Gilbert took a shortcut through the woods to Green Gables, and that's where he stumbled upon the two girls arguing.

He heard them before he saw them, their familiar voices echoing through the trees. The woods were a beautiful sea of green leaves and moss, dotted with yellow and white flowers. Anne's bright red hair blazed through the image like a flame. Gilbert slowed Belle, steering her through the tall trees to where the pair were talking heatedly.

"--thought we were friends! Why don't you trust me?" Diana was saying, clearly upset.

Anne was standing apart from her, her voice heavy with emotions. "We are! Diana, I can't tell you everything. I can't explain it, I'm sorry--"

"What's going on here?" Gilbert asked loudly, interrupting them. He dismounted the brown mare and lead her over.

"Belle!" Anne's sadness broke for a moment of relief as she ran to the horse and threw her arms around its neck. "I thought you were gone forever."

When she separated from the horse, she looked at Gilbert. He felt a strange feeling in his chest being so close to her. He could see all of her freckles and her bright eyes. He didn't know what to do suddenly. He'd almost forgotten the way Anne made him feel.

"Where did you find her?" Anne asked.

He gathered himself. "She rode into town." He glanced at Diana. "She's actually the reason I came here to talk."

"Talk about what?" Anne frowned.

"A man in town found something on Belle's saddle - it was fabric torn from your dress." He told Anne. "Diana and I found some of this fabric on a crashed wagon in the woods the night we searched for you."

Anne's heart dropped. This was like an ambush. First Diana, now Gilbert.

"I don't know how that got there." Anne lied, her cheeks flushing.

"She won't tell me." Diana spoke up, her voice hurt. "She won't even tell her supposed best-friend."

"What is it? Why are you lying?" Gilbert asked quietly, his dark eyes catching Anne's guilty ones.

She felt magnetised, as though she couldn't look away. She was trapped. She couldn't tell them, but she couldn't keep lying either. What should she do? Gilbert licked his lips slightly, and fixed his stare. She felt so anxious.

"Did somebody hurt you?" Gilbert asked.

Anne's lip trembled. She gazed at Gilbert. The handsome, smart boy who'd tried to be kind to her on her first day despite everybody's prejudice and she'd never forgiven him for one small comment about her hair. It was foolish. He was a good person who always looked out for her and yet she always pushed him away. She felt such regret.

Anne looked over at her best-friend, wonderful, sweet Diana. She loved her more than anything. She meant so much to Anne, if she were hurt Anne felt as though she'd die. She wanted to protect them both. She couldn't tell them the truth. She had to sort this out herself.

Joseph wouldn't keep her trapped in her own lies and fear. She would find evidence and report Joseph and he'd be taken away and she'd be free. She'd fix everything. Anne would not let a heartless criminal rule her life. She was stronger than that.

Anne grabbed Belle's reins and used all of her remaining strength to swing herself up onto the saddle in the blink of an eye. The sudden movement hurt her side and she gasped in pain. It was time to go.

Diana rushed forward to stop her.

Gilbert gasped, "Anne!"

But Anne was gone. She spurred Belle and they charged through the forest, branches whipping her cheeks and tearing at her clothes and hair. She didn't care. She had to get away from them. She was putting them in mortal danger.

Anne would save Diana, she would save Gilbert. Anne would save herself.

...

Gilbert and Diana turned to each other in shock.

"We have to go after her!" Gilbert said.

"She won't tell us anything, believe me Gil!" Diana implored. "There's no use trying to pry information from her, she's too stubborn. We must find out for ourselves what this is about. But I believe she was in trouble in the woods, perhaps involved in the wagon crash."

"The crashed wagon we saw, it belonged to your father." Gilbert told her.

"Oh dear." Diana gasped. "My father is utterly distraught that it's missing. All of his staff are in town searching for clues of its whereabouts."

"His man, Thomson has gone to search the woods. He saw Anne's dress fabric on Belle's saddle. He's going to find it on the wagon." Gilbert worried.

Diana's face fell.

