The Pearl of Bengal Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyebrow.
    Agatha dropped her voice. “We can’t mention Mr. Chandra’s phone call,” she explained. “It’s the one thing nobody in the village knows about, not even the thief. It will be the ace up our sleeve!”
    And so it was.
    They told Captain Deshpande that they were investigating on orders from a reputable international agency and would like his full cooperation. They wanted to know all the details from the current investigation: suspects,evidence, and whatever clues the forest guard had obtained.
    The captain filed their permits in the cabinet behind his desk, gazing at them with a smirk. “So you’re my reinforcements?” he asked Agatha and Dash. “Aren’t you two a bit young to be detectives?”
    “They’re extremely bright kids, Captain,” Uncle Rudyard interjected. Until then, he had remained silent with his fingers linked behind his head.
    “They’re your niece and nephew, so of course you’d speak well of them, Professor Mistery,” he replied curtly. “But I’m not convinced. I want to see their credentials.”
    Dash was ready for this. Punching a secret code into his EyeNet, he handed the device to the captain.
    “Use the cursor to scroll down the screen. You’ll find all the credentials you need regardingme and the agency I represent,” he said firmly.
    The onscreen résumé was a detailed list of Dash’s solved cases, designed to impress anyone at first glance.
    Too bad it was a fake!
    Quite a brilliant one…but would it bear up under the scrutiny of the captain Uncle Rudyard had called “stubborn” and “sharp”?
    The anxious silence in the small office was disturbed only by the whir of a creaky, slow fan and the buzzing of gnats. As Deshpande read, a single drop of sweat formed on his forehead and slowly made its way down his cheek, coming to rest in his mustache.
    “Very hot today, isn’t it?” he said, unbuttoning his collar. He pushed the EyeNet back to Dash and leaned forward. “Right, then, you have my permission to investigate,” he said. “What do my young colleagues wish to know?”
    The hoax had worked to perfection!

    While her cousin shoved the EyeNet back into its case with a private sigh of relief, Agatha started to hammer Deshpande with questions. “Let’s start with your suspects. Who are they?”
    “I’ve lived in this village for over thirty years and know all of the villagers well,” the captain replied. “Therefore I have excluded everyone who was friendly with old Mr. Chandra, including myself.”
    “Who’s left, then?” Agatha pressed him, opening her notebook to a blank page.
    Deshpande paused. Starting with the thumb on his right hand, he started to count them off. “Brahman Sangali, who never agreed with Chandra about how the temple should be run.” He raised his index finger. “The pair of Spanish tourists staying at the Tiger Hotel. They have a record of thefts in other parts of the world.”
    When he came to his third finger, he stopped.
    “Well?” Dash blurted. “Who else?”
    “You promised full cooperation, Captain,” Agatha reminded him.
    Deshpande sighed deeply. “You must understand, this isn’t easy for me…Do you know Naveen Chandra, the famous Bollywood actor?”
    “Don’t you mean Hollywood, sir?” Dash corrected him.
    Agatha cleared her throat. “Dash, my dear, Bollywood is the biggest movie industry in the world. It’s the Indian equivalent of Hollywood,” she explained.
    “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize…” Dash blushed.
    “The answer is no,” Agatha interrupted. “We haven’t heard of Naveen Chandra. Who is he, Captain?”
    “Our prime suspect in the theft of the pearl,” the official said with a heavy sigh. “Naveen Chandra is Amitav Chandra’s son!”
    Everyone was astonished. For the first time,Agatha pulled her pen from the page.
    Rudyard was the first to respond. “We understand your pain, as a friend of the family,” he tried to reassure Captain Deshpande, “but tell me, these suspects,