Chapter/Part 1

“Marvellous Detective Agency?” It was a fat, balding man in an expensive suit.

Aditya couldn’t believe his eyes. He quickly ushered the man in and made him comfortable in one of the two chairs in the room.

“Let’s get down to business, then. Could you call Mr. Yogyanath?”

Aditya’s expression fell. ”Oh. You want Mr. Yogyanath.”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“No. It’s just that he’s the owner of the Marvellous Detective Agency on the west side. In case you reconsider, here’s our card."

This was the fifth time that month that a customer had come to him looking for that damned Yogyanath. But there was nothing he could do. He had registered his business on Google, and a month later he knew the address of his competitor down to the plot number. He was just about ready to give up on this venture of his. And what about Keith? He may have been just an assistant, but Aditya was still responsible for him. His phone started ringing. He looked at it.

“Speak of the devil.” He picked it up. “Hey, Keith. How goes the client hunting?”

“Still nothing. It doesn’t seem like anyone is interested here. How’s your end?”

“Staler than month-old beer. Let’s go out and do something, man.”

“When?”

“Now.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, some mall. The only requirement is that it should distract me.”

“Fine.”

“Cool.” He sighed and got up, when he saw a familiar portly figure by the entrance. It was the man from earlier. He wanted to know if they would take his case. Aditya steadied himself and put on his biggest smile.

“You came at just the right time, sir.”

                                             ---

Aditya and Keith were dressed in their Sunday best, at the old man’s house. It was the first time in a while that they had a client, and they weren’t taking any chances.

They were ushered into a large room where the portly man sat behind a desk. A plaque presented to a Mr. Daruwalla was hanging behind him. He motioned for them to sit, and took a deep breath. "I was robbed last week. The reason I came to boys instead of the police is that the stolen items hold sentimental value for me, and I don't want to bother them with something like this."

"We understand. What exactly was stolen?"

Mr.Daruwalla shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Do you really need to know?"

"If you would like us to have some chance of finding it, yes."

He sighed. "Fine. They were comics I used to read when I was about your age. I amassed a huge collection by the time my business took off. Sunday morning, I opened my drawer, and no comics."

"Well, we'd like to see where the comics where stored."

He showed them the drawer in his desk where he had kept the comics, and Keith checked the keyhole.

"Hasn't been forced."

After the room had been swept for clues, Aditya and Keith were relaxing with some lemon juice. "We'd like list of people that you know had access to the room. We'll need their addresses, and if you could tell them that we'll be dropping by to talk to them, that would be great."

"Sure, but my daughter's wedding reception is in a week. All the people I can think of right now will be attending, and they won't mind it then. I'll point out the people you need to talk to."

"Wow. Thanks very much."
                                            ---
"Look, lobster!" Keith was pointing out what appeared to be a large fish tank, only it was filled with giant, cherry-red lobsters. They scurried over to try it.

"This is the coolest reception I have ever been to."

Keith vigorously nodded."I know. Did you try the stir fry counter?"

"Now that I know there is one, I'm going to!"

They were letting off steam after some tiring interrogation, if interrogation is the right word for it. It involved them sidling up to the suspects one by one, starting a conversation with them, and then trying to steer the topic towards the stolen comics. This was easier said than done when the suspects were mostly either Mr. Daruwalla's business friends or on his staff. At the end of it all, they were famished, and they let themselves loose on the buffet.

An hour and several innocent creatures later, Mr. Daruwalla walked over to the boys, now with newly extended bellies, with an expectant look in his eyes."Any progress, boys?"

Aditya looked glum."None of them had even seen your comics once."

Keith was excited."I think we might have found our guy! Captain Raj. He admitted that he had been in the room since you had last seen your comics."

Mr. Daruwalla's face fell."That's too bad."

Aditya was surprised."What do you mean?"

"I mean that he's the one person who couldn't be the thief."