Chapter 2: The Fugitive Feline
Returning downstairs, Matthew rushed up to us.
"Professor, I am extremely sorry. I myself will search the entire estate and manor. I feel awful for asking, but could you please scout the town to see if she is there?"
"Not at all my good man, we'd be happy to help." The Professor smiled and tipped his hat.
As soon as we stepped out the door, we saw Claudia sitting on the pathway to the manor.
"Look Professor! There she is!" I called out.
With a meow, she sprang off into the town.
"Oh darn, she got away…"
"We can't stop just yet Luke, we've got to chase her down." The Professor reassured me.
A figure with a purple flared-out jacket stood, coughing by a bridge, as smoke rose up from the trees next to him.
"Jeez…! That burns…!" he hacked up, "The engine must have blown out…"
With a sigh, he looked up at the roofs peaking over the trees, "This is St. Mystere. Famous land of the late Baron Augustus Reinhold. Wonder what the old sack did to this place before he left the town. Oh just you wait Layton! All this treasure you're looking for will be mine!"
He threw out his arms, laughing evilly to the sky.
The Professor and I returned across the river, to come face to face with the purple lipped man from earlier.
The Professor shifted awkwardly, "Oh, hello Mr…"
"Call me Ramon, my good man, ahoo hoo. Can I be of any help to you~?"
"Actually, yes, Ramon. The Lady's cat ran out of the house. Have you seen her running about?"
"You mean dear little Claudia? I saw her run into down just a moment ago,"
I sighed, turning to The Professor "Well if that's true, I wish he would have caught her before she ran away."
We walked out of the Manor area, and back onto the streets, where the strange man with the sunglasses still stood.
"Hey!" he called, "It's you two fellows! Oh do you need something from Marco? I bet you do! I can see it on your faces!"
"Did you happen to see Lady Dahlia's cat run by here?" The Professor asked.
"The snowball with the claws? Just went into town. Yeah, right thataway." Marco pointed.
The Professor smiled, "Thank you."
"Don't worry about it. I better be off, I'll see you two noodles later.". Marco left, swinging his arms as he walked.
"I never would have thought that he could be such a nice guy." I looked up at the Professor, "Well, let's head to town square."
"Wait a minute Luke," he stopped me in my tracks, "I'm curious to see what's behind that blue door over there. It seems to be open slightly… Let's take a look inside,"
What awaited us behind that blue door was a dust-covered general store with no workers. The only noticeable was a candle that was dripping wax sitting on the counter. So we continued on with our search for Claudia.
Walking down the street to our left, we came into the man who had lifted the drawbridge for us.
"You two, hey! Come help me out, I'm in a pickle!" he shook his fist.
"What is the matter, sir?" The Professor went straight to helping the man.
"I was on break, and some ding-dong raised up the bridge! Hmmph! Then even worse, the idiot took my hand crank too! Hmmph!"
The Professor rested his chin on his hand, "Oh… So what you're trying to say is…"
"Hmmph! You got it, nobody can leave this town until the crank is found! I've been looking and looking, but I'm too mad to get any work done! Hmmph! Dang punks, pulling childish pranks! Oh! But I found this thing in the street while I was looking. Do you think you know what it is?"
He showed us a gizmo with a bent wire and a red cap near the end of it. I took it and placed it in the trunk as the man continued to look for the crank.
Right after talking to our friend, Claudia appeared on the street. Her kitty frown, purple bow, and all!
"Ah, good job spotting her Luke. Now we just need to catch her…" The Professor pondered.
I grinned. Helping animals was my specialty! "I've got this Professor!"
He chuckled. "Have at it, Luke."
I bent down by the cat as she curiously looked towards me. "Here, kitty, kitty… come on Claudia," I inched closer.
Claudia me meowed loudly, hissing and beginning to scratch my face!
"Ahhhh!" I screamed.
"Are you alright Luke?!" The Professor sat down by my side.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't help Professor… She was too feisty for me to handle…" I rubbed the scratch marks on my cheek. Claudia dug pretty deep… and even after all that, she still got away!"
He smiled slightly, helping me up. "That's alright, my boy. Why don't we try talking to this nice looking man over here to see if he knows where Claudia went?"
The man wore a teal jacket with a very high collar, almost villainous looking. He had thick lips and his mouth was open wide. His beady little eyes were placed below his strange circular haircut.
He yawned, then noticed that we approached him. "Oh yeah, that white cat? I saw her. I also saw when she about scratched your eye out! So you want me to help? No way buddy, I wanna live! Didn't you see how ferocious that thing was?! No thank you!"
The Professor remained calm, attempting to reason with the man. I admire how much patience he has. I guess that's one aspect of being a gentleman.
"Can you please tell us which way she went, at least?"
With that, the man grinned. "She scurried off west of here. Her fangs were as big as knives!"
