Fairytale Detective - The Curse of Briar Rose

Chapter 1 - 'The Story Begins'

Edinburgh, Scotland

4th July, 14:00

Lord and lady Abercrombie were enjoying their afternoon tea in the drawing room. Both were preoccupied with going over their list of daily tasks that still needed to be finished and blissfully unaware of the vines that were trying to break through the neatly polished wooden floor. Was it the cook, who screamed first or the butler at the sight of those gigantic stalks bursting through the boards? Nobody knows, but what remains clear is the fact that it took those vines no more than half an hour to wrap the whole Abercrombie manor.

Most would put it down to climate change, others to the negligent work of the Abercrombie's gardener, but no one would actually care to think about a darker possibility. Something hidden below the manor 1,000 years ago. Something, which was now trying to escape and see the light of day one more time...

London, England

5th July, 12:00

Private detective Leah Banks was having a hard time. After her assistant went on maternity leave a month ago, she could not find anything that she needed. The fact that Leah herself was quite disorganized did not help either. Her desk was piled with folders, coffee cups and she was pretty sure that there was a two-week old sandwich somewhere in there.

'God, I need to find an assistant soon or people will have to dig me under my own documentation' she sighed. As if on command, there was a knock at the door.

When Leah opened it, she was honestly left without words. The young man that was standing in front of her had a pretty bizarre look like someone taken out of an anime. His hair was dyed in lilac and he was wearing a striped sweater with the same lilac hue and sporting cat-shaped earphones in bright blue around his neck.

'Can I help you?' Leah managed to utter after the shock had passed.

'More likely, I am here to help you.' said the young man, smiling broadly and extending his hand. 'Chester Catterly at your service, boss. I am here for the job offer. I assure you, you won't find a better assistant than me in miles around.'

'But, but, I am sorry to be so direct, I was looking for someone more mature. How old are you actually?'

'I may not look like it, but I am actually 28.' Chester grinned, winked, made a theatrical bow and produced an ID card out of thin air 'Just in case you doubt me. And yes, before you ask, I do have experience in the assistant career, am good in organizin' and also, bonus points here, if you are bored, I can throw in a riddle or two.'

Before Leah could manage to utter anything else, Chester swiftly made his way around her and started going through the documents on her desk.

'I see that you have a lot going on here. A little advice, maybe you could organize this alphabetically or if you'd like, I can use colour-coded folders? Also, is that a molded sandwich?'

Chester continued talking, while at the same time swiftly separating file after file into neat stacks and no more than 15 minutes had passed, when Leah began to see the surface of her desk.

'You know what?' she finally managed to get a word in between 'You are hired. Work starts at 8 sharp.'

Chester grinned and winked at her again. 'I knew that you would make the right decision, boss.' For a minute there. Leah could have sworn that she saw a lilac-blue tail wagging behind him.

Working with Chester was a strange experience as Leah found out in the following weeks. He had a way of moving quietly around the office and often startled clients by suddenly appearing behind them. Afternoons made him sluggish and if no one else was around, she often found him snoozing on the lobby couch with his headphones on. And also that grin, he was prone to flashing it from time to time, especially, when she accepted to work on a case or just to puzzle a client further. Or he had that look like knowing something that others didn't and that he enjoyed torturing them with that fact. But apart from that, Chester worked swiftly and Leah was happy to establish that there were no longer moldy sandwiches among her paperwork. So she got used to him and pretty soon, both of them fell into a mutually agreed routine.

London, England

9th September, 09:00

It was a rainy autumn morning, when someone knocked on the agency's door. Chester swiftly went to open it. A tiny old lady went into Leah's office and smiled sheepishly at her. From a first glance, the detective could see that the woman was well-kept, a bit hunched, but as a whole, it was evident that she was not leading a hard-life.

'Good morning, how may I help you?'

'Good morning, Ms. Banks. My name is Levi Fayir and I came across your ad in the newspaper and thought that you might assist me with something. You see, I used to work as a cook for the Abercrombie family. That is an old Scottish aristocratic family, living a little bit out of Edinburgh. A few months ago something bizarre happened. There was an accident of some sorts.'

'An accident?'

'Well, you see, these strange thorny vines burst through the floorboards of the manor and started spreading quite fast...'

'Sorry to interrupt, madame. But I am no gardener, I don't see how I can help you with that?'

'But it is not the vines, miss, it is what is happening with the people that try to remove them. You see, after the vines appeared, the family, of course, moved out, so that gardeners could go and remove them, but strange things started happening. Most of the men said that after going into the manor they have had strange dreams and experienced sleep paralysis. Others have gone missing and what is more, the vines have continued spreading. It is like...they are slowly starting to take on the neighboring properties as well. The police have also given up, just like the gardeners they are either experiencing strange hallucinations or going missing after entering the manor. My grandson, Peter - was also one of the men that went missing. Since you have so many successful missing person cases. I thought that you might be able to help me.'

'I understand your concerns, Ms. Fayir, but strange garden phenomena and mass hallucinations are not part of my expertise. Are you sure your grandson hasn't just decided to leave town for a while and forgotten to inform you? Maybe you should turn to...'

Leah was interrupted by a loud cough, coming from her assistant. Chester had somehow appeared and was lazily leaning on the door frame.

'I think you should take the case, boss. I mean, business has been slow in the last couple of days. Plus, we both could use a change of scenery. I am getting tired of rainy old London. Let's see good ol' Edinburgh.'

'Excuse me, we both?'

'Well, yeah. I am coming with you. Face it, I am way better at organizin' and workin' with the computer. You will either spill coffee over the paperwork or erase some file, if you are left on your own for even a day.'

'Now, Chester...!'

'She will take the case, Ms. Fayir!' said Catterly before Leah could utter another word.

'Oh, thank you! Thank you! God bless you! You can stay at my cottage when you arrive in Edinburgh!' said Ms. Fayir, existing the room swiftly, as if her legs had suddenly grown wings.

'Chester, what the hell did you just do?!' jumped Leah.

'Trust me, boss! This case will be the adventure of a lifetime!' grinned Catterly with that all-wise knowing smile of his and winked. 'Plus, we are long due for a team building experience!'

Leah sighed and dropped back in her chair. She thought that he might be right and a change of scenery would do her good. Plus, probably the vines were of some plant whose toxins caused hallucinations and that there was probably nothing difficult behind this case. She would be back in London and her routine in 3 days max. Little did she know how wrong she was.