𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞┃ Anthony Lockwood┃2┃

Chapter Ten - New Starter

It didn't help that Lockwood was entirely unapologetic when Nola cornered him in the office. Miss Munro had gone to catch the afternoon bus home. George, more than usually eager to stretch his legs, had accompanied her in case she got lost on the way to the stop, which was all of six doors down the street.

"What in the the hell happened?" Nola demanded. "I was only away for one night!"

Lockwood was sorting through the papers on his desk. Nola had noticed that they had all been neatly paper clipped, and docketed with brightly coloured labels. He didn't look up at her. "I thought you'd be happy. You're the one who suggested we get in a supporting member of staff, rather than a full-blown agent."

Nola stared at him, amazed. "So it was my idea to hire this girl? Please!"

"I told you we needed help. I told you we were going to find someone." Lockwood said.

Nola hummed with dissatisfaction. "Hm, sure, and you waited until I was out of the house to do it."

"Not at all! That's just a coincidence. Of course I didn't plan to get someone while you were away." He looked up briefly, and tried an appealing smile. "We can't continue to investigate new cases with you gone. Being separate. Your contributions are just too vital."

"Oh, spare me. And she just jumped out of nowhere, did she?" Nola had folded her arms.

Lockwood raised a slender finger. "Well, there's a funny story about that. I didn't even need to advertise, nor interview anyone else. I bumped into a couple of Rotwell agents, and they gave me Holly's name. She'd been let go by their agency only last week. I got her in, and she seemed just the ticket, so—"

"So it's 'Holly' already." Nola said, interrupting him. "I seem to remember I was 'Miss James' for weeks after I joined."

Lockwood had been more or less addressing his own neck so far. Now, he finally looked Nola in the eye. "Well, that's because of you. I've become a bit less formal this past year. I'm just trying to help her settle in."

The girl nodded. "I saw that. If you and George had been settling her in any closer you'd have snagged your noses on her earrings." A thought occurred to her. "Did you test her with the skull?"

"What?" Lockwood spoke.

"Did you show her the skull? You know, like you did in my first interview? And all those other objects you made me assess? You gave me a really hard time. In fact, you tried to scare me off!" Nola's body language remained closed. She was, quite frankly, pissed off.

Lockwood took a careful breath. He tapped long, nervous fingers on the desk top. "Actually, we didn't. But the point is, she's not going to be a front-line operative, is she? She's an administrative assistant. Her job is simply to man the fort here. I asked her a few questions, of course I did, but she showed me her résumé, and that was enough."

"Really? It must have been a nice one." Nola tutted.

"It was very presentable."

"So what can she do, then?"

Lockwood hesitated. "Well, she was at Rotwell for years, working pretty high up – for one of Steve Rotwell's deputies, I think – so she's clearly well qualified as a personal assistant. She has some psychic Talent too. Not as much as us, obviously – but, at a pinch, in an emergency only, she could possibly help us in the field. Also, she seems to know a lot of important people, which might be useful to us one day." He cleared his throat and deposited himself back on his battered leather seat. The usual cloud of dust did not rise up. "All in all, James, I think we're very lucky to get her."

"She's cleaned your chair." Nola observed, lifting a single brow.

"You make it sound like that's bad. Yes, one of Holly's main roles will be to keep the place tidy and well organised. In fact, the first thing she did yesterday afternoon was roll up her sleeves, put on a pinny and do the whole housemaid bit. George and I couldn't believe our eyes." He caught Nola's gaze and threw up his hands. "Well, isn't that good? One more chore off our list. And she's even got us a nice new vacuum cleaner! You were always moaning about lugging that old one up to the attic."