Mable: Hey, so since I didn't have much of an author's note to put here, I decided to draw attention to something you might find neat. I might've mentioned it before but Can't Go Home Again and Almost Feels Like Home have a TV Tropes page! Or technically two, if you count the character page as a second page. ^-^ I'd like to give a public thank you to whomever made and are maintaining these pages and suggest others go take a look at them. Someone took time out of their day to do this and I think it's amazing!
Now onto the chapter! Enjoy!
Almost Feels Like Home
Chapter Seventy-One
While Charlie had adapted to the lifestyle of an animatronic well, she was still a lightweight when it came to nighttime excursions. Baby wasn't surprised when she fell asleep early- early for Baby at one in the morning- but was mildly disappointed by it. The Security Puppet was currently laying on the couch nestled under a spare blanket that Scott had brought out. Her features were relaxed, and her face was serene.
Which Baby would've noticed if she wasn't currently sitting on her knees two inches from the television and watching her cartoon again.
Scott hadn't gone back into the office long enough to put the tape away, so Baby had found it on the desk and popped it back in the VCR. The television was turned down to only a single point of volume, but Baby could faintly hear it. Even if she couldn't it wasn't like she would forget the dialogue. It was etched in her mind now. She still hated the cartoon, her thoughts hadn't changed, but she had become fixated on it. Almost like her fixation with ice cream, except instead of averting her thoughts she could only stare.
It was when Funtime Foxy was being introduced that she heard a small squeak to her left. Baby glanced out of the corner of her eye to see Ennard crawling towards her. Last she checked, he had gone to bed with Scott, but unlike Charlie he was quite active at night, so it wasn't too surprising to see him awake. Not that the two had spent much time together since their semi-argument earlier. Except a Clue game, but that was only because Charlie and Scott were involved in it to.
He stopped alongside her and looked at the TV screen like he planned on watching it with her. It wouldn't be that easy as he leaned in and whispered to her. "Whatcha doing watching this for? I thought you hated it."
"I do," Baby answered. "…But I can't look away."
"That's me and the three AM infomercials," Ennard joked with a low, rumbling chuckle. She didn't give much of a reaction; her lack of usual dismissiveness tipped him off that something was off. "…Come on, Babydoll, what's wrong? You can't be this upset about the cartoon. Is it cause I was laughing? Cause I wasn't laughing at you, you know that! I was laughing at the corny writing."
"No, it's not you. Not that you weren't a pest, but it isn't you that is making me watch this," Baby admitted. She looked up at the little girl who looked like her, performing in an overly puffed red dress and two seconds from accidentally setting off a fireworks display. "It's her. She looks so happy and stupid, and they love her for it… How could they love her and not me?"
"Baby, it's not- it's a TV show. It's not real life," Ennard rationalized. He was starting to sound more concerned, with his false humor starting to slip. "It's even less like real life cause it's a cartoon. Little girls don't really run away and join the circus. And that ringleader? Please, he'd be in jail by now. And it's not like we can make a lot of friends when we're holed up in here, right?"
"You have more friends than me, Ennard," Baby pointed out. He tilted his head doubtfully. "This children's show only made me realize how little interest everyone has in me. That I'm not really the Baby I'm supposed to be. Baby is supposed to be happy and loved. She has friends and goals and adventures and excitement. She's an aspiring star, she has a pizzeria, and a dream." She slowly started to lower her head. "She gets so many friends… All I have is Charlie."
Ennard's look was unreadable as he stared at her. She was both embarrassed by how intently he gawked and thankful that he didn't immediately laugh her off. He tentatively tried reassurances again. "You've got Scott too. Mari and Foxy, the cats, and me. You've always got me, Babydoll."
"You don't count. You're not a friend," Baby declined. She paused long enough to try and think of how to clarify the statement. "You're just… This person I live with who tries his hardest to annoy me and for some reason I still want to live with him. I don't think anyone else would willingly take me in." Ennard was eerily silent and she shifted her claw uncomfortably. It was heavy and squeaked noisily; just another reminder that she wasn't the character in the cartoon. "And you're biased."
"You're saying I'm like… Your brother?"
That was a peculiar tone. Baby wasn't sure what to make of it, especially when he latched onto that thought while staring at her so intently. She looked back at him with mild confusion. "I supposedly have two brothers and neither of them want anything to do with me. I don't think that is what I was saying," Baby reminded.
