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Story Title: A Covered Flame - Part Five
Rating: PG-13
Genre: General
Series: Professor Layton
Pairing(s): One-sided Dimitri/Claire, one-sided Don Paolo/Claire
Character(s): Dimitri Allen, Claire Foley, Lady Dahlia, Don Paolo, Curious Village Cast, Hershel Layton, Clive Dove
Summary: Dimitri and Claire head for St. Mystere, unknowingly trying to set right the first life that was affected by the loss of Layton.
Notes: This is how the first game was affected by the changes to the timeline. I felt a little unsure about this chapter, since I didn’t want to just rewrite the canon, but I hope it’s interesting enough regardless.

“So tell me, why St. Mystere?” Claire asked, watching the trees go past as Dimitri drove them down the winding country roads.

“I… um, well it’s a place neither of us have never been to before,” replied Dimitri, who wasn’t ready to admit that they were going there because a voice he’d heard in his sleep told him to. They were both scientists, so that kind of talk would have made Claire laugh.

She shook her head, commenting, “So is Spain.”

“We have a few days and not much money,” he answered, frowning down at the map, “Can you take a look at this? I’m having not luck.”

Claire took the map from him and read the notes on the side, and then she informed, “St. Mystere is that village there.”

“How can you tell?”

“Hershel was always fond of puzzles, he showed me a few,” Claire answered, “This one was quite easy.”

“Ah, um, okay…” muttered Dimitri, trying to hide his lost dignity at not being able to solve it, “Seems like an odd thing to put on a map though.”

“It does,” agreed Claire, watching as the houses started to come into view, “What do you know about this place anyway?”

“I know that it’s almost cut off from society,” said Dimitri, “There used to be a man who owned the estate here, Baron Reinhold, but I think he’s pas- …Oh, that’s odd.”

He pulled up to see that a bridge across what looked like a moat was raised and without it there was no route into the village. A man stood on the other side, glaring at them as if challenging them to talk to him.

“Hello, can you lower the bridge,” Claire called, getting out of the car.

“I reckon that I don’t want to,” the man called back.

“I beg your pardon?” Dimitri growled, following Claire.

The man shouted, “We don’t take kindly to strangers here and even if we did there’d be no way that I could let you across as I have no idea which slot to put this crank in to lower the bridge.”

“You mean to tell me that your job is to lower this bridge and you have no idea how to do that?” Dimitri muttered, staring in disbelief.

“What was that?” shot the man.

“Nothing! Look, maybe we should just go, Claire, this guy is clearly not going to help us,” Dimitri said.

There was a glimmer in Claire’s eyes, however, and she observed, “This is just like one of Hershel’s puzzles. Would you let us try to help, sir?”

“Um… sure?” the man replied, obviously not used to getting that response from people he was stopping from getting into the village.

“Let’s take a look here… Any ideas, Dimitri?” Claire chimed, staring across at the crank.

With other side of the moat, where the crank and slots were, being some distance away it was really hard to tell. If Claire hadn’t been present he would have told this guy exactly what slot to fit it into, but as things stood he just felt a cold shudder travel through his mind. And then he knew the answer.

“Why don’t you try the first slot?” Dimitri called to the man.

“If you say so,” sneered their adversary, inserting the crank into the slot he’d been directed to and lowering the bridge, “Well I’ll be, you got it right.”

“Yes, well I’m sure if you’d tried all three of them it wouldn’t have taken you too long to find the solution for yourself…” mumbled Dimitri.

“So can we come in now?” Claire asked, already half way across the bridge.

“I don’t know, you’re still stra-“

“Are you being rude to our guests, Franco?”

“N-not at all, Mr. Simon! I was just… welcoming them to our humble village,” stammered the man called Franco.

Another person stepped forward, a blonde man whose face was filled by his red-rimmed glasses and large nose; “We don’t often get guests to St. Mystere, least of all ones who have working grey matter inside their heads, so you two are most welcome here.”

“Thanks… I think,” said Dimitri.

