“Let me out!” cried Hat. “Don’t we have a system for this? Don’t you have to have a driver’s license or something? We don’t, do we?!”
Raven laughed. “Just joking. I’ve practiced plenty in order to drive you around, so don’t worry.”
“Really? I can trust you?!”
“That just means this is his first time taking a proper drive. Don’t be fooled, Octavia!”
Raven’s joyful smile said, Leave it to me, but he gave no reply.
With the convertible roof open, Octavia could see the scenery pass by much more smoothly—and much more quickly—than she could have in a horse-drawn coach. The road was an excessively wide single lane, so they needn’t worry about accidents. After they had traveled quite some distance, they were overtaken by the steam train, but Raven laughed and said that the car made travel more carefree, anyway. Certainly it was nice not to have to worry about one’s departure time.
They took their luncheon in a small town on the way to the harbor. Then, as they drove up a hill in the road, they began to smell the sea breeze in the air. As they crested the hill, the sea appeared beyond the fields that lay before them.
“Soon, we’ll be able to see the harbor.”
“Is that it?!”
A great number of ships and piers leapt into view. The harbor town’s white stone buildings followed. Octavia’s eyes sparkled. The sea flowed into the town by a number of waterways that ran through it, such that one could circle the town in a boat. Over the waterways were several bridges, and one could see pedestrians and horse-drawn wagons busily crossing in both directions. As if to match the waterways, the roofs of the white stone buildings were a uniform shade of blue.
The sight of seagulls flying about suited the town well.
“What a pretty town!”
“Although it isn’t very big, it’s the busiest town in these parts.”
They lost sight of the town as they descended the hill, but soon, a sign appeared to direct them back toward it. They parked the car in a suburb where wagons also stopped. Octavia started to pull her luggage out of the back of the car, but Raven stopped her.
“I’ll carry that.”
“It’s just one bag. I’ll be fine. Also, you have more luggage than me. Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to help you?”
After a pause, Raven replied, “How about we each carry our own bags?”
“Fine with me. That’s how it’s usually done. All the same, do let me know if you want my help. I have a hand free.” As Octavia waved the hand that wasn’t holding her luggage, Raven smiled wryly, pulling his own bags out of the back seat.
“If you want to help others, it’s vital to keep your own hands free, huh? You’ve hit on an important truth.”
“I didn’t mean to say anything as profound as that.”
A man carrying a large camera, along with some other men carrying other equipment, who seemed to be reporters, sprinted behind Octavia and Raven.
“Hey, hurry up! We’re barging into the Smile Trading Company while we still can, there’s a scoop!”
“Get a statement before the police have a chance! This story is taking over the front page.”
Octavia inadvertently found herself facing Raven. “Is there some kind of festival on? They seemed quite lively.”
“It seems that way. But I don’t think I remember any festival being scheduled—”
“The headline will be ‘The Secret of the Doll on Which Crow, the Phantom Thief, Has Set His Sights’!”
Octavia’s body moved before she could think. She seized the arm of a man noting down the headline he had just been told.
He gasped, “What do you want?”
“Did you say Crow, the Phantom Thief?”
Raven stepped in between Octavia’s menacing frame and the man’s. “We came to conduct some business at the Smile Trading Company.” As if to arbitrate their discussion, he rephrased Octavia’s question: “Has something happened?”
“Sure has,” said the man, still holding his pen and notebook, before launching excitedly into his explanation. “There’s been a letter of announcement from Crow, the Phantom Thief! He says he’s after the doll that belongs to Mrs. Smile’s daughter, Colette. The whole town is abuzz with the story!”
Near the harbor, the Smile Trading Company’s headquarters were already packed with reporters and curious onlookers. A few police constables could be seen controlling traffic at the entrances and exits of the building. It really was as if some festival were going on.
“When is the Phantom Thief meant to appear?”
“Nine o’clock tonight, the note says! I wonder if the police will be ready in time.”
“I hear his announcement has been stuck to the trading company’s noticeboard. I’d really like to see it for myself.”
“This really is quite the commotion,” muttered Hat from atop Octavia’s head, having assumed his wide-brimmed shape.
Octavia nodded. “The way things stand, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to talk to her.”
“Octavia, let’s head to Mrs. Smile’s mansion. That would be a safer bet,” said Raven, clapping a hand on Octavia’s shoulder.
Octavia nodded again.
Mrs. Smile’s residence stood at the foot of a low hill that rose in the direction of the harbor’s lighthouse. There was no garden, but a number of pale red flowers bloomed on the path leading up the hill to the lighthouse, so it almost looked like it had been built in the middle of a flower garden.
“Hey, Octavia. Look at that.” Looking in the direction Hat had indicated, Octavia saw a person walking down the flower-covered hill. It was a girl of fourteen or fifteen at most, carrying a smaller girl on her back. Although the older girl was too far away for Octavia to get a good look, it was clear that one couldn’t call her pretty, not even in flattery. The hems of her baggy clothes, ill-suited to her body, were threadbare in many places. In stark contrast, the little girl on her back looked to be wearing a dress of fine quality.
Raven, looking out at the same scene as Octavia, looked puzzled. “Oh, isn’t that young Colette over there? The little girl, the one being carried.”
He seemed to recognize her. He really does have a good memory, thought Octavia, before answering his question with one of her own. “Have you seen the girl carrying her before?”
“No, I haven’t. But this maid... No, she wouldn’t be a maid, not with those clothes. Maybe a girl from the neighborhood? Though she seems to be headed towards Mrs. Smile’s mansion.”
“Octavia, we need confirmation. There’s something strange about the older girl,” cautioned Hat.
“Don’t tell me you’ve run off with Miss Colette again?!” came a loud voice from behind the mansion. That was where the girls had headed from the flower patch. Octavia ran over in a hurry and rounded the wall of the mansion. She was just in time to see the slovenly girl get pushed over by a solidly-built man. Octavia held out her arms to catch her. The man watched her do this, evidently shocked.