Thanks for the reviews! And, WHOOPS! I forgot this in the first chapter, so here it is:

I do not own Professor Layton, or level-5.

Anyways, on with the story!

Chapter two

Dimitri gestured to two armchairs sitting across from him, "please, sit down."

Professor Layton and Luke sat down; Dimitri shut his eyes and massaged his temples with his left hand, as if recovering from a splitting headache. "I don't believe this" he sighed "I never thought I'd see you two again."

"The feeling is mutual" grunted Luke, who received a sharp glance from Layton.

"When did you come here?" Asked Layton, curious,

Dimitri opened his eyes and glared slightly; the two now noticed that he wore tinted brown contacts. "I went to prison for eight years, Professor," He snarled. It was then that Luke realized that not all of the white streaks in Dimitri's hair were from a bottle; prison had aged him quite a bit.

"When my sentence finally finished, I left London. I couldn't stay of course; I'm not as infamous as Clive, but, people did know my face. So I packed a suitcase and just left" he gestured to the room around him "I inherited this house and everything in it from my Father, twenty-five years ago, after he died. The house is legally mine, so I decided to stay here. I hoped to live the rest of my life away from the disaster that I helped to create" he laughed mirthlessly, "and then you show up at my doorstep."

"We're sorry to disturb you." Said Layton,

"Never mind that; what brings you here?"

"We've come to ask you about Beatrice Clarkson."

Dimitri froze for a moment, and swallowed hard, "you've heard about her then?"

"Yes" replied Layton,

"Her husband as well?"

"Reverend Crane told us about Beatrice, and Wallace." Layton sighed, "He thought we should talk to you, he told us you found the body…"

"Kymma, found her body" corrected Dimitri, "I'm just the one who called the police."

"Oh," said Layton, "perhaps we should talk to Kymma as well; but first I'll ask you a few questions."

Dimitri adjusting his position in the chair, crossing his long legs and slouching slightly, "go ahead."

"Where were you when the body was found?" Asked Layton giving Luke a quick nudge, Luke quickly pulled a notepad and pen from his bag.

"In here" replied Dimitri, "in this very chair as a matter of fact, reading. Suddenly, I heard Kymma screaming at the bottom of the hill, I went to see what had happened, and there she was."

"You mean Beatrice?"

"Yes, just lying there at the foot of the road. It was as if she had been laid out for her wake; her hands lay flat at her sides, she wore her best dress, her eyes were closed…from far away it looked as if she had just sort of, fallen asleep."

"How did she die?"

"I don't know for sure" replied Dimitri, "I didn't see the autopsy report; I'm not even sure if they performed an autopsy, for that matter." A sudden thought crossed Dimitri's mind "however, there was a sort of, white, residue over her lips and chin, as if she had been foaming at the mouth and someone had done a poor job of cleaning it up."

Luke gasped and scribbled POISONED?! Onto the notepad in big letters.

Layton glanced at the note and then back at Dimitri, "do you believe she was poisoned?"

"Possibly" replied Dimitri, "but there was a rumor circulating that she had epilepsy, so she might have had a fit. But if she had suddenly come down with something she probably would have been sprawled out on the pavement, this was far too neat. The police took over almost immediately after I called."

Layton silently agreed with him. "Do you remember anything else?"

"Not about the body. One thing I do know is that the lead investigator on this case is a man named Clear, Jonathan Clear I believe. Maybe you should talk to him in the morning."

"Very well, that's all the questions I have for you." The three of them stood from their chairs, "now if we could talk to Kymma?"

"Of course," Dimitri walked over to the door and opened it, and found himself face to face with Kymma, rooted to the spot, eyes wide with shock.

Dimitri's eyes widened; she had heard everything. What could he say now? "…Kymma,"

She took in a sharp breath, turned around, and ran down the hall. "Kymma!" Dimitri shouted after her. Layton and Luke watched her, suddenly feeling guilty about what had happened.

Dimitri stood there in silence, he finally said, "go, see yourselves out." Layton and Luke slowly turned around and walked out of the house.

"Poor Kymma," said Luke as they left.

"Yes," sighed Layton, "it must be a terrible shock to her, she probably feels betrayed."

Luke nodded in agreement as they climbed into the car. As they drove down the hill, Luke found his eyelids growing heavy; they needed to find a place to stay soon.

