“That might be for the best. If we men tagged along to question her, it’s likely she’d be too frightened to talk to us.”
“Eh? You’re not coming with me?!” cried Octavia.
“I really think you’ve misjudged me,” grumbled Raven, but then he grinned. “You’ve thought of something, haven’t you? Whatever it is, you should give it a shot—you’re the detective, after all.”
Why did Octavia get the feeling that Raven wasn’t so much being supportive as letting her go for his own purposes? Still, instead of arguing that she hadn’t misjudged him, she quietly nodded.
As Octavia stepped outside, she saw that the sun was beginning to set. Walking briskly along the gravel-covered back alley, she furtively asked Hat, who sat atop her head, “Can you trace it?”
“That’s impossible. I haven’t registered it yet. If the Heirloom itself were willing, that would be one thing, but at present, there’s no sign of it.”
“Anyway, let’s have a look around here. If we don’t find it before anyone else does, and talk to it... Well, after we’re done with that, we’ll hear what Miss Colette has to say.”
With Mrs. Smile’s manor in the corner of her eye, she climbed the slope with the flower garden. Beyond that, there was only the lighthouse. There was no sign that anyone was there. Neither were there any other buildings, so Octavia had a wide field of view. If anyone were lurking around there, they would be easy to spot. The flowers and grass were kept short as well, so even if something so light as a doll happened to have fallen there, one wouldn’t miss it. If Octavia were to complain about anything, it would be that the sun setting over the sea was dazzling her just a bit.
She’d still found no sign of anyone else when she arrived at the lighthouse. Glancing up to the top of the lighthouse, Octavia began searching for the entrance.
“Do we have a tool that can open locks?”
“You mean the all-opening key? That tool was special. The Kingdom of Angelus destroyed it a long time ago. In other words, we’ll have to open it by force.”
“I’d like to avoid as much fuss as possible. Let’s just hope that the door isn’t locked.”
After running a circuit around the perimeter of the lighthouse, Octavia finally saw someone. The person’s shadow looked very long with the light of the evening sun shining over the hill. Octavia quickly hid herself in the shadow of the lighthouse.
She blinked upon recognizing the owner of that long shadow. “Miss Colette?”
Startled, the young girl turned around. Had she slipped away from the mansion again? Upon seeing the doll the girl clutched to her chest as if it were a precious thing, Octavia took a step forward. The moment she did, Colette dashed away.
“After her, Octavia! That’s the doll!”
Almost tripping and tumbling down the hill as she descended it, Octavia leapt at Colette from behind. Octavia’s sudden appearance overhead startled Colette; she stopped in her tracks, then tried to turn around in a hurry. Octavia seized her by the arms and lifted her up.
“Let go of me! Moron! Child molester! Pervert!”
“How lamentable. Where did a little girl like her learn such words?” muttered Hat.
“If you do anything mean to Colette, I’ll tell on you to the coppers!”
“Won’t you be the one arrested by the coppers?” asked Octavia. “With that doll you’re holding?”
Colette, who had been thrashing at Octavia with her arms and legs, suddenly stopped. Instead, she now mumbled, garbled, “Th-This is...not the same one we gave to the coppers...”
“Then what are you planning on doing? If they find you, they’ll find out that there are two dolls. Or else they’ll think this is the one the Phantom Thief is after and confiscate it.”
“Ann is just a normal doll! She’s Colette’s friend!”
“Ann. I see. So you’ve given her a name. What a lovely name. She must have been pleased.”
Colette looked up at Octavia, surprised. Octavia slowly lowered her tiny body down on one of the flower beds. Then she crouched down to bring her eyes level with the little girl’s.
“Let’s keep this just between us. I want to save Ann. You know Ann’s secret, don’t you?”
Colette squeezed the doll, Ann, even more tightly, and stared at Octavia. She seemed to be trying to discern something.
“Hey, Octavia.” Hat seemed to want to say something.
“Ann is broken... No, she’s sick,” said Octavia truthfully, ignoring Hat.
Colette seized upon this with a shocked expression. “Sick? So you are sick, after all, Ann.”
“That’s right. Probably in order to protect you, she’s been using up her strength. She’s turned into a doll more often recently, hasn’t she?”
Colette’s large eyes grew as wide as they could go. She looked down, staring at the ground. “You won’t call me strange, will you?”
“I won’t.”
“You won’t call Ann a Demonic Heirloom, will you? Or something bad like that?”
“I won’t. Ann is my friend, too,” said Octavia firmly.
Colette stared steadily at Octavia, as if sizing her up. “Then you must be Colette’s friend, too.”
“Hm? Right. I suppose I must be.”
“Be clearer about that, since you’re involving her in this,” cautioned Hat.
“Th-Then I’ll let you work together with me! Since you want to help Ann. This will be a top secret mission. We’ll keep it a secret even from Mother!” declared the young girl with all the arrogance befitting a child. Octavia held out her little finger.
“All right. It’s a promise. Let’s make it a pinky promise.”
“What a great attitude! Well, I suppose I’ll let you hear what I have to say. But, um...who are you, lady?”
“Octavia. Octavia de Reine.”
Dusk was setting in around them. After completing their pinky promise, Octavia stood back up, and introduced herself, standing in the flower garden dyed red by the setting sun.
“I’m a detective.”
By the time Octavia had surreptitiously delivered Colette back to the mansion and returned to the trading company, the sun had long since set.
“There’s only one hour left until the time the Phantom Thief announced in his letter. Now, run, you stupid girl!” commanded Hat.
“I’m running! I can’t exactly fly instead; I’d stand out like a sore thumb!”
The entrance was already surrounded by police. As soon as Octavia came in, someone called her name. “Octavia!” It was Raven, who looked relieved. “Thank goodness. You took some time getting back, so I thought something might have happened.”
“S-Sorry, Raven. There was still time to spare, so I really thought it would be all right.”
“See here, Octavia. If we were dealing with Crow, the Phantom Thief, he probably would arrive at the stated time; with an impostor, that won’t necessarily be the case,” said Raven with a serious expression, and at first, Octavia accepted this.