I was woken by the sun shining in my eyes, making them ache. I noticed a persistent smell in the room. It was Lucy's cooking for sure. It smelled- burnt.
I trotted downstairs in my blue striped pyjamas whistling a tune I couldn't remember the name of.
Lucy came to me at the bottom of the stairs.
'Good morning Lockwood!' She planted a swift kiss on my cheek.
'Good morning, Luce. Let me guess- your speciality scrambled eggs again?
She smiled. 'Yes, but, you have to see! It's different this time, I promise!'
Lucy seemed a lot happier than usual.
As I walked into the kitchen, I was pulled aside by George.
'So?' He began, 'I think I may have come to a conclusion to my theory! But I still need the answer to the question you asked her last night.'
I rubbed my eyes, I was still half asleep.
'What question George?'
George shook his head in dismay.
'You know, what resemblance does she have to her family? Is she like them or is she an outcast? You remembered to ask her, didn't you?'
'Yes, yes, I did.'
'So?'
'I'm sorry.'
'You're sorry what?'
'I can't tell you.'
'What?'
'I don't think she wants you to know, George!'
'But-'
'Come on, I just got hold of her trust, besides, I told her something that I wouldn't want anyone else to know!'
'Lockwood. You're useless. And I was coming to a conclusion of a lifetime. Or two.'
I was trying to make sense of what George was saying, but it made my head hurt too much.
'Sorry George, haven't had breakfast. You know I don't function until after that.'
I grabbed a plate and put some of Lucy's rather black scrambled eggs in it. It was strange, they looked like they'd been cooked at the fittes furnaces, but they tasted normal, mostly.
'What's different this time then, Luce?'
'Oh nothing, just less burnt than last time.'
And she was right. Last time her scrambled eggs closely resembled a pile of incinerated potatoes, that weren't potatoes.
'You're right, Luce.'
I sat in silence, noting down a few visitor locations. I could hear holly and George arguing over something. Probably a habit that the other found annoying. No news.
'Holly, do we have any cases today?' Lucy sat down at the table with us.
'We have two cases in total today. It's the end of September, and its starting to get colder. As we know, our old friends like the cold. The first one is at Brayling, a mansion near Marylebone.'
'That's great! So, what happened at the mansion then holly?'
Holly picked up a few notes.
'One of the maids in the mansion said she has no idea of the mansions history, but, she sees ghosts of Edwardian maids floating around in the corridors, half inside the floor.'
I thought for a minute. 'Type twos? How far away was she from them?'
Holly flicked through neatly written pages of notes.
'She didn't say, but judging by the fact that she was on the phone, speaking to me, and very much alive, I'd say far enough.'
'That's good.'
I got up and headed upstairs, 'Lockwood and co are finally back in business, I can't believe how boring a life without ghost hunting is!'
I put on my usual attire, clipped on my work belt and slipped in my rapier.
'Lockwood, I've never seen you so enthusiastic before. It used to take you ages to get dressed.' George said while munching on a piece of toast.
I looked at my shock-proof watch which showed nine o'clock.
'Well, this case seems pretty big, so we should check everything during the day first, all of you should go get ready. Actually, George, you should go to the archives to see what you can find out about this Brayling.
'I'll go with him too.' Holly stood up to go upstairs.
That was news, but George wasn't shocked in the slightest. He just eyed Lucy and I.
Holly obviously wanted Lucy and I to be alone.
I thought about asking Quill to help us, but I decided to not say anything, for obvious reasons.
Lucy and I at the Mansion by nine twenty five.
'So, now is the time to make any daytime investigations.'
This case seemed quite difficult.
'I'll explore all the rooms and take temperature readings. Luce, see if any of these objects give you anything.'
I saw a green glow coming from her rucksack.
'Oh. You've brought the grubby skull with you. I suppose it's a helping hand though. Not that it has any hands.'
'Yeah. I'll make it be useful, don't worry.'
