Haunted: A Lockwood & Co Story

Chapter Eight: The New Secretary: Holly Munro

It didn't help that Lockwood was entirely unapologetic when Charlotte cornered him in the office. Ms 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 the hell happened?" She demanded. "I was only away four days!"

Charlotte had sat herself on the edge of Lockwood's desk, as he was sorting through papers on his desk. Charlotte noticed they had been neatly paperclipped, and docketed with brightly coloured labels. He didn't look up at the girl.

"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."

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

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

"Sure, and you waited until I was out of town to do it."

"Not at all! That's just a coincidence. Of course I didn't plan to get someone while you were away. The most I thought was that we could maybe arrange a few interviews, and I only had time to think of that because it's been so quiet these last few days." His eyes darted briefly up; he tried an appealing smile. "Obviously that's on account of you, love - we couldn't investigate new cases with you gone. Your contributions are just too vital."

"Oh, spare me. And she just jumped out of nowhere, did she?"

"Well, there's a funny story about that. I didn't even need to advertise . 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." Charlotte interrupted him. "I seem to remember I was 'Miss Campbell' for months after I joined."

Lockwood had been more or less addressing his own neck so far. Now he finally looked Charlotte in the eye. He had come to stand in front of her, trapping her on the desk. "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."

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

"What?"

"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."

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."

"It was very presentable."

"So what can she do then?"

"Well, she was at Rotwell for years, working pretty hig 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 placed his hand on top of Charlotte's.

"She cleaned your chair." Charlotte observed. The battered leather seat that was Lockwood's was shiny, as if it had been deep cleaned.

"You make it sound like that's bad. Yes, one of Holly's main roles will be to keep the place tidy and well organized. In fact, the first thing she did on Monday 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 Charlotte's gaze and threw up his hands gently. "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."