Basil slowly unzipped the suitcase. Grace's eyes were locked onto the suitcase as Basil slowly opened it. The top half of the suitcase fell onto the table with a quiet thud, exposing the contents of the luggage, and it was... quite underwhelming. Grace sighed in disappointment as she got a closer look. 3 pairs of socks, a week's worth of different dresses, pants, and clothes, and a little bag of what she assumed to be undergarments.

  "What now?' Grace asked, "Doesn't seem so useful."

  "Well then, you're mistaken, my friend," he said as he stared at the luggage intently.

  Grace gave him a confused look. Nothing in this little gray suitcase looks odd. The clothes, although a little vulgar, seemed fine. Emily was stated to be gone for only a week, so 3 pairs of socks weren't that odd, plus she wore high heels when she was found dead, so it's not like she needed socks. Grace cannot piece together what Basil is piecing together.

  "Grace..." Basil said as he used his fingers to guide Grace's eyes back to the luggage, "You're seeing, not observing. Really look hard and deep at the contents of this luggage."

  Grace stared at the suitcase, long and hard. She narrowed her eyes as she scanned everything inside, the colors of the dresses, the socks, she tried to see if something was missing..... "missing" she thought.

  "Yes! Something is missing from this suitcase." She said in excitement.

  Basil's eyes lit up as he heard, "Yes... what is it!" he said in excitement.

  "Her toothbrush isn't here... how could she forget something so important?!"

  Basil's face dropped; the wide smile he had before instantly dropped into a sad frown. He gave Garce a weird look, mostly side-eyeing her as if looking at the dumbest person in the world. He couldn't believe that the once straight-A girl he knew from high school was so blind to clues; someone who was able to solve college-level math equations in high school couldn't figure out a clue that's practically staring right at her.

  "No Grace... " Basil said in a disappointed voice. "It's the phone."

  "What?"

  "The phone!" Basil repeated, "There wasn't a phone on the actual body, nor is it in her suitcase. Emily was out on a trip, so she had to bring a phone with her. She couldn't have forgotten it, which means someone took it."

  Grace sat there in silence, "For goodness' sake, toothbrush?! Are you crazy?!" Grace thought as she reflected on her previous answer.

  But Basil wasn't done. The phone was missing, but why? How could it be connected? Then, he stood up suddenly, much to Garce's confusion, and began to get dressed. Slightly tightening up his tie while still keeping it a bit loose, and throwing on his beige trench as he began to head for the door.

  "Hungry?" He asked Grace with a smile

  "No....?"

  "Good, I am. Let's have lunch, shall we?"

  .

  .

  .

  Basil and Grace wandered through the streets of London. The leaves have already begun to turn a bright red color, and people have started transitioning from wearing thin shirts to thick sweaters. Grace followed Basil, crossing busy streets and making turns left and right until they finally arrived at a small lunch cafe.

  "Welcome to Sunny's Brung!" Basil said in excitement, "Possibly the best spot for coffee or lunch around here. Their chocolate cakes here are amazing," he continued as he opened the door for Grace.

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  The soft sound of a bell chimmed in Grace's ears as she walked in. The place, like all places, was quite cozy. Inside was quite simple, just a front counter with a little menu above with a variety of drinks and small eats written in chalk, and a few empty tables and sits made of smooth wood. The floor tiles had a unique pattern to them, bright and colourful geometric shapes that covered the floors.

  "Ah, Mr. House!" a man said as he walked out from the back. "Long time no see."

  Grace looked at the tall, slightly chubby man. The guy seemed to be in his late 30s, with curly ginger hair and a well-kept beard. The man wore an apron as he walked out, with stains of different sauces and jam smeared in a few parts of it. As far as she could tell, he seemed like the average country guy.

  "Long time indeed," Basil said, turning to Grace, "Let me introduce the two of you. Grace, this is Mr. Hudson, the owner of this cafe. Mr. Husdon, This is Grace Avery."

  "Hi," Grace said awkwardly.

  Mr. Hudson welcomed the two warmly to a nice table for two, just by the window. The view was quite good. The beautiful sunshine shone into the cafe with just the right amount of brightness, and the red and orange leaves added colour to the whole experience. The owner handed them a little menu, offering that everything was on the house. Quite generous.

