Chapter 5 - Interpretation
"What are we going to do?"
"I don't know, Bronev..." the professor stared blankly into space. "You will not see Alfendi before he gets shot on Wednesday 2nd of February... That's... That's in ten days time..."
"And they're not here..." Bronev said.
"We only have ten days to find them and they could be anywhere..." the professor pulled the rim of his hat over his eyes.
Bronev sighed heavily. He stood up and took the professor's shoulders.
"We will find him. I will do everything in my power to ensure that he is safely home before he comes to any harm."
"But where do we start?" the professor asked. "Our only lead has fizzled out."
"We need to know everything about this woman," Bronev said. "Where she was born, who her family is, the exact moment she first clapped eyes on you and Emmeline. And i know someone who is excellent in intelligence missions like these."
The professor raised an eyebrow.
"My nephew, Alexander. Give him a name and he will find them and issue you with a full record of all their details, no questions asked. He... Was the person I employed to get your background information when I instructed Emmeline to spy on you. Desmond too... But trust me on this, Layton, he is excellent. I believe you met before, briefly. He and Bloom broke Dimitri Allen out of prison to fix Celeste's time machine, if you remember."
"Ah... Indeed..."
"Alexander was on his way to London anyway, to visit Emmeline and the baby." Bronev rolled his eyes. "He and his mother... My sister." he glared. "He should be able to help you."
"Er... Thank you."
"You're welcome." Bronev let go of his shoulders and stood back. "Anyway, we should be getting back to report our findings to Emmeline and Celeste."
"We're not telling Emmy," the professor said sternly.
Bronev raised his eyebrows. "Isn't this situation messy enough without you lying to your wife?"
"She's going through enough. She has just had a baby, and she's wearing herself out with the stress as it is-"
"And when she finds out that you've lied to her, do you think she'll feel any better?" Bronev asked. "Lying never makes things better, Layton. I suspect that it was lies that started this situation in the first place. You suspect Emmeline."
The professor frowned. "And what gives you that idea?"
"She told me and Celeste yesterday. She was in tears and she told me that you told the police that Andrea said she knew something about her."
"You were there too, Bronev. You heard her say that as clearly as I did."
"And you don't think that it was a simple bluff-"
"You and I both know that this is more than some simple crush on me, Bronev," the professor snapped. "It isn't just me that she has the problem with, it's Emmy too."
Bronev glared. "What problem could she have with Emmeline that does not concern you? You know everything that Emmeline wanted to keep from you. You know about what her father did to her, you know that Chovanek killed Rachel and I killed Paloma."
"Then it's something else... It must be..."
"You're convinced that there is a grand mystery behind this, when in truth McIntyre is a crazed psychopath with an insane obsession with you. You want to make out that it is all Emmeline's fault, when it is clearly yours."
The professor frowned. "My fault? The woman kidnapped my child against my will and has been terrorising my wife and myself, and that is somehow all my fault? Please explain to me what I have done to cause all of this, Bronev. I'm all ears."
"As I said, it is you with whom she has the problem with. You have had ample opportunity to sort this mess out, and yet when have you?"
"What opportunity was this? The only contact I have had with Andrea was when she was threatening my life and scheming with Claire to try and kill Emmy and Alfendi. When exactly was I supposed to say, 'Why don't we all sit down and talk about this?'" the professor snapped. "And I could say the same for you. If you had sorted out whatever problem Aleksander Chovanek had with you, Emmy would never have suffered in the way she did."
"That was different."
The professor raised an eyebrow. "Was it? It appears to be just the same to me. You and Chovanek were both after the same thing; the Azran. And Emmy and Andrea are both after me. The situations have an uncanny similarity, wouldn't you say?"
Bronev glared.
"This is getting us nowhere. Arguing like this will only take up more time. We need to get back to London."
Bronev nodded, still glaring.
"I need you to go back and take care of Emmy for me. Tell her if you want, it's up to you."
"What are you up to, Layton?"
"I'm going to Scotland Yard to look at Andrea's file. There has to be something I've missed."
"Right," Bronev muttered. "Let's go, then."
"So, what can you get from this poem, Celeste?" Flora asked.
"Well, as the opening line suggests, the poem is about someone losing everything," Celeste replied. "It is about someone losing their family and their lover and sinking into depression. Although, it is evident in the third verse that the person in question has kept secrets and lied to people..."
"So, who do you think it's about?" Emmy asked. "is it about me?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Celeste admitted. "Is there anything you're keeping from Hershel?"
"No," Emmy said automatically. "And I wish people wouldn't just jump to conclusions about me keeping things from everyone."
"And I believe that, Emmeline, but you have to admit that this is very difficult for Hershel. You have kept things from him before-"
"I'd been abused, and I was ashamed of it, that is not my fault, Celeste."
"No one is saying that, Emmeline."
"Why don't we try to look at this from another perspective?" Flora suggested, not wanting them to fight. "After all, in these situations, things aren't always as they seem."
"You're absolutely right, flora," Celeste smiled. "So. Tell me what you think."
"Uh..." Flora frowned sheepishly. "Well I don't know, I've put my idea of another perspective forward, it's your turn now."