"We have to go to the wagon. If Anne is connected to the wagon she will seem guilty of stealing my Father's valuables. We have to remove all traces of her being there." She said, worry paling her face. "At least until she tells us what happened."

"Alright. Let's go to Green Gables and borrow a horse." Gilbert said. "We have to hurry."

...

Mathew was running errands in town when Jerry returned to the farm. He decided to leave just after Diana and Anne started arguing. He felt responsible for their disagreement, as he was the one who had brought Diana to see Anne. Marilla had left his lunch on the porch before she went to visit Rachel Lynde. He ate it in the barn, lost in thought. He didn't see or hear the intruder breaking into Green Gables.

Joseph broke the window open and entered Anne's room without anybody knowing. He found the room sparse, with few hiding places. After some searching he eventually discovered a loose panel on the floor by the wall and that is where he concealed Diana's precious opal pin, the ribbon and the beautiful diamond necklace.

As soon as the wagon was found, Anne would be tied to the crash. The chest he'd planted in the woods and these stolen items would ensure she would get the blame for the hiest. Joseph would be free to leave town with no suspicions attached and he'd finally be independent of Mr Bines. Joseph smiled. Everything was going to plan.

...

Anne rode through the woods all the way to town, pushing herself on. She made her way through the streets, passing shops and the library where she worked. She saw the neighbouring buildings charred and heaped with ashes from a recent fire. It looked terrible. Men were clearing it and rebuilding them.

Following the main road she galloped up into the tall, thick forest that she had taken when she rode with Joseph. It brought back awful memories of the fear and panic that night... The terrible pain she had felt from the knife and the hopelessness.

Anne gripped the reigns tightly, trying to stay in the present, but her head was hurting. She felt so weak. She knew she was in no state to be riding but she was desperate. Her brown mare was weary too, Anne could tell.

"We can do this, Belle. Not much further. Come on girl." Anne whispered, her fiery hair flying in the wind.

When Anne was in a state of utter desperation and fear she always turned to her imagination to give her strength. Her mind repainted the scene she was speeding through to make it more bearable.

In her fantasy, she was named Agatha Riley and she was a spy in the Queen's espionage troupe. Her entire family were renowned spies and detectives. She was on a mission of utmost importance. If she succeeded, the country would be saved. If not, everything would fall into darkness. Agatha Riley was strong and brave, trained since youth to be the best in the field.

As Anne imagined this world, this character and her story, her own world fell away along with her fears. She felt strong and brave just like Agatha. Anne felt that she could face anything and nothing could stop her. With her renewed energy, she rode on until she reached the wagon.

But she wasn't the first to arrive at the crash site. A tall, smartly dressed man was already scouring the wreckage, his horse standing not far away. He looked up at the sound of her mare. Anne felt dread sinking in her stomach. He must have found the fabric from her old dress. The man's expression set into determination as he looked at Anne.

"Who are you?" Anne asked.

"I'm Thomson. Who are you?" He said.

"I'm... I'm Agatha." She lied.

For some reason, Anne felt that it would be better if she didn't reveal her true name to this man. She sensed that his intentions were not kind and honest, and she couldn't trust him. She wanted to turn and flee but she needed get the scraps from her dress so nothing could be linked to her.

"Well, Agatha... this area is closed off." Thomson told her, gesturing around.

"Why?"

"It is a crime scene." He told her knowledgeably. "My master's wagon has been attacked and many valuable possessions were stolen."

"Your master? Who's wagon was this?" Anne asked him, heart thudding harder and harder.

"Mr Barry of Barry estate." Thomson said, eyeing up Anne. He wondered what she was doing here. She looked a state, hair wild and face paler than usual.

"Mr Barry's?" Anne gaped. This was so much worse than she had originally thought.

"I am close to knowing the culprit." Thomson said proudly. "I found some evidence that somebody had been in the woods around the time that the wagon must have crashed. If I find them, I could discover what happened here."

"Really?" Anne feigned awe. "That's impressive."

"Thank you." Said the smartly dressed man. He wasn't used to praise, but he certainly thought he deserved it.

"What evidence?" Anne pryed.

