Alexis started up the path that wound around the west side of the house. Her head was down, and she was lost in thought, so it was several minutes before she heard the footsteps behind her. She stopped and turned.

"So. You came back," she said, her voice tight.

Jigen walked towards her. "I told you I would," he said. He was just finishing a cigarette. "What was Pops doing here?" he asked, crushing the butt under his heel.

Alexis lifted her chin and turned away. "You should know," she said coolly.

Jigen looked up. "Huh?"

"I've seen the note," Alexis snapped. Jigen frowned and tilted his hat back on his head. "Lupin sent you, didn't he?" she continued, looking at him over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed. "He just couldn't resist sticking his nose into my family's business." She took a step towards Jigen, her fists clenched. "Thought you could charm me into revealing father's most precious possession, eh?" she said. Jigen stared at her, shaking his head. "You thought so badly of me in Italy, insisting that I was just out to betray you, and now you're here on his behalf, just so you can use me to --"

Jigen grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, leaned in, and kissed her full on the mouth. Alexis was too startled to resist.

"I'm not here for him," Jigen growled, breaking the kiss. "I'm here for me."

Alexis blinked in surprise. "You what? If this is a wind up, Daisuke Jigen, I'll --"

Again, he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, effectively shutting her up. For a moment, she let herself drown in his kiss, before gently pushing him away.

"Lupin doesn't know I'm here," Jigen said. His grip on her shoulders had eased somewhat, but he still held her firmly.

Alexis laughed weakly. "Oh, he knows." She took a deep breath. "He's not stupid, Jigen. He knows."

Jigen shook his head. "He can't know," he insisted. "Lupin is in Beirut with Fujiko. Probably buying more friggin' gadgets."

"What?" Alexis whispered.

"I came to England on my own," Jigen said. He released her, and she absently rubbed her left shoulder. "I told you last night, angel: I have some business to take care of in London. That's the reason I'm here." He pulled a wrinkled cigarette from his breast pocket. "It's not like Lupin and I are friggin' married," he muttered around the filter. His lighter flared. "We do work independently, you know."

Alexis stared at him. "Well then, who left the note?"

Jigen inhaled deeply and snapped his lighter closed. "What the hell are you talking about?" he said, sliding the silver Zippo into his pocket.

"The note in my father's study," Alexis said. Her expression had gone from angry to confused. "It was signed 'Lupin the Third'. It said that he was going to steal my father's 'most precious possession' by the end of the month." Alexis shook her head, completely at a loss. "The family is in a tizzy trying to figure out what that might be."

Jigen shrugged and pulled the cigarette from his lips. "I can't help you there, angel," he said. "That doesn't sound like Lupin. He's usually a lot more specific." He looked up at the house. "Someone's watching us," he murmured.

Alexis glanced over her shoulder in time to see Rebecca drop the drawing room curtain. "Ah, yes," she said, rummaging for her pack of Lambert & Butler and knocking one into her palm. "Rebecca, my little sister." She smiled as Jigen lit her cigarette. "She'll be stealing you away from me today," Alexis added. She started back down the footpath, turning towards the topiary.

Jigen looked surprised. "What?" He strode after her.

"It's sort of like sister worship," Alexis said, "with a healthy dose of sibling rivalry." She blew smoke into the air and watched it waft away in the late summer breeze. "What I have, she wants, and if she can't have it, she destroys it." Alexis smiled faintly. "She reminds me a little of Fujiko, only not so disciplined."

Jigen spit onto the grass. "Well, shit," he said, his voice tinged with disgust.

Alexis chuckled softly. "She'll try her damnedest to seduce you. And she's very, very good." Ash fell from her cigarette as she tapped it with a well-manicured nail. "She's had our father wrapped around her finger for years."

Jigen glanced over his shoulder at the house. The drawing room curtain was now closed. "I didn't get a good look at her, but from what I did see, she sure didn't look much like you," he said dubiously.

"We're half-sisters," Alexis explained, as they approached the topiary. "She inherited her looks from her mother. Unfortunately, she inherited everything else from my father."

"Her mother?" Jigen followed Alexis to a wrought-iron bench next to a broken sundial.

Alexis nodded and sat down. "Mm-hm. My father believes, like most of our Kings, that it's a man's responsibility to have mistresses." She leaned back and smiled at Jigen as he settled on the bench beside her. "He's usually very careful, but this time..." She shrugged eloquently.

Jigen raised an eyebrow. "So, where is she now?" he asked.