Emmy and Celeste smiled at this.
"Um... What if it isn't about Emmy? The poem?"
"But who is it about then?" Emmy asked.
"Well... What if it's about herself?"
Celeste nodded as Emmy frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, maybe it's not you hiding things. Maybe it's her."
"Like what?" Emmy asked.
"Well, perhaps something happened to her that triggered this obsession with Hershel. Sometimes traumatic events can be an offset to some unusual behaviour."
"Like Uncle Leon's obsession with the Azran..." Emmy said.
"Exactly," Celeste replied. "he thought that if he uncovered the secrets of the Azran, Rachel wouldn't have died for nothing. Perhaps this is a similar motive for Andrea. Maybe the poem refers to her own life experience, and she thinks if she forces you to go through the same thing, it will make her feel better."
"Hmm... 'I've lost my love, my family, and now I've lost my heart...' You think she's lost a loved one then?"
"Yeah," Flora said. "And then she kind of skewed off into this tangent, and she grew obsessed with the professor."
"And then after I started seeing him, she completely lost her head and started trying to separate us," Emmy concluded. "I always wondered why she ever bothered, because she must have known that she wouldn't have a chance with him after everything she's done."
"Perhaps that didn't matter to her anymore," Celeste suggested. "Perhaps she wasn't looking for a relationship with him, just for you and him to be separated and unhappy."
They heard the front door open and a moment later, Bronev entered the kitchen looking worried and tired.
"Uncle Leon?" Emmy stood up. "What did you find in Farmborough?" She noticed his grave expression. "What is it?"
"We found another message," he said, not meeting her eyes. He pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.
'YOU WILL NOT SEE ALFENDY BEFORE HE GETS SHOT ON Wednesday seCOnd feBruary'.
Emmy stared at the message silently.
"Emmeline?" Bronev looked at her.
"What does it say?" Flora asked, standing up so she could read it over Emmy's shoulder. "Oh..." She looked at Bronev, then Celeste. "What are we going to do? How could she do this? He's only a baby and now she's going to..." She started to cry.
Celeste stood up too and pulled Flora into a hug.
"Emmeline?" Bronev wrapped an arm around her.
"Where's Hershel?" Emmy asked.
"He went so Scotland Yard to see if he could find something."
"I have to go." she grabbed her trench coat again and tore off out the back door.
Bronev sighed. "That girl... She really doesn't care about how much damage she does to herself, does she?"
The professor, meanwhile, pulled up at Scotland yard headquarters. He sighed anxiously as he entered. He wasn't sure if he was going to get a lead here, but he had to try. He had to find Alfendi, and fast...
"Inspector Chelmey!"
The inspector turned around. "Layton! Just the man! We need your help. Come with me." He lead the way to his office.
"What is it, inspector?" the professor asked, taking a seat before the inspector.
"We've looked at the CCTV footage at the hospital of the night Alfendi was taken, and we've spotted the person who took him. It wasn't Andrea."
The professor froze.
"It was a man. We think he is a middle aged to elderly man. We could tell from his voice, as we heard him soothing the baby to stop him from crying out too loud an waking someone."
"Did you get his face?"
"No. He wore a balaclava and a hat. We couldn't make out any distinguishing features from him."
"So, why do you need my help?" the professor asked.
"We need to build a profile on this woman and we need to know more about her. So, tell me everything you know."
"We went to university together. She was a fair few years above me, as she was in fourth or fifth year when i was in first. She also went to school with Claire, they were also a fair few years apart, and she used to bully Claire. Other than that, I know nothing about her past or personal life, apart from her obsession with me and my wife."
"I understand, Layton. But the person who took the child, the man... Could you pin an identity on him? Does Andrea have a crony who works closely with her or a relative perhaps?"
"As I said, I know very little about her. Why, is that not in her personal file?" the professor asked.
"Well, her file is quite peculiar, there is precious little information on her background. It's all about her most recent crimes."
The professor thought for a moment. "Would Scotland Yard have more detailed records of people?"
"Well, yes. But only on people who have been a threat to national security, the likes of Clive Dove, Leon Bronev and Aleksander Chovanek, for example."
The professor nodded at the mention of Aleks' name. "If I may, could I see Chovanek's file?"
Chelmey frowned. "Are you onto something, Layton?"
"I may well be. If I could have a look?"
"What could Chovanek have to do with Alfendi's kidnapping? He's been in prison for the last-"
"Inspector Chelmey, sir!"
Chelmey rolled his eyes. "What is it, Barton? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?"
"Sir, it's important! Vaughan is gone!"
Chelmey's eyes widened as the professor stood up.
"Vaughan as in Aleksander Chovanek?"
"The very same, sir!"
"Right," Chelmey said, standing up too. "I'm going to call for a strategy meeting in an hour. Layton and I are sure that this has something to do with the Layton kidnapping, right?" he turned to the professor.
Layton nodded.
"Right. So, call together all necessary personal in strategy room, and take Professor Layton down to the archives and give him access to all the files he needs. And send Superintendent Grosky down there to give him clearance to the restricted section."
"Yessir!"