Since the call had already been made, Du'Met had rushed around after the death of the two captives. He had to leave so he could go get them on time because if he was too late questions would arise and he couldn't allow that. So Charlie simply wandered off to the kitchen as his lover zipped about and tried not to slip into his thoughts. Charlie wasn't as dumb as Kate had often made out, so the reason the blond had agreed to be Du'Met's ferryman was incredibly obvious. The feeling of accomplishment Charlie had been basking in had been wonderful and allowed Charlie to totally forget about the murders he'd committed; the blood on his hands. He'd made the man he loved happy and Du'Met had showered him with praise in his own silent way.
After Charlie had helped himself to the pot of coffee Du'Met had made hardly half an hour before they'd gone down to the gas chamber, the killer suddenly grabbed him by the wrist and guided Charlie from the kitchen up to the control room's middle level where they came to a halt in front of one of the many tables Du'Met had cluttered with research and oddments. Fortunately for a confused Charlie, he'd brought his coffee mug with him and sipped while Du'Met showed him whatever he wanted to show him since time was of the essence.
A red lock box was flipped open after Du'Met had pushed the folder dedicated to research on his next set of victims, as well as the correspondence for random things such as the suits he'd ordered from Gentleman Hashimoto-Vyrden, aside. Inside the lock box were a number of items but the one Charlie's eyes spotted first was the FBI badge that Du'Met kept mostly for prosperity's sake but ignored most of the time. The FBI raid jacket that Charlie had first found in the basement after escaping the furnace trap had since been neatly folded and placed in the bottom drawer of the dresser in their bedroom as equally ignored as the badge. However, Charlie's attention was pulled away from the badge when Du'Met thrust a brown envelope toward him. For a split second he eyed it suspiciously then set his mug of cooling black coffee down and took the proffered envelope. Inside the blond found a passport providing duel citizenship between the UK and USA, as well as a new driver's licence.
"Colin Rathelin." Charlie lifted an eyebrow. "Not as fancy as Granthem Du'Met now is it?"
Charlie peered closer at the picture Du'Met had used for Charlie's fake ID, when the killer had taken it he'd got no idea but wasn't surprised by it after so long in Du'Met's company. The sudden burst of love and happiness which surged inside Charlie's heart actually surprised him, but that passport and licence further solidified that Du'Met had zero intentions of leaving Charlie behind if he ever had to run again. They were in this together for the long haul as partners.
"I think I can make Colin Rathelin work."
That got a smile like an unspoken vow between them from Du'Met. At the very start of his time with the killer, Charlie had questioned the morality of his actions and tried to keep them separate, good, better than Du'Met but Charlie had long ago ended that way of thinking quite some time ago. There wasn't any point in dissimulating or deluding himself any longer. Kate Wilder might have been a self-centred bitch who pretended she wasn't traumatized by what had happened to her friend, but there was one thing she'd been correct about just as Du'Met had been: Charlie was a narcissist and since he'd let them, his sociopathic tendencies had come out from the woodwork. The blond hadn't been complicit back on October 27th but that had been a lifetime ago and Charlie had different priorities now. He was the Watson to Du'Met's Holmes now, okay so maybe he was mixing things up a bit with that saying but it sounded oddly poetic so Charlie's mind rolled with it.
The middle-aged man slipped everything back into the brown envelope and set it down beside the open lock box before he flashed a smirk up at his tall lover.
"So," he began as he grabbed his coffee once more. "Does this mean you've invented some swanky
backstory for Colin Rathelin? Something fun and exciting, or do I get to dream something up?" Du'Met pointed at the blond which made him smile. "Ooh good. Maybe I'm English nobility outed from the country for being the family's black sheep?" He teased but Du'Met didn't look keen. "Yeah, yeah, I'll rein it in a bit. I know I shouldn't make myself stand out. Guess this means Charlie Lonnit really is dead to the world then. Doesn't matter, you and I know the truth."
Du'Met was far from stupid, he could tell Charlie actually felt a little mournful about the situation, didn't prompt him about it though.
Charlie drank the last of his coffee and changed the subject. "I'm going to find something to eat, do you want something?" Du'Met shook his head then pointed at the door. "Yeah, you should probably get going."
With a kiss he was gone both because he was hungry and because he knew Du'Met wouldn't linger much longer, as well as because Charlie wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while. On the one hand Charlie was upset because the person he'd been all his life wouldn't ever exist in the outside world again, yet, on the other hand, Du'Met had taken the time to supply Charlie with fake information which meant Du'Met didn't plan to confine him to the hotel forever. This was the ultimate evidence that Du'Met cared about him in Charlie's eyes.
