LONDON CALLING

Ruby ate as she listened to Angus she smiled as he recognized she'd put a small amount of fire whisky in his coffee. Then she heard him talk of her father and she sighed " well both of them will get what they deserve" she said " and if he makes a mess as he did for us a huge repair bill too" she said and chuckled as she continued to eat. Hearing Angus praises her food made her feel happy and she smiled to him. " I followed your recipes." she said " but thank you"

Once she was done she took her plate to the sink and then moved bc to Angus " Robert gave me this necklace to wear and Yu gave me this coin to keep hold of he said it was a protection charm from his home country." she said showing him both. "but I think our daughter doesn't like them or it might be Reg she dosn't like, as she kicked up a storm when he was making all that mess before" she told him.

Marcus and Khaat came home from a few hours Khaat had had to put in at St Mungos, even on a Sunday, as a follow up from the carnival. They were both glad to see that Ruby had fixed lunch, particularly Marcus because he had skipped breakfast and now he was hungry. They came into the dining room, got themselves soup and a sandwich and sat down listening to the discussion about a new ghost on the property.

Robert and Kate told her the tale of the new haunting of Reginald Tyler, and they weren't sure exactly what he wanted, but they knew he was angry.

"Perhaps you should try, Dear," Kate said to Khaat. "Your abilities to speak with the dead are much sharper than mine. You might be able to get him to simmer down a little. I don't think he's here at the moment, though. Angus gave him a ew pieces of information about Suzanne's betrayal of him, and I think he was heading out to go haunt Suzanne and Gelding for awhile."

"Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Gelding's house to see exactly what he's doing," Marcus grinned, rather pleased at the thought of Gelding being pestered by a supernatural assassin.

"Well, I can go try to talk to Remus and see if he has any information about Tyler," Khaat said. "How did he end up finding his way here, anyway?"

"Angus brought back a pocketwatch of Tyler's," Kate said. "And he cut himself on some sort of sharp edge on the filigree."

"Ah," Khaat nodded. "Angus's blood on Reginald's watch--it made an imprinting on the watch, and it attracted Tyler here. Makes complete sense."

"So how do we get rid of him?" Angus asked.

"It sounds like Reginald has unfinished business," Khaat said. "If we can help him find some sort of resolution that at least concludes whatever business he has with you, Angus."

"Well, let's see. I killed him. I took his house and whatever possessions his wife didn't take, I took his boys. I took you. I hired Jessie, I've got what money he had in his main accounts. Suzanne took the money from the joint account they had, but she didn't know about most of his accounts. I put that money into trusts for Sam and Victor. So, yeah, he's got some reason to be angry with me."

"Yes, but, you're also the one who claimed his body, bought a very nice casket for him and a lovely burial plot, I must say," Kate said, "and a very elegant tombstone, made sure he had a respectful funeral, made sure he had a nice, tailored suit to wear, even made sure he had flowers. If Suzanne would have had her way, he'd either still be sitting in a morgue or he'd have been given a pauper's plot. You've made sure that Ruby and the boys have a great home--not just a roof over their heads, and you're also the father of his first grandchild."

"Well, now, he's not probably going to thank me for that last one. He doesn't like me, remember?"

"There is an old adage that might end up playing out in this if you handle it correctly," Robert said.

"What's that?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If he considers Gelding and Suzanne bigger enemies than you, you very well could resolve whatever hatred he has of you. I'm not saying you'll be best mates, but at least he might stop trying to beat the living daylights out of you," Robert replied.

"Somehow, having your dad like me is a very disturbing thought," Angus told Ruby with a bit of a cheeky grin.

"

Ruby heard them talking then as they finished she chuckled and looked to Angus as he spoke to her " yeah, weird to say the least, but might be a good thing" she said " if he ticks Gelding and our mother off." she cleared her plate then placed down the desert and sat back down once Angus had some in front of him and Abby in a bowl. " hope it's good ." she said smiling as she started to eat.

Jessie walked in and sat down to eat some soup quietly then glanced at Ruby and rolled his eyes " Im hungry okay" he said as Jack walked in and chuckled at Jessie " hum seems the apitite is kicking in" he said sitting and taking a large bowl of the soup. Ruby chukled and shook her head .

"this is why I made a large batch of soup and extra sandwiches for every one." she said smiling as she looekd to Angus " you don't think he'll cause you any more harm right?" she said talking about regenald.

