Sydney was dead and the other two guards would be dead soon enough, he just had to wait for the water to rise. The Englishman and the Irishman could have put up a good fight but they were no match for a taser and went down before they even knew what was happening. Alarms should have sounded but Nottingham was in the system, he owned it and there was nothing they could do to warn anyone else. Once they were down Keith had dragged Graham and Robin to the river that ran behind the house and suspended them a few inches above the water line, a storm was coming every weather channel said it would and the sky showed they were right, in no more than an hour it would start to rain letting the water level rise. The two guards would be awake by then and they would die knowing there was nothing they could do to stop it. They'll suffer Nottingham thought sadistically.
Nottingham wiped his hands clean and walked back to the front of the house knowing there wasn't a single guard left, true luck was the only reason he'd managed to take them out. Once back at the front door Keith looked down to his phone, he'd been in The House Of Scarlet's system since around ten minutes after he broke into Gold's off site tech unit and so he owned the camera's. Seeing the foyer and surrounding area was clear Keith punched in the door code and stepped inside in perfect silence, no one could know he was there yet, not yet things weren't ready.
The sun was setting and it would be the dark of night soon enough and heavy rain would descend from angry storm clouds painting the sky like a Shakespearian play. He stood there for a long time, seeing the house through a camera was far different to actually being there. Keith Nottingham took a deep breath scenting the air; coffee, wine, several perfumes and... sex, Nottingham grinned behind his mask, evil and horrific.
Music was drifting from a small room off from the kitchen, he'd never known about it and since it was on the ground floor it was probably a cleaning supply room rather than anything important. However, there was music and so he approached slowly so as not to alert anyone with his heavy boots on the hardwood flooring. Just a few steps and he was outside the door, he froze when he heard one of the girls giggle upstairs, they haven't heard me... can't have. He was right, no one had heard him and no one had seen him, Keith had made certain of that. Returning his attention to the door he opened it and stepped inside pulling a large bowie knife from its sheath that was clipped to his belt, it was heavy in his hands but Keith paid it no mind, he had work to do.
As soon as he was on the other side of the door he grinned, there on the floor with one sleeve rolled up, a belt wrapped around her arm and a needle in her vein was Wick. Zelena was her real name, he'd learnt everything he could on the girls, even the doctor and house manager... especially Mister Robert Gold himself. Red, or Ruby Lucas as the rest of the world knew her, had been Keith's favourite until Lacey had shown up. Wick though had always annoyed him, she wasn't pretty to him or funny she was just there.
Heroin coursed through Zelena's body silencing her mind's demand for the drug, everything in the white room was blurry and her music had faded into the background like she was in some kind of television show or a bad movie. The black poison rushed around her system blackening her blood and drawing her another step closer to death but Zelena would have said talking it made her get well. The redhead was a lost cause and it seemed that she was the only one would couldn't see it.
Nottingham took a step forwards and Zelena's head snapped up to look at him with watery eyes and dry lips. At first she thought she was hallucinating why would a clown be in her indoor hide away? Then her green eyes adjusted and she realised yes, there was indeed a clown looking at her.
"Can I help you?" She asked angry but there was no reply. "Let me guess... you're here for Tink. No, no, no Baby. Yeah, Baby is into that kinky shit." Zelena chucked to herself as if she'd told a joke, the whole time Nottingham just stood there watching her. "Ashley's room is up the stairs and the third to last door on the left."
He didn't move, didn't speak, just watched as Zelena pulled the needle from her arm and threw it down on the floor. She snarled when she realised he was still there, still watching.
"What!? Go and perv on someone else you sick freak! I-"
She was instantly cut off by Keith's large hands closing around her throat, he hated that word! His grip was tight and the knife lay forgotten on the floor, she kicked out but he had her pinned, there was no escaping him now. One hand left her throat to grab the belt pulling it away from her arm and slipping it around her neck, Wick tried to scream but her body coughed and gagged from the lack of air. Black bit at the edge of her vision and her mind screamed... for help... for air... to live and even while she was so close to death it screamed for heroin. Tears fell from her eyes and stung her cheeks like acid, legs and arms flying about but her strength failed her with each new airless heart beat. Her breath would re-emerge for a second or two as and when he allowed it, just to toy with her, a gasp to keep her alive long enough for another moment of torture, like a drowning victim fighting to the surface for one last breath. The Ferryman was almost there, a bone hand that reached out to drag her away. Zelena's fingers grew icy and her lips turned blue, eyes bloodshot and desperate. With a last rattled gag light faded from Zelena's eyes and the Ferryman threw her soul aboard his boat; Charon would not return it.
