Here it is, the long over due chapter! I hope it makes up for the wait, but it's defiantly the most exciting one yet!

Chapter 12: The Secret of the Portrait

Luke yawned as the four made their way through the sleepy town. "Come on professor, please tell us what's going on!"

The professor laughed. "It's still a theory at the moment, but," He smiled at his apprentice. "I think I've kept you all in suspense long enough." At this all ears strained so as not to miss a word of the professor's explanation, even nearby animals held their tongues. "Tell me Luke, with our last encounter with the the deceased Leon Bronev, did you noticed anything suspicious? Anything that may have suggested that what we saw was all a trick."

"Umm…" Luke thought hard, but without result. "Urr, no…"

"Exactly."

"Uh!?" Luke gave his mentor a disbelieving look.

The professor smiled again. "There was nothing that would serve as any evidence that what we saw was fake, this was the first clue to finding the truth."

Flora sighed. "Wow, we've barely started and I'm already confused!"

There was a general giggle in response to this. Layton continued. "The next hint was Luke and Flora."

"Hey?" Again Luke was caught off guard.

"Tell me," the professor addressed the boy. "When you and Flora saw the ghost outside of the house, what did you have in common?" Luke thought for a moment, before Flora came up with an idea.

"Oh! Is it because we're both children?" This made Sycamore laugh a little.

"Not quite, my dear." He told Flora. "But I see where this is going, Layton,"

"Hmm, well, the reason they saw him was that they were making contact with Luke's jumper…"

"Which had paint from the house on it!" Luke had finally caught on. "Oh! Is that why you wanted us to find out where the paint had come from?"

"Indeed," the professor said in a more serious tone. "The ghost, and all of his tricks, were created by our imaginations, due to hallucination gas in the paint…" Everyone had stopped walking and were quite silent.

"Layton, I appreciate you judgment, but isn't the idea of 'hallucination gas' a bit... Rash?"

"Folsense gas…" Said Luke, almost under his breath.

"What?" Sycamore was a bit bewildered, the professor explained the happenings in Folsense and they continued walking. "So, you think that the ghost is really just, gas?" Sycamore thought out loud. "But that would mean… Somebody planted the ghost there?"

"Yes," the professor confirmed this, the once again turned to Luke. "What was the answer to second question you asked the Walkers?"

"Oh!" Luke pulled his notebook out of his bag and read aloud. "Mr Walker had bought a telephone for his study a few week previously." He put the notebook away and smiled. "From the same shop they got the paint!"

"Well done, my boy." The professor congratulated him, then turned to Sycamore. "And your findings?"

This time Sycamore beamed at the professor. "It went very well," he assured him. "He told me that there had been an electronics and redecoration store that had opened up about 7 weeks ago -presumably the one the Walkers purchased the paint and the telephone from-, but it closed 5 weeks later. All the Mayor knows about this matter is that the property had been sold to an unknown buyer, but the 'undercover police' have been seen around there a lot, so he guessed it must be their base.

"Thank you," said the professor. "And now, here is the rest of my theory." The group were now exiting the empty market-place and were now making their way down the road that lead to the Walker's house. Layton proceeded to explain his theory. "I believe that the telephone Mr Walker bought was the source of the moaning sound that young Catherin heard few nights before Bronev's first appearance, being a young child she immediately suspected a ghost and told her family so, forming the same grim suspicions within them. I believe that when entering Mr Walker's study one of the first thing's they would have seen was Bronev's portrait, and so, as with our experience in Folsense, a ghost they expected, a ghost they saw."

"Wow…" Luke was having trouble taking it all in, yet it seemed so obvious now, and he said so.

"I know!" Flora replied with a squeal. "Hey, professor? Do you think the undercover police are behind this? It seems a bit odd them appearing at the same time and buying that shop."

"That was exactly what I was thinking, Flora," said the professor, quite pleased that she had made this deduction. "I was also wondering if they might be responsible for the disappearance of James Downing, as they would have needed an excuse to be here…" The professor stopped dead in his tracks and bit his lip. "Ah, yes, that reminds me. I have so rather terrible news from London."

"Hu!?" Luke panicked. "Wha- what's happened?"

"Inspector Chelmey has also gone missing," the professor announced. "His wife, Amelie, reported that he has been very tense and withdrawn recently, always busy though hasn't been working on an investigation for a while, and now no one has seen hide nor hair of him for some time."

Sycamore rested his chin in his hand and frowned at the professor. "Did you get an exact day of when he disappeared?" Layton gave him an even more worried look.

"Yes," he said in an almost whisper. "Ten days ago…"

Sycamore's eyes grew wide with shock. "The same day the ghost appeared…" He mumbled. "Please tell me that's a coincidence."

"No…" The professor continued walking as he spoke. "If I am correct, this whole thing - Chelmey, the ghost, James, perhaps even Bronev's death- is part of a much bigger picture." There was silence for a while after that, there was just so much to take in.

"Every question we answer, just leads to more. How are we ever going to solve this?" Luke wondered out loud.

"Whatever it takes, we must get to the bottom of this, I fear that many lives may be in danger." The professor told them as they approached their destination. "But right now we going to find the answer we came here for, what is the Bronev treasure?"

When they had all gone inside, a nearby bush started to shake as a head popped out of it. It began to have a muffled conversation with a walkie-talkie.

"This is 026 speaking, I think we 'ave a problem, over."

