Monday, 10:00 am sharp

We headed off to Rudra marketplace, the second forage of our search. Our main work at Esperanza's was done. Now we had to search for the owner of this ring.

We reached our first destination, which was a small market that sold clothes and accessories. This was the beauty of these marketplaces. You get the best of clothes at half the price of the malls.

Anyway, so we walked up to the shopkeeper, a healthy man in his forties.

'Bhaiya, has anyone bought such a ring from you in the past one or two months?' I asked.

He thought for a while.

'No, madam I can't seem to remember. Will you please show it to me if you don't mind. I could take a closer look'

'Sure!' I held it out the ring to him. He inspected it under the light.

'Hmm, I think I've seen such rings in another market. Oh yes, Boruah Market, opposite to this one, sells such rings'

'Thank you. Can you tell us anything about this stone?'

'I'm afraid I don't much about these things, madam'

'Okay, thank you!'

We sped off to Boruah's market and repeated our question.

'No madam, I don't seem to remember'

'But your shop does sell rings like this, isn't it?' Dhruv asked him.

'Son, there are about ten markets in this area which can sell such a ring'

'Okay, so can you tell me anything about the stone?'

He inspected the ring in the light, just like our previous guy.

'Saab, this is an extremely precious stone! Worth about thousands of rupees'

Our eyes widened at that. There was no way a signet of fancy, painted plastic would cost so high.

'But this ring doesn't look like it costs more than fifty rupees!'

'I'm telling you ma'am it's really expensive! Have you come to sell by any chance?'

So now we realized his intentions. He was trying to swindle us into selling the ring.

'Madam, please listen. I can offer you a very good price-

'We don't want it. Have a good day'

Saying do, we left that place for good.

We went to the next six markets on our list, but with no avail.

'This is really frustrating' Samarth vented.

'Dude, you'll have to deal with it if you want to get anywhere at all' I told him.

'But what if, the owner actually outsourced this from a jeweler? They sell petty stuff too' Dhruv asked.

'But their prices are really unreasonable, even for petty stuff! If somebody just wanted to wear it for the show, why would they buy a ring which would cost them a fortune?'

'Maybe a really stuck up person would'

'Maybe, but most people won't. Let's check the remaining markets here. If not, we'll research jewelers in our area, okay? Don't lose heart, this one's the last!'

'Okay'

Saying so, we went to the next market in our place and repeated the same question. He had the same model of rings in his shop too, but in various colors which sparkled under the tube light.

'Ah yes, I think so'

We brightened up. Finally, a bit of hope.

'Would you please explain?'

'You know the people in this area, right? Most of them are superstitious. So many people come here and buy rings according to their lucky colors, whichever they got from an astrologer or their elders. And all the more, our rates are very cheap too. The reason why I remember is that the maximum numbers of sales have occurred for the red, black, and green rings in the past two months. But there have been only three sales in the blue color'

'Who were these people? Please can you recall? We'd be really grateful to you' I begged him.

He scrunched up his eyes in thought.

'Yes, one was the young lady of the Manek family, the other was the landowner himself of these markets. You must be knowing him, Vijay Singh Rathore'

I did. 'Yes, I do, I replied, rapidly scribbling the names on my notepad.

'... and the last one was....'

'Who?'

'Yes, yes! The last one was a young sort of lady again. Neither a young lass like you two girls here nor too old to be a mother. I don't really know her address, for she must be new here. But I'll give you a description of her'. The fellow had an amazing gift of memory.

'Yes, please do'

'Really short, just barely five feet high and quite chubby and pale'

My heart skipped a beat. Yes, the owner of the ring was supposed to have thick fingers too! I exchanged glances with the others who looked excited too.

'Thank you so much, bhaiya. We're really grateful to you'

'No problem, madam! You want to buy anything?'

We really felt like doing so, after everything that he'd done for us. No inquisitive questioning, no rudeness, and no cheating behavior at all. But I'd already blown fifty bucks off my pocket money on my psychic adventures and I needed to save up more in case we needed money.

'What's the price of your rings?' asked Devika

'Twenty rupees only, madam'

'That's it!'

'Madam, you'll get the best prices here at Naulakha market'

'Can I get a pink color?'

'Sure!' his eyes brightened up as he handed her the ring.

She paid him and we walked out.

'My little souvenir' she smiled.

'No problem. Good old man!' I was feeling really happy today.

'So the chubby woman is our culprit?' Dhruv concluded.

'Yes, there's a very high chance of that'

'All thanks to Devika, though for that awesome idea' he would never admit it on his life that he was so proud of her. I only wish they wouldn't remind me of the twins so much.

'I don't think we should jump to conclusions so fast' Samarth suggested.

'It's just a lead! If it doesn't work, we're back to square one anyway' Devika told him.

'Now the question is, where do we find this person?' Samarth asked me.

'That's what I was thinking of'

'Okay, I got an idea. We'll hunt down these other two people addresses from the directory and tell them that the shopkeeper at Naulakha market was telling us that one of his buyers dropped a ring. He remembered them and requested us to return it to the rightful owner. We'll see whom the ring fits when we ask them to give a try. How's that?'

This girl is a genius.

'That's amazing! Good work, Devika!' I slipped my arm in hers.

'Really sis, why don't you use your brain more often?' Dhruv asked, slinging an arm around her. She blushed wildly at the praise.

'Thanks, guys'

'So when do we make a move?' asked Dhruv.

'Now!' I replied. The

'Let's go home, fast'

'But first, we need to grab the stuff Mom asked me to buy'

Saying so, we rushed to the nearest Mother Dairy to pick up the milk and butter and the nearby poultry vendor to pick up a dozen eggs, which took us about ten minutes. We walked back home at full speed.

'Ah, good job kids' Mom looked satisfied as we placed the goods on the dining table.

'Welcome, maasi!' Dhruv replied.

He did a great job of keeping Mom occupied by chatting with her while I managed to pick up the directory from the living room table and slither up to my room. I didn't want to answer another quiz fired at me for using the directory.

After five minutes or so, the others joined me in my room.

'Okay, so let's search for our first suspect. The Manek household'

'But wait, were they frequent visitors at Anu's place? I don't remember her telling me' Samarth asked me.

'A lot of people drop by at each others' places here. You know, it's a society. Plus I know a few people by this title who've lived here for years now'

'Okay then'

We flipped through the book until we reached the "M" page.

'Okay, here's Mr. Sunderlal Manek who lives in the next block, house number 114. Let's write that down' Samarth pointed out.

'Right' I took out my notebook and started making notes.

'Here's Ms. Molly Manek in house number 300, that's about three blocks away'

'Look, a lady. She must not be married or a widower as the property is signed under her name' Dhruv pointed out.

'Good thinking. Any more left?'

'Yes, one last name. Mr. A.N. Manek in house number 120. The next block'

'Great job, Samarth'

'Thank you'

'I think we should focus on the first and last options instead of the second one' Devika suggested.

'Why?'

'Remember how he said, the young lady of the Manek household? He was definitely referring to a daughter or a niece in somebody's family and not a bachelor woman or a widower'

'Well done, yet again!' Dhruv thumped her on the back. Devika and her brains really took us a long way, there was no denying that.

'So what say, we split up and question? Or do we go together?'

'I think going together is better. We may end up observing a lot of new things that way and we'll be on the same track'

'Okay then. That's settled'

'After this Manek household, we'll visit the landowner. The whole society knows him, of course'

'Done. Let's go'