George opened the door. A man and a women stood on the steps. 

  "Mr Lockwood?" The man inquired. 

      "No, I'm George Karim, part of his team. You must be Mr and Mrs Halladay?" George guessed, looking from one person to another. 

     "Quite right, lad," Mr Halladay nodded, handing him a visiting card. 

  "Right this way then," George said, gesturing down the hall. 

     He led them into the living room where Lockwood was sitting in his usual armchair and Lucy was standing staring at the bookshelf. 

     "Lockwood, Mr and Mrs Halladay are here," George announced.

   Lockwood looked and flashed his charming smile. "Ah, Mr and Mrs Halladay, nice to meet you," He said, shaking both their hands, "Please, have a seat. George will get us something to eat. Any preference on how strong you like your tea?" 

    Lucy could see that the couple were charmed by Lockwood's manners and his smile, who wouldn't. 

      "This is my colleague, Lucy Carlyle," Lockwood gestured to her as she sat down on the couch opposite. 

     "Pleasure to meet you," Mrs Halladay smiled warmly. 

   George reappeared shortly with a tray filled with tea, biscuits, doughnuts and slices of cake. 

"Right, let's get down to business, shall we?" Lockwood suggested. 

     "What they say is correct then, you get straight down to the point!" Mr Halladay looked please. 

     "No point in delaying," Lockwood said promptly. 

  "Well, proper introductions first then. I'm James Halladay and this is my wife, Lily," Mr Halladay gestured to the lady next to him. 

    "Pleasure," Lockwood smiled, nodding politely. 

  "My son, Hanson, is around your age. He plays the piano and is due to perform his first big performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank," Mr Halladay started. 

     "Congratulations," Lockwood smiled tightly. He didn't know how this was supposed to be tied in with what they do.

     "However, there is a problem," Mrs Halladay took over, "the concert hall is haunted. In fact, no one has performed in that hall in just over a decade because of some... happenings."

    This piked Lockwood's interest. Lucy could tell since he was now leaning forward, arms leaning on his legs, and the tips of his fingers pressed together, the complete opposite from the posture he had a few seconds ago, which was leaning back and reclining in the armchair, his way of showing that he was all business and wanted details and a straight-to-the-point case, not stories.

      "What kind of happenings, Mrs Halladay?" Lockwood asked. 

   "Glad you ask, my boy!" Mr Halladay said, not giving his wife a chance to reply, "there have been reports of people dying during a performance, both on stage and in the audience. The lights cut out suddenly, mid performance, and then suddenly come back on again. The performer, ghost-touched. Other reports mention the deaths of people sitting in a certain seat near the corner of the hall, also ghost-touched."

     "Recently, the council have claimed that the hall is alright to be used again. They claim that they hired Fittes agents to check the hall and secure any sources if they found any," Mrs Halladay interrupted quietly.

      "And did they find any?" George asked, leaning forward, eagerly. 

   "No, they didn't. That's why the claim that it's safe to reopen," Mrs Halladay replied. 

       "And you're hiring us because?" Lockwood raised an eyebrow. 

    "We don't believe that Fittes' reports are correct. And I'm not risking my son's life just to prove them wrong. So we wanted to hire professional agents to have a look and see if they can find anything," Mrs Halladay explained.

    "I'll be paying you £50,000 pounds if you'll take the case, along with an additional £30,000 pounds if you manage to get rid of all the ghosts in that concert and cover the cost of anything you need," Mr Halladay said. 

    Lockwood's eyebrows shot up. "That is... quite a lot of money for taking on a case and getting rid of ghosts, Mr Halladay. Are you sure you want to spend that much money?" He asked. 

     "Certain," Mr Halladay nodded, "If it means the safety of our son and the safety of anyone else in the audience. I'll spend a lot more than that." 

      "You will take the case, right?" Mrs Halladay leaned forward gracefully in her seat. 

   Lockwood gave his gigawatt smile. "We'd be delighted to. George will give you forms to fill in and we'll be able to start researching immediately," He said. 

    "Wonderful!" Mr Halladay clapped his hands, "I'll write a check for you immediately."

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       "Let's see, George will go to the archives and do some research on the hall and who died their, Lucy and I will stock up our supplies and - who is that now?!" Lockwood cut himself off. The doorbell was ringing. 

     "That'll be our next appointment, Miss Simpson. I'll get it," George dashed off before Lockwood could get a word in. 

     "We may or may not have forgotten to mention that there are two more appointments," Lucy timidly offered an explanation.

     Lockwood pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's just get this over and done with," He sighed. 

  Lucy followed him back into the living room where a woman in her thirties sat, a girl, presumably her daughter, sat close next to her. 

     "Mr Lockwood! My name is Emmeline Simpson. I'm so grateful that you could see me this afternoon, and I'm so terribly sorry about such short notice," The woman sprang up and grasped Lockwood's hand tightly in hers, shaking it. 

     "How may we help you?" Lockwood smiled charmingly, sitting down. 

  "It's about my son. He was out with his friends yesterday and never returned home. I got a call later that night from one of his friend's saying that he disappeared into some building and never came back out again," Miss Simpson explained her situation.

     "Um, I don't want to be rude, but shouldn't this be something you should take up with DEPRAC? We deal with ghosts, not missing persons," Lockwood asked. 

     "They won't do anything because they say that Fittes reported the building ghost free when they went and examined it a couple years back. Rotwell won't check the building either becuase they'll believe anything Fittes says," Miss Simpson sighed, "Have you, perhaps, heard of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank?"

     Lockwood, Lucy and George exchanged glances. 

  "Yes, yes we have," Lockwood leaned forward, "In fact, we had a couple earlier this afternoon who came to ask us to examine the hall again before their son performance."

     "The Queen Elizabeth Hall, was never properly examined," Miss Simpson dropped her voice to a low murmur, "the things that have happened in that hall..."

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Thank you so much for reading!