Lucille
Dock
11:54am | August 3
The ferry came to a stop on the other shore just as the sky started to darken indicative of rain. Du'Met would have parked the limo wherever it was he kept the limo and headed back on the other boat by now. Roles had been reversed and it was Charlie on the side of freedom. Trepidation rumbled through the blond as he took that first step onto dry land as it was the first time he'd been off the island in almost a full year, since Du'Met had kidnapped him. That exact moment was where Du'Met's true trust in Charlie showed itself. He could have just alerted the victims and run off to safety with them, but no, Charlie had no desire to do that. Charlie wasn't just some silly victim, especially when he had such perfect documentaries to film and a man who loved him.
Eyes flicked to Charlie then and he ignored the tingle of apprehension inside his heart, pulled on his charming smile and disembarked the ferry. Charlie could do this and he'd do it well. 'Charming and likeable!' he told himself as he approached the group. Charlie already knew their names of course, Du'Met had done his research and Charlie liked to show a quick run-down at the start of his footage since it had made keeping track easier.
Lucille Patterson was the young woman who'd received the invitation, the one who'd unknowingly brought her family to the door of a murderer; a pretty, kind-hearted woman of twenty-seven who was something of a free spirit. Eloise and Heidi were the two younger sisters of Lucille wit the twenty-one-year-old Heidi being significantly arrogant and self-centred while Eloise played the role of mediator middle sibling. Lastly in the group was Rick, Eloise's husband and a truly handsome man in Charlie's opinion. He was African-American and tall, not quite as muscular as Charlie normally liked but those ebony eyes of his were quite striking. The only question was where Greg had gotten to, Charlie couldn't see him and Charlie did his best to hide his worry. Greg was Lucille's husband and reminded Charlie of when he'd been young, the man was equally focussed on work but did genuinely love his wife.
"Hi there, how are we today?" He began casually with a bright smile which faltered a little when Lucille's brow furrowed.
"You're em, you're not who I spoke to on the phone this morning. Mister Du'Met said he'd meet us here."
"English accent gave it away, did it?" Charlie chuckled because they'd expected that question. "No, I'm not Granthem, my name is Colin Rathelin. I'm – he's my husband." Oh that had just come out, but once it had the lie seemed like a logical story to tell, believable and less suspicious than other falsehoods. "I'm sorry the call came so early, Granthem spends a lot of time in other time zones and often forgets he's waking people up." He thrust his hand out for Lucille to shake. "Granthem had intended to come meet you himself but a small problem with work came up so he asked me to come greet you instead. I hope that's all right."
The brunette woman perked up upon hearing Charlie's lies and explanations and the other three didn't seem suspicious either. Charlie's question as to where Greg was lingered though.
"Oh yeah, perfectly fine. Sorry, it's just this all happened so fast and we're a little sleep deprived."
"Didn't think you'd win?"
Du'Met occasionally ran online competitions for various things with secret first prizes. Since everything was online these days Du'Met had decided to update along with the times.
Eloise suddenly stepped forward then and Charlie showed her another one of the charismatic smiles he'd practised.
"You should have seen how excited she was when your husband called. I'd not even realized she'd entered."
"Well, let's get you over to the island so we can get that vacations started."
Charlie gestured to the cable ferry as though it weren't Charon's boat and attempted to look encouraging but then Heidi stomped forward with an expression of disgruntlement.
"Your driver took our phones." She complained. "Our phones. He just left us here, too."
Oh yeah, her death couldn't come soon enough.
"I'm very sorry, ma'am. Mark's been having some problems lately, I'll speak with him. As for your phones, Granthem is a very private person and believes that while at the hotel visitors should shut out social media and just enjoy their time together. He's got an old soul." Heidi's mouth opened for more complaints to pour out but Charlie just kept talking, if there was one thing Charlie could do it was talk. "Your phones are in a secure lock box in the limo which is now inside a very secure garage. They're perfectly safe and will be returned promptly when you leave. If you find yourselves needing to make a call, there is one at the lobby desk you're very welcome to use, day or night."
Rick nodded. "That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Shutting off for a while will be good for us all. Heidi, you might like it."
The younger woman scowled at that comment but again Charlie wasn't surprised, he already knew Rick and Heidi couldn't stand one another. Frankly Charlie thought many of her cruel jabs bordered on being racially offensive. Although, guests who couldn't stand one another were what Du'Met targeted, it made them much more interesting to hunt and taunt.
