The Missing Biscuit- The Detective Boys - Short Story 4

 

The evening had set in and Ritwick was ready to immerse into his tea along with his favorite biscuit. Biscuits had always been his favorite snack food and if it would be his favorite one then that would be an icing on the cake. Pujol biscuits were wheat glucose biscuits with immense crispness and Ritwick loved the crispness. He would never dip the biscuit into the tea but rather have it in its original form, and it would always be along with the tea, a little sip of tea followed by the biscuit. The evening was progressing and the Kolkata sky appeared beautiful from his balcony.

It was at that moment that Ritwick opened the pack of biscuits. To his surprise, the pack contained only nine pieces of biscuits whereas it should have been ten. He counted the biscuits again. He couldn’t understand the reason.

“Did they change the pack size?”  he guessed.

He thought perhaps it must have been one of the faultily packed items. That evening he discussed his finding with Deep Das who didn’t think that it wasn’t much of a matter to give any further thought.

Two days later, Ritwick again went to the general stores located near to his house and asked for the biscuits again. He took three packets. The price was same as it had been one year ago.

When Ritwick came back home, he immediately opened the packs. His doubt proved to be right. All the packs had only nine biscuits whereas on the pack cover it was specifically stated that the packet contained ten biscuits. He couldn’t understand the reason for the missing piece.

“Is the company wilfully releasing the faulty packets or is there something wrong in the distribution chain?”

He weighed the packet. It came down to 53 grams whereas the packet mentioned the weight as 55 grams. Ritwick now presumed that there was surely something wrong. That evening, he along with Deep Das travelled to the nearby Gol Park locality and bought the same Pujol Biscuits from one of the general stores in that area.

They got three packets and all the three packets contained ten pieces and weighed correctly as mentioned on the pack.

“See? I told you there was something wrong with the biscuits in the shop near our residence,” remarked Ritwick.

“But what could it be? And why would anyone remove a piece and repack the packet?

“For that perhaps we will have to put our adventure shoes on.”

That night, Ritwick along with Deep Das conceived their favorite adventure plan like in many previous cases. They planned that they would enter the general stores from the back yard gate in the night and try to find out if any clue was available.

It was somewhere around mid-night 12.30. Fog had engulfed the Babu Bagan Lane. They were dressed completely in woolen garments along with a monkey cap and a muffler around their neck. Anyone looking could have hardly recognized them.

“Deep, why are you wearing a sunglass in this foggy night?” whispered Ritwick looking at Deep Das.

“Ritwick, it will help me to disguise if anyone sees us.”

“Deep, you really need some training.” Remarked Ritwick irritatingly.

As they approached the lane which had an entry to the backyard of the general store, they climbed the wall and jumped on the other side. There was no human life around them at that time of the night. There was a wooden door which was locked from inside. That made them go towards a window. Ritwick broke the window with the small wooden stick that they had carried. One by one they got in.

The room was completely dark. Deep Das took out the torch from his bag.

“Deep, you are still wearing the sunglasses?” Deep Das immediately removed the sunglasses. They looked around with the torch. There was nothing worthwhile to look until they came to another room.  Ritwick could get the aroma of his favorite biscuit, but wait, why were there loose pieces kept on the table, he thought.

They looked on the table kept at the center. There were packets of Pujol Biscuits along with another brand-named Break. Ritwick carefully looked at both the biscuits. The pieces which were inside Break packets were the same as that were inside Pujol Biscuits. In the meanwhile, Deep scrutinized the cover pack of Break Biscuits. It was simple, but what surprised both was the address. The address was that of the general store but the name was “East Side Snacks & Co”

Ritwick and Deep could now guess the entire operation. Pujol biscuits in appearance was simple and there was no name engraved upon the pieces of the biscuit. Taking advantage of this error in design, this local general store was taking out one piece from each packet of Pujol Biscuits and making a new brand-named called Break Biscuits.  Thankfully these biscuits were yet to hit the market and Ritwick thanked his observation as now they would stop this cheating.

Next morning, Ritwick informed his grandfather of the findings of the last night. Vimal Babu immediately contacted the responsible officials after which a raid was conducted on that general store.

That evening, Deep and Ritwick walked along the Dhakuria bridge. Deep had again put on his sun glasses.

“When will you stop wearing that sunglass? Those are to be worn during the morning and afternoon time dear.”

“I like it this way, Ritwick.”

They both laughed out and walked on.