"Aubrey Teuton Atwood!?"
"What was he doing on Baker Street?"
The president of the Fiery Steed Detective Agency was hurrying along, yet he remained highly alert. He seemed to sense someone watching him and abruptly turned around. Charlotte slightly turned his face aside and even raised an arm to shield his cheek, looking perfectly relaxed and at ease. Aubrey Teuton Atwood saw no suspicious figures and continued on his way.
Anne walked over. Following Charlotte's gaze, she spotted Aubrey Teuton Atwood, the president of the Fiery Steed Detective Agency, and said, "He was certainly decisive. After hearing about your great victory at Silver Doveburg, he actually sold the detective agency to you."
Charlotte was instantly startled. "When did he sell the detective agency to me?"
Anne asked curiously, "You didn't know? Louis Smythe acquired it for you. The price was quite good, apparently involving a batch of luxury goods along with some cash. He took over both the agency's property and personnel."
Charlotte naturally knew that Louis Smythe had acquired a detective agency for him, but Louis Smythe had never said it was the Fiery Steed Detective Agency. He had had other matters to deal with at the time and had not asked about it. All he wanted was an attitude from Louis Smythe; which detective agency Louis Smythe had acquired was not important.
Charlotte watched Aubrey Teuton Atwood's back vanish down another street and could not help sighing. "What a talent!"
He did not know whether he meant Louis Smythe or Aubrey Teuton Atwood by that. In any case, both of them were quite something—one had actually thought of acquiring the Fiery Steed Detective Agency, while the other had decisively sold it to him.
What was rare was that the two of them had actually pulled it off.
Charlotte