“Did you come here for the Golden Apple?” Simon questioned.

“What’s the Golden Apple?” Claire replied, seeming interested.

Looking mildly surprised that they didn’t know, Simon told her, “It is the treasure of St. Mystere. Left in the late baron’s will to anyone who can locate it.”

“A treasure hunt?” Claire pressed.

“You could say that, yes. But sadly the Reinhold family’s search for the treasure has been less than fruitful, no pun intended. We have been bringing in promising minds to try to solve the riddle, but alas, no one seems to be able to do so.”

That explained why he was commenting on our minds, mused Dimitri.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t give it a try. What do you think, Alan? This is exactly the sort of thing that Hershel would have loved,” Claire said, smiling cheerfully.

It was that last sentence that had Dimitri trapped. Layton probably would have loved something like this and if it wasn’t for him perhaps Layton and Claire would be here together working out the answer…

“Yes, I think it’d be worth a shot,” he said.

“Very well, the lady will be most pleased,” commented Simon, watching them in the manner of a lion regarding fresh meat, “Why don’t you follow me to the manor?”

The two walked with their guide to the Reinhold Manor, having to cross a short steam in order to get to it and being made to wait while the lady of the house was made ready for their meeting. After a few minutes they were shown by a short butler through to a room that contained people who seemed more wealthy and important than anyone Dimitri had ever met. He reasoned that these people must all be members of the Reinhold family.

“Greetings,” drawled a glamorous woman, “I am Lady Dahlia and this is my estate. Or at least, it is now that my poor husband has past away. Simon informs me that you’re here to solve the mystery of the Golden Apple.”

“We’ll take our best shot at it, Lady Dahlia,” said Claire, who seemed to be quite impressed by her charms. Dimitri just thought she looked over-bearing.

“Very well then, I’ll fill you in on the details of- …Oh! Claudia! My dear, sweet little Claudia! Come back here this instant!” screamed Lady Dahlia, as an extremely fat and fluffy white cat darted between her legs and out of the open door. Lady Dahlia then rounded upon Dimitri and Claire, “How can you just stand there at a time like this?”

“We were… waiting for you to tell us about the Golden Apple,” Dimitri tried.

“You can’t expect me to talk about such things when my darling baby has escaped out into the wild!” the lady hissed.

“I reckon she’s just outside,” Dimitri started, but felt Claire tug on his sleeve.

“I doubt we’re going to get much more out of this woman until she’s got her cat back,” Claire said, quietly, “Why don’t we step outside to have a look?”

“Very well,” agreed Dimitri, who wasn’t opposed to putting some distance between them and the crazy cat lady, “We’ll go get your… Claudia back.”

“Thank you, I dread to think what could happen to her lost out there,” sniffed Lady Dahlia, perching herself on the edge of one of the expensive-looking chairs that decorated the room.

The two showed themselves out, Dimitri sighing with relief once they were far enough away.

“Thank goodness we’re out… But I have a feeling that this whole thing might end up being a wild goose chase,” he groaned.

“I think its fun,” Claire argued, “And besides, there’s the cat just over there. Care to try catching her, Dimitri?”

Even after all these years Dimitri still wanted to try as hard as he could to keep Claire happy. They were not romantically involved with one another at all. Claire was still very much in love with Layton, that much was clear, and had, perhaps thankfully, never mentioned Dimitri’s confession of his feelings again since that fateful day. That period of time held too many painful memories for them both. They had to move on, not least because their old selves were still wanted by the police for the man slaughter that occurred then. The one thing that Claire couldn’t put behind her, however, was her feelings for Hershel.

But Dimitri still tried to do everything he could for her. And if catching this cat made her happy then that would be exactly what he’d do…

By the time the two of them returned to Reinhold Manor, cat resting peacefully in Claire’s arms, albeit with her tail swishing threateningly, and Dimitri’s hands covered in scratches from their many failed attempts to catch the feline, he was almost ready to call it a day.

