"You're going to help this guy?"
The three of them had returned to the hideout after grabbing takeout orders of full English breakfasts. Jigen ate his meal straight from the Styrofoam container, spearing a link of sausage with his fork as he spoke.
"More like I'm trying to avoid being arrested," Lupin said between a mouthful of eggs. "Said he has connections with the London police, whatever that means."
"Can he be trusted?" Goemon asked. Unlike Jigen, Goemon had taken a plate from the kitchen and was spooning the beans and roasted tomatoes onto it. "You said you would meet him tomorrow."
"Yeah it'll be fine," Lupin responded. "He seemed to talk a good game, but I got the sense he's still a little wet behind the ears. I can outmaneuver him if things go south."
Lupin sounded confident enough, but that this man was able to figure out his next heist, especially when Lupin hadn't put in a calling card yet, made him uneasy. The man might be inexperienced, but he was smart enough. Did he have them followed when they cased the outside of the museum? They had taken a nondescript silver car and even walked around the museum on a rainy afternoon so the ponchos they wore covered their clothes and faces.
"Which reminds me," Lupin continued, chewing a piece of black pudding thoughtfully and pulling himself out of his thoughts. "He's probably the one who snuck up on our hideout last week."
"That sounds about right," Jigen said, taking a moment to get a swig of coffee before he continued. "Weren't there two people? I remember seeing another guy when I opened the window."
Lupin kept his eyes focused on his meal. "Probably was a friend of his. Didn't think to ask whether he was working with anyone else."
"In any case," Goemon said. "I would advise you to be cautious, though it does not seem like this person poses a great threat."
"I'm more worried that this guy will be a moron again and bring Tymiaor to us," Jigen said.
"It'll give us something to do while we wait on our next heist," Lupin said, smiling a little grimly to himself. "Tymiaor is the last thing I want to come up against, and the London Police would be enough of a pain in the ass to distract us. For now, I guess I won't be as much a thief as a detective, sleuthing out Tymiaor's route Pops-style."
"Stay on the down low, OK?" Lupin continued, turning to look at Goemon and Jigen. "I think the police is finally taking this seriously and will crack down if they spot us."
Jigen put down his fork to salute. "You got it. You keep a lookout, too."
"I'll need to tell Fujiko to watch out," Lupin said quietly. She hadn't visited since he had slipped her their address. He hoped it was because she was too busy wining, dining, and pilfering from the elite.
Lupin looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. Being Lupin III meant being a jack of all trades: thief, inventor, master of disguise, an expert on any treasure he had his sights on. Being an investigator was a different animal altogether. He smiled to himself. Maybe he should wear a hat for the occasion.
Lupin was reluctant when first spying the Bodmin moors. It was easy enough to get in, disguising himself as a park maintenance employee. But when he slipped from the employee cabin into the moors itself, he realized a problem: despite rocky terrain and large looming hills, it was still easy to see objects from far ahead, including people. If he wanted to make himself scarce, it wouldn't be simple.
His apprehension became relief when Lupin spotted a thicket of trees that led into a forest. He was able to scramble up one of the trees and map out where he wanted to go. To his delight, he wouldn't even need to touch the ground to get there. Putting on camouflage that melded him with the greens and browns of the foliage, he leapt noiselessly from tree to tree, halting when he heard voices below him.
"I sent the Interpol inspector to speak with people in a nearby town," the first voice said. Lupin, following the voice, saw a man wearing a vest from the London Police Department. "He should be coming back soon."
"Do you see anything here?" A second voice asked, belonging to another officer.
"Not here," the first voice responded, unaware that Lupin was almost directly above them. Lupin watched for a few minutes, then heard padded footsteps as a figure walked to meet the two officers.
"Oy, Hurley!" The first officer said, sounding surprised. Lupin recognized the figure as the man from the bridge yesterday. "What brings you here?"
Lupin thought he saw the man twitch in annoyance, but he very quickly resumed a calm expression. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant. I understand you are investigating a case, and I wanted to offer my services."
The lieutenant nodded. "You can look around. We'll be leaving this area soon. We're just waiting for the Interpol agent to get back from talking with the townsfolk."
Lupin's ears perked up. There were plenty of Interpol agents, but what were the chances that Zenigata himself would be involved in this?
The two officers continued to investigate on one end of the woods while the man looked around the side of the forest closest to Lupin. Seeing a chance with the two officers distracted, Lupin lowered himself using a branch until he was nearly touching the man's ear.
"Oy Hurley!" Lupin whispered, taking some schadenfreude at the man's instantly annoyed expression.
"So you arrived," the man said out of the corner of his mouth, not seeming surprised to see Lupin. "My name is Herlock Sholmes, for future reference."
"Well, that is a mouthful," Lupin said, a bemused expression on his face. "I'm not going to remember that. Better to call you Hurley."
"Do what you want," Sholmes said tersely.
"You see anything?" Lupin asked, keeping an eye on the two officers, whose backs were still turned to Sholmes and Lupin.
"Nothing that indicates that Tymiaor has been here," Sholmes responded.
Lupin looked thoughtful. Sholmes was surprised by how composed Lupin was while hanging upside down from a tree branch.
"I think it's a false lead," Lupin said, as Sholmes turned to him in surprise. "Either Tymiaor fed some false intel to the police, or the police is covering for Tymiaor by throwing people off the path Tymiaor is actually taking."
Sholmes nodded. It made sense. It also made him wish he had come to that conclusion sooner.
"It's what I would do," Lupin said with a wink.
Sholmes stared ahead. "Do you know what path Tymiaor is taking?"
"Nope," Lupin replied lightly, as though they were discussing the tram schedule. "I'm sure you'll figure it out though."
Sholmes, to his surprise, couldn't help but be encouraged by Lupin's casual compliment. He turned to look at Lupin as he meddled with the tree branch.
"Well, better get back to hiding. I might burst a blood vessel if I stay like this," Lupin said. Sholmes noticed that Lupin's face was starting to redden from staying upside down.
Sholmes nodded in acknowledgment, and Lupin disappeared into the treetops.
As Sholmes resumed looking around, it wasn't too much longer before Lupin saw with some surprise that Inspector Zenigata and a man Lupin didn't recognize appeared. The two officers went up to meet them.
"Inspector, how did the questionings go?" the lieutenant asked.
"They went well." Lupin was surprised to hear Zenigata respond to the lieutenant in English. "No one has seen anything unusual."
Despite himself, Lupin felt an odd sense of pride. Zenigata wasn't the best at the English language. As a result, law enforcement in the west often looked down on him, failing to recognize Zenigata immense deductive skills. It made Lupin's job easier at times that the officer didn't recognize Zenigata's ability, but Lupin couldn't help but feel vindicated that Zenigata wouldn't let the officers underestimate him so easily.
"Good," the lieutenant responded, as an alert suddenly sounded from the officers' two-way radios.
The lieutenant, picking up his device, responded to the dispatcher message that couldn't be heard by Lupin or the officers around him.
"…at a general practice in Baker Court…bomb detonation…suspects appear to be in a brawl…"
Sholmes went pale, his voice had the slightest edge of fear as he spoke. "I'll accompany you," he said to the lieutenant, who nodded.
"We'll come back here tomorrow," the lieutenant said. "Inspector, the translator will take you back to the station."
As Sholmes and the officers walked back to the police vehicles, Zenigata whispered something to the translator, who nodded and started to walk away. Lupin was so intent on figuring out what had happened, and why Sholmes had looked so nervous, that he didn't realize that Zenigata had spotted his hiding place until their eyes met.