The Pearl of Bengal Read Free Page A

lives in Kolkata!”
    She picked up the phone and dialed his number. “I hope he’s working in his darkroom. It’s a four-and-a-half-hour time difference,” she noted. “I hope he can give us a hand!”
    From the other end of the line, a hearty voice boomed,“Mistery Photo, hello there. Who’s calling from London?” It was Uncle Rudyard.
    The conversation went for a good half an hour. By the time Rudyard finally hung up, Agatha’s ears were smoking. “That uncle of ours can talk a blue streak,” she told Dash, slightly breathless. “But he’s already gotten ‘an old chum’ to set up a visitors’ permit for Sundarbans National Park. And he has a peculiar request.”
    “Of course he does, he’s a Mistery! What is it this time?”
    “He asked if any of us can fly a plane.”
    Just then, Chandler entered the room with his usual discretion. “If I can be of service, Miss Agatha, many years ago I took flying lessons.”
    “Excellent, Chandler,” she replied. “Add your aviation equipment to our luggage.”
    The butler didn’t bat an eye. “As you wish, Miss,” he said. “Dinner is served.”
    They went to the ancestral dining room andsat at a long Louis XIV table, set with the Mistery family’s best china. Chandler had even set out the silver cutlery and linen napkins with the family monogram.
    He served the cousins a perfectly cooked sole meunière, which they wolfed down in no time. Dash took seconds of everything, and thirds of the roasted potatoes.
    “What did you learn from the files, Dash?” asked Agatha, digging a spoon into her chocolate mousse.
    “There was a theft,” mumbled Dash with his mouth full.
    “The pearl in the phone message?”
    Dash nodded. “Not just any pearl. The world-famous Pearl of Bengal.”
    Agatha touched the tip of her nose. “Hmm, I read something about that…A Hindu temple half buried in the jungle, with an ancient statue of the goddess Kali…” She paused for a moment. “Kaliwas holding the pearl in the palm of her hand, am I right?”
    Dash was no longer astonished by Agatha’s amazing mnemonic talents. “You opened the right drawer, cousin. The village is called Chotoka. It’s on the delta of the Ganges River. Very remote,” he added. “The website called it ‘inaccessible.’”
    “Anything else?” she pressed.
    “On the night of the theft, the old custodian, Amitav Chandra, disappeared. He was the only one who knew which ten of a hundred keys opened the doors to the sanctuary of the goddess Kali. It was his voice we heard on the recording.”
    “Abduction or murder?”
    “Nobody knows yet,” Dash replied, sounding uncertain. “There are no police in Sundarbans National Park, only the forest guard, led by Captain Deshpande.”
    “The ‘dear friend’ in the message?”
    “Exactly.” Dash nodded as he laid out photographs he had downloaded.
    Agatha and Chandler stared in silence at the wild mangrove jungle surrounding the temple. Chotoka village seemed to be swallowed by bright green foliage. There were no roads around it, only some winding dirt paths and wide waterways navigated by fishermen in small wooden boats. Fortunately among the thatched huts was a large bungalow with a hand-painted sign reading TIGER HOTEL .
    “Uncle Rudyard suggested we stay there,” Agatha murmured to her cousin. “Back to our case. Who are the suspects?” she asked.
    “I don’t know,” spluttered Dash, holding a grape halfway to his mouth. “That’s all there was in the file. We’ve got nothing to go on!”
    Agatha glanced at the clock and took the situation in hand. “To recap, twenty-four hours ago, a rare pearl of incalculable value wasstolen from a Hindu temple.”
    She picked up a photo of the precious pearl. It was a perfect sphere, nearly black, with silvery highlights.
    “Just before the theft occurred, the custodian, Amitav Chandra, called Eye International from his home,” she said, closing her eyelids. “Someone broke into his home, forced