“Oh you brought my baby home,” cooed Lady Dahlia, rushing to grab Claudia from Claire, “I’m just sorry to say that something awful had to happen while you were away…”

“What do you mean?” Dimitri asked.

“Simon… well, it would be better to see for yourselves…” Lady Dahlia muttered, showing them through to the room they’d been in before.

Claire raised her hands to cover her mouth.

For the second time in his life, Dimitri found himself faced with a dead body. But this one seemed oddly clean compared to the blood-covered mess that Layton’s body had been in. There was no question that Simon’s limbs were broken beyond repair, however.

A police officer was already inspecting the corpse, but as they entered the room he straightened up.

“Sorry to interrupt, Inspector Chelmey, these are our guests, um…” Lady Dahlia paused awkwardly suddenly aware that she hadn’t got their names.

“Alan Stahngun. And this here is Celeste,” Dimitri introduced.

“Celeste, what a… charming name,” commented the inspector, walking over and taking Claire’s hand in a way that made Dimitri’s skin crawl, “But is that really what you’re called? You look so… familiar.”

“Y-yes, I’m called Celeste,” Claire said nervously, pulling her hand away from Chelmey.

Did this man know of her from her previous identity? It was possible, but judging from Claire’s face it looked like she’d never met him before.

“I sincerely doubt that this charming young woman could have committed the murder. As for the man…” Chelmey growled, glaring at Dimitri with contempt.

“Di- …Alan has been with me the whole time,” Claire protested.

Tutting, Lady Dahlia cut in, “I know it wasn’t them, they’ve been looking for Claudia the whole time. Besides, they’re just here to solve the Golden Apple case.”

“Oh, very well then,” said Chelmey, “Then I’ll have to ask you all to leave, there’s an investigation going on here.”

“By all means,” said Claire, “Come on, Alan. Eh, what are you looking at?”

A cold wave had shuddered through Dimitri’s body again, just like it had done before he felt a whisper of the answer to that puzzle. He didn’t want to surrender himself as being superstitious, but at the same time he felt that he should listen to these strange notions. And right now they were telling him to examine the body.

He walked towards the lifeless figure of Simon and bent down.

“Hey! Get away from there! Chelmey yelled.

“Sorry, Inspector, just thought that I saw something,” Dimitri replied, getting back up again.

“Clear off!” Chelmey scorned, shooing them out.

After making excuses to Lady Dahlia to get back onto their own case, Dimitri led Claire back out of the house to show her what he had found. Unfolding his hand, he presented her a small cog.

“What’s this?” she asked, examining it.

“Looks like a cog from some sort of machine, I found it next to Simon’s body,” Dimitri answered.

“Then we should tell that Inspector about it,” mused Claire.

“Something tells me that wouldn’t be a good idea. Let’s just keep this to ourselves for now and search for the Golden Apple.”

They decided to travel further into the town, asking the locals for any information that they might have on the Golden Apple, since it seemed like a good place to start. Unfortunately, these people had no leads at all and seemed to only present them with their own problems to hinder their progress. Everyone seemed obsessed with brain-teasing puzzles in this village, very unnaturally so. Claire kept saying that Hershel would have been in his element here and Dimitri kept solving them thanks to the cold whispers that seemed to be lurking with him.

By the time the sun began to set they were both considering going back to the manor to inform Lady Dahlia of the disappointing news that they’d made no progress with the investigation.

About half way there, Claire tugged on Dimitri’s arm.

“Hey, I think I saw that guy working at the Reinhold Manor! Ramon, was it?” she asked.

“What about him?” hummed Dimitri.

He then turned around to see exactly what the issue with this man was. Ramon was presently having his lifeless body shoved into a sack by a strange-looking old man.

“He must be the murderer! Hey, you!” called Claire, dashing over.

Naturally, as soon as the man realised he had been spotted he made a run for it, demonstrating surprising strength for someone his age by carrying the sack that containing Ramon’s body. The two didn’t give up chase, following him as far as they could until they realised that they’d hit an unfamiliar section of the village that contained some series of winding alleyways. From there, it must have been easy for their target, being probably more familiar with them, to lose them.

