The Pearl of Bengal Read Free

surprise for them,” suggested Dash.
    Agatha pursed her lips, doubtful. “What sort of surprise?”
    “Simple. Once we’ve solved the case, we’ll go visit them in New Delhi. I bet they’ll jump for joy to see us! What do you think?”
    Chandler gave a small nod of agreement.
    “I have to admit, that’s not a bad thought,”said Agatha, twisting a lock of her short, blond hair. “All right, let’s do it!”
    She sent the butler to pack while she and Dash went to her room to download mission data.
    They clicked on the main file, and a familiar face with a mustache and bowler hat filled the screen.
    It was Agent UM60, professor of Investigation Techniques.
    Dash’s cheeks flushed instantly.

    “I’ll be brief, Agent DM14,” the professor said. “Thedata we have on this case is quite scarce: a recorded phone call, some photo files, and a man who’s gone missing. It’s a mystery we know precious little about. Your mission: to fill in the gaps and solve the case. You have five days and not one minute more. Otherwise, you’ll be expelled. Happy hunting!”
    The message clicked off.
    “Interesting,” said Agatha.
    “You mean
terrifying
,” said Dash, who looked very pale.
    The girl clicked open the file containing the recorded phone call. The audio signal was very bad, and they had to replay it several times to understand some parts.
    “Someone’s inside the house…KSSSHH KSSSHH…They’ve picked the lock, I hear feet on the stairs…KSSSHH KSSSHH…They’re coming toward my door, I know what they’re after—the pearl! The pearl! KSSSHH KSSSHH…If anything happensto me, tell my dear friend…KSSSHH KSSSHH…Deshpande!…BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP…
    Agatha’s eyes glowed with excitement. “First off, we need to discover whose voice that is. Then we can start reconstructing exactly what happened. You agree, Dash?”
    White-faced, Dash rubbed his temples as if he’d just gotten the world’s biggest headache.

T he only nonstop to Kolkata was a red-eye from Heathrow at 10:00 p.m. The Mistery cousins were glad to have plenty of prep time.
    They split up the tasks. Chandler booked their flights and took care of all the travel details, Dash pored over the files his school had attached, and Agatha went to the Mistery Estate’s huge library to investigate India.
    “If memory serves,” she told Dash, “one of our relatives wrote an article about Bengal tigers for
National Geographic
.”
    “Did you pull that out of one of your famous memory drawers?” Dash smirked. He was alwayscracking jokes about Agatha’s amazing memory. He paused for a moment, then stuttered, “Wait! What? Did you just say…
tigers?!
”
    “I did,” she said calmly. “The Sundarbans region has the largest population of man-eaters in the whole world!”
    Dash shook his head and turned back to his file. “As if that obnoxious cat weren’t bad enough, now we’re dealing with man-eating tigers!” he groaned.
    Like her parents, Agatha preferred old-fashioned technologies. While Dash surfed the net with his EyeNet, she rolled a ladder around the high shelves of the oak-paneled library, pulling down a dozen leather-bound volumes on the history and religions of India. Even at first glance, it looked like a very complicated subject.
    Next, she searched for the issue of
National Geographic
with the photo spread on Bengal tigers. “I was right!” she told Dash. “His name is Rudyard Mistery! He’s a nature photographer, and a very brave one, from the looks of these close-ups.”

    “Oh great,” said her cousin. He didn’t sound happy.
    Agatha studied a shot of a snarling male tiger’s face. “Looks like he used an extreme telephoto lens, like the one in
Rear Window
.”
    She and Dash went to look at the Mistery family tree, a gigantic world map marked with residences, occupations, and family relationships of every known member of the Mistery clan. “Here he is,
Uncle Rudyard
,” she exclaimed. “Oh, and what good luck—he