"That's hard to say," Kate answered Ruby. "I'm sure Gabe will make amulets as soon as he can, and that will help. It might help, though, if we can take the watch out of the house that Angus imprinted with, then Reginald might have more trouble finding his way back to the house. It isn't foolproof, but it might make him work a little harder to find Angus."

"We could always just destroy the watch," Robert suggested.

"No, I wouldn't do that, not yet," Khaat said. "We don't know what it's going to take to resolve Reginald's anger at Angus. We don't want to destroy the link that helps us reach Reginald until we actually are ready to move him on once and for all."

"So if we don't want it in any of our houses and we don't want to destroy it what the heck do we do with it?" Angus asked.

"I think we should take that particular watch and take it back to his house and hide it there someplace so that it doesn't get carted off to the charity shops by the workers," Khaat said. That brought back a couple of secrets Sam had entrusted to Angus that he said nobody else knew but Victor. He said Suzanne and Ruby and Jessie hadn't known about these things either because they happened after Jessie and Ruby had moved out. And that gave Angus not only an idea of where to hide the watch but also it reminded him of a couple loose ends at the house he really did need to finish.

"I know exactly where to hide it," Angus said. "Marcus, are you free after lunch to take me there?"

"Absolutely," Marcus said. "Then, Khaat, when I get back I can take you to go talk to Remus."

"You going to the farm?" Robert asked Khaat.

"There are two places that have always worked really well for me to reach out to contact him--his favorite spot over at the farm, and the other place is at his grave. I can sometimes reach him in my old room at the farm, but the other two places work better," Khaat said.

"I'll take you myself if you want, if you want to go sooner," Robert told her. She nodded.

"What do you think?" Angus asked Ruby. "We have a plan, at least. I don't think you and Finn should stay at the duplex until we have some means of making sure that Reginald isn't going to hurl any kitchen knives again." Then a thought hit him. "It isn't going to be safe for me to stay in the same room with Ruby until we get this solved, is it? If he can find me wherever I go, then it isn't safe for her."

"Not to sleep, anyway," Khaat agreed. "I think you'll be safe when you're both awake, but not if you're both sleeping, but I hope we can settle him very soonish. And, depending on how effective Gabe's medallions are, then that might help ease some of that too."

"I know of some other, older protective things that can be done that come from other cultures," Edward said. "That might help too. Simone and I can go gather up some of those things and try to do some of that. You're welcome to come along too, Ruby. Sometimes, when a home owner takes a strong stand against some unwanted spirit intruder, that has a very definite effect to start to set some boundaries to keep that intruder out. With the three of us working together on these other things, I think it will make it a bit harder for Reginald to get back in the house. It won't stop him from getting onto the estate, but it should make it harder for him to get inside."

Ruby stayed and listnbd to themformulte aplan she was disapointd at he wuld away from Angus once again becuse of her father. She wanted to smack that mad over his astral head an tell him to knock it off. But she undertood the danger too. " sounds a good plan." she said "Though I will miss sleeping next to you." she admited to Angus. Jessie rolled his eyes again but smiled.

"so if Im not needed I'll go back on patrol with Yu" he said and placed his plate and bowl into the sink and headed out the door. Jack chuckled at His enthusiasum for patrol and work.

"Hes getting close to Yu latly, also hes not said anything about his dad being back, spectrally so to speak." Jack looked at Ruby who just shrugged

Angus didn't understand what Jessie's eye rolling meant. Nor did he understand Jessie's rather abrupt way of excusing himself. Angus was hoping he wasn't misreading Jessie's behaviors but it rather looked to Angus like Jessie didn't really give a flying fig about family and was far more interested in Yulong, but Angus was starting to feel like Jessie really wasn't all that connected to family, truth be told. Angus believed Jessie was happier going his own way. No wonder Ruby had ended up stuck taking care of the boys so often--there just hadn't been anybody else to do it.

"You can't let it get to you," Angus told Ruby quietly. "We don't have to be apart completely. Just at night, and once you get to sleep, you won't miss me anyway. The problem is that if we're asleep, we won't know if Reginald tries to strike out at either one of us, we'll never know it. Its different during the day while we're awake. He's angry with me, not you. And if you're here in the main house, then he's not even going to be able to find you. Just being with me puts you and the baby in danger. It isn't the house that's haunted. It's me. The only other option we have is to sleep at different times so that one of us can guard the other, but that seems a bit silly. With a little luck it might be for one night."

