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“It’s not the first time we’ve gotten stiffed by the client,” George muttered, sitting at the kitchen table looking instead peeved off at thinking about that other time they got stiffed by the client.
“But this is the first time it’s turned out so well,” Lockwood said, smiling ear to ear. “After all, we ended up resolving that particular case, but thanks to Lucy, we also ended up with a source for the ghost for that particular case under our control.”
Lucy frowned, unsure whether this was a good thing or not. The thought that crossed her mind was, “ I ’m not sure of the legality of us having the locket. ”
“I mean, we’ve never really brought back that kind of treasure before,” Lockwood said, holding up a finger. “There is, of course, firstly that time we got stiffed by a client before, with them billing us for the damages despite not being honest about the haunting on their hand.”
“Which is part of why we’ve so many bills to pay,” George muttered.
“Second, the time our agents got soaked to the bone and ended up with colds that affected their Talent.”
“That was you,.. Lockwood, believe it or not,” George said, pushing up his glasses as he looked at Lucy, his mouth twisting in a frown. “And shouldn’t that be first on the list as it chronologically…”
“We’re not going in chronological order, though the one I’d pick for number three…”
“Yes. The case Quill Kipp and his underlings stepped in to clean up because you…”
“He stole the case,” Lockwood said.
“Which wasn’t hard to do given how your bloody cold affected your Talent, to the point he asked you if your talent was fading.”
“It wasn’t that my Talent was fading. It…”
“Overload,” George said, looking Lucy in the eye. “Don’t ever let Lockwood go out on a case when he’s down with a cold because he sees shadows of what he sees in the wrong places.”
Lockwood frowned. “While an interesting pheromone…”
“Not as interesting as number four, our first case where the ghost was a rabbit,” George said.
Lockwood sighed. “Who said you get to pick the cases?”
“You’ve already picked the cases, so number five is when you got the wrong location. The place wasn’t even a ghost sighting.”
“I believe you’re the one who got the number wrong on that one.”
Lucy let out a sigh. “Perhaps things will get better? Or are the two of you trying to purposefully pull my leg with how bad things were?”
—silence—
Lucy sighed again, still unsure whether they were pulling her leg.