The Secret Code and the Second Piece

That night, Kanchan couldn't sleep for a long while.
Great-grandfather Harinarayan's old map kept surfacing before his eyes, again and again.
In that terrible time of foreign invasion, Harinarayan had devised a mysterious system to protect the family's valuables and important documents — and only a fragment of that system had, so far, come into Kanchan's hands.
But the full path of the mystery was still unknown.

Because Harinarayan had deliberately divided the map into four pieces.
The paper found inside the iron box had been the first piece.
Where were the other three?

Searching for the answer to this question, Kanchan set out the next morning to search the old rooms of the ancestral house all over again.

A framed picture hung on the wall of one of the old rooms.
So much dust and cobweb had gathered over it that the face of the person in the picture had nearly disappeared.
Kanchan took the picture down from the wall and began cleaning it.

Suddenly, his eyes caught on the wooden part beneath the picture.
A few lines were carved into it—

Kanchan froze.
He had heard these very words from his grandmother as a child.
But why were the same words carved into this picture frame, after all these years?

He turned the picture over.
An unusual notch showed itself in one corner of the frame's back.
The moment Kanchan pressed it with a finger—

Click!

A thin strip of wood sprang open.
From inside it came out a small piece of paper, wrapped in cloth.

Kanchan's heart lurched.
Slowly, he unwrapped the cloth.
Inside was—
the second piece of the map.

Drawn on the paper were a few winding lines, some small dots, and a mark shaped like an incomplete staircase.

Kanchan laid the second piece beside the first one he already had.
Several lines from the two papers lined up with each other.
But the full map still wasn't complete.
A larger section was still missing.

Kanchan understood—
two of the four pieces were now in his hands.

Written in very small letters beneath the second piece was—

Kanchan read the line slowly.

Then, suddenly, a flicker of realization lit his eyes.
The well!
That ancient well in the courtyard of the house.
But what place inside a well could hold water and yet leave a clue untouched by it?

It occurred to Kanchan—
Harinarayan must have hidden the next clue behind some secret notch, a loose brick, or a hollow in the stone.

At that very moment—

Rustle...

Kanchan stopped short.
It sounded as though footsteps had come from outside.
Again—

Rustle... rustle...

He quickly tucked the second piece inside his shirt.
Then he moved silently toward the door.

He opened the door—
no one there.
Just the old courtyard.
A broken wall.
And dry branches swaying in the breeze.

Kanchan stepped outside and looked around.
No one was in sight.
But after a few steps, his eyes caught on the ground.
Fresh footprints.
Someone had been standing here only a little while ago.

Kanchan's face turned grave.
Was someone following him?
Or had someone else already begun learning the secret of this house before he had?

Kanchan wasted no more time.
He went straight to the old well in the courtyard.
The well hadn't been used in many years.
Looking down into it, there was nothing but deep darkness.

Kanchan began examining the old bricks around the well.
Touching them one after another, his eyes suddenly caught on one brick.
It stood out slightly compared to the others.

Kanchan pressed it with his hand.

Creak...

The brick sank slightly inward.

Kanchan's eyes widened.

He was about to examine it further.
Right then, his phone rang.
Supriya.

Kanchan picked up.

Supriya's voice came through,

Kanchan glanced once toward the well.
Then he said,

Ending the call, he looked once more at the brick.
Then he carefully set it back in its place.

The second piece was in his hands now.
But the third piece was still hidden behind the mystery.

Kanchan tucked both pieces of the map safely into his pocket and began heading back toward the house.

He had no idea—
that someone, standing hidden behind a broken window in the distance, had been watching his every move.
For a moment, the man's eyes drifted toward the well.
Then toward the path Kanchan was taking away from it.

He said, in a very low voice—

Kanchan heard nothing of this.
But he was no longer alone in the search for this mystery.

Two of the four pieces were now in his hands.
And the path to the third piece had opened—
toward that old well.