Lockwood & Co. The Secret Of Penelope Fittes

Chapter Fourteen

I was late for breakfast next morning. I wanted to avoid Lockwood in the best way I could today. Although I may understand his intentions better now, I was still mad at him. Lucky me though he and George both sat in the kitchen in the morning and ate breakfast. I breathed deeply once and entered the room: "Morning!"
George didn't even look up from his notes and grumbled something I understood as a "Morning."
Lockwood, however, stood up and came up to me: "Good morning, Luce!"
I narrowed my eyes and waited... until I understood that he only wanted to go to the fridge. I dodged him and went to my chair:
"George?"
"Mhm?"
"Did you find anything yesterday?"
He looked up and Lockwood turned around, too.
"No, I'm afraid not. Although I was till ten in the archives, there is nothing new to find about this woman!"
"Did you look for Marissa Fittes, too?" Lockwood asked.
"Yeah, but there isn't any connection between her and Penelope. Marissa died before Penelope was even born, so today's Mrs. Fittes never met the old Mrs. Fittes, or even had the chance to talk to her."
"Oh, great! I guess that was our last hope, wasn't it?" I slid around on my chair in frustration.
"Well..." it came hesitantly from George, "... I have another idea..."
Lockwood raised his head, "What are you getting at, George?"
George was uncomfortable, you could see it on his face, but he began to speak hesitantly.
"Since this Charlotte Hamsworth was or is a good friend of Penelope's, I thought we could go see her and maybe have a little chat..."
Wrong idea, George! I looked at Lockwood leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed and looking at George with his eyes narrowed. I waited eagerly for his answer, but there was only one thing: "What do you think of it, Lucy?"
I swallowed, "Uh, not such a bad idea, actually. After all, it's our last chance to find out anything that will help us."
Lockwood didn't look very pleased, but to my great surprise she suddenly began to smile: "But we don't even know where she lives!"
"Gosh, I haven't thought about that. You're right, Lockwood," George gave up.
Lockwood kept smiling mischievously and sat down. I looked at him insistently. Something on his face was suspicious.
Then it struck me that he didn't immediately provide the comment that we don't know where Charlotte now lives. And she's also an old friend of the family. I'm pretty sure Lockwood knows exactly where she lives.
I straightened up again: "I think George, that we both don't know where Charlotte lives today, but Lockwood certainly does, doesn't he, Locky?"
George's face brightened as Lockwood's smile died.
"You're right, Lucy! Lockwood, she was an acquaintance of the family, so you MUST know where she lives!"
Lockwood hadn't expected that."I-I... no, actually, i have no idea..."
"Lockwood!" I interrupted him, "You're a horrible liar!"
He looked at me angrily. I returned the look, but with a grin on my face. We looked each other in the eye for a while, until Lockwood finally turned away. He tried to hide it, but still I saw that he had to hide grin. I raised a brow, prompting:
"Well?"
Lockwood rolled his eyes and puffed: "Alright. One point for you, guys. But only under one condition: You talk to her and bombard her with questions. I'll watch. I'm not talking to her, all right?"
My trademark Carlyle grin appeared on my face, I jumped up and hugged him:
"Thank you!" I said and kissed him on the cheek.
"It's all right, Lucy!" he grinned.

..........*****..........