"No, no! I think we're onto something here!" the amalgam excitedly interjected as he barely kept his voice low. He reached out for her and snaked an arm around her shoulders without considering the risk of her pushing him off like before. "Like I'm that older brother type that embarrasses you, but I'm always here to give ya moral support, or to help ya out when you want to impress that special guy or girl or go on some wild and crazy hijinks. It's great! We're like half a sitcom!"
"Do you want to be half a sitcom, Ennard?" Baby flatly asked.
"Sure thing! But only if you're the other half!~"
"…You've been acting strange recently."
"What?" Ennard seemed taken off-guard by the accusation. His blue eyes flittered over Baby's face, trying to see how serious she was. It became quickly apparent that this wasn't just a dismissive comment, not with how she stared at him with the faintest hint of suspicion. "No. What do you mean? I'm always a little strange."
"You didn't used to touch me this much," Baby pointed out. Ennard looked down at his own arm, like he hadn't realized what he was doing, and quickly drew it back off her and pulled it to his chest. His teeth tightened- a version of anxious smiling, but a dead giveaway that he was uneasy. Baby sat up further and confronted him more firmly. "You have been acting odd since you went and saw that rabbit."
"What?! No! Ha, maybe that night, but that's only cause I got a little shook up in the fight is all. No problem!" Ennard tried to defend.
"What did he say to you?" Baby was unconvinced. "You can't trust that rabbit."
"I know that! I've been the one saying that, but everyone's so convinced- This isn't about him, this is about you! The cartoon made you feel bad, so I'm trying to make you feel better," the amalgam assured her. "And maybe ya haven't noticed, but I'm just a little touchy with everyone. You just stopped pinching back, so I swooped right in!"
It all sounded believable, but Baby wasn't entirely convinced. "I see… Just know that you cannot trust his words. You shouldn't be bothered by him. He's not worth your worry."
"Nah! It's all good. I'm all good if you're all good, and we were still working on that, ha ha!" Ennard looked back towards the television, watching as Funtime Freddy and his Bonnie puppet were introduced to the Baby on TV. "So, back to what I was saying before we got into you having friends and me being your big brother… Funtime Freddy really got the short end of the stick, didn't he? Poor guy gets bullied by everyone!"
"If only the real one was so lucky," Baby mumbled. Ennard's distraction worked as her focus shifted back to the cartoon. "I thought they were my friends and then they abandoned me. Even if I bossed them around, even if I wasn't as nice as I should've been, they gave up on me… Maybe I thought they needed me more than I needed them."
"Is that why you don't like the show?" Ennard asked knowingly. Baby didn't answer him. "I won't know if you don't tell me."
"Maybe," Baby quietly admitted. "Even if she's annoying and unbearably dense, the Baby from the show was much nicer... She treated them better than I did."
"Yeah, well… Maybe they didn't deserve better," Ennard muttered. She looked to him questioningly. "Those guys in the cartoon aren't anything like they really were either. They're glad to share the spotlight and welcome her in with open arms… The real ones were never that nice." He stared at the TV screen with unexpected coldness; one that Baby had forgotten he was capable of.
But Ennard recovered quickly and looked back to Baby like the outburst never happened. "Let's just say they weren't the kind of friends you write home about. Not like Lottie, she's a keeper. Don't let her get away," Ennard insisted. "It takes a true friend to stick around after you nearly break her neck with a pillow, ha ha!"
Baby wasn't entirely enthused by Ennard's comment but looked back at Charlie who was still asleep on the couch and thankfully hadn't roused from their talking. She couldn't be too certain that she wouldn't eventually get fed up and leave. It seemed like everyone did.
"Do I really treat you better now?" Baby asked doubtfully.
"Course you do!" Ennard reassured. Then he got a teasing tone in his voice and added, "You treat me like any bratty little sister would."
If it was anyone else other than him Baby would've been offended enough to show how 'bratty' she could be. He gave a warm chuckle as he looked back to the television and she followed suit afterwards. She was ready to watch again and even though she felt the same about it, somehow it felt a little easier. She felt a little better. She wasn't as envious of the girl on the screen anymore.
Charlie was anxiously tapping on the table with a couple of spoons as she watched the others receive their sandwiches. Jessica started to cut hers into tiny quarters and then peeled off the crust, which she one at a time. Even though she had turned human again, Charlie had held off on ordering food because she didn't have any money and didn't want to put her friends in the position of having to pay.
