The Will That Vanished

"The Will That Vanished" is one of the 33 stories written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay featuring Byomkesh Bakshi. It was first published in 1962 by Indian Associate Publishing Co. Private Ltd.
Plot Synopsis
Byomkesh and Ajit are shown sitting in their room and discussing the Mahabharata, when a letter arrives. It is from Rameshwar Babu, their long time acquaintance, whom Byomkesh once assisted in a matter of petty theft. He writes that his days are numbered, it is upto Byomkesh to take care that his last wishes are fulfilled, and he will observe from his heavenly abode whether Byomkesh has received his 5000 rupees or not. This letter perplexes them, for they know nothing of his last wish, not to speak of the amount he had said Byomkesh is to receive. So they go to Rameshwar Babu's house and after some discussion with his family physician understand the whole story. Rameshwar Babu has one son Kusheswar who lives in the same house with his wife Labannya. His daughter Nalini left the house long ago to marry of her own accord. Now as he is nearing his death, Kusheswar and his wife is keeping a constant vigil on him to prevent him from making any will (Byomkesh realizes that even if he had made a will, his son and his wife had surely got rid of it), because they think that Rameshwar Babu will surely give a considerable part of his his property to Nalini, while in case no will is discovered, the entire property will be bequeathed by Kusheswar and his wife as per the law. Rameshwar Babu dies a few days later. Byomkesh discusses the matter with the police commissioner and together they institute a search of the entire house to find any trace of will. But they find none. Byomkesh discovers some onion extract in a jar, upon which he interrogates Labannya as to its reason for being there. She says that for a few days prior to his death, Rameshwar Babu developed this quirky habit of constantly taking onions and making their paste. Hearing this, Byomkesh has an epiphany and together with the house physician, police commissioner and Ajit rushes to his home, where he finds out the letter which they first received from Rameshwar Babu. Upon keeping it loosely over flames, black letters start appearing on the blank portion of the letter. Byomkesh tells the astonished audience that this words were written with the onion paste they had discovered in the house. This has the unique feature that under normal conditions these letters will not be visible, only flames will render them visible. The entire letter now materializes, which turns out to be his will, where he has bequeathed a substantial portion of his property to his daughter, to his wife and 5000 rupees to Byomkesh. The police commissioner and house physician say that they will appear as witnesses to the will should Kusheswar and his wife dare to challenge it.

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