"That's confidential." Thomson said importantly.

Anne was almost certain that Thomson had not found the fabric from her dress on the wagon yet. If he had, he would be holding it. He did not have any pockets. Therefore, it was still on the wreckage somewhere. Anne could find it and sneak it away before he discovered it. She needed to distract him.

"Well I could help you." Anne said brightly, disguising her fear and exhaustion and sliding off of Belle's back. "My whole family has a history of working in this department, so I'm very knowledgeable about this kind of thing. Detection and espionage were their areas of expertise."

The big words impressed Thomson, despite his initial hesitancy to trust her. All he wanted to do was get to the bottom of this wagon crash and impress Mr Barry. He didn't care how he did it, even if it meant accepting the help of a strange girl.

"I know all about searching a crime scene for clues, my father trained me." Anne skipped past him, her quick eyes desperately looking for the fabric that Gilbert had said was here. "My father is the famed Edwin Riley. Of course you've heard of him - He used to be in service of the Queen. Excuse my rudeness - no doubt you know this already, it's common knowledge."

Thomson was embarrassed that he didn't know. If it was common knowledge he should know it! He flushed and decided to lie.

"Yes, naturally. What a man! You must be very proud to be his daughter."

"Oh I am. Though, not as proud as my parents are to have made such a quick and smart girl as I. I'm born to be a detective you see." Anne was rambling, her mind firing off as she searched the wreckage. "When I was just two years old I solved the notoriously mindboggling and impossible case of Spider Manor. You've read about that in the paper of course."

"Oh, uh... yes, of course." Thomson felt flustered.

This young girl seemed to be far more experienced than him and knew a great deal more. It was a sore wound to his ego.

Anne suddenly saw it. A bloodied strip of brown cloth. It had torn off her dress and caught on a broken wheel spoke. She bent down and snatched it up, stuffing it into her sock. She also picked up a small golden ingot, that must have escaped the crates in the wagon after the crash.

"Here." She gave it to Thomson. "This is clearly a sign. Somebody dropped it while running into the woods with a chest of jewels. I'd suggest searching the surrounding woods."

All the evidence connecting her to this crash was gone. She only had to find the dress she had worn that night. The Tilderlys must still have it. She decided to go there and try to find it. She had to get rid of it, or she could still be linked to this whole hiest by Belle.

"As much as I'd love to stay and help, I believe you'd like some of the credit of solving this. You must make your bones in the detective world, and you can't accept my help in this entire case. I'll let you get on." Anne mounted Belle, faking a smile. "See you around, Thomson."

Thomson stood dazed and confused. He'd never met anyone quite like Agatha before. She rode off down the road and he made up his mind to follow her advice. She seemed to know what she was doing after all. Clutching the gold ingot, he set off into the woods.

He thought, he'd probably not find anything but it was worth a shot.

...

Gilbert and Diana managed to persuade Jerry to lend them a horse after promising that he could definitely blame them if anything happened to it.

They arrived at the crashed wagon not long after Anne and Thomson had left. They searched, but no trace of Anne's dress could be found.

"Somebody has been here." Diana said worriedly. "Anne?"

"Or Thomson..." Gilbert muttered. "Your father's man who was in town - Thomson - was planning on searching the woods. He must have found the cloth!"

"What shall we do?" Diana fretted.

"Look--" Gilbert stopped her suddenly, looking at the ground closely. "Fresh hoof prints."

"Where do they lead?" Diana asked, with eagerness.

Gil looked up and pointed deep into the forest, off the beaten road. "Into the woods." He said.

"Then we must follow them." Diana set her jaw with determination and she grabbed the reins of their borrowed horse, gesturing for Gilbert to go ahead.

Gilbert kept his eyes low, tracking the hoof prints in the soft ground. Diana came after, leading the horse. Gilbert was nervous. If it was Thomson, he might have the fabric. How would they get it back? Or convince him it wasn't important?

It might be too late.

A/N hey!! I've been ill lately so not much energy for writing, sorry. Hope you like this chapter!! Vote and comment all your thoughts on everything that happened :)