' I come to none before their warrant's sealed,
And, when it is, they must submit, and yield.
Though some by age be full of grief and pain,
Till their appointed time they must remain;
I take no bribe, believe me, this is true.
Prepare yourself to go; I'm come for you.'
XXXX
Gold pulled out Belle's chair for her so as she could sit at the table before taking his own seat. The walls were a rich blue lined with silver-gold and soft piano music drifted through the air coating the noise of conversation with a pleasant melody. Robbie looked a debonair as ever in a bespoke coal suit with matching shirt and a deep green tie, he was the perfect image of elegance. Gold couldn't think of how he looked though when he could see Belle, beautiful and amazing Belle. He'd given her the dress that evening and he had to admit she looked stunning, the dress was a bustier that came down to mid thigh and decorated with floral golden fine work that made the deep purple of it stand out, the way it revealed her cleavage and shoulders made him wish they'd scrapped dinner and stayed in his room. Alas there they were.
"Do you take all you girls out to dinner, Mister Gold?" She asked in a teasing manor. "Is this a welcome to the family thing?"
"No, Angel." He smiled. "Just you. The letter I gave you for your door was the welcome to the family thing."
"Oh." He teasing grin grew. "So this is just you and me?"
"Just you and me." He repeated.
The two ordered not long after and sipped their wine while they waited. It wasn't lost on him that most people in the restaurant probably thought Belle was either his daughter or an escort, both ideas sickened him but he knew no one would think a woman as beautiful as Belle could be with him out of want. Robbie decided to push that thought away when she started to tell him about the new book she was reading.
"... I'm really enjoying Crime and Punishment, I love the way Dostoevsky writes."
"Yes, his work is utterly brilliant. I've read The Brothers Karamazov so many times that I fear the book will soon fall apart."
"Raskolnikov is such an interesting character though. Then again I suppose killers do manage to entice everyone to them in some way, that's why we have so many professions revolving around them. Those who take life intrigue."
"I couldn't agree more." Just as Gold finished his sentence a waiter set down their plates, topped up their wine glasses and left them with a smile. "The novel is constantly telling us what time it is as well, when Raskolnikov wakes up, when he plans to kill the pawnbroker, when Svidrigaïlov decides to kill himself and so on."
Is this the best topic for the dinner table? He asked himself, probably not, no. However Belle is happy.
"I think that's because of the versions of reality theme running though the book. We as readers need that so we can follow how things are progressing, the book is reasonably hard to follow." She smiled.
Belle made a good point.
"You're right, we do need those indications as to the time. What with all the flashbacks, dreams, hallucinations and sporadic moments of unconsciousness it is hard to keep up."
Belle thought for a moment as she chewed her fish and then spoke.
"Do you think Dostoevsky does that on purpose? He wants people confused, or do you think that was just how the words came together for him?" She asked curiously.
Robbie took a moment for his own thoughts, he hadn't had such an intellectual dinner conversation in... well, as long as he could remember.
"'Sometimes he fancied he had been lying there a month; at other times it all seemed part of the same day.'" He quoted. "I think that shows that it is intended. Dostoevsky wanted us confused because most of the novel is told from Raskolnikov's perspective. The character is constantly missing pieces of time because he's hallucinating or delirious, by being told exactly what time it is constantly we understand how important time is to him even though he can't grasp it."
Belle seemed pleased with that answer and the topic moved on to the novels tone for a good portion of the night. Gold could see storm clouds starting to grow darker and knew that soon it would rain like the Gods were crying. Robbie worried not though, a storm didn't mean evil was to occur... unfortunately the monster in his home did.
A/N The ballad used at the end of Zelena's death is called 'Death And The Lady' it was printed on a broadside by J. Deacon sometime between 1683 and 1700. It was printed as The Great Messenger of Mortality, or a Dialogue betwixt Death and a Lady. A broadside of the ballad appears in the Roxburghe Collection.