"Are you sure she's coming?" John asked as he sat down a two-liter of soda on the table. It was an oversized Foxy Cove Cooler. Maybe she would drink some since she had a working mouth again, but only if it didn't offend Baby, who was who they were waiting for.
"She should be here any minute now. Fritz is just running late," Charlie excused. Right as she said that, she heard a ringing at the diner's door signaling that it was opening. She looked back to see Baby coming through the door, and her eyes popped open as she saw what she looked like.
Baby looked almost exactly like she did in the circus cartoon. Charlie completely ignored that she was, indeed, a cartoon, and instead focused on how obscenely tiny she was. She was even smaller than the cartoon, no bigger than a Minireena that climbed onto the booth beside her. Baby looked up at her with an absurdly wide smile and batted four-inch-long eyelashes, barely looking human. She looked much more akin to the doll that Charlie used to keep in her closet.
"Sorry I'm late. My father dropped me off," Baby explained. She still had her usual voice- jarring for such a tiny body.
However, it was what she said that uneased Charlie more. "Your father…?"
Jessica gasped and pointed out the diner window at something, and Charlie turned to look out at the dark parking lot. Standing out about thirty feet from the window was a looming figure that she recognized as being some version of Freddy Fazbear. Or perhaps even Fredbear. Its eyes were dark, save single dots as pupils as it stared out from the void of darkness beyond it.
"That's not your father, Baby…" Charlie whispered. "…That's mine?" Suddenly, the bear started to move forward, legs not even moving, speeding in the direction of the diner door. "Wait, no! No, it's not!"
The girl only had a second before she heard the jingling of the diner door opening.
Charlie woke with a start to find herself back in Scott's living room. A warm blanket was wrapped around her and morning light filtered around the thick curtains. It had just been a nightmare and reality was here to comfort her. She detangled herself enough to free her arms and rubbed over her mask to wake herself up. She noticed the television was now on the news but muted with closed captions turned on.
Looking up, she saw that Scott was sitting in the armchair with a glass of juice and an energy bar. He was wearing glasses- Charlie had no idea he even wore them- and was still squinting to read the television. It wasn't until she started to sit up that he noticed she had woken up.
"Oh hey. Good morning!" he greeted with a smile. "I didn't wake you up, did I? I was trying to be quiet, but you know how it is."
"No, I woke up on my own. I didn't even know you were there," Charlie assured him. She sat up and grabbed her jacket from the back of the couch. Scott's sphynx cat was curled up at her feet and watching her with a dazed look. Charlie got a small smile and reached for a gentle pet, which the cat allowed. She was still somewhat shaken by the dream, or by the sudden disturbing turn at the end. "I had some colorful dreams. Baby became a human but was small. Or, wait… She might have been the Baby from the cartoon. It's all very foggy."
Scott chuckled. "Can't say I'm surprised after watching that. It takes on a whole new context when you're living with Baby herself." He paused a moment before deciding on something, taking off his glasses and folding them up. "You know, I didn't want to say anything last night in front of Baby, but I worked on that show," Scott quietly admitted, pointing his glasses at the screen.
"You did?" Charlie looked at him in near disbelief. "But weren't you working at Freddy's? They hired you to work there too?"
"Well, worked on it- I was a voice actor. I still am, really. We go a long way back, back when they had the Fredbear and Friends show still in production. They decided to refresh the cast about halfway through its airing and Fazbear Entertainment was a little worried about it. They were adding in a lot of characters they created that he wouldn't have any say in. I was doing training tapes at the time, so they sent me over to voice a few of the background characters. So that I could, you know, spy on things. It actually worked out really great."
The pieces started to click together, and Charlie got an amused smile. "So, you had already seen it and knew what we were in for." He nodded and she jingled lightly. "Next time you might want to give her some warning before the singing starts. I'm surprised she didn't run for the tape then. If it was me, I might've." Which brought her mind back to the Foxy cartoon. "Did you work on the new Foxy show too?"
"Uh, you could say that…" Scott vaguely answered and cleared his throat. "But yeah, I never brought it up. But Ennard almost caught on last night when he was asking about the ringleader's voice. Thank goodness he got distracted with the game and let it drop… Unless he did figure it out and was just taking pity on me."
"If he didn't then, then he did now," Charlie offered. The man got a confused look and she glanced behind his chair. He didn't have to look back to know that Ennard was standing behind him.