Suddenly, Layton slammed on the breaks; Luke gave a surprised yelp as they screeched to a halt, inches away from hitting a young couple walking in the street. They didn't even seem to have noticed that they had come close to being hit by a car.

Oh, for crying out loud, thought Luke as he and Layton climbed out of the car. "You two" said Layton, trying hard to keep his composure, "are you alright?"

The woman turned and looked at him; her appearance was, to say the least, shocking. She wore nothing more than a black and red tube top, which was not much more than a very thin strip of fabric, and a pair of fishnet stockings with and a very short pair of red leather shorts. Her black hair was tied into two voluminous pigtails and three metal rings had been inserted into her bottom lip.

"Yeah, sure Mr.!" She said, with a pronounced slur in her speech. "I'm fine!" Her breath smelled of hard liquor, she was very drunk.

"Anita" said the young man next to her, "weren't we headed somewhere?"

Anita giggled, "Of course, Jules!"

"Jules" looked up at Layton and Luke, "hey you" he pointed at Layton, "yeah you, top hat. What're you doing talking to my girl?"

"Are you aware that you were just nearly hit by a car?" Asked Luke with exasperation,

"We weren't talking to you, pretty boy!" Said Anita, winking one eye at him, Luke took a step back, insulted.

"My apprentice is right."

Jules stared at them for a moment, "sure, whatever." He muttered, "Hey, you're not from around here are you?"

"No" replied Layton, "we're here to…"

"I don't care why you're here; just so you know, my Gran owns a bed and breakfast down the street, it's the only one this town has. Drive down the street, the sign says "Inn", can't miss it!" Jules turned back to Anita, "now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." His hand wandered down her waist as they walked away.

Luke gave Layton a look, "people in this town are very…eccentric."

"All the same, I think we should take his advice, we do need somewhere to stay."

If his Grandmother is anything like him, I don't want to stay at her hotel. Thought Luke, but he didn't dare say it.

The two climbed back into the car and followed the man's directions down the street until they found a small, square building with a rickety sign next to the door. The sign read "Inn."

…

The inn was nothing to write home about. The walls were dark blue with various black and white photographs hanging on the wall. The lights were dim and flickering, casting an eerie glow around the room. A few red plush chairs sat near the walls along with tall green plants. It was nothing glamorous, but it was warm, and dry. The front desk was the same shade of blue as the walls and empty, with a prominent bell sitting on it.

Luke walked up to the desk and rang the bell twice. "One minute!" Shouted a voice from down the hall, a door creaked open and a plump, elderly woman with gray hair that hung just above the floor stepped out. "Sorry about that, I was on the phone with my grandson."

"Jules?" Asked Luke,

The woman gave a slight eye roll, "Jules, that's what his girlfriend calls him, yes. Everyone else calls him 'Julian'." She shook her head, "Anita…" the woman looked back up at them, "anyways, how can I help you two?"

"One room please" Began Layton.

The woman looked down at the guest book and nodded, she pulled a key off the wall. "One room, two double beds; will that be alright for you?"

"Perfect."

"My name is Beverly Jenkins if you need anything. What's the name?"

"Layton."

Beverly wrote the name in the guestbook, her eyes landed on an envelope in front of her. "Layton?" She asked, "Hershel, Layton?"

"…Yes, why?"

Beverly handed him an envelope, "this letter arrived for you; hand delivered, no stamp. I figured they had the wrong address, but, here you are!"

Layton cautiously took the envelope. It had HERSHEL LAYTON scrawled across the front of it in crooked, pointed letters. He opened the envelope, and nine copper circles tumbled out, clattering to the floor. Luke picked each of the coins up. "Pennies?" He muttered; he realized that one of the pennies had a hole going straight through it, leaving only the outer edges intact. Layton unfolded the piece of paper enclosed:

"Dear Hershel and Luke,

I trust by now you have heard the news of poor Mrs. Clarkson's death, but don't worry, I can assure you her end was well deserved. Let me clear something else up; I am by no means a madman.

If I am taken to court I expect to be charged with premeditated murder, as that is what I did, and I am not ashamed of it.

When I heard that someone had called you to this town at first I was very angry. But then I realized that maybe you two will play my game. No one in this town likes to play games, but I know you do.

I'm deeply sorry that you came too late to save Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson, but if you get this puzzle right, you can save my next victim, though if you knew why they needed saving, you might not want to.

Enclosed are nine American pennies. Go over everything you know about them, no matter how trivial it may seem.

It all makes sense, when you add it up.

-M-"