**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I cannot claim to own any of the persons, places, or objects in the Professor Layton series – all such persons, places, and objects are the property of their owner, Level 5 Inc. Any resemblance to any real world persons, places, or things is coincidental.**

Professor Layton

and the

Secret of 420 Corolla Street

Luke was just about to answer a quite perplexing puzzle the professor hand told him, when a furious knocking was heard at the door. Layton put up his hand in a sign for Luke to wait, and went to answer the door.

Flora, who was sitting on the couch, hopped up with Luke to see why in the world a crying, panting woman would be at their doorstep.

"Please!-Professor! You have to help me!" the woman wailed.

She had dark brown hair, fair skin, and dark blue eyes-well; they were also red and puffy, seeing as she was crying.

"Madam, if I may ask, what seems to be the matter?" Layton inquired. He gently took hold of her shoulder and brought the distraught woman into his house.

"My daughter-gone!" the woman screeched as she plopped onto the couch. Flora grabbed a few tissues for her. The woman blew her nose quite loudly and continued sobbing into the tissue.

"What's your name, miss?" Luke asked. He gave the woman more tissues. She used those up fast, too. Flora gave Luke the whole box, which Luke plopped onto the woman's lap.

"M-Miss Rachel M-Matthews," she warbled. "And my daughter was-"

"Alex Matthews," Layton said.

"How did you know?" Miss. Matthews sniffled.

"You and your husband are no unfamiliar figures in London. Your mass bookstore franchise is very famous among my students- and everyone else, for that matter," Layton explained.

"And your daughter has her fair share of fame as well!" Luke chimed in.

"Yes, quite," Layton sighed. He walked into the kitchen and came out with two cups of tea in his hand. He handed one to Miss Matthews and sipped quietly from the other one himself. "But, ma'am, we hardly know anything about your daughter. If you want us to find her, which I am assuming is the case; we need some information on what she looks like, how she acts…"

Flora shuffled out of the room and came back with a pad of paper to write notes. She and Luke turned to face the professor.

"Professah, why don't you leave this to the police? It's their job to solve these kind of cases," Luke whispered. Flora nodded her head in agreement. "What do you see in this we don't?" Luke asked.

"Luke my boy, I honestly don't know. But things don't seem right. This case has piqued my interest, and I shall dig deeper."

"Well, Mr. Layton, she had black hair, always dying part of it purple before I or Robert had time to notice. She let her bangs grow long and now they cover part of her eyes. You may think my little Alex is rebellious, but she was very sweet, funny, and helpful," Miss. Matthews said. Her hands fidgeted on her lap while she was talking.

Layton smiled and nodded, as any good gentleman-detective would do. "Thank you, madam. Do you think you could tell us about anything that happened when Alex was…"

"Abducted, captured, kidnapped, whatever you want to call it," Rachel snarled. "They took my little girl just a few hours ago. Robert was upstairs in the lavatory, and I was downstairs finishing supper. I heard a shatter, and Alex screamed. I rushed upstairs as fast as I could, but I was too late…." the rest of Miss Matthews's words were held back by tears.

Layton knew this was going to be a hard subject to get information on. And a gentleman does not press a lady for answers, even when he is helping them to solve a kidnapping.

"Professah, shouldn't we go to their house and check for clues?" Luke murmured. Flora put down the pad and paper, nodding in agreement yet again.

"Hm…yes, good idea Luke," Layton said, almost to himself. "Mrs. Matthews, would it be ok with you if we checked your house for any clues of what happened?" Layton asked.

Rachel allowed a ghost of a smile to be seen. "Yes, thank you Mr. Layton! That would be most helpful indeed!" she replied. She took a piece of paper from the pad and wrote down her address, 420 Corolla Street. It was very close to the professor's house.

"Thank you ma'am, we shall be there tomorrow morning as early as possible," Layton smiled. He and Luke ushered the slightly happier lady out of the house.

"What do you think is going on, professor?" Flora asked as Layton and Luke came back to the living room. She folded up the address and put it in the pocket of her skirt.

"This is certainly no ordinary kidnapping," Layton sighed. "That much is obvious to me now. But, I believe we all need to rest. See you two bright and early tomorrow."

Luke and Flora nodded and walked up to their rooms. The professor started at the door a little longer. This was going to be another of those crazy mysteries he always seemed to get himself caught up in.

The next morning, after a small breakfast, the trio departed to 420 Corolla Street in the Laytonmobile. Of course, 420 Corolla was so close they could have walked the few blocks, but in the morning no one likes to walk, even short distances.

Upon arriving at the house, Luke noticed a small police car. "Professah, she called the police as well!" Luke exclaimed. "Why would she need two groups working on this case?"

Layton grimaced. "She probably is worrying so much about her daughter, she thinks the other might not be able to find her, and needs another person to help…." Layton trailed off. The truth was, he honestly didn't know.

Flora poked Luke and pointed to a mustached bobby hurrying into the house. "Don't we know him?" she whispered.

Luke gasped and ran up the sidewalk, straight inside. "Inspector Chelmey's here!" he exclaimed.

Flora ran after Luke, and a flabbergasted professor ran after her. How did he always wind up seeing Chelmey in this sort of thing?!

Once inside, Chelmey looked just as surprised to see the professor as he was to see the inspector.

"Ah! Layton! What are you doin' here?!" Chelmey asked. He continued looking back-and-forth between Layton, Luke and Flora with wide eyes.

"Mrs. Matthews asked us to help her find her daughter," Layton replied calmly.

"The woman called us here for the same reason…." Chelmey growled. "Well, I can't help it this time. Just stay outta my way." Chelmey and his bobby, Barton, loped away.

Before anyone could say anything else, Miss Matthews walked in. "Oh, thank heavens you're hear as well, Mr. Layton!" she exclaimed. "Robert isn't here right now, he's at work. But you can talk to him later on tonight when he comes home," she said.

Layton nodded. Miss Matthews smiled and walked back to the kitchen.

"I don't wanna be seeing him while we're trying to find this girl!" Luke cried once Miss Matthews was out of earshot.

"Luke calm yourself," Layton ordered. "Come now, let's go upstairs." Flora and Luke followed the professor up the stairs and into the hallway.

Looking around, Layton saw a picture of the Matthews hanging on the wall. There was a girl with black-purple hair tied in a braid with bangs handing low. She was smiling and waving. Layton presumed her to be Alex. Next to her was a dark-haired man with light blue eyes, a kind face, and lean build. He was probably Robert Matthews. Behind the two was Rachel Matthews. She was smiling and had her arms around Robert and Alex's shoulders. One happy family.

Luke and Flora noticed the picture, too. "Now we know what they all look like," Flora said. "Maybe that can help us find her."

Layton nodded absent mindedly and walked into Robert and Rachel's bedroom. Luke and Flora, of course, followed him in.

Sitting on the bed was Robert Matthews.

Next time:

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" Luke shouted. "You're supposed to be at work!" Robert smiled. "I'm supposed to be. That doesn't mean I have to be. Rachel saw me go out the door, but I came in through the window." "What is the point in all that?" Flora asked. The man smiled again. "I have my reasons."