"I hope we can get it taken care of in short order," Khaat said, knowing that sometimes, despite all the efforts of the living, hauntings took a bit of time to resolve if the spirit didn't want to relent or move on. "You know we'll do it as soon as we can, but not all the choices in this are up to us. Some are up to Reginald too. But we can try to do what we can to get control of some of it pretty quickly."

Ruby looked at Angus and smiled " leave him, he's never understood as he moved out early." she said then listened to him talk about her letting it go and she nodded "But I understand." she said then looked at Kate and listened to what she said her hand moving to hold Angus's as she spoke " I do hope so too" she said softly and smiled " but yeah it would be silly for one to be awake while the other is sleeping" she said to Angus knowing it was his protective nature coming to the front again and she smiled to him "Thank you" she told him gently kissing his cheek "I know it's not forever and I can, I hope sleep without you for one night." she said softly to him.

Standing she kissed him again then moved to the kitchen to make more sandwiches and heat more soup to put in the taurine for those who needed seconds.

"Yeah, I will," Angus said. "I wont let him get to me, but I have to admit I really don't understand him. Even if I consider that he moved out early, I really don't understand how he can really get so self consumed with what he wants for himself that he just turns his back on his own family--more specifically you, because I don't expect him to care about me if he doesn't give a hang about you."

"Ruby's right, Lad," Edward said. "Let it go. You were brought up entirely differently. Most of your life, we were a family of two, and as you grew up, you decided early that you were going to surround yourself with a good family--the kind of family that your parents never gave you. Clearly, Jessie made different decisions. It doesn't make him wrong, it just makes him dramatically different from you. As I see it, we're always wiser to focus on our blessings."

"Not to change subjects, but can I help you with supper tonight, Angus?" Simone asked.

"Thanks but no," Angus said. "We got a message from Michael that he is sending Cumberland pie, salad and some sort of dessert. Daphne is in London today and tomorrow and she's asked Michael to stay in London tonight with her. So he's sending supper to us."

"I can't remember the last time I had Cumberland pie," Robert said. "Sounds like a great way to finish the day."

"Angus, you let me know when you want to go," Marcus said. "Shall I go get the watches for you?"

"Yes, please. They're on the end table next to my recliner," Angus said. Marcus got up and opened the kitchen door and glanced to Angus's.

"There are three boxes sitting on your porch in front of your door, Mate," Marcus said. "Shall I open them for you to be sure they're safe?"

"Please?" Angus asked, curious. He couldn't remember ordering anything. Marcus headed out the door and went over to the porch. Robert got up and watched out the kitchen window, not wanting Marcus to be ambushed by some dark arts trickery. Marcus carefully checked and then opened all three boxes and took them inside.

"Well, whatever is in them, he decided it was safe, because he opened them and took them all in," Robert said. A moment later, Robert saw, Marcus come out with the jewelry box, shut the door, and started to walk back to the main house. "He's on his way back," Robert said.

"Give me one moment to change out of my work clothes and then we can go," Khaat told Robert. Robert nodded. Khaat went upstairs and put on jeans, brown suede knee boots, a turquoise turtleneck, a long duster cardigan in a southwestern print and in southwest colors of black, turquoise, brown and white. Her last touch was turquoise earrings and a beautiful squash blossom necklace that Brian had bought for her on an Arizona reservation from the Navajo artist that made it. She came downstairs and found Robert grabbing a brown leather bomber jacket because he knew it was likely to be chilly sitting or standing outside for very long.

"I'm ready when you are," she told Robert. He slipped on his jacket and reached for her hand.

"We'll see you all later," Robert smiled as she took his hand, and he apparated them out. Marcus walked in and looked at Angus.

"Ready to go?" Marcus asked.

"You feel any particular need to go back to your old house?" Angus asked Ruby. He didn't want her to feel that she wasn't welcome to go if she wanted.

Ruby watched Marcus go to their home when he saw several boxes on the porch. She watched as he opened each but then returned with the box. She also watched Robert and Kate and smiled as she returned changed " all right, be safe" Ruby said and smiled as she watched Marcu place the box down " so what was in the boxes?" she asked hoping it wasn't anything bad but knowing that if it had been he would not have taken them into the house.

