Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

The sunlight filtered in around the edges of the blinds. Charlie was confused for a moment. His eyes still half shut, he reached around him. The bed seemed to have grown in the night. He realized that this was not his and Carrie's apartment. But where…?

The Rosebud Inn!

"Declan?"

Charlie took in his surroundings, then crept out of bed and poked his nose out into the living room. Declan was sound asleep on the couch. He hadn't even bothered to pull out the hide-a-bed. He'd just lain down on top, and was still fast asleep. He looked adorable.

Charlie crept back into the bedroom and closed the door. He might as well get some work done while he waited for Declan to wake. It was only a quarter past eight in the morning.

Charlie opened his notepad and reviewed his notes. Something was bothering him. He felt like he'd missed something. As he flipped through the pages of his book, there was a rustling sound in the other room, then a head jutted around the door.

"Good morning," Declan said.

"Good morning," Charlie replied with a smile.

Declan smiled back. "I'm just going to grab a hot shower. My neck has a wicked kink in it for some reason."

"You should have woken me up," Charlie said.

"Are you kidding? You were dead to the world. I couldn't have woken you if I'd tried. After I'm done, we'll go down for breakfast then see about the car."

"Sounds good," Charlie said.

Charlie heard the shower turn on and the curtain rings jingle as they were pulled across. He pictured Declan under the water, soaping up his body, imagining what it would feel like if they were his hands doing the work. Declan would turn around, letting the hot water pummel his back as his taut muscles relaxed. He pictured himself there with him, massaging those massive shoulders.

The water turned off and the shower curtain jingled open. He heard Declan pull the towel off the rack.

Charlie realized that the door to the washroom was still open a crack. He moved so that he could see inside, yet stood back far enough that Declan wouldn't see him. Declan was rubbing himself vigorously. His back was towards Charlie. Declan worked the towel down his muscle-corded back then towelled off his ass. Charlie found himself shaking, wanting to break into the room and touch everything. Did Michelangelo have that feeling towards his model as he sculpted David?

But then Charlie's thoughts returned to last night…and this morning. They'd been in the same bed, and nothing had happened. Maybe Declan wasn't interested anymore. Charlie had asked about Michael and Declan had avoided the conversation. He decided to move back to the couch and focus on his notes. He'd talk to Declan more about his feelings at a later time. Right now they had work to do.

When Declan had finished in the bathroom, they headed down to the front desk where they discovered William was on duty.

"Did you have a nice stay?" he asked.

"We certainly did," Declan replied.

Charlie noticed William was wearing his Fergus name tag. Charlie pointed to it. "You might want to change that."

"Oh no, sir. Fergus and William alternate duties daily."

"I see." Charlie said, although he wasn't really sure if he did. "Is breakfast being served in the dining room?"

"Yes sir. A complimentary breakfast buffet is included with your stay. Feel free to help yourself."

"Great," Declan said. "And I'll take care of the bill now."

As Declan paid, Charlie enquired, "Did Mrs Carlyle's son get back into town? We still need the car fixed."

Fergus-William smiled. "Yup. I contacted Jeb this morning. He'll swing by when you're ready and take you out to it. I'll let him know when you're done breakfast."

"Thank you…Fergus," Declan said.

They ate a quick breakfast, then had Fergus-William call Jeb Carlyle. He arrived in a tow truck that appeared to be from another era. It had a battered cable winch on the back attached to a swinging hook. The vehicle was covered in patches of rust, and didn't look suitable to tow anything. Charlie and Declan squeezed into the front seat and headed down the road to where they had abandoned the Beast.

Jeb got out first and swaggered up to the car.

"Beautiful piece of workmanship, these cars are," he said. "A 1970?"

"Yeah," said Charlie.

"Thought so. No better car came out of the US that year. Let's see if we can fix the problem."

He popped open the hood and in no time, had the broken fan belt replaced, then topped up the radiator with water for good measure.

"See if it'll start."

Declan got into the driver's seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life.

"Thank you for rescuing us, Mr Carlyle," Declan said. "How much do we owe you?"

"Let's see…twenty-seven bucks for the belt…Let's make it thirty-five. Cash, mind you. I can't take credit out here."

Declan smiled and gave him the cash.

Jeb took the money in hand, then got back into his tow truck and waved as he headed up the road towards Rosebud.

Charlie was just about to get into the car when his cell phone rang. He dug in his bag, fished out the phone and answered the call, "Charlie Watts speaking."

"Hey, Charlie, it's Henry."

"Hey, Henry, is everything okay?"

There was a slight pause before Henry continued. "Oh, we're good, but something strange happened last night. Do you think you could come back to Hoodoo House? I need to see the pictures you took of the writing room yesterday."

"As a matter of fact, Henry, we're just outside Rosebud right now. We can be there in a few minutes."

"Great," Henry said. "See you soon."

Declan gave Charlie a puzzled look.

Charlie hung up and sat in the passenger seat of the car. "That was Henry. He wants us to come back to Hoodoo House. Something about the pictures on my phone of the writing room."

"Well, no harm in going back since we're already here. Wanna drive?" Declan asked.

Charlie smiled. "I'm fine. I'm beginning to like the idea of being chauffeured around."

* * * *

Declan and Charlie pulled up to the house twenty minutes later. Before they could close the car door, Henry was running out to greet them.

"Hey, Declan. Charlie. Did you really stay in Rosebud? I heard that the breakfast at the hotel is all you can eat. Is that true?"

"Yeah. It is," Charlie answered.

"If it was me staying there, I'd still be eating! Hey, you guys are wearing the clothes you had on yesterday."

This kid doesn't miss a thing,Charlie thought.

"We weren't planning on staying. The car broke down," Charlie replied.