"Ennard-," he started. It wasn't fast enough as he suddenly felt Ennard's weight on the back of the armchair, physically tilting it back as he leaned forward to look down at the man.
"I knew it! Ha, I knew there was something familiar about that voice, it was you! You voiced the Proofus!" Ennard exclaimed in triumph. Already jostled by the movement of the chair, Scott began to flush, embarrassed by the amalgam's over-eagerness. "That means you did the singing too, didn't you?! You told me you didn't sing!... Is that breakfast?" He pointed down at the energy bar in Scott's hand.
As though he wasn't already embarrassed, he knew what was coming next. "I wasn't feeling that hungry…"
"Scott, we've had this conversation. If you're going to have a small breakfast, you've still gotta work in a protein. You're pretty much just skin and- skin and- bones," Ennard scolded. He then softened his voice with a gentler tone. "Tell ya what. How about I make you breakfast, and you can pay me back by telling me allll the dirty little secrets behind Baby's Circus? Like episode ideas that got canned!"
"You don't have to do that. I'm really not that hungry," Scott lightly disagreed. Which wasn't true, he had just forgo-ed cooking out of tiredness. It didn't convince the clown.
"Someone once said, 'the only good reason to skip breakfast is because we're too poor to afford it'. I don't remember who that was, but I know you're well off. Heck, you're probably loaded on secret voice royalties!" Ennard started past the couch before pausing to lean over and look at Charlie. "How about you, Charlie? You want a taste of something?"
"No thanks. I had dreams with sandwiches in them, that was enough food for me." Baby had warned her about Ennard's 'tastes. "Baby's not up yet I'm guessing?"
"Now there's an understatement! Early for Baby is still about four or five hours from now! But we didn't pull an all-nighter if you want to go poke the bear. Just make sure to watch for the claw."
"I might not risk that after bringing over 'the bane of her existence'," Charlie quoted with another jingle of amusement.
"Smart choice, Kiddo. You can still come help if you want. Scott might give us the skinny on all these other roles he's been hiding," Ennard playfully offered as he beckoned Scott. The man finally set his things aside and stood from the chair. The clown seemed content with this, wires clicking together before he looked back to the Security Puppet. "You in?"
"Maybe later. I think I need to wake up a little more," she politely declined. He didn't persist and headed into the kitchen with Scott, leaving Charlie with the cat and the couch. The puppet stretched her back and arms, prong lightly jingling as she turned her head, and let her mind drift back to the dream. Now she could smile about it a little more honestly. Ignoring the Freddy spook at the end, it all seemed pretty comical, especially with the cartoony Baby with the normal voice passing off as a human.
Then she remembered Jessica and John. It was bittersweet still having dreams about them talking and being together like friends. She missed that, missed being able to call them and talk, so have the chance to go somewhere and spend time just being together. Even in her dreams there was a table spacing them off.
Suddenly, Charlie reconsidered her choice and stood from the couch. "A-Actually I think I will join you, if you two don't mind," she called as she hurried into the kitchen.
Scott smiled welcomingly and Ennard gave a good-natured laugh and a, "Come on down!" Needless to say, the dream was gone from immediate memory in only a few minutes. Being with others helped. Maybe she would even wait until Baby woke up before she started trying to line up a ride home. There was no rush to get anywhere just yet. Not when she was amongst friends.
She was starting to feel like a real person again, and all she had to do was forget about what she left behind. She had a new life now.
Mike had made up his mind only a few minutes after he woke up, which was fortunate as he only had a few hours before they would have to be at work. He still waited a little while before he told Marionette. Just until the puppet mentioned that he would need to wake Foxy, who had stayed the night at the house and spent most of it awake.
"I should go see if I can get him up and moving. If we wait too much longer, we'll be risking opening with a captain who's nursing a stiff neck and a limp," Marionette said. He rose from the dining room table and started to head for the hallway when Mike decided this was the right time to move. He stood from the table as well.
"I'm going to step out for a few minutes. I shouldn't be gone long, but if I'm not back by time the van gets here then you can go with Foxy and I'll meet you over there," the man offered. He slipped on his shoes and noticed that the puppet had stopped to look at him with questioning and concern. "Don't get worried. It's nothing like last night, I just have to drop in on someone and give them my regards. I promise I'll be back before we formally open."
