Kolkata, West Bengal
Since morning, there has been a commotion in Monirampur. Several pieces of gold jewelry belonging to Kali thakur in the Kali Mandir are missing. The news spread like wildfire.
As soon as Pablo heard the news, he left his studies and went to the temple. Upon arriving, he learned that, as usual, the priest had gone to perform the puja and noticed how bare the idol of Kali looked. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the nose ring, the earrings, and the bangles were all missing. Pablo entered the temple through the gate and went closer to the idol, scrutinizing everything, and indeed, several pieces of jewelry were missing. Pablo moved even closer to the idol. Taking a deep breath, just then, the priest and a few older men scolded him, saying, “Hey Pablo, what are you doing there? Come here.” After being scolded, Pablo left that spot. The people of Monirampur decided to lock the temple door and quickly inform the police so that the thief couldn't escape far. The police arrived, assessed the situation, and asked questions. They learned that the temple remained closed at night and that the key was with the priest. Initially, the police suspected the priest and took him away for questioning.
Meanwhile, Pablo resolved to remember the scent he had detected near the idol of Kali and to find out where it originated from.
He thought it wouldn’t be possible to do this alone, so he went to his friend Bablu because Bablu was the only one who knew about his strange power. Pablo went to Bablu and said, “Bablu, I think the jewelry wasn’t taken by the priest, you know.” Bablu, in his usual straightforward manner, immediately asked, “Are you saying this because you used your sense of smell or are you just guessing?” Pablo replied, “No, I’m not guessing.” Immediately, Bablu snapped his fingers and said, “If you can understand it using your sense of smell, then there’s nothing to worry about; that jewelry will be recovered, and the thief will be caught.” However, Pablo was very cautious; he said, “No, no, it can’t be said with such certainty that those will be recovered.” Bablu, overly enthusiastic, exclaimed, “Then let’s get to work right now.” At first, Pablo couldn’t figure out where to start. Bablu advised him, “Let’s start from the priest’s room.” The priest lives alone in the room adjacent to the temple, so they went there first. The door to the room was slightly ajar; it opened with a push. As Pablo entered and started rummaging through some items, suddenly Rajen uncle came in and shouted, “Who’s inside?” Forced to respond, they stepped out and said, “It’s us, Jethu.” Rajen uncle, surprised, exclaimed, “Oh, really! What are you doing in there? Come out.” They had no choice but to come out, and Bablu cleverly said, “We were looking for prasad; the priest gives us prasad every day.” Rajen uncle laughed and said, “Oh, is that so? You won’t find anything there today; you both should go home.” Pablo and Bablu felt relieved that Rajen uncle hadn’t realized anything. In fact, Pablo didn’t want anyone to find out about his sense of smell.
After leaving, Pablo and Bablu sat under a tree. Bablu asked, “So, did you figure anything out?” Pablo shook his head and said, “No, I couldn’t figure out anything significant. The smell I detected in the temple, I’m not finding it anywhere else. Not even in the priest’s room.” Bablu said, “But the police have reportedly locked the priest up, thinking that since the key was with the priest and the temple lock wasn’t broken, they would get all the information by interrogating him. We must save our innocent priest.” Pablo agreed and said, “Let’s go to the temple one more time, in case we can learn or see something.” Bablu replied, “But the temple has been closed; no one is being allowed in.” Pablo said, “Yes, that’s true, but let’s take a look around the temple.” They came and saw that the temple door was locked and the temple courtyard was completely empty. Taking this opportunity, Pablo went to the gate and sniffed around carefully, but he still couldn’t find that smell. Feeling a bit disappointed, Bablu said, “So, are we not going to be able to solve the mystery of the theft?” However, while sniffing, Pablo moved to the back of the temple. He said, “Hey Bablu, I can smell it!” Bablu exclaimed with excitement, “Keep following that smell, and let’s see what happens!” As Pablo continued to sniff and moved towards the back wall of the temple, he stopped and said, “Bablu, I think the smell is coming from inside the wall.” Hearing this, Bablu, in frustration and anger, punched the temple wall hard, and surprisingly, one of the bricks broke and fell inside. They both were startled. Pablo said, “Try hitting the next brick too.” Again, Bablu punched hard, and the next brick also fell inside in the same manner. In this way, six bricks shifted and fell inside, creating a small round hole. They then thought of going inside but also considered that they didn’t want anyone to see them, or they might be mistaken for thieves themselves.
