Professor Layton: Conundrum of the Vanishing

Chapter Twelve

The entire group met up outside of the town hall after everything was said and done. They took seats in various places, looking around until they were all comfortable. Silence reigned over the conversation like a king, a tyrannical dictator, even, until Byrne spoke and took control once again. "Who wants to start off with their report?" Byrne questioned, glancing between the members of the three groups around him.

Quinton let out a sigh. "I guess I'll start," he said quietly. Quinton being quiet was such an alien concept to Byrne that he would have ended up performing a spit take had he been drinking something. "Well, we talked to the mayor and his wife like we said that we would. They're still just as annoying as they were whenever this whole mess started. Words cannot describe how much I wanted to punch them in the face during our conversation. It was ridiculous."

"What did they tell you?" Byrne asked, leaning forward with anticipation.

"They said some stuff about how the bad guys showed up a few weeks ago, and shortly after, all of the townspeople started locking themselves up in their homes and none of them have left since. Nobody knows why or where these guys came from, but they don't seem like they'll be leaving any day soon, which is rather unfortunate for us, as we may end up having a few run ins with them," Quinton told everybody. "I swear, those guys and their stupid perky smiles nearly made me throw my head out the window... It was sickening how creepy they looked. Like something out of some sort of horror video game, if you'll believe me on that."

"That's a good summary of my parents, honestly," Landry said with a sigh. "Either way, that's nothing more than we already knew. It's like my parents are just as clueless about this whole deal as we are. What else is new? They're always confused, even when it's about the pronouns of their own child. It's sickening how ridiculous they can be from time to time. Or all of the time, if you can believe that."

"Who wants to give their report next?" Byrne asked.

"I guess I'll do it," shrugged Scarlet. "I took my group out to the residential area of the island. We knocked on a few doors, but none of them gave us any new information. Most refused to open the door at all, which I suppose we should have seen coming."

"So... It was all for nothing?" Misa asked, a frown forming on her perfect and manicured features. Quinton looked ready to punch Scarlet in unhappiness over Misa's dissatisfaction, but he bit his tongue and shrunk back without saying or doing a thing. Byrne was proud of him for that. He hadn't seen Quinton control his anger so well in ages.

"Not exactly. The first door we knocked on had a woman living inside that was more than willing to give us a little bit of information," said Scarlet. "She didn't open the door much, but she told us about how the men showed up and how the mayor and his wife told everybody to not trust us and said that the men came in here to protect them from us like we were some sort of raid of evil troops."

"What?" Landry asked, their face going pale. Their eyebrows furrowed in confusion and their eyes reflected nothing short of complete fear. Byrne felt bad for Landry at that moment in time. He had gone through something similar the year before during the Psylias case. His father had ended up being part of the diabolical Targent, a criminal group after the technology of the Azran. His father had disappeared not long after the truth was revealed, so Byrne didn't end up with any moments alone with his father to question him about the specifics of this odd occurrence. Byrne hated that aspect of the case, but he was forced to swallow back the painful memories at that moment in time.

"Yeah. It might be hard for you to believe, but the citizens acted like your parents did some crazy stuff to convince them that we're the bad guys instead of the mystery men," Scarlet told Landry. "I don't understand why they'd do some weird stuff like that though... Your parents were the ones who invited us to Bohimika to solve the mystery of the mysterious guys. I know that I'm overusing the word mystery, but that doesn't matter right now."

"Hm... That's all rather odd... I don't know what we're supposed to make of this. It's sounding a little bit like the men were called in by the mayor and his wife and then we were called in by them to stop them, which makes absolutely no sense... Unless they've been tricking one of these parties involved," Byrne declared. He began pacing the circle, his hand on his chin. "If they have been doing this, then it's rather clear who they tricked."

"What do you mean?" Landry asked. "Are you trying to say that my parents are criminal masterminds or something? Really? Have you met them? They're so bland and boring. All they do is smile and hold their hands in a ridiculous fashion constantly. Them? Criminal masterminds? I'm starting to think that you're losing it, Byrne. I hate to say it, but you're going crazy."

"I don't think he is," Lucy frowned. "It all makes sense. I'm going to go and get them so we can confront them about this."

"No. We can't do that yet," Byrne declared. "It'll do nothing but shatter our chances of figuring out anything else about these men. For now, we need to let them go. However, we do need to talk to them about housing situations around here."

"Don't worry about that. I have the key to the hotel. Rheanna Terra, the hotel owner, gave me a key in case I ever needed it. We can go stay there for the night," Landry announced. "Come on. Let's go and rest for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a bad day."

"Before we do that, there's something I need to do," Byrne announced.

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Another update today one more and then that's it for the day

I'm on a roll today

-Digital