"Knock-knock-knock—"
In the quiet room, the sound was unusually distinct.
Charlotte and Russell both fell silent at once, turning toward the door in perfect sync.
Then, just as simultaneously, they looked away from the door—straight at each other.
"The case came looking for us," Charlotte said, cradling her coffee.
"I think it's Mrs. Hudson," Russell countered.
As he spoke, he turned and strode to the door.
"Good morning, Mrs. Hudso— Who are you?"
The person standing outside wasn't Mrs. Hudson.
It was a fashionable woman in a coffee-colored coat, with long brown curls.
Her delicate face was shaded by obvious worry and unease, while her pale amber eyes held a flicker of cautious curiosity.
"Excuse me… Is this Miss Charlotte Holmes's home?"
She spoke timidly, then gave her name.
"My name is Holly David. I have a commission and I'm hoping Miss Holmes can help me… Is she home?"
As she spoke, Holly's gaze instinctively drifted into the flat—where she immediately spotted Charlotte sitting on the sofa.
"She is, yes, but…" Russell shrugged and stepped aside to clear the way.
"In any case, please come in, Ms. David. It's a bit messy inside—please don't mind it."
Holly entered, and the moment she stepped over the threshold she was visibly shocked by the chaos strewn across the floor.
Like she was navigating a minefield, she carefully threaded her way around every object until she stood opposite Charlotte.
"Who told you to come to me?" Charlotte asked.
"Mycroft, or Lestrade?"
"Inspector Lestrade," Holly answered honestly.
"Tch." Charlotte clicked her tongue, clearly displeased that Lestrade had doxxed her—so to speak.
But even so, she didn't immediately throw Holly out.
"Tell me what's going on. Try not to bore me."
"Y-yes!" Holly nodded, suddenly hopeful.
She took a deep breath, then spoke slowly, as if forcing herself to say it.
"I suspect… there's a ghost in my house."
"?"
That was both Russell and Charlotte's first reaction.
"I'm sorry, Ms. David. I'd like to help, but I'm a detective, not an exorcist," Charlotte said flatly.
"N-no— It's just… a metaphor!" Holly hurried to explain.
"In reality, I suspect someone has been following me, and it's been going on for several days now, but I… I haven't been able to find any proof."
"What does that look like in concrete terms?" Russell asked, already reaching for paper and pen on the table.
To be honest, he hated this near-instinctive reflex of his.
"Concrete terms…" Holly's hands tightened around her handbag.
She inhaled again, like she had to gather a tremendous amount of courage before she could continue.
"At first… it was only small things.
For example, the disposable coffee cup I drank from the night before would be gone the next morning.
That alone wasn't much—since it was disposable, I might've thrown it away without thinking, and then forgotten I did."
"Classic forgetfulness," Charlotte remarked without even looking up.
"Yes. That's what I thought at first too," Holly nodded.
"But it didn't happen just once. I mean… I might forget once or twice, but I can't possibly forget every single time, can I?"
Charlotte neither agreed nor disagreed—she simply gestured for her to continue.
"After that… it was my perfume." Holly's voice trembled.
"My perfume—at some point, it started running out much faster than before. Abnormally fast."
"Could it be… imagination?" Russell offered, but Holly immediately shook her head.
"No. You don't understand, sir. Women are extremely sensitive to how quickly cosmetics are being used."
"Really?" Russell asked, skeptical, glancing at Charlotte.
"If chemical reagents count as 'cosmetics'… then I have no argument," Charlotte shrugged, effectively conceding the point.
"All right. Anything else?" Russell wrote those two items down.
"Yes. My flowers," Holly said, nodding.
"Because of work, I sometimes forget to water them.
But whenever I finally remember to water them… I always find the flowers have already been watered."
"I mean something… more obvious than that," Russell said carefully.
"Yes—yes!" Holly nodded hard, voice tightening with emotion. "My bookshelf."
"Bookshelf?" Russell's pen paused.
Of all the personal things someone could violate, a bookshelf sounded almost harmless.
"This ghost is surprisingly cultured," Russell muttered.
"Yes. The bookshelf." Holly's voice shook.
"I like reading, so I own many books. Normally, I arrange them by publisher and size because it looks neat.
But last Tuesday, I noticed something very strange—"
She hesitated, as though searching for words—or reliving a memory that made her skin crawl.
"My favorite poetry collections… their order was messed up!"
At that, a spark finally appeared in Charlotte's bored eyes.
"Sounds like a harmless prank," she said, still calm—but Russell could tell.
She was starting to care.
"At first I thought so too. I assumed a friend had visited and played a joke, so I put the books back.
But two days later, the books had moved again!
And during that time, no one came to my house!"
"That… doesn't sound good," Russell said.
"Then you called the police?"
"Yes. I did. Inspector Lestrade came, but he couldn't find anything." Holly sounded near-desperate.
"No signs of forced entry. No footprints or other clues.
They suggested I change the lock. I did. But it still kept happening.
Later… they started suggesting maybe work stress was causing hallucinations, and told me to see a psychiatrist!"
She covered her face, anguished.
"But I know it wasn't hallucination. I know it!"
"Anything else?" Charlotte asked.
"Tell me the one thing—the most illogical thing—that made you certain it wasn't in your head."
Holly slowly lowered her hands. In her pale amber eyes was a drowning kind of terror.
"It's my bed, Miss Holmes."
She hugged herself, arms wrapping tighter around her own body.
"My bed."
"What about your bed?" Russell asked.
"I go to sleep at ten every night and wake up at seven. And you know—London has started getting colder recently."
"But on several nights, when I was ready to climb into bed…"
"I found my bed—"
"—was warm."
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