~X~
Yet again Du'Met had used his prized ruse to bring in new victims, had told them they'd won and, as usual, it had worked because people were mostly idiots who didn't go looking gift horses in the mouth. It would take a several hours for Du'Met to return – of course Charlie had expected that since he'd spent just over two hours in that limo himself. When they did arrive it would be Charlie's big moment.
Charlie knew Du'Met would alert him when he was there and he wasn't the sort to painstakingly work out what to say, he worked better on the fly. So, with time to kill Charlie ate and took a shower then selected a new suit from the selection Du'Met had given him and dressed before he'd slipped out to the gazebo with some more coffee and a cigarette. That gazebo had become his and Du'Met's spot in a strange way, every time Charlie sat there he felt free and happier than he had been in the last twenty years.
That first deep breath of smoke had Charlie's shoulders relax while birds squawked distantly. Back when he'd been in isolation Charlie had genuinely wanted to quit but Charlie had realistically known it wouldn't stick. However, this time around Charlie didn't chain smoke as a coping mechanism, he only had one or two cigarettes a day now; a casual smoke rather than a guy sucking down tar simply to keep his hands occupied and because no one cared enough to stop him.
"Big day." He said to himself as a plume of smoke escaped his parted lips.
Ironic that a man who normally wouldn't shut his mouth had hardly said a single word to anybody in almost a full year. Charlie could be charming when he wanted to be though and had no doubt he could coax this last lot of prey onto the cable ferry and he'd do it significantly more convincingly than Joseph Morello had; no one would slip off for a look-see like he'd made Jamie and Kate do. No, Charlie would smile and joke and tell them all how lucky they were to have won the vacation for five, he'd point out the gazebo during the crossing and go on about how lovely a spot it was. Charlie wouldn't arouse suspicion and he'd make Du'Met proud. Acting as ferryman would be Charlie's cameo in his documentaries.
"Colin Rathelin." He said to practise the name, then the blond straightened up, donned a charismatic smile and thrust his hand out. "Hello, I'm Colin Rathelin." Charlie shook his head. "Nah, too formal." He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Colin. Oh yeah, that's the one. Keep it all smiles and twinkly eyes, Charlie. Colin is a nice guy, he's likeable and disarming. Nothing suspicious about Colin Rathelin, and why would there be? Just a friendly guy in glasses." The blond frowned. "No, no glasses." When Charlie stopped to think about it any pictures the press had gotten hold of would have likely shown Charlie in his glasses so not wearing them seemed like a good idea. "Okay, Colin doesn't wear glasses and doesn't have a lucky hat either."
No hat or glasses seemed safer, couldn't risk giving the game away and angering his beloved Du'Met; not after the killer had put so much faith and trust in him. Charlie couldn't fail or his documentary would be ruined and that was a crime he'd never allow to occur.
The blond's head fell back to stare up at the roof of the gazebo only to notice a disturbing amount of cobwebs up there as well as a rather ominous spider which sat in the corner. While not a big problem – he wasn't afraid of spiders or anything – he did find himself abnormally aware of it and any movement it thought about making once he'd noticed it. 'After this film I'll use the break time to give this thing a once-over' he mused to himself. Tidy wasn't one of Charlie's virtues, he'd always worked in a sort of controlled chaos much as Du'Met did, but the gazebo had become important to Charlie so he'd not let it rot away or turn into a spider nest like the shed had. Charlie chuckled, in a strange way the black spider reminded him of Du'Met since it had done such an amazing job of looming in the shadows.
"I guess you can stay, Spider Du'Met. I'll see about getting you a teeny bowler hat."
All of Charlie's attention tilted back to the serial killer then as he crushed the butt of his cigarette underfoot. That pendulum trap he'd not had chance to use last time would surely see some action, of that Charlie had no doubt. That particular trap had taken him months to build he'd not allow another opportunity to use it sail on by. Frankly Charlie couldn't blame him, he liked to play with his new toys as quickly as possible too.
The Englishman gradually drank his soda and lamented not bringing an ashtray with him, he'd bring one out when he did that once-over he'd planed. Blue eyes stared out at the open water and clouds as they drifted lazily across the sky. When there wasn't a terrifying aura of fear and blood splattered all over the floors, Du'Met's murder castle was actually rather peaceful. Also, if he pretended a little, the view was reminiscent of childhood vacations in Newquay. Those English vacations had meant so much to Charlie, his father had always made sure there was at least one day where he and Charlie would slip off to eat junk food and play in the arcades. Charlie truly missed his father.