“Damn, we almost hard him!” cursed Claire.

“Just a second…” Dimitri replied, looking down at the floor. That cold whisper had directed him to check there. He was still fighting off the urge to be scared by this almost unnatural helper. He picked up a small cog that the man seemed to have dropped. “Just like the one next to Simon…”

“So you think that they both came from our escaped man?” asked Claire.

“He did seem to be able to move too fast for a human, especially considering what he was carrying,” agreed Dimitri.

“A robot? That’s just… um, well it’s pretty unlikely,” Claire replied.

“Either way, I think we probably should report our findings to that inspector now. Perhaps he can make some sense of it,” concluded Dimitri.

Admittedly, he wasn’t looking forward to having a second round of conversation with Inspector Chelmey, who seemed to have taken an unusual interest in Claire, but it was pretty unavoidable by this point. The two made their way back to the manor and if they were hoping to be pleasantly received there then they were mistaken. Each member of the wealthy Reinhold family, save for the late Simon, were sat waiting for them with solemn faces. The only one who looked vaguely cheerful was Chelmey.

“I see they’ve finally come back to the scene of the crime. What did I tell you about criminal behaviour?” Chelmey proclaimed.

“I thought that we explained earlier that we weren’t involved in Simon’s murder,” Dimitri replied, on edge about being accused.

“Oh, there’s no doubt that sweet Celeste would have had nothing to do with it if she hadn’t been forced by you,” spat Chelmey, pointing at Dimitri, “But now there’s been a second murder there’s no doubt you did it!”

“How do you know about Ramon…?”

“See! A confession! He already knows before we’ve told him!”

“No, I mean it. How do you know?” Dimitri pressed, “The only people who were there at the time were Celeste, that old man who took the body and me. Unless you already knew about the murder beforehand, and this throws suspicion on you, Inspector.”

“How dare you accuse me!” Chelmey spluttered.

“No, Inspector, how dare you accuse us! You have no grounds on which to go from. I understand that it does look suspicious that we are the only new people in town, but were you here before this morning, sir?” asked Dimitri.

Chelmey frowned; “I’m from Scotland Yard, it’s my job to go where there have been murders.”

“And if you witnessed Ramon’s murder then why didn’t you help chase the body snatcher with us? It seems awfully like you came back here to lay a trapped,” Dimitri went on.

As Chelmey paused to think of a come-back, Dimitri felt the room grow cold again. But this time, instead of hearing a voice talking to him, it felt like there were two voices talking to each other. He heard a higher voice, like that of a child, say that it had made it to that Bruno guy and that Ramon had been fixed. Then he heard the voice he’d become more familiar with congratulate the first, before saying something was directed to him. A very urgent demand to open the door.

Cutting through the crowd, Dimitri made to do what he was told.

“Look, the villain tries to escape!” announced Chelmey.

But no one was listening to him; they were all looking at the person who stood on the other side of the door that Dimitri had just opened.

“Ramon…?” gasped Lady Dahlia.

“Yes, my lady, sorry that I’m rather late. Had a few problems down with the boat, but they’ve been fixed now,” replied Ramon.

“They’re not the only thing that has been fixed…” muttered Dimitri.

“What is the meaning of this!” shrieked Lady Dahlia, “I thought Ramon had been murdered!”

Although he couldn’t quite explain what had happened, Dimitri decided to plunge ahead, “The man who took Ramon-“

He felt colder than he ever had done before. Almost as if he was freezing up. He’d very nearly made a mistake and was about to be stopped.

“Please don’t tell me you’re about to accuse Bruno of being a robot,” came the cold voice, and very definitely only Dimitri could hear it, “This has been a very long day. My patience are running thin, I am ashamed to admit. We’ve worked hard to help you get Ramon back much sooner than you should have done and we can’t mess it up at this crucial moment. So please, Dimitri, just say what I say.”

“…Fixed him. The man who took Ramon repaired him,” said Dimitri, saying exactly what the voice told him.