"After you." He gestured to the ferry yet again and this time they seemed to take the hint.
"Thank you, Mister Rathelin."
"Colin, please."
A friendly guy, that was who Colin Rathelin was, and nice guys didn't insist on formality from his guests. So, Charlie ushered them onto the ferry while Lucille gazed off at a clustered of trees expectantly; suddenly all that worry as to where her husband had wandered off to faded because Charlie realized he'd likely slipped off to pee or something else as mundane.
"Greg!" Lucille cried. "The ferry is here!"
The husband appeared then and Charlie paled, his stomach dropped and his mouth hung open before he got control of himself. In Greg's arms was a sixth member of the group, a young child who looked to be around three years. He might have gotten control of his expression but on the inside he'd grown angry and concerned. No children was the single request he'd made of his lover, one request which had been totally disregarded. It was all too late for Charlie to suddenly change his mind or deviate from the plan though, true be told he wasn't entirely sure what to do, so Charlie just got them onto the ferry and took off toward the island.
Charlie tried to keep his eyes off the kid, tried not to feel the betrayal which stabbed him in the back, but Greg approached him with a polite greeting and the child in his arms after a quick conversation with his wife.
"I hope us bringing Rosalie isn't too much of an issue for you, Mister Rathelin. I know Mister Du'Met said this prize was only for five, but we couldn't get a sitter on such short notice. Normally we'd leave Rosalie with her Aunt Ellie but that obviously wasn't an option."
Charlie swallowed. "No, nah, it's perfectly fine. She's a very beautiful little girl, how old is she?"
"She's four, just turned." The child bounced happily in his arms without a care in the world. "Can you say hello to the nice man for Daddy?"
"… 'ello."
"Hi, little one."
Charlie had gotten them on the ferry but with one more person than he'd intended. He'd not wanted to hurt children, even Charlie wasn't that heartless, but there wasn't any way out of it now and for the first time since he'd entered Du'Met's world questioned what he was doing. When he'd agreed to be the ferryman Charlie had given one condition, and Du'Met had ignored it entirely.
Lucille left her sisters and brother-in-law in favor of joining her husband, daughter and Charlie. Just as with the rest of her family she seemed excited about their free vacation, as totally oblivious as everybody else. Hell, even the birds which roosted on the island knew more than the people around Charlie.
"Your husband inherited the hotel, is that right?"
"Yes." He confirmed. "He got it about a decade ago now. It was a bit rundown when we arrived but together we really turned this place into something special. There's nothing like this anywhere else."
Colin Rathelin might have been a genuine person with a good nature, but he was just a mask worn by the narcissistic Charlie Lonnit, just like the Holmes mask Du'Met favored. That narcissism and growing display of sociopathic tendencies was what caused Charlie to pepper his comments with breaths of the truth, tiny hints only an insider would ever notice.
"Do you live here or…?" Lucille trailed off while she petted her daughter's auburn hair.
Charlie nodded. "We do, yeah. The hotel sort of took over our lives. Sometimes I feel like I can't leave."
Lucille smiled sweetly – in a strange way it was something of an honor to see her smile, she'd not be bestowing many more of them on people.
"Sounds like you've been married a while."
It hadn't been part of the lie Charlie had planned, but he actually rather liked thinking of Du'Met as his husband because it would be the ultimate symbol of how united killer and director had become. Just knowing these people believed they already had that ultimate symbol had an odd pride swell inside Charlie.
"Longer than people thought we would be. Our relationship sort of crept up on us." Explained the blond with a smile. "In the beginning we kept trying to kill each other."
Greg and his wife chuckled thinking that had been a joke, they'd got no idea just how many times Du'Met had actually tried to end Charlie's life with vehement determination. Was chance what had let Charlie live so long or had he been fated to spend the rest of his life at the murderer's side?
"Luci and I went through a phase like that a while back, I was working too much."
"Yeah," began the brunette. "Vacations keep us sane now, especially since Rosalie came along."
Charlie couldn't have cared less about their relationship status, they were barely 3D characters for the star of his films to kill. The moral question of how much a life was worth wasn't something Charlie asked himself these days and frankly he hoped they hurried up and reached the island before he gave himself away because smiling nicely wasn't something which came naturally to Charlie Lonnit.