It was when Charlie was in the process of shifting his thoughts from childhood's hour and his father that a lightbulb pinged above his head. A camera! The only place Du'Met didn't have a camera was on the ferry – which was something of a surprise when the blond stopped to think about it, although it might have had something to do with waterproofing. However, Charlie had the perfect pinhole cameras thanks to Du'Met. Waterproof and tiny, they'd be utterly perfect to fit to the cable ferry, they'd be able to record the arrivals in high definition and capture Charlie's cameo!
With a sudden burst of energy Charlie downed what was left of his soda and hurried back inside the hotel of horrors and down to the storage room just off of Du'Met's workroom where they kept various cables, scrap and old parts left over from the animatronics; there was also a disturbing cart of mannequin limbs too. In the beginning the room had freaked the ever-loving shit out of Charlie but he'd soon grown used to the limb bucket, so didn't even bat an eye while he rooted through the shelves until he discovered the crate the pinhole cameras had been packed into.
"Success." He smirked.
With his prize Charlie went to the ferry after grabbing his tools from the control room, then started looking here and there for the best angles. Rain had been in the forecast and those lazy clouds had indeed started to grow rather dismal, so Charlie factored that in when he decided to mount two of the cameras on either end of the pilot's house roof: Up there they'd get a good shot of both ends of the ferry, and a third camera inside the pilot's house would cover the blind spot in the middle.
"Should have brought the fucking ladder." Grumbled Charlie. Both the ladders where all the way back up the path and Charlie had done enough cardio for one day, so instead he just struggled and persisted. Somehow he managed to wedge his feet, one on the edge of the pilot's house window and the other on the gunwale. "Almost there. Almost – come on you bastard!" Charlie worked quickly mainly because it fucking hurt being squished up against the house's sharp corners. "Yes!"
Without warning his foot slipped off the gunwale and Charlie plummeted into the cold water with a splash and gratuitous litany of swear words. The middle-aged man thrashed around for a second, it had been years since he'd gone for a swim, but soon managed to flounder back to shore where he hauled himself from the drink. As soon as he'd reached safety Charlie took a deep breath and glanced up at the ferry as though it were a damn traitor. Still, the cable ferry had been docked so it hadn't been too exhausting.
The swim wasn't Charlie's problem though, the fact his suit had been soaked was. He'd chosen it specifically because it was his favorite and he'd wanted to look the part when the prey showed up. He sighed deeply as he wrung his tie out.
"At least I'm not wearing tweed."
Regardless of his impromptu swim the cameras were up and secured so, after he'd gathered up his tools, Charlie returned to his bedroom dripping as he went. As soon as he was inside he toed his shoes off and dumped his wet things in the hamper – Charlie quietly hoped Du'Met didn't ask why the laundry was wet. Although, Du'Met killed people, he wasn't likely to throw a tantrum over a few bits of wet clothing. That dealt with, he took a second shower because God only knew what dirt lurked in that water. He'd chosen his favorite suit originally but since that was out he selected the blue herringbone one Du'Met had first gifted him with.
"Note to self: always take the ladder from now on." Charlie muttered quietly as he dressed and knotted his tie.
Though Charlie tried to deny it even to himself, he was nervous for his upcoming performance. Charlie did his best work behind the cameras and honestly didn't think himself overly photogenic, he'd never had any reason to be in front of the camera before and now that he had no choice Charlie found himself flicking back and forth between overly confident and thinking he'd bitten off more than he could chew. Screwing up wasn't an option, not only would his recording plans be ruined but he would have been shamed in the eyes of Du'Met, Charlie had no desire to look like little more than a tag-along, someone incapable of working alongside a visionary like Du'Met. Charlie couldn't lose the trust his lover had given him, Charlie couldn't lose the opportunity to earn Du'Met's sweet praise.
"Book! Just read a fucking book." Charlie told himself, it would kill some time and take his mind off things by letting him calm down.
So read a book was what Charlie did, he grabbed The Castle Of Ontario from the night stand, a novel he'd gotten approximately half way through, and fell into the armchair by the bathroom door for a while. Charlie hoped that T. S. Hartley published something new soon because he'd rather enjoyed The Yellow Cross as well as The Shroud Of Innocence. He rested the bookmark on the arm. Before coming to the hotel he'd have just dog-eared the page and moved on but the one and only time he'd done that in front of Du'Met he'd been glared at with those murderous eyes, the blond hadn't dared do it again and was silently provided a bookmark the next morning. Seemed that murder, dismemberment and mutilation of corpses was perfectly acceptable, but bending the page of an innocent book was a step too far in Du'Met's opinion. Frankly that knowledge amused Charlie after so many months at the castle and brought a little smile to his face.
~X~
Some hours later Charlie jolted from his tome to the sound of his phone beeping. That cell phone had been a point of pride for Charlie because Du'Met had given it to him right after he'd been given the freedom to walk around the hotel, it represented trust to Charlie. He flicked the book closed with a single finger marking his place and fished the cell out of his pocket.