"What? What's happened? Over."

"It's Top Hat, Boss, 'es come back. I think 'es worked it out. Over."

"Oh, good. Over."

"Hu?" The uniformed figure stared at the device in confusment. "Whadda ya mean, 'good'? Over"

"Fool!" the walkie-talkie screeched making it's holder jump. "No one on our team had the brains to crack this! That's whole reason we set this thing up! Nothing attracts Layton like a puzzle, especially one regarding his late father." The speaker sniggered at this. "And as we need him anyway, we're killing two birds with one stone, no, three birds with that Sycamore guy! I can barely believe how lucky we've been!" He gave a cruel laugh. "And better yet, Layton is none the wiser that we've been using him this whole time! And you're saying we have a problem! Right, wait there, 'ere's what we're gonna do." The man who had been listening to this in bewildered silence gave a crooked smile, if there was one thing he was good at it was being given orders, not necessarily carrying them out, but it was the receiving that counted, right?

The four entered the house and made their way to the dining room. Luke noticed that the ghost did appear at first, but as no one was scared of it (the professors weren't even acknowledging it) it eventually disappeared. The displaced furniture such as the clock and the broken glass returned to their original positions, it even turned out that most of the dust was the work of the gas. When they found the dining room they all took a seat round the dining table.

"Now," the professor addressed his companions. "I would go as far as to say that the Bronev Treasure, or at least a clue to finding it, is somewhere in this house, I think-"

"Professor!" Luke sat up straight and tried to loom determined. "Please, let me work this one out!"

The professor chuckled. "Alright, my boy, if you think you can." Luke nodded and opened his notebook, scribbling down notes and checking old ones.

"Maybe, maybe there's a clue in the will…" Said Luke, half to himself. Flora was also having a go at working it out, and the mention of the will made her think of something.

"You know, the will said 'I give the Bronev family treasure to the heirs of the Bronev bloodline', but the professor was his last remaining relative, right?" Luke's pencil slipped as he was writing, all eyes turned to the professor. Sycamore frown and mouthed "You haven't told her?" at him. The professor cleared his throat.

"Very, urr, observant of you, Flora." The professor adjusted his hat. "But I am no expert on the Bronev family, there may be others I do not know of."

"Oh, how exciting!" She clasped her hands together. "You could have a whole other family you didn't even know existed!" This made the others feel even more awkward, notably Sycamore. Luke gulped and and got back to his work. It was a couple of minutes later when Luke jumped from his seat triumphantly.

"Ah ha! I think I've got it!" Everyone turned to look at him as he began his explanation. "If the treasure is in this house, it would have to be somewhere that couldn't be taken away, so not a piece of furniture or something like that. At first I thought it could be anything from a wall to a fireplace, BUT then I remembered Catherin Walker said that Bronev's portrait has always been in the study, perhaps that's because they couldn't move it!"

"Oh, well done Luke!" Flora had also risen from her seat and hugged Luke, making him blush.

"Well, we should examine the portrait at once!" Sycamore exclaimed. As the two congratulated him, Luke looked in the professor's direction to see if he had gained his mentor's approval, the professor smiled and nodded, cause Luke to swell up with pride. The professor smiled sadly to himself.

He was really going to miss his apprentice.

They found the study and discovered that sure enough, the painting was stuck fast to the wall.

"I know we're not here to discus art, but this is an amazing painting, and the frame is magnificent." They had all got used to Flora coming out with random comments such as this, but to be fair the frame was quite impressive, painted golden with an exotic pattern. "... And look! It even has a puzzle on it!" They dashed over to see the discovery she had made without really knowing it, and yes, part of the frame was a sliding puzzle.

"Flora! You found it!" Luke beamed at Flora who was blushing. Sycamore reached up to crack the puzzle, when Luke stopped him. "Hey! Flora found it, she should get to solve it."

"Oh…" Sycamore looked at Flora apologetically and moved out of the way. Flora was a bit nervous as her puzzle solving skills weren't as advanced as the professor's or Luke's and it didn't help that she had to stand on a chair and reach over a desk to actually get to the puzzle, but with a bit of time (and some hints from the professor) the frame eventually gave a satisfying 'click' to signify that it had met it's match. It swung open like a door to reveal a gloomy, dark staircase. They stood, breathtaken and still, this was it, this was what they had come for. Luke woke from this hypnotised state and scrambled onto the desk, to be stopped by Sycamore. "W-wait! There could be traps, it could be dangerous."

"Yes, that's true." The professor agreed. "Alright, I'll go first and tell you if it's clear." He climbed onto the desk and stepped into the doorway, he made his way down the spiraling stairs, every footstep echoing. It was a few seconds before they heard him call up to them. "It's alright, come on down." At this Sycamore pulled himself up and into the the passage. Luke quickly made his way onto the desk, but slipped on a piece and just managed to grab the edge of the doorway, stopping himself from tumbling to the floor. he was stuck in a position where he couldn't get up or down very easily. He reached up to Sycamore.

"H-help me up." He gasped. Sycamore looked down at him and grinned, not a cheerful, friendly Sycamore grin, it was cold and crooked, a cruel grin.

A Descole grin.

He stamped on Luke's hand, causing him to fall, and slammed the door shut.

Dun dun DUUUUUUUN! I hate myself for that last bit, but it was gonna happen sooner or later, thanks for reading, don't forget to review and I'll see ya all next time!