thief guild initiation(spoilers?)

Ok so I'm doing the initiation to the thief guild. I got to the guy with the diary's house and am told that Methedhel or whatever beat me to it. It tells me I can steal the diary from her so I assume this means pickpocket, but whenever I try she automatically detects me and she doesn't even have the diary. Anything I'm missing?

You can either beat her to it, or you can go to her home in the waterfront and steal it from there (it's in a chest I think).

I got confused as hell the first time because I entered the room just as she was taking it, and she exited the house through the basement. I expected to have to chase her down through the basement and sewers, but nope, she just disappeared.

Many thanks.

yea just go to her house on the waterfront, its in a chest by the door

Now I'm on the second quest to get the tax papers and money. Where exactly are they and how do I get to them?

I was going to post a spoiler tag, but this thread is a spoiler in itself so screw it.

Go to the Temple district, in the south watch tower. It can be pretty tricky because there's guards everywhere and it's all the way on the top. The problem with getting up there is that even at night guards are coming and going as they change shifts, and it's very well lit so sneaking is very difficult. I guess an invis potion might help.
Anyways, when you get to the top of the tower, head for the desk and the tax record + money should be in there.

Thanks again kind sir.