As a result, they carefully looked around and one by one entered inside. In the darkness inside, they did not see anything particularly special. After observing there for a while, just as they were about to come out in disappointment, something bumped into Bablu's foot. Although he couldn't see it well in the dark, he picked it up and found that it was a carpenter's pliers. Pablo took it in his hand, smelled it well, and said, "Yes, this is the same smell I found near the idol in the temple this morning." Bablu said, "From this, it seems that the thief is a carpenter." If they could have learned from priest uncle who all came to the temple yesterday, but priest uncle is now in the police lock-up, so there is no way for us to go there.
Meanwhile, as evening was approaching, they decided to return home, otherwise, they would have to face scolding again. While returning, Bablu said sadly, "I don't think we were able to solve the theft mystery, Pablo." Pablo also said with a heavy heart, "Let's see when the police can catch the thief; we have no other way." Saying this, they both went home.
When Pablo returned home, he found their house was dark. He saw their door was open, but no one was in sight. After calling his mother twice, his sister came with a torch and said, "Look, Pablo, you've come back just in time; you need to see the electrician." Pablo asked, "Why, what happened?" His sister said, "There’s a fault in our house's line, and the electricity is out, so the carpenter has been called; hurry up and take the torch." Pablo took the torch and went inside to find a thin, lanky man checking the line near their main switch with a tester in the fuse box. When the man was examining the wires and fuses in the fuse box, Pablo suddenly felt that familiar smell. He approached the man, took a good sniff, and yes, it was indeed that smell. A chill ran down Pablo's spine. So could this be the same man who broke into the temple, stole the jewelry, and fled, leaving behind the pliers? For a moment, he thought about asking the man if he had lost his pliers. But then he thought that if he asked this question and the man realized he was being suspected, he would flee, and then he wouldn't be able to catch him. It would have been better if Bablu were there.
Anyway, while thinking about all this, the man finished fixing the fault at the main switch, and all the lights came on. In the light, Pablo saw the man clearly, and oh! He was from the electric shop in their neighborhood. Later, Pablo's mother came and settled the man's payment, and he left. Pablo then went out under the pretense of getting a notebook from Bablu and started following the man. After a while, he saw the man enter a dark construction site. After taking a look at the place, Pablo went straight to Bablu and told him everything. Bablu immediately jumped up and said, "Then let’s go tell the police right now."
Hearing the name of the police made Pablo a little nervous. But Bablu, without any fear, said, "Pablo, if we delay, the man might escape; let’s tell the police everything immediately." Pablo said, "But what will you say if the police ask what you saw that made you suspect the man?" Bablu replied, "Then I'll just tell them that you are sure because you smelled it." As soon as Pablo heard this, he became resistant, "No, I don't want to tell anyone about this." Then Bablu explained a lot, "But if we don’t say this, the police won't help us at all, and the thief will escape, while priest uncle will remain stuck in the police station. So let's not delay and go now." Under the pressure of this undeniable reasoning, Pablo agreed, and the two of them went to the police station and told everything.
At first, the police officer dismissed them with a laugh, saying it was a ridiculous story, but after repeatedly insisting and reasoning, he eventually agreed and took a few constables to surround the construction site Pablo pointed out. Then, raising their guns, they entered. Inside, in the far corner room, they saw a dim light burning and three people playing cards. The police pounced on them unexpectedly, capturing everyone almost without resistance. After searching and finding nothing, when the police officer was annoyed and reprimanding Pablo and Bablu, just then, Pablo, while sniffing, came to a wall and said, "I can smell something here; we need to break this open and check." At that, two constables struck the wall with two bricks, and in a hollow space, they found a shelf. When they shined the torchlight on the shelf, they saw Kali thakur's jewelry glittering.