Last time:

"So what are you thinking happened, Professor?" Flora asked as they stepped outside.

Layton sighed. "That is not a fortune of money, and I honestly have no idea why Paolo is going to horribly extreme measures to get something he probably won't care about."

Well than, what do you think it is?" Flora asked. "And who was that person Don Paolo talked to before hur- leaving?"

Layton said, "There is a realm of possibilities for answers to those questions. But, I already have a hunch of what the answer is. Follow me."

Layton led the children back home, where they got into the Laytonmoblie and sped off toward Matthews' Publishing Co.

The professor, Luke, and Flora walked into the extremely fancy building and toward the receptionist.

"Hello madam…" Layton began.

"Do you have an appointment?" the receptionist cut off monotonously. She sat there at the desk and applied makeup. She hadn't even looked at Layton this whole time. If she had, she would have noticed that he was her old teacher at college.

Layton had recognized her the second they walked in. But he didn't bother to bring it up. "No, just a question," Layton replied. Being the gentleman he was, he ignored her rude interruption as well.

"Well, make it quick," the receptionist yawned. "There's an eleven thirty we can't miss."

Layton gave an appreciative smile and asked, "Did Mr. Matthews come into the office in the past two days?"

The receptionist laughed and picked up a clip board. "Look back at the dates. Of course Robert came in! This is his business! He's gotta come here every day!"

Layton took the clipboard and looked back at the two days, May 29 and 30. Sure enough, Robert Matthews was signed in fancy script on both days. And it was about to be signed again.

"A-ah! Layton!" Robert cried. "What are you doing here? Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but we were just leaving. And you helped me to see something else. Good day, sir," and with a tip of his hat, Layton and the children were gone.

"What good was that, professor?" Flora asked. "Mr. Matthews was at work two days ago! Accept-"

You see it too, Flora my dear," Layton smiled. "We saw Mr. Matthews at his house, and yet he came into work that morning. We know we saw Robert, because we saw his picture on the wall just a few seconds earlier. And that signature is in many books of my students. It's very hard to forage, as Robert uses extremely fancy script. The Robert we saw at the house was an imposter- but who?"

There was silence as they walked back to the Laytonmoblie. All of them came up with theories, but they could either quickly toss them aside or they had no backbone. But back at the professor's house, they all had one general idea that made perfect sense.

"Don Paolo," the three said as they stepped into the parlor.

"He's always trying to kill you, so the whole dagger thing makes perfect sense!" Luke chimed in.

"And he looked pretty angry when we all came back with Alex. But he was good at hiding it," Flora added.

"Yes, but why?" Layton sighed. "What good will that do hi- unless…" Layton trailed off. "We need to figure out at what times Robert was Robert and Robert was Don Paolo," Layton ordered. There was silence, accept for Luke's pacing feet

During lunch, the three detectives-in-training told what they had discovered while digging through their memories.

"The first time we saw Robert was definitely Don Paolo," Flora said. She took another bite of her sandwich.

"And when we saw him back at the Matthews' house, he was Robert, because we had just seen Don Paolo at the old factory," Luke said with a mouthful of sandwich. Layton gave him a look at Luke sheepishly swallowed. "Sorry."

Flora scampered upstairs for her notepad and came back down. She wrote Robert=At work, house after factory Don Paolo= At house and at factory

Luke wrote the same thing down in his pad and looked up at the professor. "What do we do now?" the wide-eyed boy asked.

"We should go back to the Matthews' house and tell them what we have discovered. I believe Robert was some explaining to do.

The trio walked this time, because it was not morning and they were more in the mood now They felt content and had a sense of self-accomplishment discovering that Don Paolo had been disguising as Robert.

Luke and Flora found the door was unlocked and without waiting for Layton to catch up, they walked in.

The house was empty, except for Alex huddled in a blanket on a chair near the door, asleep. But not for long.

"RAHR! You nasty kidnapper, leave now or I'm calling the Yard!" Alex cried.

Luke and Flora laughed. "Alex, it's us. We helped you get away from Paolo," Flora giggled.

Layton walked into the open door. "Sorry to have frightened you," he said. He was close enough behind Luke and Flora he had heard her threat.

Alex blushed. "Sorry as well, professor. And thank you. If I stayed with that freak any longer, I would have died. You three saved my life."

"Alex, can we talk to your mom and dad? And call the Yard anyway? There's something very important we need to tell them. It can't wait, or it could put you and your mother in more danger," Flora requested.

Alex nodded. "I'll go wake up Mother and Dad. You can use the phone in the kitchen." With that, she disappeared into the shadows of the house and they could hear her creaking footsteps going up the stairs.

Layton walked into the kitchen and called the Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard," A gruff voice answered. "Inspector Chelmey here. What do you want?"

"Good evening, inspector. It's me, Hershel Layton. We have figured something out on behalf of Alex Matthews being captured. We need you at their house now. It's urgent.

Chelmey grumbled. "Fine. But you owe me." The line went dead.

Alex shuffled back down the stairs, her mother and father trailing behind her.

A knock was heard at the door and Alex went off to get it. She gave Inspector Chelmey and Barton a half smile and led them inside.

"Alright, I came here because of information on the girl's kidnapping. Let's get on with it," Chelmey grunted.

Layton nodded and looked at Robert as the professor began talking. Robert looked around uneasily, shifting on his feet.

We all know what happened a few nights ago, but no one knows why or how…."