Soon the subject changed when the ferry finally came to a stop and everybody disembarked with their luggage – a rather large amount of luggage since children apparently needed so much junk and Heidi had packed more make-up than even Kate would have thought necessary. None of that mattered in the slightest, it would all go into the disposal soon enough. The likelihood of Charlie rooting through their stuff first to see if these people had brought a book with them was through the roof though.
"Right, go ahead and leave your luggage here." That got five sets of eyes to turn to him with questions. "Our groundskeeper will take everything up for you. It'll probably make it up before you do."
The jovial smile and twinkle in his blue eyes had completely disarmed these blithering idiots because nobody questioned Charlie.
"It's very quiet here." Eloise commented. "Peaceful."
"My husband enjoys quiet."
Charlie guided the group up to the hotel quickly claiming a worry that the heavens could open at any second, but he still noticed Rick and Greg look back just in time to spot Du'Met dressed in a yellow rain slicker load up their luggage and take it away.
"For an island hotel, that's a pretty secure fence." Said Rick but Charlie continued to smile despite having wondered about the fence himself at the first murder castle.
"Granthem has a collection of antiques," he lied smoothly. "Some of his books and paintings are really rather rare and, as you can imagine, worth a fortune. Having the fence keeps the insurance premiums down.'
Though a logical and perfectly understandable explanation, it didn't stop Heidi muttering under her breath from the back of the small group.
"Still a creepy fucking fence."
At some point on their journey to the gates of hell Rosalie had been passed from father to mother but Charlie paid that little attention; still didn't know how to mentally deal with the child's presence. Instead of all that Charlie pointed out his adored gazebo off to their right.
"Tomorrow we'll have a little cocktail evening out there. I promise, the gazebo is beautiful."
Of course they'd never see the gazebo, never set foot in it, but they didn't need to know that. The gazebo was only for Charlie and Du'Met.
"Sounds nice." Said Rick, but Charlie supposed that was mostly down to the word cocktail.
Once they'd stepped inside the two older sisters and Greg peered around the lobby with oohs and ahhs while Heidi continued to scowl about her lack of a phone and Rick took mental note that their luggage had indeed made it there before them.
"If you all wouldn't mind signing in." Commented Charlie as he slipped behind the desk and flipped the guest book open.
"Wow, this really is old school." Heidi announced like it was something to be ashamed of and shoved Rick out the way so she could sign the book first. "Let's get this over with."
Yes, Charlie looked forward to her death. He handed over keys once all had signed the guest book, Du'Met had left him with specific instructions as to who got which key and Charlie made sure to follow them. He offered a few more throw away comments about this and that like a good host but his mind returned to Rosalie Patterson. A four-year-old girl that never should have been there in the first place. Du'Met had promised there wouldn't be any children. He'd promised yet there Charlie was looking at an innocent little girl.
"Do you know when we'll meet Mister Du'Met?" Greg asked.
"Dinner will be served at eight o'clock sharp, you'll see him then. Granthem is probably engrossed in his work, but don't worry, I'll drag him away for you. The restaurant is just through there-" Charlie gestured to his right where the double doors lay. "The bar is through there as well."
The mention of a bar perked Rick up almost as much as the thought of cigarettes had with Charlie back when he'd been a guest. Even Heidi came back down the stairs she'd gotten already half way up.
"Any chance of a drink? It's been a long drive and a drink sounds real good right about now."
The bar wasn't part of the plan, nor did Charlie think Du'Met would totally approve, but refusing them seemed like too much of a risk. However the place was fully stocked and Charlie had tended bar when he'd first shown up in America in order to put food on the table, so he ended up guiding them into the bar and poured them all drinks while they chit-chatted about unimportant things. Fortunately Du'Met had caught the glance his lover had given to one of the cameras and taken the hint to unlock the doors.
"Okay, I have to fucking ask: What the actual fuck is that?" Heidi demanded.
Charlie glanced to the animatronic beside him at the bar. Du'Met had packed it up into one of the boxes Charlie had helped his lover abscond with. Sure it was creepy but far from the deadliest thing in the hotel.
"Don't mind him, he's an antique my husband decided he liked way back when. It's strange but it won't hurt you." He moved the subject along. "I'll go get some juice for the little one."
