**Slightly shorter chapter than usual but a little more lighthearted. Life at home has gotten a little crazy these past few weeks and I haven't been able to write as much as I had been in the past. I also don't have any more chapters written past this one so my next update may take longer than a week to post since it takes a while for me to write. As always, thank you for all the wonderful support and encouragement.**
Chapter Twenty-One
The sound of the ticking clock was all that could be heard through the lobby. Mai and Yasuhara were sitting in absolute silence at the secretary's desk, staring intently through the doorway. Oliver was in his office on the phone with a prospective client and had left his door ajar, much to the appreciation of their prying eyes. It had only been three days since their return from the Miller case, but those three days had been particularly uneventful and Mai and Yasuhara had to find a way to stay entertained.
"What do you think he'll do next?" Mai wondered tiredly, leaning towards the man sitting next to her.
Yasuhara grabbed his chin in thought before narrowing his eyes confidently. "I say he's going to sigh again."
Mai shook her head. "Really? See how the client keeps interrupting him? You know how much he hates that. He's definitely going to roll his eyes."
Yasuhara looked over at her, with a glint in his eyes. "Winner gets ten quid," he said in hushed excitement.
Mai smirked and shook the man's outstretched hand. "You have yourself a deal."
The two perched at the edge of their seats for the next two minutes while they waited eagerly. Oliver was mid sentence when he was quite visibly interrupted once again by their potential client. Blue eyes looked up in annoyance but narrowed in confusion upon seeing his two colleagues staring at him so intensely. Rolling his eyes, he stood from his desk and closed the door to his office.
Mai turned to Yasuhara with a large grin. "I win!" she cheered.
"That doesn't count. He rolled his eyes at us, not at the client," Yasuhara defended.
Mai shrugged. "Such technicalities were never specified, my dear friend. Our bet was to see which he would do first and I won."
"I believe I've been cheated," the bespectacled man sighed in defeat.
"And I believe you owe me ten quid," she smiled innocently with an outstretched hand.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, pulling the money from his trouser pocket and handing it to her.
The phone on Yasuhara's desk began to ring and he answered it swiftly. "Britain's Supernatural and Paranormal Research. This is Yasuhara speaking, how may I help you?"
Mai watched as her friend's face lit up with a grin. "Gene! Thank God, mate. When are you coming back? It's no fun around here with you gone. Hurry up and come back so I can finally start winning at bets again. Mai keeps taking all my money."
Mai chuckled and rested her chin against her palm.
Yasuhara leaned back in his chair and nodded as Gene relayed something to him. "Hm. Really?...Okay, I'll let him know. See you next week."
The man hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair lazily, picking at his nails with a small smirk. Mai watched him for a moment and grew irritated when he made no move to inform her about what Gene had told him.
"So?" she pried.
"'So' what?" he smirked.
"So you told him you would relay his message to us," she replied.
"Actually, I believe I said 'I'll let him know.' Him as in the boss, not you," The bespectacled man recalled with a glint in his eye. "However, I wouldn't mind telling you if you gave me my ten quid back," the man grinned playfully.
Mai frowned. "But I won it fair and square."
Yasuhara shrugged. "No money, no message."
The brunette huffed begrudgingly returned his money. "Rubbish. I was going to use it for the bus home since I've misplaced my metrocard."
"And I'm going to use it for my date tonight with Laurel," he smirked.
"A whole ten quid for your second date? Wow, big spender. What were you going to buy her? A chip?" she chuckled sarcastically. "Well, get to it then. I gave you the money. What did Gene have to say?"
Yasu sighed. "Just that his priest friend is coming by today. Father John Brown is his name."
Mai's eyes widened in excitement. "Wonderful! Do you know when?"
"He just said 'soon,' so take that as you will," he shrugged.
"For ten quid I expected a bit more information," Mai said, shaking her head. She stood from her desk and straightened her dress before making her way to the kitchen. After a few minutes, she emerged holding a tray with three cups of tea.
"For me? Thanks, Mai, " Yasuhara grinned and reached for a cup only to be denied.
"No money, no tea," she mimicked his earlier words and pulled the tray away. "Give it back and I'll gladly make you a cuppa."
Yasuhara crossed his arms sourly. "I'm not thirsty anyway."
