Part 57: The Mystery Rooms - Part 1

Eh-up. Sounds like there's someone int' office...




That's the Prof. What's he talking ab--




I, I weren't listening, I were just--

Goodness, is that the time already?



The blonde woman leaves.

She was pleasant.

Hey! No, hang on!

.....

What a cheek! I weren't listening in, I couldn't help overhearing, that's all.

A good detective has to strain her ears a little every now and then, doesn't she?



Hey, Prof, I just bumped into a lass out int' corridor. Is she a--

Sorry, Lucy, that'll have to wait.



We never have!

Yes, there's a good chance it may even allow us to apprehend her.

That Etista lass at last, eh?

Yes, finally.

Just, just so I've got it straight in my head, erm...who is she again?

Oh, Lucy! Come on, wake up.



Aye, aye, nearly there. It's ont' tip of my tongue...It must be...



Oh, riiight.



Precisely. Mariana Etista.

In fact, it's that very stone idol that's led us to her. It was being auctioned off on the black market.

The idol was specifically stated to have a low monetary value, that's why Sasucasa wasn't considered as a suspect.

So where is she then? Where's she been hiding out?

In an old, abandoned stately home in the Lake District.

Give over! What, here in England?

Yes. Local police have managed to corner her in the building's cellars. However, there are a number of traps and tricks down there that have stopped our lot finding her.

Eh? Traps and tricks?



Ee, how exciting!

This is proper Famous Five stuff, this!

The Famous Five is a collection of children's mystery books written by author Enid Blyton. It featured four children and a dog who ended up solving crimes, often by means of a secret passage, during their school holidays.

So, we'd better be making tracks.

Eh? What, we're going there?

To investigate the actual scene, you mean?

I'd dearly love to stay put here and work it out with the reconstruction machine, but...



Who's Hilda?

Open Office spell check doesn't accept Hilda as a correctly spelt word. Nowt and Pukka are fine, but Hilda isn't.

She was just here. Didn't you say you ran into her in the corridor?

Oh, her. Aye, we had a run-in alright.

Apparently Lucy was able to overhear Alfendi (who is described as quiet) talking in the office, even before she tried to listen in, but Alfendi didn't overhear Lucy yelling about not eavesdropping.

Anyway, look, time is of the essence. We need to get up there as quickly as we can.



Alfendi slinks off.

Ee, the Prof stepping out of the office. I never thought I'd see the day! That Hilda lass must be summat special alright!






This image always reminds me of the main Professor Layton games.




The Lake District, otherwise known as Cumbria is also in North West England, though it's a little further north (about one to one and a half hours drive) than Merseyside.





We still get the reconstruction screen.



Aye, it's a hard life sometimes, this policing lark, eh?



Agh! Potty Prof! Where did you spring from?



The placement of the speech bubble makes it look more like the armchair is apologising to Lucy.

You scared me. Ee, it's very quiet, isn't it? Where all t'other officers?

No doubt Hilda's arranged for them all to keep out of out way.

She informed me that she'd left the scene exactly as she found it herself. We're to investigate as if we were the first ones here.

Oh aye? She's testing us, is she? And on my first ever real-life crime scene!



I feel a little sorry for Lucy now. I don't think she's unhappy, but when she joined the police force, she probably imagined something other than spending all her days in an office, looking at data reconstructions of crime scenes.

Of course, this is the first time you've worked on the ground instead of with the reconstruction machine.

Aye, that it is.




Finding Etisa is nowhere near as important as practicing for Scotland Yard's annual Moonwalk competition.




I'll tell you 'what'!

What about my instructions? How am I supposed to know what to do?



There's no particular order in which you need to tackle things, so just snoop around as you see fit.

In other words, you're dropping me in it, eh? Ta very much.

You're welcome. Now start investigating.

This is the only conversation in the game that takes place between just Lucy and Alfendi where Lucy stands on the right-hand side of the screen, and Alfendi stands on the left. Level-5 even went to the trouble of updating Lucy's sprites. Oddly enough, I think Alfendi, the sole character that does spend a noticeable amount of time on both sides of the screen, did get the "sprite flip" treatment.