The cab brought us to the outer edge of London, where it stopped in front of an apple green bungalow.
"Lockwood?"
"Yes, Lucy?"
"Charlotte's not from London, is she?" I pointed to the foreign flowers in front of the entrance.
"Nah, she was born in Ireland and very proud of her ancestors." He nodded in the direction of the cloverfield that was next to the front door.
He stopped just outside the front door: "Well, here we are...", he stepped aside, "Have fun!"
"Oh, no!" I gave him a shove towards the door, "You ring the bell and introduce us first! Come on, we don't have all day!"
He sighed, but turned around and pressed the bell.
"Oh, and don't forget your client smile," I reminded him."
"My what?", he turned around, looking at me confused.
"The smile you always put on when we meet new clients!"
He was about to return something when the front door was opened behind him. Lockwood immediately turned around and said, "Hello, Charlotte. I hope we're not bothering you, but we need your help," It may have been a little straight forward but he asked politely. (I was proud of him)
Charlotte looked at him surprised, but then started to smile: "Of course! Come in!"
She led us into a bright living room stuffed with furniture and decorations.
George and I sat down on a yellow sofa, following her instructions. Lockwood stopped at the door and looked at us skeptically. Charlotte meanwhile settled down on a matching chair.
"Anthony, please join us!"
"No, thank you! I'll stand," he replied coolly.
Charlotte sighed and turned to us, "I don't think we've been introduced yet."
"Uh, no... I'm George Cubbins and this is my colleague, Lucy Carlyle! We'd like to ask you a few questions today."
"I'd love to, what's this about?" George looked at me for a second and I nodded at him encouragingly."A few days ago we found out that you were a very good friends of Penelope Fittes in your teens and thought maybe you could tell us something about her...?"
Charlotte looked at us suspiciously: "I'm supposed to talk about Penelope Fittes? Why?"
George got nervous. Before he could ruin the whole thing I interrupted him: "For a new case. With spirits and stuff like that..."
That seemed to convince her: "Oh, of course. What do you want to know?"
She smiled at us again and I let George have his turn:
"What was Penelope like. You know... when she was younger?"
Charlotte eyes drove away and she let herself be carried away by the past.
And then the story began:...
"Penelope, Celia and I met in school and immediately became friends. We were inseparable. Well, at least until High School. Then Celia met Donald..." She gave Lockwood a look that he ignored and looked around the room.
"...A lovely fellow who was very popular with all of us. It was only a matter of time and soon Celia spent her time only with him. I was happy for her, I really was! I mean, I still had Penelope, you know." Her smile vanished. "That's what I though..."
I sat up straight, "What happened?" Lockwood also turned his attention to Charlotte.
"From one day to another, she became very serious. It was so unlikely of her! She has always been a cheerful person who saw the good in all... But that changed drastically: she was always irritable and in a bad mood. I think that's why we all drifted apart. It's a shame. But life goes on, doesn't it?"
She looked out the window sadly. Just like in all those cheesy movies. I had to control myself to not roll my eyes.
"Did you also tell each other's secrets?" George asked hesitantly. Way to go forwards, George...
"Yes..." she turned back to us, "...but I don't think you mean which boy we have a crush on, do you?"
We shook our heads.
"I thought so...", she smiled matt, "... You are aware that I won't tell you everything, but a few won't hurt. Nevertheless, I had always more contact with Celia, so I know more about her as well, for example, that she was always..."
When I looked at Lockwood from the side, I saw that he had tensed up immediately and interfered:
"Actually, we're here for Penelope!"
Charlotte looked at me confused, but immediately smiled again.
"Of course, I like to digress. Penelope always liked to spend a lot of time at school and outside with me. She was only at home when it was inevitable, like for sleep and food, and she didn't like it there either... It was certainly not always pleasant for her, her mother always worked hard and sacrificed little time for her daughter. Personally, I never saw those two together. I am still surprised that she took over the agency so enthusiastically, because she always said that she never wanted to become a manager in her life. Her attitude to the problem has also changed: Before she was obsessed with the idea that we should live together with the visitors because we will never beat them anyway. Today the whole thing looks different, as you have certainly noticed..."
She fell silent. I looked at Lockwood, who also looked at me, and pulled up an eyebrow questioningly. He nodded and came up to Charlotte: "Thanks Charlotte, you really helped us, but if we want to be home before curfew, we have to go now."
She looked up and said, "I was happy to do it, Anthony!"
She got up and walked us to the door. "I hope to see you again soon!"
Lockwood nodded politely and turned around, and I could clearly seeing that he was rolling his eyes. Grinningly I followed him.