She chuckled and made her way to the other room. Placing the tray on her desk, she grabbed one of the teacups before knocking on Oliver's door. Opening it silently, she noticed he was still on the phone. She maneuvered around the desk before placing the cup in front of the irritated man. Smiling sympathetically at him she leaned across him to grab a pen and notepad to jot down the news that Father Brown was on his way over. He read the note and nodded.
"Yes, you've said that already, Mr. Cassell," the man said, miraculously still sounding professional even though the vein on the side of his forehead signalled his annoyance. "You can expect us within a few hours."
Mai closed the door behind her as she made her way out of the office and she could hear Yasuhara talking to another man. Hearing the Australian accent, she knew immediately that it was Gene's priest friend. She entered the lobby with a large smile.
"Father Brown, I presume?" she greeted with an outstretched hand.
Kind blue eyes turned towards her and lit up with a smile. "'Ello. Are you Mai?"
The brunette nodded. "Please come take a seat. Oliver will be here shortly, he is finishing up a phone conference right now." She led the man into the other room and grabbed a still-warm cup of tea from the tray on her desk. "Tea?"
Father brown nodded gratefully. "Yes, please. Thank you very much."
Mai handed the man the cup and took a seat across from him. "How are you enjoying your time in England?"
"Everyone has been more than welcoming. The only difficulty I've had with the transition has been the time difference. I've only ever traveled within the Australian time zone before so this has been a change," he smiled and took a sip of tea.
"The time difference is definitely something to get used to," she chuckled. "Where have you traveled before?"
The priest placed his teacup down. "Mainly New Zealand and Japan."
She smiled brightly at the mention of her home country. "Did you enjoy your time in Japan? Whereabouts did you stay?"
John smiled. "I enjoyed it very much. I traveled all over, actually, I wound up living in Ota for two years helping out an old friend of mine at his parsonage. He first needed my help with cleansing the spirit of a young deaf boy who passed away on the premises, but it was such a wonderful place I wound up staying for quite some time."
Mai's mouth gaped slightly. "Are you talking about Father Tojo?"
John looked up at her in surprise. "You know him?"
Mai beamed. "I worked at his daycare for a year or so when I was younger. He is a wonderful man. I helped with the orphanage and would sometimes help the children in his daycare. I arrived a few years after that poor child passed away. It broke my heart when they told me what had happened."
The blonde man nodded somberly. "Yes, it was an emotional case to say the least. What a small world it is though for you to have been at the same parsonage. We must have just missed each other."
Mai smiled at the man but turned when her boss's door opened suddenly. She could tell by looking at him that Oliver was more tired than usual today. Hopefully that last cup of tea he just had would kick in soon.
"Father Brown. I appreciate the visit. My brother has told me much about you," the man greeted professionally and sat down next to Mai.
"It's a pleasure to be here. I've always been interested in England so your brother didn't have to say much to convince me to move parishes," the priest said with a smile that reached his eyes. "Is Eugene still visiting Japan?"
Oliver nodded and crossed his ankle over his knee. "He will be returning Sunday morning."
"It will be good to see him again. I'm intrigued by what I've heard of your abilities. I must say I've never met a person with psychokinesis. I've also heard you have quite the crew here; I'm more than willing to offer my services whenever need be," the man said with a smile.
Oliver nodded. "My assistant and I will actually be attending a case today. I regret that my brother only just informed us of your arrival moments ago, one of his many flaws, so we will not be in the office for much longer. You are more than welcome to join us."
John nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you for the invitation but I do have to get back to my new parish. I will be giving my first sermon this afternoon. I just wanted to come and introduce myself."
Oliver nodded, "Very well. Mai and I will be leaving within the half hour but please feel free to stay as long as you would like."
Mai looked over at her boss, "Where are we going?"
"The Guildhall School of Music and Drama."
An hour later Mai and Oliver were standing in front of the large school located in London. The surrounding buildings in the city cast long shadows, granting Mai some escape from the heat of the relentless summer sun. They had only been out of the car for a few minutes and she felt as if she were melting. Turning her head, she eyed her boss and gave him a look.
He raised a dark brow at the way she was staring at him. "Can I help you?"
"How can you be wearing a suit right now? I'm in a dress and I'm dying of heatstroke," she motioned towards his body.
"Are you dizzy?" he asked blankly.
"Well, no," she answered, confused.
"Nauseous? Experiencing muscle cramps or loss of sweat?" he continued.