“You can’t repair the dead,” muttered Chelmey.

“Ramon wasn’t dead and neither is Simon for that matter. Because… wait, what? Um, s-sorry. I mean because they’re both robots,” Dimitri concluded.

There was silence, and then Chelmey broke out into laughter.

“Robots! These good people are not robots, you barmy man,” Chelmey barked, “What evidence do you have?”

“All the evidence I need,” assured Dimitri, “This cog was found next to Simon’s body and I found another one in the last place the body-snatcher was seen,” he broke away from the mysterious voice to continue this explanation on his own, “At first Celeste and I assumed that the man who kidnapped them was a robot, but we were wrong. In truth it is the people here who are. I’m sorry, Lady Dahlia, but possibly everyone around you isn’t real, though I can’t say that I know the details about it. And as for who the ‘murderer’ in this situation is, well I’d have to say that it’s you, Inspector Chelmey!”

“These are lies! All of it is lies!” gasped Chelmey, “This is just… crazy talk! What sort of evidence do you have?”

“I can tell you what I know about Inspector Chelmey,” started Dimitri, not adding that he was getting all of this information from an inhuman source, “And that is that he’s currently away dealing with another case, according to this morning’s newspaper. But I suppose the Times doesn’t make it to this little village, how very convenient for you. And judging from your unfounded hatred for me, along with the knowledge of mechanics you must have in order to take these robots apart, there’s only one person who you could be. And I think Celeste will be able to work out who you are too.”

Taking her cue, Claire suddenly went wide-eyed as she realised exactly who ‘Inspector Chelmey’ really was.

“It can’t be…” she whispered, “After all these years… Paul, is that really you?”

“So you remember me! How it hurts very much, ‘Celeste’. Or should I call you Claire?” snarled the Inspector, pulling off his mask to reveal a man with unusually pointed black hair beneath it, “But I’m not going by that name anymore, it’s Don Paolo now!”

Paul. Or Don Paolo, apparently. Dimitri vaguely remembered him from the university. He had been a student of mechanics, a bit eccentric and harbouring an unrequited attraction to Claire, just like Dimitri was. The only people who didn’t realise about Pa- …Don Paolo’s crush were Layton and Claire themselves.

“What are you doing here?” Dimitri shouted over, scared that Don Paolo was going to blow their cover.

“Well, Mr. Allen, I was searching for the Golden Apple, but after finding out that Claire is still alive after all these years I’d say that’s much more valuable,” laughed Don Paolo.

Dimitri stepped in front of Claire, still glaring.

“I don’t understand, Paul…” Claire mumbled.

“Oh, how you tug on the strings of my heart! Very well, I’ll let you go this time, but now that I know you’re still alive you will not see the last of Don Paolo!” shrieked the man.

Then he did something no one was expecting. He rushed towards a window and dived right out of it. Dimitri dashed over to make sure he was all right, but the man had already disappeared. That guy had always been slippery…

Obliviously, Lady Dahlia commented, “Am I to understand that he is not a police officer?”

“No, my lady,” Claire confirmed, “he’s a… a… I guess you could call him a scientist, of sorts. And I’m sorry that he fooled you. And damaged your robots. Um, I’m still a bit confusion about that part myself.”

She looked over to Dimitri for answers. He silently panicked. The part about the robots had been all his mysterious informant’s idea, but it did seem to make sense…

“There’s a man called Bruno, I think he knows all of the answers,” Dimitri managed, picking out the name that he’d heard earlier.

“Bruno? He lives in that quaint little tower,” Lady Dahlia informed.

Quaint? Little? Neither of those were words that Dimitri would have used to describe the looming monstrosity that dominated the middle of the village. The only reason he hadn’t paid too much attention to it before now was because his mind had been on other things since they arrived.

“Are we allowed to go there?” Claire asked, “It seemed blocked off when we tried searching for the Golden Apple there.”