After another charming smile Charlie slipped away to the control centre because he remembered Du'Met had replaced the bottle of orange juice they kept in the mini fridge there. As soon as he got through the door he spotted Du'Met at the control panel and that betrayal flared up deep inside his soul again. In an instant he'd rushed over to confront him with hurt in his accented voice.
"You promised me no kids and the first time – the first fucking time I play ferryman for you, you throw our deal out the goddamn window."
In hindsight, screaming in the face of a serial killer who'd broken two hundred kills, wasn't the wisest of acts, and before Charlie knew it he'd been slammed against the concrete wall by the throat. Du'Met's grasp was strong and unwavering, just a little tighter and Charlie's life would have been over. Charlie couldn't have escaped even if he'd wanted to so he tried to ignore the sting in the back of his head where it had struck the wall. Blue eyes watched as Du'Met removed one of his notebooks from his back pocket and shoved it into Charlie's hands. The order to read aloud was fairly evident.
" 'I know you're angry about the child.' Yeah no shit, Granthem! 'I instructed them to bring five adults in accordance with our deal, but by the time I found out about the girl it was too late to turn back. I did not break our deal, I had no intention of the Patterson's bringing their daughter.' "
Charlie sighed because he actually believed the taller man who still pinned him to the wall. Other than using a child to ensure a ferryman's compliance Du'Met had little use for a child, especially one at the tender age of four. It wasn't as though Du'Met intentionally targetted kids after all, so he peered up at his lover silently for a second.
"I'm- I'm sorry, Granthem." Finally the Englishman was released but it came with a turning gesture that instructed Charlie to turn the page because of course Du'Met had thought about all of this already. " 'I won't make you hurt her and I have no desire to do so myself. Dealing with this will be quite simple.' "
As he spoke Du'Met's words the painful betrayal faded away slowly and guilt filled the hole because he never should have thought Du'Met to go back on his word. Truth be told Du'Met was actually rather trustworthy and once he'd made a deal he honored it. Sure, if someone had made a deal but left it open to speculation or loopholes he'd use that against them, but for the most part he stuck to his word.
Charlie continued. " 'Greg and Lucille will set their daughter down to sleep and leave her alone while they are in the restaurant. When they do, you will simply remove the child and keep her in our bedroom until I have finished killing. Afterwards, I will take her to a location off the island where she can be abandoned near people who will see she is cared for.' " Charlie nodded. "Okay, sounds fair. I'm coming with you when you do though." A brief pause lingered between them a second before Du'Met nodded in agreement. "Okay, we're all good again."
Charlie made to walk away then and grab that orange juice before their guests started to wonder where the man they called Colin had gotten to. Yet, before he'd even made it a full step, Du'Met had grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him back to trap the younger man. Lips pressed to Charlie's for a demanding kiss, Du'Met's tongue found its way into Charlie's mouth and the blond practically melted. Then everything was over, Du'Met had returned to the control panel in an instant and Charlie had no choice but to gather his thoughts, grab the juice and hurry back to the bar. Thankfully Charlie hadn't been missed, the group had slipped into causal conversation and only glanced at him when he rejoined them.
"Here we are, sorry that took so long." Quickly he poured some of the orange juice into a tumbler glass and pushed it toward the four-year-old child. "There you go, little one."
Greg nudged his daughter. "Say thank you, Rosalie."
"… Thanks."
"Tell me," began the youngest sister – and the one Charlie wanted dead the most. "The hell is with that counter on the stairs?"
He'd ignored that when he'd been a guest, just registered it as a little strange then moved on.
"It's a novelty thing really, just counts how many groups we've had stay with us over the years."
Meanwhile Du'Met watched and waited from his nerve centre like the omnipotent god of murder he'd turned himself into. He listened as Charlie played his role well and enjoyed just how oblivious they all were. The masked man had to admit he was proud of his phoenix, even if the kid had been a shock and point of pain for him. Du'Met had always known Charlie would make the perfect ferryman, but he'd intended to use Mark Nestor simply because he would have been easier to control and because he'd liked the idea of burning Charlie alive far too much. No, he couldn't ever kill his precious phoenix now, not when he was so proud and eager to see just how much darkness truly lurked inside the Brit.
