Professor Layton: Love In All Adversities

22. Stranded And Trapped

"You may be wondering, if we were friends, how did I not know he was the man engaged to my daughter?

Anton paced up and down the small aisle in between them, his mind a storm, yet still he was gracefully dodging their feet at each turn.

"Makeup!" He exclaimed, stopping abruptly and gesturing with his finger. "Makeup, if applied correctly, can fool just about anyone. Back when I first met him, he looked much younger and he had a more auburn shade of hair. It seems quite crazy that I wouldn't have recognised him still, yet I was so happy that Katia was in love that I was blind. Blind to it all! I could have prevented this had I not been so foolish... Oliver's plan was ingenious. He needed the Gatherer pieces, but he couldn't get them alone. So how did he manage it? By forming a relationship with my granddaughter! He didn't have the men when he stole the ring, but when he did, it still wasn't enough. I knew that I couldn't just waltz in there. I told him that I had many traps and then he knew that the best way to avoid traps, it to become familiar with them."

As the others listened with piqued ears, he frowned as he began to think that maybe he was losing them.

"Here!" He boomed, ripping a small leather book from his jacket pocket with ease. "Here is Oliver's diary! He left it at my house the day he took the ring, accidentally, I would assume. I read it and found out a lot about that man. I can say that what happened to him was tragic and although I believe there is good inside him, there is that lust for evil. For power! And that lust began just over ten years ago!"

Opening the diary to about halfway, he took a deep breath, cleared his sour throat, and began to read in a most dramatic, story-telling way.

The events of the past forty-eight hours have been most... illuminating. That is the best word I can use to describe the situation.

It all began when Claire surprised me with a most generous gift. She had recently graduated from Gressenheller University and to thank me for being supportive over the years, she decided to purchase a helicopter ride for us to go to the small fishing town of Kodh and then over to Monte d'Or. I was most pleased and I did realise that I hadn’t really been helpful at all. I had been most solemn and neglecting these past few years after what happened to Claire's mother...

"There is a gap here." Anton explained, taking a quick pause as he cleared his throat. "Now the diary is split into sections, or entries from each time he updated it. That there was just something he added it after he met me."

Entry 1

Claire came to me today with most wonderful news. To thank me for all the support over the years, she had booked us a helicopter flight to some small fishing town for some relaxation, and then over to Monte d'Or for some fun and adventures. It sounded delightful!

I knew this was her trying to cheer me up, however, and I believed it would do just so. It was time I spent some time with my daughter and this was the perfect opportunity!

It was the evening before the big day when Claire came to me, her face as grim as a grieving family member at a funeral. I could tell right away what this meant. She had to cancel. She told me that she was very sorry, but unfortunately her and her team were making big breakthroughs with their science experiment and she had to be there. She tried to convince them to push it back a few days, but they wouldn't and so all that was left was to apologise.

As sunken as I was feeling then, I had to muster up some strength and act as if it was no big deal. I told her it was fine and I would be having fun just as if she was there. She smiled at that and then I truly felt happy. If my daughter is smiling, that is all that mattered.