“Nonsense! I am the lady of this village and if I say you are to go somewhere then away you shall go,” huffed Lady Dahlia, “I’ll even come with you if that’s what it takes.”

“What about the others?” Claire replied.

“They can stay here,” said Lady Dahlia, heading from the room and beckoning them to follow, “Between you and me I’m not sure how much I should trust them giving that there’s a chance they might be robots.”

Dimitri could have sworn he heard the ghostly voice comment on that, but didn’t quite catch what it said.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to make it to the tower, the lady of the land marching ahead. But once they had arrived it didn’t seem that they were permitted to go any further.

“Bruno, open up this instant!” she called up, “I am the late baron’s wife and I demand that you let us in!”

“Can’t do that, m’lady,” the famed Bruno called down from a window that was further up, “Sorry to say, but you don’t have any power until you complete the will and find the Golden Apple.”

“This is not a joke! This man here seems to believe that the people of St. Mystere are robots,” Lady Dahlia insisted.

“He does, does he?”

Suddenly, Dimitri could feel Bruno’s stare upon him. He was definitely the same man who kidnapped Ramon earlier.

“Um, it’s just a theory sir,” Dimitri shouted up, “But you took that man Ramon away dead and then he came back alive. There are little cogs everywhere, so perhaps… these robots are falling apart.”

“It’s not easy to run ‘em all, you know!” Bruno called, “I have to fix the lot by myself and it doesn’t make things easier when strange voices from beyond tell me that I need to do it faster! Falling apart, he says. Hah!”

“Strange voices…”

So this man had heard them too, just like Dimitri had thought he heard the voices talking about earlier. So it seemed they’d rushed him to fix Ramon in order for Dimitri to have some evidence to give the fake Chelmey. But why was it so important to them?

“Are you saying he’s right about them being robots?” Lady Dahlia yelled.

Bruno growled, “You’re the most work of all, dear lady. And to think that the Baron thought you were a good idea.”

There was a shrill gasp from Lady Dahlia; “I… I’m a robot too?”

“Of course you are! But you could never quite replace his real wife in that little girl’s eyes,” Bruno answered.

“It’s okay…” Claire tried to soothe, patting Lady Dahlia’s back.

“What little girl?” Dimitri said to Bruno.

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you come up here and find out?” challenged Bruno, withdrawing his head from the window.

Dimitri walked over to the door, there seemed to be some sort of puzzle on the lock… The air around him grew cold, but this time he almost swore that he could detect something of a grin about it.

“Let me handle these,” the voice told him.

With his ghostly guide, Dimitri managed to solve each of the puzzles on the doors that led them up the towers. He dared not look back at Claire, who was quite impressed by this sudden skill, because he knew that in truth it wasn’t him finding the answers. But informant or otherwise, eventually they made it to the top of the tower.

There was the last thing that they had been expecting waiting to greet them - a little cottage hidden away from the world.

“Hello?” Claire whispered, pushing the door open.

“Who are you?”

There, sat on a chair, was a small girl in an orange dress. She looked like the perfect fairytale character to find in this bizarrely placed cottage.

“My name is Celeste, this is Alan and the Lady Dahlia,” introduced Claire, as they all walked through.

“I know who she is,” huffed the girl, glaring at Lady Dahlia.

“Flora! So this is where you’ve been,” cried the lady, dashing forward.

The girl called Flora backed up, replying, “I like it here with Bruno, he’s not like everyone else.”

“She has a rough time,” Bruno sighed, appearing from behind the door, “Her father created all of these contraptions to keep her company once he’d past away, but poor Flora has grown ever weary of the robots and reclusive as time has gone on. She wants nothing more than to be with real people.”

“You poor thing,” Claire whispered, heading over to Flora. Then to Bruno, she said, “Why can’t she be with other people?”

“Who could look after her?” Bruno said, shrugging, “She has no family left.”

“I’ll be her family,” Claire said firmly.

“You will?” Dimitri gaped; shocked that she’d just take in a child like that without consulting him.

“Have a heart; she has no one else…” Claire said, hugging Flora, who was blinking up at her uncertainly.