Charlie had long since come to understand that Du'Met was the dominant of their relationship, and that meant that, while Charlie was entitled to his opinions and objections, Du'Met reserved the right to put Charlie in his place. That was what had happened during their little spat, just enough force to remind the blond who was in charge. At first Charlie hadn't been too pleased about the situation, but the praise and attention he got whenever he'd pleased the older man had quickly gotten him in line.
Yes, Granthem Du'Met had everything he wanted; adorably dark submissive who melted every time he got a head pat, a plethora of victims to choose from and a hotel of horror that even the Devil himself would have been proud of. With a smirk he placed his bowler hat on and got to work.
~X~
Just as the clock ticked over to 7:50 Lucille and Greg finally got Rosalie to settle down for bed, she should have been asleep by now but all the new sights, smells and the excitement had kept her insisting she wasn't tired. Rosalie had always been a strange child, she hardly ever cried and didn't seem overly interested in people, but that didn't mean she wasn't a curious or intelligent child. Lucille had just decided her daughter took more after Greg than herself. Regardless, Rosalie had gone to sleep so her parents quickly made their escape down to the restaurant for dinner like the nice Mister Rathelin had instructed them to.
Nobody knew of the two men who watched them through numerous hidden cameras, or that they listened to every stray word as well. As soon as the Pattersons had left their sleeping daughter unattended Charlie seized his chance and left his lover in favor of slipping through the hidden halls and down a flight of stairs until he found the mirror which provided access to the child's room. He paused a moment just to assure himself no one would suddenly return for something forgotten, then opened the mirror and walked to the foot of Rosalie's bed. The girl was curled up on her side with a purple teddy bear cuddled close – innocent, she looked innocent.
Charlie hadn't ever held a child before so he was surprised by just how light she was as he lifted her sleeping form up into his arms, as he did her bear slipped from her grasp. Rosalie showed no sign of waking but Charlie suspected that had something to do with the drugs Du'Met had slipped into the meal Charlie had delivered an hour ago; since drugging children wasn't something the killer did often, he'd left the dose a little weak hence why she'd taken quite so long to drift off.
Carefully he took her back through the network of hidden hallways and up that flight of stairs to the bedroom he shared with his lover where he set Rosalie down gently. Charlie covered her over with the sheets then returned to the hotel room to grab the kid's bear and the bright pink bag filled with her stuff, that pink bag soon found itself dumped on the armchair Charlie had done a lot of reading in earlier that morning while the bear was returned to Rosalie's arms.
"There you go." Said Charlie quietly despite knowing she'd not wake. "You'll be safe here away from all the bloodshed. Word of advice for when you get older though: Serial killers normally get to kill as many as they do because people are stupid, so if somebody offers you something too good to be true, it probably is."
Unsure of what else to do for the little girl he returned to his cameras and omniscience, but before he did Charlie decided to leave the door open a crack so a sliver of light lit the room and so he was able to hear her if she did rouse from her drugged dreamland. Since he had no desire for her to get loose in the control nexus Charlie also hauled a box of various tools, cables and whatnot; the box was heavy and fairly tall so Rosalie stood no chance of moving or climbing over it. He hoped that kept the kid in one place because murdering a hotel full of people seemed a significantly harder task when babysitting an unrestrained child. Baby prison had better do it's job, it had better work because if she got out or broke something Charlie wasn't sure what Du'Met would do. Yes, he'd promised not to kill the child or any other and Du'Met kept his word, but killing wasn't the he could do to a person.
As he returned to the cameras and controls Charlie pondered if he should have left her something to occupy herself or maybe left the bathroom light on instead. It was no secret that Charlie had zero idea how to properly care for a child, it wasn't that he didn't like kids exactly just that he'd never spent any time with them; Charlie had no siblings and obviously wasn't a father himself. Maybe the Brit had begun to worry over nothing like a mountain out of a mole hill situation or sophistry. Rosalie would be gone soon, safely in a place with people who'd care for her and she'd never have to know her parents and immediate family had been slaughtered by an eerily capable serial killer and his complicit director lovingly referred to as a phoenix. No, Rosalie wouldn't ever have to know that pain, just another girl abandoned by incapable or disinterested parents. Mundane, her life would be mundane after that and Du'Met's promise not to murder children would be intact.