"No." Mai sighed, knowing where he was going with his questions.
"Then you don't have heatstroke and you are most definitely not dying from it," he smirked.
Mai hit him gently on his arm. "You know what I mean. It's thirty-five degrees [celsius] out here and there you are, in a suit and tie, looking like you should be on the cover of Esquire. Do you even own summer clothing?"
The man smirked again and began walking towards the school. "Come along, I can't afford to lose an employee to heatstroke now can I?"
She rolled her eyes but followed him nonetheless. "So what are the details of this case? And why did we only bring two cameras?"
"From the information the director of the school has told me, I am certain this case should be over within a matter of hours. If everything goes according to plan, the cameras won't even be necessary," he replied, glancing down at a file in his hand as he walked.
He kept maneuvering the hallways, searching for the correct room and Mai pulled the camera bag tightly to her chest as she basically ran after him. After a few moments Mai leaned against a wall to catch her breath, earning a questioning glance from the blue-eyed man.
"I don't think you noticed...how short my legs are...compared to yours," she explained through deep breaths.
Watching her momentarily, he made his way up to her and lowered his face closer to hers, catching her off guard. "I notice everything, Mai." His free hand swiftly retrieved the camera she had been holding and he nodded towards the door behind her before straightening up. "We are here."
Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, she tried to distract herself of the thought of how close he had just been. Turning around, she saw a wooden door with the words Travis Cassell: Director of Music written on a plaque and she sighed thankfully, glad that they no longer had to walk.
Oliver knocked on the door and within a moment it opened to reveal an older man with thinning hair and displeased eyes.
"Mr. Cass-" Oliver began but was interrupted.
"Ah, you must be the one I was on the phone with from that ghost place," the man greeted stoically.
Instantly, Mai could see why her boss had been so irritated on the phone earlier, and she refrained from frowning at the older man.
"Oliver Davis, yes," the dark haired man replied flatly and sat in one of the chairs in the office. "Now, would you please explain everything that has been happening at this school again?"
The director leaned back in his chair lazily and sighed. "Apparently some students are saying they are getting possessed. They black out and find themselves in the Concert Hall. I honestly think there's nothing happening; just a bunch of ghost stories being spread around for an excuse not to practice. If I had my way I would have just suspended the students claiming to be possessed. However, the owner of the school made me call you for help."
Mai looked over at her boss and was impressed to see how neutral his expression was. She was even having a difficult time hiding her annoyance at the director.
"I will need that list of people who have had any paranormal experiences in order to conduct interviews. I will also need a room we can use to conduct these interviews," her boss explained.
The older man scoffed and handed a sheet of paper to Oliver. "Here, and you can use one of the practice rooms on the first floor. I really think we're just wasting each other's time. There's no such thing as ghosts, especially here. These kids are just playing pranks."
Oliver ignored the last statement. "In the past, have there been any deaths related to this school that we should know about?"
Travis shrugged, opening a book that had been on his desk. "How should I know? Just try to get this over with as soon as you can, it's becoming quite inconvenient."
Oliver's eyes narrowed slightly and without another word he stood from the chair and grabbed one of the camera boxes while Mai followed his lead. The brunette frowned to herself, frustrated at the directors blatant disrespect towards Oliver and lack of care for his students.
They hadn't gone far before one of the doors next to the directors office opened and a middle-aged man stepped out with a sympathetic smile.
"Hello, you must be Dr. Davis from BSPR. My name is Andrew Stiles. I'm one of the music teachers here at Guildhall," he greeted with an outstretched hand. "Please forgive our Director. He's relatively new and can be...a bit much at times."
"So I see," Oliver stated blandly.
"Do you need any help or directions?" The man wondered.
Oliver nodded. "As a matter of fact, we are in need of a room to use for a base to conduct interviews and information.
Andrew pointed down the hall. "Yes, of course. Follow me, I can help you find a room to use and can help you locate the students and staff who have had run-ins with the spirit."
"Do you believe there is a spirit haunting this place?" Oliver queeried, following the man down to the first floor.
Andrew nodded. "I love these students as if they were my own family. Even though I was never really a believer in ghosts myself, I do believe in these students and if they say it is haunted I trust them."
As they followed the man down a large staircase, Mai smiled to herself, glad the students had someone on their side who cared so much for them.