The very next day, I was busy sweeping the stairs when Gabriel returned from his inquiries. His eyes were alight, and he tossed his hat deftly, and quite impressively, onto the hat-rack, whistling while he hung up his coat.

“I daresay it was a success?” I smiled.

“Most successful!” Gabriel cried, darting forward suddenly, and whisking me off the steps, and then spinning about in a circle, before setting me down again. “Bless you, dear woman, for your odd moments of brilliance!”

I blushed furiously, extremely surprised, but not at all displeased, and stammered, “Glad to be of assistance, this time!”

“You’re always of assistance, Joan.” He assured me. “Not just this time.”

I smiled, “Thank you, sir.”

“Gabriel.” He corrected, his mouth tugging down at the corners.

“Right, sorry.” I shrugged. “What did you find out in your inquiries?”

“I determined that his mother had a cache of jewelry in her possession when she died.”

“Indeed!” I nodded, “And at the risk of sounding incredibly silly, might it be safe to guess that she had a rather lovely pearl necklace, or some such jewelry piece, with her when she died?”

“And at risk of giving away the case, I’ll tell you that according to all accounts, she was wearing a necklace of that precise description the very day that she died.” Gabriel smiled.

“So the pearls are from his mother’s necklace…but how on earth are they being brought to him?”

“No more clues! If you don’t know already, then I don’t want to spoil it. But I can say that I think you’ll enjoy the solution to this particular little puzzle.” Gabriel smiled. He really was handsome, I realized, perhaps not by society’s standards, but in an odd sort of way.

“Oh really?” I couldn’t help but smile at my detective friend. “Now you have me even more curious! This anticipation is terrible! Are you quite sure that you won’t just tell me?”

“I still must prove that my theory is correct, but no, I don’t want to spoil it!” He laughed, and then headed up towards his study, whistling happily.

I rolled my eyes as he ascended the stairs. Gabriel was a mess, a dear mess.

--

Gabriel, Mr. Morstan, and I sat, a little uncomfortably, on Mr. Morstan’s somewhat small bed. At least I wasn’t sitting next to Mr. Morstan. That would have been awkward indeed. Instead, I was sandwiched between Gabriel and the headboard of the bed.

It was pitch black in the room, and the tension was stifling. The worst part was that I wasn’t a particularly patient person. Typically, Gabriel wasn’t either, but when it came to his cases, there was no doubt in my mind that he could wait years, need be, to see his theory proved.

Suddenly, I felt a swell of strange magic enter the room. Not sure if Gabriel could feel it or not, I clutched his arm, alarmed, as it wasn’t any kind of magic that I recognized. The gentle brush of his fingers pressing over mine, and slipping around them, reassured me that he was aware that something was happening, but he didn’t speak.

My fear suddenly dissolved into surprise and awe as a small dot of light suddenly popped into existence. My initial thought was that it was a fairy, but then, as my eyes adjusted to its presence, I saw the little creature. It had its four-fingered hand outstretched, and was holding an orb of magic to illuminate the room. According to everything I’d read, I knew that fairies were simply little points of light that floated around like glowing balls of fluff with wings.

The small creature darted down onto the bedside table, somehow not noticing us. After all, its light wasn’t incredibly bright, and something told me that the rays of light didn’t reach us.

The little creature snapped the fingers of its free hand, and suddenly, it grasped a small white box, which I guessed contained a pearl from the necklace of the departed Mrs. Morstan.

“I say!” Mr. Morstan cried, completely and utterly blowing our cover.

The little creature gave a startled squeak, and its large green eyes turned toward the bed, finally seeing the three of us there. The little creature gave another startled cry, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Oh really, Mr. Morstan!” Gabriel sighed, I felt his long fingers let go of my hand, and I quickly pulled it away, very much aware that I’d liked it that he’d held my hand, which was terribly confusing, even if he’d only done it to comfort me.

“What?” the client was taken aback.

“You’ve gone and spoiled it!” The detective sighed. He got up, and switched on the lights. “But it’s no matter. There’s your birthday pearl, as usual.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What on earth was that creature?!”

“Well, if you noted it’s large green eyes, slightly mottled, brown skin, floppy ears, and four-fingered hands, and compare it to some obscure knowledge to be found in children’s storybooks, you’ll come to the conclusion that it was, in fact, a brownie.”

“A brownie?!” Mr. Morstan’s eyebrows shot up as he stood.

“Oh!” I laughed, everything falling into place. I stood, glad to stretch my legs. “I wondered how my mentioning fairies could have possibly gotten you on the right track!”

“Indeed.” Gabriel nodded.

“I don’t understand. Are you saying that brownies are real?”

The detective now shook his head, clicking his tongue disapprovingly, “Humans don’t give enough credence to the old tales. There are many magical creatures that live in this world. Humans have just grown so frightened of magic that they refuse to believe that they exist.”