"I trust you. Just, again, try not to get in over your head and call if something concerning comes up," Marionette requested. His eyes narrowed in protective suspicion. "And if you catch wind of Burke, try to lose him under any circumstances. I'm not having him lock you up in a jailcell."
"He'd have to kill me first," Mike promised. Marionette didn't look enthused.
"Mike, that's much worse," he said flatly. "If you died today, where would I put you? In the television? Or perhaps inside one of my plush toys? It would have to be the fingertrap, he's the only one with metal inside."
"Just stick my brain in a jar until we track down Orville the Elephant. It's a win-win; I survive and Orville finally becomes useful to someone," Mike joked. To ease Marionette's mind, he gave a quick peck to his red cheek. "I'll be back, Doll. I'm not going anywhere near Burke. You just hang tight."
He sounded so confident on the outside that Marionette was won over. He got a small smile and walked him back to the door, seeing him out and shutting it behind him. It wasn't until Mike was in the car and driving that he started to wonder if he could see that promise through. He knew what he was doing was risky. Shaking the thought off, he drove the long rode under the steadily rising sun to a familiar home.
Mike took a deep breath as he got out of the car and approached the front door. Telling himself he could turn back at any time and yet not following his better judgement to do so. He approached the front door and hesitated for a few minutes as he talked himself up.
"You know you're not turning around and driving home without seeing her. Just go ahead and get this over with," he mentally prepared. With that final encouragement, he reached out and knocked on the door. Then he waited to see if he would get a response. The jeep was still out front so he knew that she was home but part of him thought maybe she wouldn't answer. Maybe he would catch a lucky break. That chance ran out when he heard footsteps and the door opened.
Jen looked better than she had at the funeral. She had cleaned up and no longer had dark rings under her eyes, but he swore he could see more wrinkles. The woman got a surprised look when she saw the man standing outside. "Mike? What are you doing here?"
"Hey Jen. I know this is sort of sudden, but I got your address from one of Charlie's friends and I just… I wanted to see how you were doing. Drop in unexpected and uninvited and see how well it went," Mike excused with a small shrug. "…Would you mind if I come in?"
"I've always regretted not giving Charlie the emotional support she needed."
Jen handed Mike a glass of iced tea before sitting down across from him. The house was quiet save the ticking of an unseen clock, counting down the seconds.
"Our family has always had a problem with not being able to move on from tragedy. Henry couldn't get over Sammy's disappearance and worked himself to the bone, and then Dad couldn't get over Henry's death and was stuck on this conspiracy at Freddy's. My sister-in-law left town and left me as Charlie's guardian, and I didn't want her growing up like they had. I didn't want her to throw away her future and her chances at a healthy marriage because she couldn't get over their loses… And instead all I did was isolate her."
"I don't know, Charlie never seemed that isolated. She was going to school, she had friends; that's more than most people," Mike listed out. Jen shook her head.
"It was just a front. I taught her that what was important was that everyone else thought you were okay. I didn't even know she was still been going back to the house. One of the last times we spoke we got in a huge fight over that house. I couldn't sell it, she didn't want me to sell it, and all that stress came out in this big blowup… And even though we made up before I lost her, I feel like we never mended whatever was broken that day. I never really understood why she wanted that house."
Mike didn't know what to say. Jen covered her eyes and lowered her head, trying to suppress what would probably be more tears. "And now she's gone and I'm never going to know why."
"You can't beat yourself up about this," Mike tried to assure. He contemplated whether to reach for her hand or not but decided against it. "The truth is, sometimes people do things without having a reason. And families fight. That doesn't mean they aren't close, that doesn't mean they don't love each other. I don't think at any time Charlie honestly thought you didn't care."
"I could've done more. I'm never going to forgive myself for leaving her alone in that house," Jen vented as she began to get choked up. For a few moments she had to get herself under control and this time Mike finally reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, helping her ride through it. It still took a few minutes before she managed to regain her compositor. "I'm sorry about that. You would think after all this time I'd be able to control myself, but I just… I don't know. I don't know what to think anymore."
"No, I understand. I miss her too," Mike admitted. "She was… An amazing woman. She would've been a great technician."
It was at this comment that Jen suddenly sobered up enough to give Mike a noticeable look. A very attentive look compared to the distance while she had been crying. He noticed it too and wondered if he had made a mistake in saying anything at all. Then again, coming here at all was starting to look more like a bad idea the longer he stayed.
