Warnings: Interrogation, referenced car crash, accusations of alcohol and drug use.
Spoilers: For Curious Village and maybe Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney
Set: During PLvsAA. No one knows exactly where PLvsAA falls in the PL timeline. Layton knows Chelmey but Luke is still with him, so presumably it takes place after PL2 but before PL3. But then, Flora doesn't get so much as a passing mention... Hopefully, this helps!
Song: Secrets by One Republic

Shackled (Carmine & Chelmey)

'Professor,

I pray you received my first letter safely. Please look after it.

There is so much I would like to tell you but at present I really do not have the time.

Hours after the car crash, I awoke not in the park, but at Scotland Yard.

They have caught me~'

Carmine had been scrawling the message on the bandage torn from his arm. His pen froze as the door opened behind him.

He slipped the bandage up his sleeve- no easy feat while he was handcuffed to an interrogation table- and let the pen fall onto the floor. As the pen landed, he covered its noise with a coughing fit.

That wouldn't seem too suspicious. He had just survived a car accident, after all. It was a miracle he still had a spleen at this point.

"Sounds like you could use a drink," someone grunted.

"Y-yes, please," Carmine spluttered.

A tall moustached policeman took the chair on the opposite side of the table. He placed a glass of water just out of Carmine's reach.

"You can have some after you answer my questions," his interrogator growled.

Wasn't that technically a form of torture?

From the way the policeman was scowling at him, you would think Carmine was a suspected serial killer.

As far as Carmine knew, he had been the only victim in the park, since Espella had gotten away (or so he hoped).

Carmine had had brushes with the law in the past, but only for little things- including but not limited to trespassing, property damage, 'questionable' driving...

He must have encountered this man somewhere before.

Carmine squinted at him. "Apologies... but do I know you?"

"Inspector Cornelius Chelmey," the inspector said into a tape recorder. He pointed the recorder at Carmine. "Pronounce your name clearly."

"Carmine Accidenti," Carmine supplied in his thickest accent. It wasn't his fault if police force couldn't afford European translators.

"In Queen's English."

"Fine, fine…"

Chelmey huffed, "We'd be here all night if I listed your previous crimes, so we'll stick to the case at hand. Were you driving towards Riverside Park at approximately 7.15 this evening?"

It was more like he had been tearing up the road, but anyway… "Yes."

"Are you the registered keeper of the vehicle?"

"No."

He and Espella had found the car on the outskirts of Labyrinthia. Apparently, cars didn't exist in Labyrinthia, so Carmine saw no reason why they couldn't 'borrow' it to escape. Espella had been dumbstruck when he hot-wired the car and they drove away. Carmine smiled at the memory.

"This isn't funny in the slightest," Chelmey snarled. "Did you steal the vehicle?"

"Yes," Carmine admitted, "but it was a matter of-"

"Were you under the effects of alcohol?"

"The breathalyzer already answered that, didn't it?" Carmine pointed out. The police had tested his breath fo alcohol as soon as he was conscious.

"There are some things the test can't detect," Chelmey said, "such as other drugs."

If there was something in the Labyrinthian water, it should have left his system by now.

Carmine shrugged innocently. "Only tobacco... which isn't illegal, the last time I checked-"

"Then why were you doing 70 on a 30 miles per hour road?"

Carmine hesitated for a moment before he revealed, "I was being pursued."

"By who?"

"Someone who wished me great harm."

"I see... And did this someone knock your car into a tree?"

"Yes, they were responsible."

"Then where's the other car?"

"I never said they were driving," Carmine muttered.

"Then how," Chelmey demanded, "did they hit your car into the tree?" (He looked as if he wanted to hit Carmine across the face.)

Carmine rubbed his head. "They... moved the statues onto the road so I would collide with them."

"Who?" Chelmey repeated. "WHO moved the statues?"

A direct question. Carmine couldn't dodge this one if he wanted to remain honest.

Looking Chelmey in the eye, he said, "Witches."

He expected Chelmey to flip the table over. Instead, Chelmey hummed. "How many of them were there?"

Carmine blinked. "Do you believe me?"

