The Case of the Costliest Painting

The costliest painting, “The dying women”, was bought by Fredrick Wells, the owner of a very famous vehicle company, for almost 100 million dollars. After a decade or so, he sold it to a museum for 500 million dollars as he experienced huge losses. 

The paint was the major attraction for the museum, it was looked after with utmost care, it was kept in a strong glass casing connected to an alarm, which went off when the glass was touched. The glass case could only be opened with a pass-card which belonged to the museum owner, Vishwa Frowns. The card was kept in a locker in Vishwa’s house. 

For 2 years, everything went well in the museum, but one day the painting got stolen! The card was not taken from the locker, the alarm did not ring and there was no sign of any cracks and scratches on the glass. 

A government detective was given the charge of investigation. He was very famous. Sai Srikar Valmiki was his name. He had never failed to solve a case which was given to him. He started his investigation on the next day of the theft. An officer, Sathya Ramnathan, escorted the detective into the 5 storied building.

They entered a large room with 17 exhibits, 19 windows (every exhibit had a window near it, so did every door) and 2 doors (back door and front gate). Rest of the room was empty. At the end of the room there was a staircase leading to the next floor. “The painting was on the 3rd floor,” explained the officer. “There is nothing to see on this floor now, so let us proceed,” the detective said and they continued walking. 

Then they climbed the stairs and reached the 2nd floor, which was just the same but had only 7 exhibits. We climbed again and reached the third floor. It was the largest floor in the museum, it had 31 exhibits, each one as large as a bicycle! At the end of the room there was an empty glass chamber. 

The detective went close to it, touched the convex lens on his watch. It popped out and was hanging on a hinge fixed to the watch. The detective examined the glass cage carefully with the convex lens, then examined the floor near the cage. After a few seconds, he started going in one direction as if he caught a scent. He climbed down the stairs, bending as near as possible to the ground. The officer keenly followed the detective. When the detective reached the first floor, he stood up. 

“When was the museum last cleaned?” he asked. 

“Before the theft.”

“Then our thief is a man who smokes. He was very anxious while robbing. His height is approximately 5 feet 5 inches. He walks with the help of an old walking stick. He came in and went out through the window there!” The detective said.

The officer was shocked. “How do…you know?” He asked.

“It is simple, there are very footprints near the painting. It cannot be a visitor as the museum is cleaned after it is closed. The day the painting was stolen all the staff left the museum just after it was closed and before the museum was cleaned, so it can’t be a staff member. Thus, it can only be the thief. The footprints lead to the window I pointed to. The man was anxious as the distance between each footprint is longer than normal, and they are very deep which suggests the fact. The height can be calculated by the stride and it is 5.5 feet. He carried a walking stick as there are faint round marks near each footprint and I am sure that it is old as there are splinters near the round marks. As for smoking, there was a strong smell of cigarette when I entered the room and to confirm the fact, I found ashes near the glass casing. All this is not of anyone else as the whole museum was cleaned before the theft happened!”

“But there could be a hundred people of that description in the city.”

“That we will see, my investigation is not yet done, let us go to Vishwa Frowns’ house.”

They reached their destination in an hour. Vishwa lived in a mansion. He had no family. His household consisted of 7 servants, 3 cooks and a butler.

Vishwa was a fat, bearded old man. He was the typical rich man, who drinks a lot.

A servant guided them inside the mansion. It was very elegant, furnished with all the material one could afford. The detective and the officer followed the servant into the study. The owner of the museum was sitting there. He gestured to his guests to sit after the servant had left. They were given water. 

“What brought you here detective, have you found the painting?” He spoke wheezily, it was clearly visible from his face that he did not sleep for a long time. He was weak and his eyes had dark circles under them. 

“No sir, but we believe we are very close! I can assure you that your painting will be found within a day or 2!” The detective said firmly. “Sir we have come here because I thought you could give us some information…”

“Ok you can ask me!”

“Where do you keep the safe containing the card to the painting’s case?”

“Here, in my study, it is right there.”  The man pointed to a small cupboard.

“Can I examine it?”

“Yes, you can.”

The detective opened the cupboard and examined the safe in it and then inside the cupboard. Then asked for the key of the safe, opened it and then examined inside it.

Then it was the pass-card’s turn. All these objects were examined by his peculiar watch’s convex lens. 

After the whole process he sat back. “The safe seems to be cleaned recently”

“Oh yes! Madhu, my servant cleaned it just 2 days before the robbery, but it hasn’t been touched since.”

“Can I interrogate Madhu?”

“I am sorry he is on a leave, oh that guy he only joined 2 weeks ago, and he is now taking a leave. I am pretty sure he won’t last long here!”

This statement did magic on the detective’s face! It showed excitement. 

“Can you describe how he looks?”

“Why? Ok I will say it anyway, He is about 5 and a half feet, carries a stick with him, I do not know why, maybe he thinks it is style or whatever. He has sharp eyes, thick lips and a triangular nose. Yeah that is all I remember.”

This description seemed to make an impression on the detective and the officer understood why, it matched the description of the thief that the detective had quoted.

“Thank you sir, and one more thing, does he smoke?”

“I think yes. He has never smoked in front of me, though he smells of cigarettes!”

“Thank you! Thank you! I think we have found your thief,” the detective said eagerly. 

Vishwa choked on his water. He coughed, “What! Who is he?”

“Your servant Madhu!”

This is what happened next:

Sai Srikar and the officer went to find Madhu, the thief. They caught him in 2 days. Madhu had stolen the card when he was cleaning the safe, he had taken his leave after taking the card and had stolen the painting. The same time the painting was stolen he returned the card to its place. The key of the safe was also taken without Mr. Frowns knowledge. All this was stated by Madhu after he was caught.

After everything cleared up, the painting was returned to its place in the museum. Srikar did not want any recognition for solving the case. All the fame went to Sathya, who didn’t like it but couldn’t do anything. 

Suddenly the whole scene changed, and Sai could see the wall of his bedroom. He sat up and saw that he was on his bed! It was all a dream, he thought, what a dream it was though!

He got up and got ready, and sat down on the dining table to eat. His mother switched on the television and started switching through channels. Then she stopped a news channel. 

The news reader started shouting, “‘THE PAINTING OF THE DYING WOMEN’ IS STOLEN!”