Aside from Flora’s confusion, watching the two hugging like this, Dimitri had to admit that they looked like the perfect picture of a family. They could have past for mother and daughter. Then the traitorous voice in Dimitri’s head that was fully his own, nothing to do with any ghosts, said that if it hadn’t been for him Claire might have been a loving mother by now, to a beautiful child of her and Layton’s…

“…F-fine, th-that would be a good idea,” he concluded, “She can stay with us, if that’s what she wants.”

“Well, Flora?” Claire prompted, smiling down at the little girl who she knew no more about than her name.

Flora’s face broke into a smile and she started to cry.

“I… I’d love that!” she said, hugging tightly onto Claire and continuing to cry cheerful tears.

“All’s well that ends well,” sighed Bruno, throwing his hands in the air.

“But we still haven’t solved the mystery of the Golden Apple,” muttered Lady Dahlia.

“I think we have, just look a little closer,” Dimitri said, staring at a birthmark that had appeared on Flora’s neck as she cried. It resembled an apple. The clue couldn’t be clearer if it tried. “The Golden Apple wasn’t a treasure in the physical sense; it was Baron Reinhold’s beloved daughter…”

“So we’ve just adopted the treasure,” Claire joked.

“There’s more too it than that.” Dimitri looked around, but when no one responded he realised it was the other voice who had said it. “But you can worry about that once you’re outside, as our dear friend Paul has come for a second helping…”

“Look out!”

Dimitri dashed, knocking Claire and Flora out of the way as something came smashing through the window. The metallic object was then retracted, revealing an odd flying machine through the hole it had left.

“Allen! I’ve come for Claire!” Don Paolo screeched from inside of it.

Though Dimitri made to reply, it was Claire who barged past him and stood in front of the hole, glaring at their opponent.

“How can you say that, Paul? Do you think I’m some sort of object who you can claim just like that?” she yelled, “I’m… I’m shocked! To think that I used to respect you back in the university!”

Even Don Paolo’s flying machine seemed to be recoiling slightly in fear from her.

“Um… I’m, um, sorry…” he stuttered, hardly believing he was saying this, “If there’s anything I could do to make it up to you for my, eh, behaviour…”

“You can leave this place in peace!” Claire told him.

“Very well… maybe I’ll see you around sometime, so we can… catch up…” whimpered Don Paolo, twiddling his fingers.

“We’ll see,” Claire concluded, before turning back to the others, “That’s that sorted then. Shall we get ready to go, Flora?”

“All right, Miss… um, is it Celeste or Claire?” Flora mumbled.

“Whichever you prefer,” answered Claire, holding out her hand to the girl.

With Don Paolo left, tail between his legs, the rest of the evening was spent getting Flora ready to leave her village and start life with her new family. There were tears from Flora’s end and an odd sense of awkwardness between her and Lady Dahlia, who Bruno informed the two guests had been designed to look like Baron Reinhold’s former wife in an attempt to make Flora happy. But by the time morning came around, the girl was ready to go.

“Say goodbye to everyone, Flora,” Claire said, as they got into the car.

Waving back, Flora said, almost sadly, “Goodbye, little village…”

“You’ll like it where we live,” Claire went on, as Dimitri started the engine, “It’s a bit quiet but there are real people there for you to talk to.”

Speaking of quiet, Dimitri hadn’t heard any of his mysterious voices since last night…

“I don’t get it, Mr. Layton,” Clive said, looking up at his fellow ghost as the car headed off, “Why didn’t you tell them about the treasure under the manor?”

Layton chuckled in his polite way; “Well, Clive, I suppose with everything else that happened it wasn’t important for them to know.”

“I think you were just tired of having to tell things to that Dimitri guy,” Clive observed.

Layton just replied, “I’ll probably have to talk to him a lot more as time goes on, there’s another person who needs our help…”

He closed his eyes to focus on what came next - a strange man in a castle, a girl searching for her family and foremost of all, an old mentor of his called Dr. Schrader.