"I believe you saw some people in witches' costumes…"

Carmine's heart skipped a beat. "Where did you see these people?"

"I'm asking the questions here. How many-"

"Seven, I think!" He didn't remember. He didn't care. Those witches were still out there. What if they caught Espella before she reached Professor Layton?

"There was a passenger with me in the car," Carmine burst out. "A young woman with blonde hair and a red cloak-"

There was a tap at the door. Both Chelmey and Carmine ignored it.

Chelmey grunted, "You could have mentioned her sooner-"

"Have you seen her?" Carmine stood up, straining against his shackles.

"Sit DOWN!" Chelmey ordered. "You were the only person present at the crash site. I arrived there moments after the crash. We haven't had any reports of a mysterious woman running around."

Somewhat relieved, Carmine sagged into his seat.

Someone knocked the door again and squeaked, "I-Inspector?"

"I'm busy, Barton!" Chelmey barked.

"Sorry, Inspector, but there's a young lady here who's asked to talk to you. She's quite distressed!"

Carmine shifted in his seat to stare at the door.

Noticing Carmine's reaction, Chelmey asked, "Who is she?"

Barton informed, "It's Flora Reinhold, Professor Layton's daughter…"

Since when did the professor have a daughter? And what was she doing here?

Awkwardly, Barton continued, "Oh, and the professor's mother is with her-"

"I'm his cleaner!" a woman's voice snapped.

A voice Carmine recognised immediately. How many times had she called for him to quit running in Gressenheller's corridors, or ordered him to clean up any breakages he had caused?

"Rosa!" he hollered.

For a moment there was silence, both within and outside the interrogation room.

Then, Rosa replied, "Um... hello?"

"Bloody hell…" Chelmey huffed like a horse and he got up to open the door.

A constable- Barton- tripped into the room. He straightened up and and saluted. "Miss Flora and Rosa to see you, Sir."

"No 'Miss' for me?" Rosa grumbled as she and a brown-haired girl followed him in. Rosa's gaze fell on Carmine. "Oh," she said flatly. "Why am I not surprised?"

The girl, Flora, regraded Carmine warily. She reminded him a bit of his old classmate, Janice. Maybe it was the ponytail...

Flora pulled on Rosa's sleeve and she whispered, "Who is this?"

"Carmine Accidenti, the professor's former student," Roa explained. "The bane of my existence a few years back."

"That makes two of us," Chelmey cut in. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation. What do you want?"

Flora stepped towards Chelmey. She whimpered, "Something's happened to the professor and Luke!"

"What?" Carmine and Chelmey exclaimed together.

Chelmey silenced Carmine with a glare. His expression softened slightly when he looked back at Flora. He tried to reassure her. "I spoke to Layton at the riverside not three hours ago-"

Flora insisted, "We went to his office and it looked like... like there'd been a tornado! The window was smashed open and the professor's papers were all over the place!"

That definitely sounded like the witches' handiwork.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone stole the professor's research," Rosa recalled with a frown.

Chelmey stroked his lip. "When did he leave his office?"

"We don't know," Flora said. "We were at the library but when we came to meet them, they were gone!"

Carmine clenched his fists on the table. He had sent Espella off to explore a strange city by herself and she had led the witches straight to Professor Layton!

Chelmey turned to Carmine. "Would you happen to have anything to do with this?

"I'm afraid that I might," Carmine mumbled. He peered up at Flora and Rosa. "But I'm going to help you find them... if the inspector lets me…"

Flora looked at Chelmey. She clasped her hands under her chin. "Please, Inspector? We need all the help we can get!"

"He does take after the professor as a detective," Rosa added, "even if he is rougher around the edges…"

Barton piped up, "There also seems to be some... some sort of link between the car crash and the attack on the professor's office. And Mr Accidenti was present at the crash site-"

"Alright," Chelmey conceded a growl. He jabbed a finger at Carmine. "If you put one foot out of line, I'll put you behind bars."

Carmine nodded. "Understood."

Chelmey unlocked his handcuffs.

Carmine stood up. "Can you take me to the professor's office?"

This was the start of a story within a story, he could tell.