When we climbed down eventually and went back to the main entrance to the temple, the members of the film unit had all disappeared. There were knots of local people, curious and excited. The big American car had been replaced by a jeep. An intelligent and smart looking man—possibly in his mid-thirties—saw Feluda and came forward to greet him. It turned out to be Mr Kulkarni, the manager of the Tourist Guest House. ‘We realized only this morning that Mr Bose had not returned last night,’ he said, shaking his head regretfully. ‘I sent a bearer to look for him, but of course he couldn’t find him anywhere.’ ‘What is going to happen now?’ Feluda asked. ‘The police in Aurangabad have been informed. They’re sending a van to collect the body. Mr Bose had a brother in Delhi. He’ll have to be informed, naturally. . . It is really very sad. The man was a true scholar. He came once before, in 1968. I believe he was writing a book on Ellora.’ ‘Isn’t there a police station here?’ ‘Yes, but it’s only a small outpost. An assistant sub-inspector is in charge, a man called Ghote. He’s inspecting the body at the moment.’ ‘Could I meet him?’ ‘Certainly. Oh, by the way—’ Mr Kulkarni stopped, looking doubtfully at Lalmohan Babu and me. ‘They are friends, you may speak freely before them,’ Feluda said quickly. ‘Oh. Oh, I see,’ Mr Kulkarni sounded relieved. ‘Well, someone rang Bombay this morning.’ ‘Mallik?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What did he say?’ Mr Kulkarni took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read from it: ‘The daughter’s fine. Leaving today.’ ‘Today? Did he tell you anything about leaving today?’ ‘He did. He wanted to leave this morning. But I thought of you, Mr Mitter, and had a word with his driver. Mallik has been told there’s something wrong with his car, it’ll take a while to repair it. So he cannot leave immediately.’ ‘Bravo! Thank you, Mr Kulkarni, you’ve been a great help.’ Mr Kulkarni looked pleased. Feluda lit a Charminar and asked, ‘Tell me, what kind of a man is this Ghote?’ ‘A very good man, I should say. But he doesn’t like it here. He longs for a promotion and a posting in Aurangabad. Come with me, I will introduce you to him.’ Mr Ghote had emerged from the cave. Mr Kulkarni brought him over and introduced Feluda as ‘a very famous private detective’. Mr Ghote’s height was about five feet five inches. His width matched

his height and, to top it all, he had a moustache like Charlie Chaplin. But his movements were surprisingly brisk and agile. ‘Why don’t you go back to the bungalow?’ Feluda said to me. ‘I’ll have a word with Mr Ghote, and then join you there.’ Neither of us had the slightest wish to return without Feluda, but there was no point in arguing. So we went back. On reaching the bungalow, we realized we were both quite hungry; so I stopped to tell the chowkidar to send us toast and eggs. Then I walked into our room, to find Lalmohan Babu sitting on his bed, looking a little foolish. ‘Tell me, Tapesh,’ he said on seeing me, ‘did we lock our room before going out this morning?’ ‘Why, no! There was no need to. We have nothing worth stealing. Besides, the cleaners usually come in the morning, so I thought . . . why, has anything been taken?’ ‘No. But someone has been through my things. Whoever did it sat on my bed and opened my suitcase. In fact, when I came in, the bed was still warm. See if he touched your suitcase as well?’ He had; I realized this the minute I opened the case. Nothing was in place. Not only that, one of my pillows was lying on the floor. Judging by the way my chappals had been thrown in two different directions, the intruder had even looked under the bed. ‘I was most worried about my notebook,’ Lalmohan Babu confided, ‘but he didn’t take it, thank God.’ ‘Did he take anything else?’ ‘No, I don’t think so. What about you?’ ‘The same. Whoever came in was looking for something specific, I think. He didn’t find it here.’ ‘Let’s ask the chowkidar if he saw anything.’ But the chowkidar could not help. He had gone out shopping for a while, so if anyone stole in while he was out, he couldn’t have seen him. Normally, theft was a rare occurrence in these parts. The chowkidar seemed most puzzled by the thought that anyone’s room should be broken into and their belongings searched. Had Feluda’s room been similarly ransacked? I went to have a look, but saw that his room was locked. He had to be extra careful because of his disguise. ‘Should we try asking Raxit?’ Lalmohan Babu asked. Having seen the flashing light in his room the night before, I was feeling rather curious about the man. So I agreed and we both went up to his room. I knocked softly. The door opened almost at once. ‘What is it? Come in.’ Mr Raxit did not seem very pleased to see us; but we went into his room, anyway. ‘Did anyone break into your room as well?’ Lalmohan Babu asked as soon as he had stepped in. From the way Mr Raxit looked at Lalmohan Babu, it was obvious that he was not in a good mood. He spoke in a low voice, but his tone was sharp. ‘What’s the use of speaking to you?’ he said. ‘You can’t hear a word, can you? Let me speak to your nephew. Not only did someone get into my room, but he actually removed something valuable.’ ‘What. . . what was it?’ I asked timidly. ‘My raincoat. I had bought it in England, and had been using it for the last twenty-five years.’ Lalmohan Babu looked at me silently. He wasn’t supposed to have heard anything.