When his attention finally returned to his work, Charlie checked the camera in the restaurant and smirked because they'd finally started to wonder why Du'Met and his husband hadn't shown up for dinner. At first Charlie had been somewhat anxious that alerting the guests to the fact there were two of them on the island rather than just the mysterious Du'Met, but his lover hadn't seemed overly concerned – maybe because he'd not be keeping any of these people alive to play ferryman.
A door to the west side of the hotel opened then and the former federal agent stepped into Charlie's peripheral vision until he stopped by his side. A director and his leading man behind the scenes.
"The girl, Rosalie, is in our room. She's asleep like you wanted."
Du'Met nodded to acknowledge the words but didn't take his dark eyes away from the screen. Together they listened as more questions as to their hosts' whereabouts arose, then to Heidi cracking a truly tasteless joke about Colin and Du'Met fucking and forgetting about their guests entirely. The killer clicked his tongue because he found the joke distasteful and uncouth.
~X~
Eloise
Restaurant
20:16pm | August 3
Meanwhile down in the restaurant Heidi's sisters had found the joke funny either. Rick and Greg rolled their eyes at one another, Lucille grimaced and Eloise sighed deeply as she piped up.
"Heidi, please be nice to our hosts. Colin seems very pleasant and Mister Du'Met didn't have to offer a long weekend in his hotel as the first prise to the art competition Luci won." There went Eloise being the calm middle sibling again.
Lucille's brow furrowed as she took a sip of wine. "I am wondering where they are though. Colin seemed so certain that dinner would be eight exactly."
"Who knows," Greg shrugged. "Maybe whatever that work thing he mentioned was worse than he thought or something."
"Could have told us though." Grumbled Rick, but the second half of his sentence was simply talked over by the arrogant Heidi.
"I haven't seen anybody else since we got here and that bar was dusty as fuck – it was giving off some serious horror movie vibes to. It's fucking weird here and creepy as shit."
"Oh it's not that bad. Just because they're a few minutes late doesn't mean this is a cheep B-movie. Why are you always so negative and fatalistic?"
Lucille set her empty glass down. "Because she takes after our dad, Ellie, that's why."
"Shut up!" The youngest sister snapped. "I do not."
It was fairly obvious that the men of the group had endured about as much of their sister-in-law's crap as they could take. As the youngest she'd always been spoilt and loved to be the centre of attention, so not having access to social media was probably physically painful for her. Aww, so sad.
Rick glanced at his watch. "Guys, it's 8:22. I mean, should we go look for them or something?"
"Told you they're fucking."
~X~
Back in the control room Charlie grumbled because this girl just kept triggering his slap button and Heidi's death might have actually made the world a better place.
"I know you always have a plan on who to kill, when and where," began Charlie, "but, for the love of God, kill that one first. Although, letting her live will increase the audience's hate of her and make the inevitable death all the more impactful." Du'Met peered at Charlie. "Okay, so I know you and I are the only ones who ever get to watch my documentaries, but that's neither here nor there. Besides-"
Charlie was abruptly cut off by Du'Met who placed a latex-coated hand over his mouth and shoved him up against the desk which hurt the back of his legs. It was a silent order to shut up so Charlie obeyed and fell quiet as his lover pointed back to the screen where the guests had finally gone looking for Du'Met and Colin. Blue and brown orbs watched as they called out for the husbands around the lobby before they climbed the stairs to continue their search. Charlie remembered that growing concern as he'd felt it himself once upon a time knew that soon it would grow into panic and then full-blown terror as it dawned on them just how soon death would come.
Lucille poked her head into her hotel room as they continued to call out for their hosts and that was when Lucille's growing concern tipped into panic because Rosalie, her only child, was gone. She burst into the room screaming out for her daughter: The noise was spine-chilling but Charlie saw his lover grin darkly and realized that Du'Met had still used the child to maximum effect without having to harm her. Frankly Charlie should have expected something like that from a man as strategic and conniving as Granthem Du'Met; he'd promised not to kill children but he'd never promised not to use them to inflict fear.
"Go on." Charlie said after he'd slipped away from Du'Met's gloved hand. "Have fun, I know you want to." Murder-y eyes softened as they turned to face the director: Those eyes had terrified Charlie to begin with but now he only smiled at the excitement Charlie saw in them. "Paint me a pretty picture."
Du'Met hadn't ever needed encouragement but still he smiled at his sweet phoenix, kissed his pale lips then strutted away to do his thing while Charlie remained at his post.