As I started to walk, the Professor placed a hand on my shoulder. "Luke, wait. I almost forgot that we need lodging for the night. Let's see if we can get some rooms at the inn."
I smiled and nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a plan to me, Professor."
"I recall there being an inn just south of this plaza. Let's go visit and see if they have any vacant rooms."
Walking into the inn, there's a large, smiling lady with a long nose and short brown hair. She wears a salmon pink tank top and pearls. She grins as soon as the door shuts. "Why hello there! Welcome to the one and only, St. Mystere inn! Seriously, we're the only inn in this town. We don't get visitors often."
"Good day miss, we would like a space to sleep for the night. Do you have any open rooms?" The Professor tips his hat.
"I'm quite sorry sir, this is really a bad time. We're remodeling all guest rooms in the building. The rooms in the attic are the only ones left. You may take those if you like. Those rooms are extremely comfortable. Please stay here with us, we haven't had a gentleman like you here in such a long time." she smiled, leaning forward on the desk, "They aren't very big, but I can make them sparkle. Can you come back a little later? Oh and I'll also try to get two regular rooms for you as soon as I can."
"Thank you madam, but there's no need to trouble yourself for me. I'll be happy as long as I have a bed to sleep in."
Her grin faded. "Yes, about that… The beds are also being refinished… But Mama Beatrice will take real good care of you two. I won't even charge for the nights you stay. But here's something to make the room a little more homely,"
Beatrice reaches over and grabs a lacquered stool, handing it to the Professor.
"Luke, do you mind if it goes in my room? I quite like the finish,"
"It's all yours Professor!" I give a thumbs-up as we walk outside. "We better keep looking for Claudia now." Returning to the plaza, we then took the westward path.
I follow the Professor as he walks up to a sad looking old woman, with a large nose and brown scarf around her head.
"Ma'am, have you seen a white cat run by here anytime soon?"
She smooths out the apron on her blue dress and points north. "Yes, it went up towards the park. And if I can ask, what are you going to do when you find it?"
"It's Lady Dahlia's cat, we will bring it back to her. She's rather worried about it,"
"You're going to catch a feline like that bare-handed? You don't stand a chance!" she laughs. "Why don't you just trying luring it with some treats or food?"
"And what might you suggest?"
"So where around here I've got some old fish bones that it should love. Solve this puzzle, and they're all yours."
Puzzle Number 022
Here you see, there are seven pigs lazing about their pen. So they don't fight with each other, you've decided to section off the pen so each pig gets his own section. However, you only have 3 ropes. Can you separate these little piggies so that they each have their own area? Remember, no snout or little tail can go over the edge of the rope!
"This is it. You must make a triangle around the pig in the middle," the Professor smiled.
"Well done, I'm very impressed. Here are the fish bones I promised. Good luck with your kitty." she handed us the bones from her apron pocket.
Just up north from that road was a cobblestone gate with a sign that said "The Park" Luckily, the crazy furball was also there!
"Look Professor!" I shouted, pointing at the cat!
"Come on then, give her the fish bones!"
I bent over, holding out the stinky bones. I'm so glad to get these out of the Professor's trunk. "Claudia, come here! I've got some nice fish bones! Fishy fishy!"
She strolled over, intrigued at the smell. Once recognizing it, she began to purr happily, allowing me to pick her up.
"We did it, Professor!"
"Wonderful, now we may head back to the manor."
Setting off once again for the estate, I began to feel something odd in the air.
"Professor…" I said uneasily, in the manor entrance, "Something just… It doesn't seem right…"
Just then, Matthew burst into our conversation, wildly flapping his arms.
"It's terrible Professor…! O-Oh please come quickly! Please!"
"Matthew, please calm down. Look, we've brought the cat back home, not a scratch on her."
He sighed, looking at the happy cat in my arms. "Madam will be very pleased with that… But we can't worry about that feline now!" he yelled, going ballistic again. "P-Please just hurry upstairs…!"
Following the frantic man upstairs, we were met with one of the best detectives in the Scotland Yard. Inspector Chelmey.
"You're the Professor Layton everyone's been talking about then?" she spoke gruffly, his brown mustache twitching and his hands in the pockets of his tan jacket. "I'm Chelmey, Inspector Chelmey. I'm the one workin on this case."
The Professor seemed somewhat confused. "Well I wouldn't call it a case myself, but if this is about Lady Dahlia's cat, we've brought her back home safely."
"Mama missed you! Oh my baby Claudia!" The Baroness smiled, taking the white cat into her arms, raising a happy meow from her.
"Why's there a cat here? This is a crime scene! Everyone should have the common sense to not bring animals to a crime scene!" The Inspector barked.
"I and my apprentice were out when this crime took place, so we don't have a clue what's going on. Could you please give us the details?"
The Inspector raised his hand to his thick chin. "Professor, there has been a murder. There was a man who was killed here!"
"Who was murdered?!"
