The creeping shadow according to lockwood

Two heads III

LUCY CARLYLE
CONSULTANAT PSYCHICAL INVESTIGATION AGESNT
Flat 14, 15 Tooting Mews, London
Psychic Surveys and Visitor Removal Aural phenomena a speciality

I was standing outside Lucy's apartment. I notice a clear plastic wrapper with inside some neatly folded clothes, and - pants.
'This must be Lucy's'
Knock knock.
After a good thirty seconds, Lucy opens the door, I smile and stand straight, resisting all temptations to do whatever informal things I wanted to do.
I had dressed up for this occasion, I knew she liked my old coat so I wore that, and of course I polished my shoes and hair but most importantly I was wearing the tie Lucy gave me a while back. And, of course, she seemed pleased about all that.
And of course I was pleased to see her too, she hadn't changed a lot, at all for that matter. She was her usual scruffy self, her hair left unwashed for weeks, and the same grey pyjamas she wore around Portland row. But even though she faintly smelled of baked beans, or was that her room? And did she have a hand down her pyjamas? Even so, she looked so much better than at my house, even though nothing had changed, not about her at least.
'Hello, Lucy,' I said.
She definitely was shocked, but she was pleased, I guess.
'Hi, hi' she said.
'I'm sorry it's a bit early, I see you're only just up.'
She seemed embarrassed by something.
'Are you alright? Something wrong?' I asked
'No, no, everything's fine, yes.'
'Oh there was this package outside your room.'
'Yeah, they'll be my neighbours, I'll look after them for him- for her!'
'You look after your neighbours pants?' I said cheerfully, 'what kind of flat is this?'
She hesitated a little.
'Actually, it's--, well-- I, I... Lockwood, what are you doing here?'
I smiled even more. I knew that prospects including Penelope Fittes interested her.
'Well, I wanted to check in on you and see you were doing ok...'
I could tell that this fake answer didn't satisfy her.
'And, I've got something to ask you'
I was back to my usual self, confident, no stutters, straight to the point. It was the effect Lucy had on me.
She showed me in 'Oh, yes, yes of course, um, why don't you come in?'
'So, this is your place?'
She suddenly stopped being so shocked and glanced around as if this was the first time seeing the place for her too.
It was really scruffy, untidy, and obviously it hadn't been cleaned since Lucy arrived here. But after all it was Lucy's...
'It's... nice,' I said

She tried to get me to sit down, but by removing a damp towel from one of the chairs she revealed a pile of unwashed underwear. I wanted to ask her about the case, but, not yet, so I decided to stand. I tried mentioning something about the nice views, but after all they were just a few factories and buildings.

We took some tea

She asked me how things were going at Lockwood and co, the norm, and she asked me whether I took sugar in my tea, sugar, maybe she really did want to forget me. I spotted the skull in the jar on the table next to me, for some reason I missed George's stupid experiments with the ghost jar, and it's revolting reactions, so it was somewhat nice to see it again too, almost.

We showed a little teamwork when Lucy asked me to flip the bin open so she could fling a teabag in there from across the room. I guess we hadn't lost it all.

After a few more seconds of chatter, I told her.
'I'm in need of your help, I'd like to hire your freelance services'