Holding his handgun, looking at them with anger in his hidden eyes, Harold exasperated, "You have any idea how much time goes into planning parties and writing off expenses?"
Compounding issues and then topping it off, here are two of his "guests" that found themselves in parts of the mansion that they shouldn't!
Lowering his handgun, Harold shook his head as he denounced the two getting into trouble, had anything happened to them, they wouldn't known, and already Harold has a lot on his plate, he doesn't need them helping him, either.
"No, but, handgun bullets don't exactly factor in, do they?" Lila winced as Harold holsters his handgun while irritably looking at her.
Shaking his head, Harold dryly says, "No, they do not."
He forced them through where they came from, leading them up to a hidden staircase where it opened out to Harold's office.
Closing the hidden door, Harold turned body towards the two, calmly asking them, "What on god's green earth were you two thinking?"
Wincing, Theodore replied, "You have to understand, sir, it's too coincidental that books launched themselves at us."
Exhaling sharply, Harold sat down at his desk, reaching into a drawer, and brought out a large bottle of cognac, which he poured himself a glass as he stared at the two.
"I've already explained myself to Douglas, I don't need to waste my time, again. You are not to poke your noses where they don't belong, there are dangerous parts of the mansion I simply cannot fix. Had you stayed down there any longer, I'd have to explain to the authorities why two of my guests died from exposure!" Harold chides the two like a principle, angry that they willingly broke his rules, just as Douglas did.
It caught them by surprise hearing this, that Lila goes, "Wait, Douglas found the tunnels, too?"
As he nodded, Harold sighed as he informed her that the man got the idea of poking around his guest room, found one of the hidden doors, and made a bit of a game going through the tunnels until Harold caught him.
Harold threatened him similarly and he never attempted his tricks, again.
Hearing this, Lila recoiled in disgust.
Disgusted himself, Theodore tried to keep his composure by asking, "Exposure, from what?"
Pointing to their makeshift masks, Harold goes, "You smelled it, didn't you?"
The two nodded.
As he swirled his half-drunk cognac, Harold told them, "A long time ago, an eccentric owner had the bright idea of importing fruit from the Manchineel trees. You are aware of them, surely?"
Slowly, the two nodded, again.
"For whatever reason, he sought them, and stowed them down there. When he died, no one wanted to go down there and clear it out, because of the rotting fruit. So, the fruits remained down there, rotting, the fumes embedding themselves into brickwork, until nothing remained. Of course, when cleaners were sent down there, they thought that it'd been long enough they didn't think to wear masks, themselves. I hear they still have breathing problems," Harold explained how close to death the two were hadn't he stopped them, bringing them back to the topside with fresh air.
Seeing as they're unaffected, Harold's assured they hadn't stayed down there long.
Pouring himself another drink, Harold then said, "And I figured it out. He sent you here, didn't he?"
Theodore and Lila shared looks before Theodore leaned on the assumption, "We were just doing what we're told."
Scoffing, Harold retorted, "And shall I turn over my home just appease that man, again?"
Tilting her head, Lila said in earnest, "He's just curious, is all, the hidden tunnels, the basement, you'd be curious, too!"
Rolling his eyes, Harold exhaled as he said, "He's filled your head with rocks, too!"
Looking between the two, Harold stated, "Whatever happened, I know nothing about it, and I rather this not get in the way of my already prolonged celebrations, do you understand?"
Harold knew nothing of what happened and sending two individuals to try and get information, that way's a poor taste for an esteemed scholar.
Seemed like they were wrong in their early assumption, they didn't receive an invitation from someone inside the mansion.
Reaching into his drawer again, Harold irritatedly brought out the invitation he took from them, flinging it onto the desk.
He showed them that the invitation wasn't for them, someone covertly changed the name on it to the Doctor.
"I can only imagine how he obtained it. I'm a reasonable man, I want you two gone from my mansion when morning breaks. Understood?" Harold wanted them to leave the mansion in a few hours when morning breaks and the storm dissipated.
He'll explain away their absence when the others asked.
After that, he didn't want them back up here, again, and would instruct the carriage driver not to take them.
Unable to argue against Harold, Theodore and Lila accepted their punishments.
