Weeks passed by in London, and the Bandit remained unmoving and quiet. No gems went missing; many believed the illustrious heists were at their end. Unlike the naïve minds of the citizens of Mousedom, Basil knew better. This explained why he kept tabs on the Amsel household, more so with a certain young lady. Ms. Amsel made no trips to the 'Rat Trap' and steered clear of Ratigan's lair, this confused the detective immensely. Ratigan seemed to have her at his beck and call. Meanwhile, the woman's eye remained swollen for several days, and healed as the weeks went by.
The young mouse did spend much of her time in the rose bushes, plucking the petals and sitting with her bird. She had a fondness for her avian friend, as if the two were siblings. The raven seemed perfectly content to sit with her, and showed no eagerness to fly away. More than once, Basil caught her talking to the bird. Relaying daily events that took place in her home, the detective had trouble understanding, seeing that most of her words were in broken Russian.
Basil learned quite a bit through these observations. Before hand, the detective could only guess how agile the lady was. Now, he had a good idea. Unlike many mice, she knew how to use her tail to its full extent. Many times, she could be found hanging upside down to snatch the perfect rose, or catching falling object with her tail. Such abilities took time and training to develop.
The woman had taken on the role of mother, performing all the tasks that would be required by the lady of the house. Cecilia prepared three meals a day; sometimes she avoided feeding herself, so as to give her father and sister more food. She looked after the store, despite the fact that they didn't seem to pull in many customers. Before bed, Cecilia was sure to read Rebekka to sleep. Basil liked that, finding that with every reading, his ego would grow slightly. The little mouse insisted that her sister read Dawson's articles, and nothing else. Ms. Amsel complied every night, reading the words with a spectacular bravado that many would envy.
On the fourth week of dormancy for the Bandit, something happened. Despite the fact that the detective kept a watchful eye on the family, he lost track of Ms. Amsel after she took her sister to school. He had had her in his sights, but once Rebekka had been seen safely into her teacher's arms, Ms. Amsel seemed to disappear into the crowd of mothers and fathers, who were seeing their own children off.
Basil scoured the streets for the woman, finding neither hide nor hair of her. She might have taken off on her bird, but that seemed impossible, the detective had not seen a raven anywhere near the area.
Finally, at long last he caught sight of her. Ms. Amsel managed to push her way through a crowd of mice, and was standing patiently at the edge of the declared safe area for mice. She seemed to be observing human foot traffic. His jaw dropped as she ran right in the path of a human. Without any form of hesitation, Ms. Amsel grabbed the hem of the pant leg. Away she went, down the street. "Aw bloody hell."
Basil looked around; he didn't seem to have a choice. If he were to call Toby, he would have to wait, and Ms. Amsel was getting further away. Groaning, he attempted to grab a ride. The lady made it seem so easy, now that he was doing it. Well, it was no picnic that much was certain. On his first try, he was nearly trampled. By the second go, he managed to get a grip on the laces of female human's boot, and he held on for dear life.
Despite the worry of his transportation seeing him, Basil found the ride exhilarating. As he went, the detective could just barely see Ms. Amsel. She appeared to be aiming for the dock. As they were passing it, she dismounted her ride. Basil was prepared to follow her, when the human spotted him. A loud scream just about shattered his ear drums. "A MOUSE! UGH GET IT OFF! HELP!"
The crazy human went into a frenzy of flailing her feet about. All the while her voice growing more and more hysterical, her constant thrashing movement sent Basil into the air. He landed painfully on the street. He made a mad dash for the entrance to the docks, the screams of the female human at his back. Turning he yelled. "Well, I'm not too fond you either Miss!"
Groaning in pain, Basil rubbed his back. "Good lord, it wasn't like I went up her bloomers or anything."
Recalling as to why he had gone through all that. The detective hurried down to the docks, only able to follow Ms. Amsel by the scent of her perfume. It hung in the salty air, forming the perfect trail to follow. Basil had just caught sight her turning the corner by a rather large ship, which was christened "Red Dragon." Though Basil wasn't one for ships, he couldn't help but appreciate her majesty. To any mouse, the vessel was the size of a fabled giant, perhaps even bigger.
Shaking his head, the detective continued on with tailing Amsel. Turning the corner, he hid himself away behind a tower of crates, at the edge of the dock stood his suspect. She seemed to be in the company of a group of unsavory characters. By their appearance, he deduced them to be barge rats. From Ms. Amsel's posture, she looked hassled. Her ears were flat against her head, and her tone was clipped and sharp. "We had a deal; you said I only needed to pay €6 for a bag of Oolong."