We returned to the hotel. Feluda said after lunch that he wanted to take the framed photograph to a studio on the Mall. ‘Then I must go and see Inspector Saha at the police station,’ he added. ‘I need some information urgently, which I think the police could get far more easily. If you two want to go anywhere, do so. I am not going to go out when I return. All I want to do then is think. This case hasn’t yet formed a definite shape. A few things are still unclear . . . still hazy.’ Feluda left. Lalmohan Babu and I decided to go for another walk. A cool breeze was blowing outside, which made walking very pleasant. ‘There’s something you haven’t yet seen,’ I said to Jatayu. ‘It’s the pine wood behind Mr Majumdar’s house. I went there for only a couple of minutes, but I thought it was a beautiful place. Would you like to go there?’ ‘Do we have to go through his house to get there?’ ‘Oh no. The main road forks to the left, which goes straight to the wood. Haven’t you noticed it?’ ‘No, can’t say I have. But if that is the case, let’s go.’ We left. Feluda’s words kept ringing in my mind. He had definitely found a powerful clue, but of course he wasn’t going to talk about it unless he had thought it all out. We would have to put up with long periods of silence when he got back. ‘Tapesh,’ Lalmohan Babu said on the way to the wood, ‘tell me something. Where is the mystery in this case? Lokenath killed his employer and vanished with the statue. Surely that’s all there is to it? Why doesn’t your cousin simply leave it to the police? They’ll find Lokenath and deal with him. End of story.’ ‘How can you say that? You’ve known Feluda for years. Have you ever seen him get worked up about anything unless there was a good reason? You saw for yourself how he was attacked. Surely Lokenath wasn’t responsible for that? Besides, Mr Majumdar himself had killed someone, even if it was an accident. Then there was that case of someone in his bank stealing a lot of money. He was never caught. Above all, you yourself told us you heard Mr Majumdar shouting at somebody. We don’t know who he was shouting at. So many questions need to be answered. How can you say it’s a simple case?’ By this time we had reached the wood. It wasn’t just beautiful, but also remarkable in other ways. I realized there were many other trees and plants in addition to pine. I could recognize juniper, fir and rhododendron, all of which were in abundance; I did not know the names of the other plants. Some of the bushes had red, blue and yellow flowers. Since the sky was overcast, the whole place seemed darker today. We walked on, feeling as though we were