Seemed Du'Met was ahead of schedule which didn't surprise Charlie in the slightest. Two hours gave Charlie plenty of time to finish his book and grab something to drink. It had just gone 10am, a reasonable hour, but when Du'Met had called his newest victims the hour had been very unreasonable. The reason for calling so early had confused Charlie at first, but he'd only had his own call to compare it all too. Later Charlie had realized the call had been made quite so early to further reduce the likelihood of them telling anybody and gave Du'Met time to go get them.
Charlie shot back a text quickly acknowledging his lover, because leaving a man like Granthem Du'Met on read was a stupidly brave thing to do, then tucked his phone away and returned to his book until he finished the chapter, then slipped the bookmark back inside and placed the tome on his night stand. He went to take a leak then got that drink he'd wanted all before he spent almost twenty minutes deciding if he should have gone to greet everyone in the full suit or just his shirtsleeves; eventually the shirtsleeves won. The jacket seemed a little bit too formal for the friendly image Charlie wanted Colin to have, that was part of the reason he'd decided he'd smile more too. Practically fifty, the Englishman was practically fifty now and even though he'd spent most of his life as a heavy smoker and caffeine addict, he could boast that he was still in pretty good shape. Maybe he'd have to ask Du'Met for a rowing machine. All that said, he wasn't anything like the former FBI agent though. That man was eight years Charlie's senior but by God he didn't look it; tall, strong, broad and a chest that made Charlie weak at the knees.
"Ironic that a serial killer takes better care of me that I did. Clean-shaven and dressed in fancy suits now."
Dressed and with his thirst quenched, Charlie set about double checking that everything was prepared and ready to go for when that limo showed up. Frankly he didn't know what else to do, he'd never done sitting still well but he'd run out of things to do, there wasn't anything left beyond get them onto the ferry. As soon as they were in the building Du'Met would take over so Charlie could return to his screens. Before Du'Met had left he'd set up that damn groundskeeper animatronic rain slicker and all, the killer used it on every single one of his hunts to really drive home the realization that Du'Met was going to kill everyone with extreme violence. Though he'd never voiced it, Charlie suspected his lover knew just how much Charlie hated that animatronic; it reminded him of the worst fear he'd ever felt even if he had ended up in love with the man who'd caused that fear.
Since he was desperate for something to occupy his time, Charlie travelled around to each of the hotel rooms which had been set up for the victims. Of course they'd not actually end up sleeping there, but Charlie had taken to making the rooms look much less duplicitous than when Charlie and his crew had arrived; besides, if the rooms looked more presentable it would provided better opening shots for Charlie. Sure enough when Charlie entered the bedrooms they smelt stuffy so Charlie opened the windows.
"When did I become the fucking maid?" Charlie questioned himself with only mild irritation. "Should probably double check the lobby."
Charlie did just that. It was aimless wandering by a man who still hadn't worked out if he'd gotten in over his head or not. Strange that it had taken quite so long for Charlie to feel that way.
"Maybe we should get a dog or something." He mused as he descended the stairs and slipped behind the lobby desk. "The place would be less deadly quiet that way."
A dog sounded nice but he really doubted Du'Met would go for that, he didn't seem like the most animal-friendly of people.
The keys were all hung and ready, the guest book lay on the desk with a pen atop it and Charlie knew there was really nothing else he could do. Nerves, that was why Charlie had started micro managing everything. For years Charlie had manipulated people like Erin Keenan into doing what he wanted for him and Lonnit Entertainment though so Charlie's nerves didn't matter because it wouldn't be Charlie who greeted them, it would be Colin. Colin would get them onto the cable ferry and into the castle and he'd do it with ten times the finesse Joseph Morello had shown.
For a second time Charlie's cell pinged and he sighed once he'd fished out out of his pocket.
" 'Ahead of schedule', why am I not surprised? Okay, okay, the time has come and you can do this."
The 'go get them, phoenix' bit caused a flutter of delight inside the blond, Charlie always soaked up every kind word and hint of praise Du'Met tossed his way.
Fully aware that keeping his lover's guests waiting was a clear no-no, Charlie went directly to the ferry. Show time. Long ago Charlie would have refused to aid Du'Met, would have never helped him to kill, but those days were a dim and distant memory now and all Charlie cared about was being praised by Du'Met and his documentary films. Sympathy and morality were just things that had been tossed out the window now, faded voices of reason that weren't of any use to him. It was the lives of these people or his art, so Charlie took a leaf out of Du'Met's book and chose his art. Yes, it truly was show time.