"I didn't know you two were close. Other than the night you brought her home I didn't think you spent any time together at all," Jen pointed out. Almost a touch suspiciously, which caused a prickle of panic to rise on the back of his neck. "…But I guess you must've been. John said that Charlie went over to your pizzeria a few times. More than I thought she did."
"She stopped in now and then. Robotics was her field; it was probably a benefit seeing them in action. Especially since ours are up and running," Mike attempted to excuse. He took a gulp of the tea to try and ease how dry his mouth and throat was feeling. "And we always have extra pizza, so she was usually looking at a free meal if she was willing to suffer through it," he lightly joked. Jen gave a tiny smile in response.
"Well, I'm glad to know it wasn't all talk about Freddy's. All that doom and gloom wasn't good for anyone involved." She exhaled slowly and shook her head. "She had so much potential. She could have been a surgeon or an engineer, she was just so smart. So driven…" Her eyes raised to him again. "Did she tell you she was going over there?"
"No. If I knew she was I would've stopped her, I swear on my life," Mike said with all honesty. "She shouldn't have- It shouldn't have happened."
"I just hate that no one was with her. She died alone behind that building." Jen choked and the tears started to well up again. "Oh God, she died alone. My little girl."
And in that moment, Mike caved. "She wasn't alone," he admitted.
"…What?" She looked back to him again. "What do you mean?"
"Just… trust me on this. Charlie wasn't alone when she died." Mike lowered his gaze to the table. "And I don't know much about things like death, but I can promise you that wherever she is now she's never going to be alone again. You just have to trust me on that too."
There was that staring again, but this time it was different. Instead of suspicion there was something more like realization, seemingly unsure if he was being metaphorical or not. It was constantly on his mind but there was no turning back now. He absentmindedly glanced at his watch and noticed how late it was getting. "I should probably get going. We've got to open soon."
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. This is all part of the process," Jen assured as she finally dried her eyes. She stood with him. "I'm glad you came, Mike. It's not much, but… It helps. It helps more than you know."
"It was no trouble. This was probably overdue anyway," Mike said. She followed him to the front door and he already felt himself easing up at the prospect of escaping without any further questions. Or without saying anything else that could be incriminating if given to the wrong person. "You have my number so if you ever want to call or, I don't know, swing by the pizzeria for whatever reason, door's always open."
"I appreciate that. Thank you, Mike," Jen said with a small smile. At least it almost made him feel like he did something. He couldn't say he felt much better, but he tried. With that, he headed out and to his car, and was soon driving back towards town to open the pizzeria.
He would tell Charlie about the visit after work. Maybe he couldn't give Jen the closure she needed, but he could pass on her message to her niece. That was something.
As soon as Jen saw Mike drive out of sight, she knew what she had to do. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do it with how friendly Mike had been to her, but something was amiss, especially after the night before. That had to have been him in the van outside of her house, which at the time she hadn't been able to see if it was the Foxy business van or not. Now she knew that it had to be. Maybe there really was a reason that Clayton had been looking into the man's background so intensely. The woman tried to clear her throat as she grabbed her phone and started to dial.
None of it made sense to her. First Mike had been watching her house, then he had appeared out of the blue, and now these cryptic comments about Charlie. Claiming that he knew her better than he did- if he did, then someone would've told her. John would've mentioned Mike more than he had. None of Charlie's friends had even known that they had met up the day she died or had never mentioned it.
Something was wrong here. She just couldn't figure out what it was.
Jen was pulled out of her thoughts by a voice on the line. "Hello, Burke residence." It was Betty, Clayton's wife.
"Hello Betty, it's Jen. Sorry to bother you, but is Clay there…?" Jen tried not to sound too anxious. "It's important that I get in contact with him as soon as possible. I think I might have something he'll want to hear."
"Oh, well… He's closed up in his office again. I can get him if it's important, but…" Betty sounded reluctant for whatever reason. "…Can you call back later?"
"This really can't wait. It's important," Jen insisted. She could hear Betty give an impatient huff on the other side of the line.
"Alright. Just give me a moment to get him." Betty fell silent and Jen was left with her thoughts once again.
If anyone, Clayton would be able to give her answers on this. He had been the one to tell her where Charlie had been found and what she had died from even before a full autopsy had been performed. She hadn't ever looked at the pictures of the crime scene but was certain the cause of death was probably apparent. Mike's surefire alibi was only so airtight because Dave Miller's instability, this alibi claimed that he had found her but then left her to find the children. That he hadn't known whether she was alive or not at the time. Jen knew this, Clayton told her this.