Standing up, Harold walked them back to their guest room, warning them that going through the hidden wall again would result in authorities arresting them.
He'll be sure of it.
Never raised his voice, never took off his sunglasses, strange as it is, Harold saw them enter their guest room, before walking away.
"Scholar?" Lila looked towards Theodore with confusion as they're bound to the guest room until morning.
Shrugging, Theodore responded, "I know what I saw. Someone wanted help. Perhaps this scholar would know more. I hate to take him away from his date, but this is a pressing manner."
He promised Al that he wouldn't be disturbed during his date with Bumble, but something piqued his interest like a shiny stone in the river.
Couldn't overlook it if he tried.
"Well, there's plenty of places to hide someone," Lila sat on the edge of the bed, the storm weakened outside the stained-glass window, no longer thundering or lighting.
If Harold kept someone in the mansion, there's places he could hide them, and no one would know.
Of course, it's a matter of who he kidnapped, but that's getting ahead of herself.
Sitting beside her, Theodore sighed as he said, "I don't know, but it vexes me, more, the sunglasses."
Peculiar that Harold wore sunglasses at night, causing Lila to utter the lyrics, but Theodore had no clout to call him out on it, and the psychic paper wouldn't be useful in this situation, either.
Seeing the time, Theodore opted them to sleep for a few hours, even if they'll be sent on their way the moment, they open their eyes.
By then, Al shouldn't be preoccupied by his date, though he'll be annoyed.
Morning came and as Harold said, they were brought back down to the town, the carriage driver instructed not to bring them back up, and Harold threatened to call the authorities on them if they tried coming back up, anyway.
Back in town, the two made their way back to the TARDIS, Theodore made sure Al's decent before stepping inside, and there Al showed his displeasure that Theodore interrupted his date.
"There's more to this than anticipated, Al," Theodore informed the circumstances leading up to this conclusion, he felt that he couldn't rely on the town to give him the information he needed, as it relied on the mystery of the mansion for their revenue, and Harold wouldn't allow anything to slip through his fingers.
Sighing, Al nodded, agreeing to help them, but warned that they're on a timer, he needed to get back to Bumble for the last half of their date.
"Let's just say good o' Al has it in the bag," Al briefly wiggled his brows as he tells them how the date's going and how he and Bumble are almost at the end of it.
Lila then told him, "Just wear pants when you come back, this time."
Don't ask.
Just.
Don't.
Swatting the air, Al swore he learnt from his mistakes.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
"Okay kid, from what you told me and what I can squeeze out of this town, there was an incident where a man allegedly went missing in the mansion," Al read off what he found, "no one knows where he went, they searched the mansion, and his only surviving relative's his nephew."
From what Al found, there's a story about an eccentric scholar coming to the mansion for a party hosted by Harold Thornton the Second, but after the party, no one knew where he went, and with the storms in the area, it's hard to find evidence.
This occurred sometime in the 1920s or so, hard to say, but without any evidence, the authorities couldn't hold Harold accountable, since no witnesses came forward.
"His nephew thinks otherwise," Lila brought up and Al nodded as he went on to say, "He's been looking for a reason to send authorities back through the mansion."
With the hidden tunnels and the dungeon-like basement, it's no wonder the scholar's nephew believed something amiss.
"What do we know about Harold Thornton the Third, Al?" Theodore asks what Al knows about the man and Al went through the databases before saying that he's unsure.
There's no birth certificate that he found, hospital admissions, nothing suggesting that a child with his name born.
"Maybe it was a home birth?" Lila suggested that the reason there wasn't's because of the storms keeping people in the mansion and well, birthing doesn't keep to a schedule.
Al went on to say that outside business and academia, the Harold Thornton they met didn't have much of a social bubble.
Looking at the time, Al gestured as he warned that he can't stay long, before Theodore had him give the information to get into contact with the scholar's nephew.
"Remember, if you need me, just holler, I'll drop everything and come get you," Al promised that if there's an emergency, as much fun as he's having on the date with Bumble, he'll rush to their aid, no questions asked.
Theodore thanked him and with the contact information, he and Lila left to get into contact with the only source of information that hasn't been tampered by the town.