“I mean, my mother always joked about there being some sort of sprite that lived in our house…but none of us ever believed it, and thought it quite mad that our housekeeper would leave little dishes of milk out for it…”

“Sprites are entirely different creatures.” Gabriel shook his head, “But I take your point. Your mother and housekeeper were right. Your family is an old one, and stretches back to a time when humans and magical creatures both occupied the lands of Averah. Back before the wheels of industry drove them away, the smog poisoned their lungs, the iron burned their skin, and the idea that anything different is bad permeated the minds of humans, turning them against the magical creatures that they once lived peacefully with. Your family was around during that time, and, apparently, had a brownie that had pledged itself to them. That was your brownie. They can be extremely helpful. I’m not entirely sure why it only just decided to start being involved in your life once more, but something tells me that it has spent all these years looking for your parents, and then trying to track you down in order to bring you your mother’s pearls as gifts.”

“Oh.” Mr. Morstan said, blinking. It was quiet for a few moments. “What do I do now?”

“That depends on how you feel about having a brownie in your service. They can be very useful. They’ll find lost socks, fix broken pocket watches, heal minor cuts and bruises…but anger one, and it’ll make a proper mess of things.”

“If…if I wanted to keep it around, what would I do?” Mr. Morstan asked slowly.

“Do as your old housekeeper did, leave a dish of milk out for it. Maybe some cheese, crackers, or butter, sometimes, just to let it have some variety.” Gabriel shrugged. “And don’t anger it.”

“How do I avoid angering it?”

“Don’t speak ill of it, or magic. Avoid coarse language while in the house, and above all, speak more kindly of women, after all, it does seem to have a special connection with your own mother, if it was her pearls that it has endeavored for so long to bring back to you.” Gabriel told him, very seriously, but I could see that his eyes were dancing, amusedly.

Mr. Morstan shifted, somewhat uncomfortably, on his feet. I turned my head away, to hide my grin. “Right.” The client muttered.

“We will take our leave, then.” Gabriel said, “Come along, Watson!”

“Right behind you, sir.” I nodded, scurrying after him.

We left, and hailed a cab, but not a word passed between us until we were situated, and bumping down the street.

“Was I right in saying that you would like the solution?” Gabriel broke the silence.

“It was such a lovely break from your normal cases!” I told him, happy. “Sometimes I get tired of crime and death and your typical sort of puzzles…And it was so…so magical!...for lack of a better word.”

“I knew it would suit you.” He chuckled quietly.

“I wish more ended like this one did.” I sighed, setting my head against the side of the carriage.

“Magical creatures are very few and far between these days, doctor, so I’m afraid that you probably won’t get your wish.”

“Regrettably.”

“Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not all magical creatures are as relatively harmless as brownies are.” Gabriel told me.

“True.”

“And some of them can be devilishly difficult to deal with.”

I looked at him, suddenly suspicious. “You speak as if you have experience.”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “Well, perhaps I do.”

“Oh, don’t say that and then not tell me about those experiences!” I laughed, “Spill the beans!”

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’d have to kill you if I did tell you?” His voice was surprisingly subdued and seemed to be full of guilt, even though his words were some that were typically somewhat playful.

I blinked, taken aback. “Oh…I…I see.”

“Sorry, Joan.” His voice was apologetic, “I want to tell you, but I can’t.”

“Right.”

“Honestly.”

“It’s okay, Gabriel.”

“Good.”

It was quiet for a little while.

“One more question.” I couldn’t help myself.

“Alright.” He laughed. “I can’t begrudge you of your inquisitive mind.”

“Is there any reason in particular that you’d have to have me knocked off if I found out the truth?” I asked, half-jokingly.

He was quiet for a moment, I sensed that he was gathering his words carefully. “Let’s just say that I was in the military once too.” The detective told me after a few moments.

I blinked, completely and utterly surprised. “Honestly, Gabriel, you never fail to surprise me. Where were you stationed?”

But Sir Locke shook his head, “I can’t, Joan.”

“Alright.” I sighed. “All this secrecy. I’m beginning to think that I don’t know you at all!”

“Quite.” He gave a short, hollow sort of laugh.

Then we were home, and exited the cab.

It was late, and I went straight to bed, being rather exhausted from all the excitement of the night.

My mind kept wandering back to how he’d so readily held my hand in his. I tried not to, but I couldn’t help it. Well, I had been scared, and the decent thing to do, when someone is scared, is to try and comfort them, and Gabriel was a decent fellow, in the end, but hadn’t wanted to talk, and frighten the brownie away, so he’d simply held my hand reassuringly instead. Because he was decent. Yes. That was it. He was just a decent sort of fellow. Although something told me that he would never mention the fact that he had held my hand, even if it had been just to comfort me.