It was a day when the heat seemed to dance upon the very air itself, shimmering in waves that distorted the grand colonial facades of Chowrongee. Vikram Roy, attired in a crisp linen suit, his walking stick tapping a steady rhythm upon the cobblestones, made his way to the vicarage of St. Paul's Cathedral. The vicar, a portly man with a countenance as red as the bricks of his abode, was in a state of considerable disarray.
"Mr. Roy," he panted, mopping his brow with a handkerchief the size of a small flag, "it is a matter most confounding. The cathedral's prized relic, the Cross of St. Thomas, has vanished into thin air!"
Roy's eyes, sharp as a kite's, swept the room. "Fear not, Reverend. We shall have your relic returned posthaste."
The investigation commenced forthwith. Roy's inquiries led him through the labyrinthine alleys of the city, from the fishmongers of Machuabazar to the silk weavers of Burrabazar. Each clue, as insubstantial as the steam rising from a vendor's pot of tea, seemed only to deepen the mystery.
As night fell, a figure cloaked in the anonymity of the teeming streets whispered of a shadowy figure seen in the cathedral's sacristy, where the relic was kept. Roy, his mind as sharp as the edge of a Gurkha's khukuri, discerned a pattern in the web of deceit that lay before him.
In the dead of night, with only the stars to bear witness, Roy returned to the vicarage. There, in the sacristy, he found his quarry—a thief as wily as a jackal, attempting to secret the relic away in a cavity beneath the floorboards.
"With deduction as my lantern, I have uncovered your misdeed," Roy declared, his voice steady as the Hooghly River. "The game is up!"
The thief, realizing the futility of escape, surrendered the relic and was taken away by the waiting constabulary. The vicar, overjoyed at the return of the Cross of St. Thomas, offered Roy a reward, but the detective merely tipped his hat.
"The satisfaction of justice is reward enough," he said, and with that, he vanished into the Calcutta night, leaving behind a tale that would be spoken of in hushed tones for years to come.
Thank you for reading....