She listened to Angus and bit her lower lip as she thought about it " I want to go with you, but at the same time I don't want to put our little one in danger." she said " so I'll stay here and let you deal with everything." she said smiling at him " also the food from Micahel should be turning up soon too." she told him knowing having someont to unpack it all would be better than havng it sit in the kitchen.

"Three big boxes of paperback mystery novels from Flourish and Blotts for Angus. That ought to keep him busy til Christmas at least," Marcus smiled. "And there are a couple titles in there that I might borrow once he's done with them. Did you pick these out, Angus?"

"No, I told them to send me a very generous supply of some really great whodunits," ANgus said.

"And they did. You're going to need more bookshelves."

"No he won't. Mine are nigh onto empty," Edward laughed. "They'll fit very nicely at my place, and Simone and I both love a good mystery book."

"they won't go wasted," Simone said.

Angus didn't believe they would be in danger by taking the watches back, but if her anxiety was amping up by the thought of going with him, then, she needed to do what she felt was best.

"Let's go, Marcus," Angus said. Marcus drew his wand, handed the box to Angus, took hold of the wheelchair and apparated them out. When they got to the house, Angus handed the key to Marcus who opened the door. Angus wheeled his chair in, and Marcus looked at Angus.

"So where do you think you are going to put these?" Marcus asked.

"I had completely forgotten that Sam told me about three hiding places that Reginald had put into the house after Ruby had moved out. Sam believed that Reginald had gotten paid exceptionally well for what he had told the boys were 'performance bonuses' at work. Sam didn't believe for one moment that his father had a normal job and didn't believe they were bonuses. Still, Sam said that he saw Reginald using these places as safes to keep things hidden. Sam said that he and Victor had tried to open them but hadn't had any success in doing it."

"So they may still be untouched," Marcus said. "Where are these hidey holes?

"There's one in the fireplace--something about thinking a flower moved."

"A flower? Well, it isn't this fireplace then. There are no flowers on it. Let's keep looking." They found that Reginald's study had handpainted tiles in the fireplace surround.

"Bingo," Marcus said. "Let's see if we have better luck than the boys did." Marcus started to explore the tiles, and then, using a bit of a combination by tapping the tiles in a certain order, the space opened to him.

"How'd you manage it?" Angus asked.

"A self absorbed man like Tyler?" Marcus asked. "I used his birthdate as the combination. Let's see if there's anything in it." He rooted around in the space and pulled out a big handful of documents.

"What's all that?" Angus frowned.

"Just a minute. Oh, well. This is interesting. Passbooks for more bank accounts. Deeds for a couple properties that are in his name alone and not in Suzanne's name at all. Envelopes with a couple keys to Gringott vaults..."

"More vaults? I found keys for three as it is."

"Well, there's two more here, and a couple more keys...hm." He studied the keys. "I think these really are vault keys to a couple muggle banks."

"Well if he wasn't just quite the little collector, squirreling things away."

"Yeah, and there are a number of passports and id's for aliases he apparently used from time to time. Shall we put the watches here and then see if we can't find the other two hiding places?"

"That's fine." They found a second hiding place that was in the bathroom off the master bedroom upstairs. They found it was at the back of one of the drawers in the bathroom vanity. And in that small space, they found a massive wad of muggle money. Marcus handed it to Angus. The third space was just exactly where Sam said it was--in the toekick under one of the kitchen cabinets. When Marcus found the proper way to open it, the toekick popped open a drawer and Angus and Marcus were flabbergasted. It was like a pirate's treasure chest, loaded with gold galleons, jewels, necklaces, bracelets, earrings--surely it was going to be a fortune.

"Dear God," Angus said.

"Yeah, that's about my thought too," Marcus said. He went into the living room and found one of the boys' old stuffed animals--a yellow elephant--and he cut it open with his pocketknife and took out a lot of the stuffing and put the contents of the toekick inside. He used magic to seal up the stuffed animal and handed it to Angus, pushing the toespace inside. "With your permission, I'll bring Michael here, and the two of us will go over it completely before we let any of the workers do any remodeling. We want to be sure we've gotten all of Reginald's secrets."

"Agreed," Angus said. "Keep the key, then. This is certainly overwhelming. Shall we go home?"

"Yes." Let me lock the door, and we'll simply apparate out from in here."

"Thanks," Angus said. He asked Marcus to apparate them back to the duplex because he wanted to sit down in his own chair and study the documents, the money and the jewels. When they got back, Angus had Marcus send a note to Ruby telling her that they were back and the watches were well hidden.