I stood in shock as the Professor and Inspector continued to discuss the case.
"It was a man who was a resident here, in this estate. Simon Reinhold." he nodded.
"Simon…" the Professor mulled over the thought.
"About two hours ago, I was called with a report of a collapsed man here at the Reinhold manor. When I arrived, it was clear that Simon was already dead."
"Ah… So what was the cause of death?"
The man with the combover gritted his teeth. "I'm looking into it with this investigation. But just to let you know, Mr. Layton, you're a possible suspect as well. All other details are classified."
"Who was it that had called the authorities?"
"Are you deaf? Didn't I just tell you that those details were classified? Huh? I'll now be interviewing each of you separately. So enter into the other room with me one by one. And absolutely nobody may leave until I've talked to everyone. Got it?"
Chelmey left the room, leaving the Professor and I to ask around the room for more information. First, the Professor turned to Matthew.
"Did you see anybody strange around the manor at the time of the murder, Matthew?"
Matthew sighed and looked at the floor. "I'm afraid I didn't. Until the Inspector showed up, I-I didn't even know anything had happened to Master Simon."
"Do you know where Simon's body is?"
"W-Well I wasn't present when this happened, but I was told that Chemley had already carried out the body by the time I arrived."
"Hmm… I guess we currently do not have a lead on this case." the Professor rested his chin on his hand.
Matthew then cringed slightly. "Well you know… I did find this in the same room that Master Simon's body was found." He held out a brown cog with a carving of a wrench and a hammer in the center.
The Professor examined the cog. "What is this…?"
"I apologize, but I couldn't tell you. But I thought it could have been a clue, so I held onto it."
"Incredible! It's so tiny that someone could have searched an entire room and missed it. Look at it's engraving, Luke."
I looked at the tiny cog's engraving as Matthew came to a sudden realization.
"It's a cog…? Now that you say that… There's a puzzle I know about an object that is almost exactly like your description."
I raised my eyebrows "Was that a joke…? You want us to solve a puzzle at a time like this?"
Puzzle Number 028
There is an eight-pointed shape with a red dot on one of the points. If you hold it so the red dot is at the top, the black dot on the other side of the shape will be on the leftmost point. If you hold the shape so the red dot is on the point between the rightmost and bottom-most points, where will the black dot be on the other side?
"Ah, the black dot is on the point between the rightmost and bottom-most point." the Professor pointed his finger.
"I'm sorry Mr. Layton," Matthew said, "But I do not know anything that would help you in the investigation."
The Professor gave him one of gentlemanly smiles. "This gear will be a great clue for us, don't worry Matthew. But I have one question… why are you giving us this clue?"
"I trust you Professor, I think you're a good man. I have confidence that you will be the one to complete this puzzle."
"Thank you for those kind words, Matthew."
Chelmey then returned into the room. "Is everyone present at the crime scene now in this room?"
Matthew spoke up. "W-We're missing Ramon, sir…"
Lady Dahlia stamped her foot. "Ugh, Ramon! What does he think he's doing?! Matthew, go an fetch him!"
"M-Madam, come to think of it, I haven't seen Ramon for a couple hours."
"What?! Was he taken too?!" Chelmey gritted his teeth. "Wait a minute… He's also a suspect. He could have fled the crime scene."
"Where could he be? Ramon could have been killed by the murderer too…" Dahlia clutched onto her arms."
Before I knew it, Lady Dahlia had left the room. "Professor, where did Lady Dahlia go?"
Matthew answered me instead. "Madam has gone to rest in the adjoining room, I believe. She's a fairly strong woman, but anybody would need to relax after such a an event.
"Of course." The Professor nodded. "Could you inform her that I'd like to talk with her?"
"Yes Professor, please stay here." Matthew then left into the other room.
I smiled a little. "Even though Lady Dahlia seems like an ice queen, she must have been shaken by what took place today."
"If you want to become a gentleman Luke, you must show more sensitivity, especially to women." the Professor scolded me.
"Of course Professor, I'm so sorry, that was wrong of me to do."
Matthew returned into the room. "The Lady will see you now. Please head through that back doorway."
We stepped into the next room, as the Professor addressed Lady Dahlia. "I have my suspicions that the murder is somehow connected to the Golden Apple and it's mystery."
Dahlia yelled out in shock, as the Professor calmly continued.
"We don't have enough clues to be sure, but it is a high probability that these two matters could be linked."
She finally responded. "And you think Ramon is involved…?"
"Yes, he very well good be. However, we currently don't have any information that can lead us to solid conclusions."
"Hmmph. I see… Could I ask you to do something for me, Professor? Please find Ramon and bring him back to me. It stresses me out that I am a possible suspect for such an awful crime. You must help me in proving my innocence."
"Of course, Lady Dahlia. My apprentice and I will ask around town to find information."
"Thank you for your help, Professor. I'll wait for you in parlor, expecting good news."