You Can't Hide Forever

His Butler, Imprisoned (part 1)

~~Third Person POV~~

Early in the morning, an old man was rowing a row boat through the waters and thick fog while a young boy picked things up out of the water that people had carelessly thrown in.

"Can you believe it?", the old man asked. "They say there was a time long ago when people could bathe in this river. Though now it might as well be a rubbish heap, since all the filth of London gets poured into it."

The boy noticed a shadow behind the small boat and his eyes widened. "Mr. Havock, look!", he exclaimed. The old man looked behind himself at the large boat that was passing.

"Oh, that's the Cutty Sark", he explained. "They say she was built to carry new tea from China for the nobility."

"Is she faster than a steamship?", the boy asked.

"According to the sailors, as long as there's a wind, she's faster than anything", Mr. Havock replied.

"The Cutty Sark...", the boy said as he continued to look at the boat in awe.

"It's the name of that witch", Mr. Havock said. "If you stare at her too long, she'll have you by the tail."

"Could she take me to a faraway country?", the boy asked.

"Who knows? I hear that canal in Egypt put her out of the tea races. The age of the old ships is passing. A new age is beginning."

The boy heard a quiet whooshing sound and turned his head to investigate. Ran-Mao, who he did not know, was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in the moonlight. Swiftly and silently travelling in the night. The boy looked up at her in awe while she did not notice.

"Cutty Sark...?", he questioned, before his arm was being pulled by the rod in his hand. Its hook had caught on something with quite a bit of weight. The boy pulled the rod to bring what it had hooked to the surface, but screamed and jumped back in fright.

"What's wrong?", Mr. Havock asked as he too looked over the side of the boat. He also jumped slightly when he saw what had been hooked.

A man's body, hooked at the back of his jacket with his arms, head, and torso floating in the water after having been pulled to the surface. His legs still under the water.

~~Claire's POV~~
<Time Skip>

Ciel had gotten a letter from Her Majesty early in the morning and I insisted upon going with him to his destination.

"It seems no one from this area recognizes him", an officer reported as Abberline looked under a cover at what I assumed was a body.

"I see", he replied.

"It must have been a robbery", Sir Arthur said. "I imagine he was murdered elsewhere and his body dumped.

"The victim was killed with one well-placed blow", Abberline said before looking up at Sir Arthur. "That's rather neat work for a common thief..."

"Then it was probably Mafia infighting", Arthur replied. "The Italians, or the Chinese... The word is that there's a queer new drug on the market, after all." Abberline stood up.

"In any case, we'll have to begin by identifying him", he said.

"That won't be necessary", Ciel said to them from the crowd. "His name is John Stanley. Here are his particulars." Sebastian walked forward and gave Arthur the large envelope.

"For you", he said. Arthur snatched the envelope and immediately looked at the papers inside.

"Just what are you playing at?", he asked.