"Oh, no. I hope it's okay now," Henry said, gently rubbing the hood of the car.

"It's good as new," Charlie replied.

Declan started towards the house. "I'll go in and let Mrs Cameron know we're here."

"There's a pot of coffee on the stove," Henry shouted as Declan walked away.

Charlie turned towards Henry. "So, tell me. What happened last night?"

"I think someone was in the house. The front door was open, and the door to the writing room too. I think someone was in there looking around the books in the office, but I'm not sure why. I need to see the picture you took on your phone yesterday, the one of the bookcase. I can't quite figure it out, but something's different in there."

Charlie and Henry walked into the house and made their way into the writing room. Charlie called up the images of the bookshelves. He passed his phone to Henry. Charlie glanced at the picture then the bookcase. Everything seemed pretty much the same to him.

Henry stared at the picture on the phone for thirty seconds straight.

"What are you doing?" he asked Henry.

"I'm looking at the way the room looked when you took the picture and locking that in my brain," Henry said. "It's like one of those puzzles. The kind where you compare two nearly identical pictures and pick out the ten differences. I'm really good at those."

Henry now stared at the wall of books behind the bare desk.

"Yup. Just as I thought. Some of the books have been moved. Someone's been in here, and whoever did it was careful to put them back and make them look tidy, but some are in the wrong order. Like The Keys to the Kingdom," he said, running up to the bookcase and pulling a large book off of the shelf. "It's the one where Mr Tull hides the key to his desk."

Henry opened it to reveal a hollow where a key rested.

Henry took the key and unlocked the desk drawer. He examined the contents. "Nothing's been touched here. I know what's supposed to be here and nothing's changed."

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. He decided not to ask why Henry knew what was supposed to be in the desk, at least not now.

Henry identified other books that had been moved. Charlie wondered who else would know to look for something hidden in the books.

"Are there any other books that have secrets like the one with the key? Or did you ever notice any books that Mr Tull used a lot?" he asked Henry.

Henry closed his eyes and concentrated. "I don't know…wait a minute." Henry scanned the bookcase. "There. Where it always is. On the top shelf," he said, pointing at a book with a yellow paper dust jacket.

Charlie reached up and pulled the book off the shelf. It was Etiquette by Emily Post.

"I saw that on his desk a bunch of times. I always thought it was weird that a guy like Mr Tull would care about manners."

Charlie rifled through the pages to see if there was a hollowed-out section or maybe something written in the margins. But nothing appeared out of the ordinary. As he went to put the book back, a small loose sheet of paper fluttered to the ground. Charlie examined it more closely and saw what appeared to be a list. It included passwords for Gmail and Proton email accounts, Tull's banking information and a few passwords for random websites. One stood out as different from the rest. The password had been crossed out and changed more than once and had only four digits—6429. Beside it was a single word—Playroom.

"Henry, you're a genius. I don't know what the intruder was looking for, but this may help us solve the case. Follow me."

Charlie led Henry to the kitchen where Mrs Cameron and Declan sat at the table with mugs of coffee.

"I think I have something here," Charlie said, holding up the piece of paper. "It might be the code to the door in the tunnel."

Declan raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How did you—?"

"I'll tell you later," Charlie replied. "Come on, let's see if I'm right."

With Henry in the lead, Charlie, Declan and Mrs Cameron made their way down into the cellar, around the shelves and along the tunnel. They stood in front of the keypad.

"Would you care to do the honours?" Charlie said to Henry.

The boy beamed, then tapped the pad, bringing it to life. He carefully entered the four-digit code. There was a click.

Henry reached to push the door open, but Declan stopped him. "Better let me do that."

"But I found the code," Henry complained.

Declan shook his head. "I don't know what's in there, Henry. I don't want anything to happen to you. Let me check it out first, then, when I know it's safe, you can be the second one in. How's that sound?"

Charlie could tell that Henry was disappointed. He was Howard Carter being told he couldn't enter King Tut's tomb. Still, the boy stepped back.

Declan pressed on the door to open it enough that he could reach his hand in and swipe it up the inside of the wall. Charlie figured he was trying to find a light switch. The lights came on in the secret room and Declan edged the door open enough to stick his head in. He pulled his head back out and said to Charlie, "Looks harmless enough."

Declan opened the door wider and stepped in, then said, "Your security team says it's okay to come in." Henry entered, followed by the others.

Charlie scanned the room. There was some wooden framework with ropes attached. In one corner was a leather and chain swing that hung from the ceiling. In the other corner was a bed, and on the wall were various small whips, riding crops and other implements. The roof and walls had dark grey foam covered in small triangles. "The room is sound-proofed."

Henry said, "This is a strange playroom."

Mrs Cameron said, "Henry, perhaps you should go and do your homework."

"But—"

"No buts. Upstairs, now!"

Henry, crestfallen, did as he was told.

Charlie walked over to a shelving unit by the door. On the upper shelf, he saw something. "Bingo," he said.

"What did you find?" Declan asked.

Charlie stepped up on the lowest shelf to get a closer look and pointed to a cardboard box with a circular cutout about the size of a loonie. He lifted the box to reveal—

"It's a high-res video camera that would normally be hooked up to…"

He pulled at the cable attached to it. He worked his way along the shelf, never letting go of the cable. He traced it the full length of the shelving unit then down the far end where it disappeared through a hole in a metal cabinet. The cabinet's door was locked.

Charlie looked around and spied a sturdy metal rod laying on a counter. He wedged it in the hasp which secured the locked door. "May I?" he asked Mrs Cameron.

"Be my guest."

He wrenched on it until it pulled free from the cabinet door. Inside he found what he had been looking for—a laptop that most likely belonged to Malcolm Tull.