  Grace tried to deny the offer, for taking it without asking questions would be quite rude, but Basil couldn't care less. Basil sat there, casually ordering a cup of coffee, and leaned back.

  "As usual, Mr. House. And for your date?" he said as he looked at Grace.

  "u-uh, I'm not his date," Garce replied

  "She absolutely is." Basil cut in, grinning like a little goblin.

  "WHA-?!" Grace said in a hurry, "N-no! Really!"

  Mr. Hudson laughed like an old dad who was proud of his son. "I'm glad to see Basilhass finally find a girl instead of burying himself in deductions!" he said proudly. "I'll come back until you two finish."

  The mood slowly died as seriousness crept back in. Basil and Grace sat opposite each other, thinking and brainstorming many things. Three facts were clear: Emily's phone may be connected, Rachel is an important factor, and finally, Emily died just after she got back from her trip.

  "What if Emily met the killer as she was on her way home?" Grace spoke, "like someone on the plane or on the bus?"

  Basil's eyes lit up, "OH MY DAYS!" he said loudly, "You genius!"

  It all clicked, the case was as good as solved, "of course! Why didn't I think of that? To kill effectively is to hide in plain sight. People hop on the bus with strangers without a second thought; it's the perfect hunting ground!"

  Then Basil put his hands together and narrowed his eyes, "Grace, there were 3 murders before Emily, correct?"

  "Yeah?"

  "What did they all have? In their pockets, their bags?"

  "Well... besides keys, phone, some garbage, not much was worth noting," Grace replied.

  "Everything is worth noting. Clues are like the missing pages of a story; you keep even the tiniest detail, or the whole story may not make sense."

  Grace saw Basil finish that sentence and hurried out of the cafe. Confused, she stood to chase after him. She ran for a few minutes before catching up, out of breath, and she asked him why he had left so quickly.

  "Because I know how this crime was done," he said.

  Grace watched him walk faster and faster from excitement, "ok! Slow down," she said, grabbing his arm. "First, tell me what you discovered."

  "The previous 3 murders had patterns to them. One died every two days, and looking at the locations of the deaths, all the victims likely have gotten on a bus before they died, the same bus. That bus is his hunting ground," Basil said, "but notice that for Emily, the pattern breaks. Emily's death wasn't in that two-day window frame, and she would have gotten on a bus that was near her airport. This means something about Emily was different; this means her death had value and meaning to it, so much so that the killer got onto a whole other bus to get to her."

  Grace listened as Basil continued, "If Emily were a special case, then the missing phone would make sense, something must have been on that phone that the killer wanted, and Rachel... is most likely the password to that phone. But that's not it..."

  Basil thought back when he first saw the note, Rachel, spelled in all caps.

  "I also thought it was weird that Rachel was spelled in all caps on that note, assuming that maybe the victim just liked using capital letters. But now that I deduced that it may be a password, I think it may be code."

  "wow...." Garce said in awe.

  Basil continued, "What I need you to do is to go get Emily's credit card information."

  "What? Why?" Grace asked

  "Because it'll show her phone plan, which may show her phone number, meaning that we can call. This allows us to see if the phone is still active and what type of phone it is based on the voicemail."

  Grace stood there, eyes staring at Basil. Her heart filled with hope, and her mind filled with the fact that this case is about to be cracked. She was happy, so happy. Without a second thought, she lunged at Basil, smiling, laughing, and hugging him in excitement.

  "Basil, you are brilliant!" she said loudly

  Basil froze. For someone cold and stone-hearted like himself, someone who worships logic and deduction. This feeling was new to him; he felt... happy? Flustered? Glade? Whatever it may be, it made his stomach feel odd and his cheeks go warm. Grace realized what she did and released him, stepping back and apologizing. But Basil only turned and continued walking, as if nothing had happened. But Grace could see it. Perhaps it was due to the cold weather, or maybe the warmth of his own hair, hiding underneath all that brilliance, his ear, which was hidden slightly by his hair, was red.