But if Mike had been with Charlie and knew when she died then that would mean that he had lied to the police. That his alibi wasn't as clear as it had seemed.
On the other side of the phone, she could hear Betty knocking and calling through a door. "Clay, Jen's on the phone." Apparently, he didn't respond as she knocked louder. "Clay? Are you in there?" There was a shuffling and a noise like a door opening. "I wish you wouldn't lock that. You're locking Carlton and I out with it. Is it really that important-?" Betty cut off her brief scolding and huffed again. "It's Jen."
Jen listened but all the while she had questions racing in the back of her mind. Something didn't make sense with Mike. He knew too much about the old business and Charlie, he had been watching her house, he had lied to the police, and it wasn't like any of Charlie's friends had mentioned him. Nobody knew that she had been meeting up with him, that she met with him the day of the incident, and yet they had miraculously both ended up at the arcade around the same time.
Unless Mike and Charlie had gone together. Unless Mike really had gone there because of the missing girl and had called Charlie beforehand, which is why they drove there in separate cars. Unless all that Mike knew about Freddy's was information that he gotten from Charlie, who had gotten it from Henry's office. Jen thought she had gotten rid of everything but had never been thorough in the garage or basement. Charlie could've been living a double life without her friends knowing. They had said she had become distant with them right before the murder.
Unless there was something else that had kept her staying in Hurricane. How ironic that Charlie had become distant from John at the same time she became close to Mike.
With that realization fresh in her mind- heart in her throat as everything seemed to piece together so well- a familiar voice came on the phone.
"Afternoon, Jen," Clayton greeted. He sounded worn out from either the toll of his work or the mini fight he and Betty had before he got on the line. "How are things?"
"They're… Mike came and visited me today," Jen admitted to him. Though she was slowly starting to realize that this might've been a terrible mistake. Maybe Mike hadn't been the one hiding a big secret, maybe it had been Charlie. Maybe there were some things she didn't want to dig up and risk airing to the world.
"Mike Schmidt? What did he have to say?" Clayton asked. She could already hear the intrigue in his voice, latching onto this as though it was the best lead they had.
"…Not too much. We just talked about Charlie. Or I talked about Charlie and he listened. He was looking alright. Didn't ask about the investigation or anything…" Suddenly all of the things Jen planned to say, the incriminating and suspicious things, all had double meanings now. It didn't help that she had trouble thinking past how much it all hurt her.
"He might not be aware that the investigation on Magictime has been reopened. Or, as reopened as it can be. It seems like I'm the only one doing anything nowadays," Clayton muttered. He gave a dry cough and cleared his throat. "He didn't say anything about Foxy's or Freddy's?"
"No, he just- Mike talked about Charlie like he knew her better than I thought… Clay, be honest with me. I can handle it. Did anyone say anything about Charlie seeing Mike without anyone knowing?"
"What?" Clayton was so taken aback apparently that he gave another wheezy cough. "What? No. On all accounts they could have only met a few times… Is that what he told you?"
"No. He didn't say anything like that, I just got a vibe… Apparently a wrong one." Jen wasn't convinced. She was starting to wonder if there was something Clayton wasn't saying. There was something odd about how obsessed he had become with this seemingly unrelated Freddy's case, a case that Jen thought was solved years ago.
"Was there anything else?" Clayton opened the door for her to mention the night before and the odd comment he made about being with Charlie when she died. Jen had every opportunity to give viable evidence.
"…No. I just wanted to tell you that he had been here." And she didn't take it. In the last moment she went against her better judgement and went with her gut, and her gut said that there was something else going on and that maybe telling the detective wasn't in her best interest. "I need to go. I'm late for an appointment," she lied to get off the phone quickly.
"That's fine. You take care of yourself, Jen, and call me back if he comes back by," Clayton said as the call came to an end. She sat the phone aside and stared at it, unsure if she would do so or not.
…But maybe she would call Mike back one of these days. Maybe that's what Charlie would've wanted.
Mable: We know Mike's innocent here, but what if he wasn't? Unfortunately, guilty parties can slip by without punishment. Inching just under the radar. It really makes you think…
But on the plus side, I am very excited for the upcoming chapters. I've been waiting a long time for what's about to be coming, so I only hope you enjoy this as much as I do. ^-^ I'll see you next week!