"She died giving birth to Rebecca," Alexis said softly. She sighed. "I quite liked her, actually. I could talk to her about everything. It was like having an older sister."

"A mistress for the baronet and tattoos for his kids," Jigen said, lowering his hat over his eyes and stretching his arms out along the back of the bench. "You got a strange friggin' family, angel."

Alexis laughed lightly. "I won't dispute that," she said wryly.

They smoked in silence for a moment, listening to the birds twittering in the neatly-trimmed bushes and carefully-stunted trees. Finally, Jigen leaned forward, resting his left ankle on his right knee. "So, what's the story with the note?" he said, dropping his cigarette butt into the dirt.

Alexis shook her head. "I can't believe I fell for it," she said, inwardly chiding herself. "Even Inspector Zenigata thought it was too far removed from Lupin's usual style."

Jigen looked over at her. "Yeah, what's that about, anyway? Who called in the Old Man?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Father's solicitor, Malcolm Smythe," Alexis said. She lifted her foot and scraped the ember from her spent cigarette. "I guess the firm thought that the inspector was the best choice for the job," she added, dropping the dead filter.

"I don't know if I'd call him the best at anything," Jigen muttered. "But him being here is going to make it a hell of a lot tougher to find out what's really going on." He straightened and squinted into the distance. "So, what is your father's most prized possession?" he asked.

Alexis shrugged helplessly. "I haven't the faintest idea," she said. "You might just as well ask me what music my sister listens to now, or what colour nail varnish my mother wears. It's been eight years since I was last here." She sighed again. "I am seriously out of touch with this family."

Jigen frowned. "Someone's coming," he said quietly, nodding at a tall, willowy figure walking towards them from the back of the house.

Alexis raised her head and looked down the path. "Mm-hm," she said. "That will be Rebecca." She took a deep breath. Without looking at Jigen, she blurted out, "Look, if you give in to her, I won't hold it against you." Jigen made a strangled sound, and she glanced over at him. "I mean, I won't blame you. You're not beholden to me or anything," she continued awkwardly. Jigen lifted the brim of his hat and stared at her. "Rebecca is very good at what she does," Alexis added, by way of explanation.

Jigen snorted softly. "You're kidding, right?" he said.

Alexis shook her head. Her face was serious. "Stronger men than you have fallen, Daisuke," she said.

"Yeah, well," he said wryly. "We'll see."

"Just take what she says with a grain of salt," Alexis murmured, as her sister drew closer. "And don't let her steal your heart. She'll tear it out, light it on fire, and laugh while it burns."

The two of them stood as Rebecca approached the sundial.

"There you are," she said, nodding to Alexis. "Mum wants to see you." She turned to Jigen and smiled brightly. "Hello, there."

Jigen nodded at her and pulled his hat lower over his eyes.

"Why didn't she send Butler?" Alexis asked.

Rebecca shrugged. "I suppose he couldn't find you," she said. "But I knew you were here." She looked slyly at Jigen. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Lex?"

Alexis smirked. "Of course. Jigen, this is my little sister, Becca."

Rebecca's green eyes flashed with anger. "Don't call me that," she snapped. "I'm not twelve anymore."

"Ah, yes. Sorry," Alexis said, in mock contrition. "Jigen, I'd like you to meet my sister, Rebecca."

Rebecca smiled coyly. "Well, I don't know how much 'liking' enters into it, but..." She turned to Jigen. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Jigen."

Jigen eyed her carefully. "Hi, kid. Nice to meet you," he said with studied nonchalance.

Alexis smiled inwardly as she caught the almost imperceptible tightening of her sister's expression. He'd called her a kid, and it stung. Still, Rebecca was careful not to show it.

"Why, you're an American!" she said with forced cheerfulness. "How exotic. Where are you from, Mr Jigen?"

Jigen shrugged eloquently. "I get around," he said. "And it's just 'Jigen'."

Rebecca tossed her long, white-gold hair over her shoulder. "Well, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She turned to Alexis. "Why don't I show Mr Ji... sorry, Jigen," she amended, dimpling at him, "around the grounds while you go and see what mother wants?"

Alexis glanced over at Jigen, who touched his finger to a notch in the brim of his hat. The implication was obvious: I've got her in my sights. Alexis smiled impishly and looked at her sister. "That's very kind of you, Rebecca," she said. Turning to Jigen, her smile grew gentle. "I'll catch up with you later, Jigen." With a little wave, Alexis headed down the path towards the house. She could hear Rebecca's sultry voice over her shoulder.

"Let me show you the aviary, Jigen," she was saying, as they moved off down the path.