, tells that she is Italian, which is officially confirmed in "The Case of the Suspect Sprinkler".
* Maudie mentions that Kyle always forgets what he needs to ask, that it is something about his personality to forget everything, first seen in "The Case of the Disappearing Deliveries".
* Amelia's house was also shown in the episode "The Case of the Sleepover Secret".
* Ezra, after understading Maudie's contribution to the agency, mentions that he would thanks Maudie's father for putting her into his school and began a detective agency, which fact happens in "The Case of the Curious New Girl".
* The crackers and cheeses were seen again in the episodes "The Case of the Concert Catastrophe" and "The Case of the Robot Robbery".
* Ezra bought some Franklin Locks and Security products in the episode "The Case of the Disoriented Drone".