Chapter Three
Alex
Charlie and I were finally able to make a trip to the bank and to the lawyer’s office, per Charlie’s insistence, to have him put the house in both our names.
Afterward, I took Charlie out to lunch at Blazing Onion, one of his favorite burger spots.
He’d cooked enough this week and deserved the break, plus, it was nice to finally be out of the house.
He’d spent far too much cooped up in his dad’s old room as of late.
My mom called while we were out, checking in on us while we were walking around Alderwood Mall.
This time, I handed him the phone so he could talk to her, he’d ignored them enough.
I wandered off, giving them a bit of privacy.
I’d always loved the way my family embraced Charlie and loved him like he was their own child.
Mom once said she’d unofficially-officially adopted him.
About fifteen minutes later, he found me checking out the new DVD releases at an electronics store.
“Hey, handsome, whatcha doing?” he slipped his arm around my waist.
“Just browsing. I wanted to give you and Mom some privacy.”
“Baby, I don’t say anything to her that I wouldn’t say in front of you. But thank you for your thoughtfulness. See anything we can’t live without?” He scanned the selection in front of us.
“I was eyeballing Deadpool. You up for a superhero movie fest?” He knew I was a huge Ryan Reynolds fan, so this one was a no-brainer.
“Always, if that includes curling up with you while it’s on. Dinner in our pj’s and a movie is the perfect date night.” He snagged the DVD and flitted off toward the cashier.
God, how I loved this man. After purchasing the movie, we got in the truck and headed home. Charlie wanted to tackle his dad’s filing cabinet this afternoon, having found the keys to the lock yesterday. Not sure what he was searching for, but I hoped he didn’t get too obsessed with it.
At home, while he was in his dad’s room, I was in the home office tackling work-related emails and such. A couple of hours later, I went in search of Charlie, making sure he was alright. It was time we both took a break.
“Hey, babe, you okay?” I asked as I peeked in.
He was sitting surrounded by a pile of papers he’d likely dug out of the filing cabinet, intently sifting through them. His hair stuck up in all directions from yanking at it. Dare I ask what frustrated him?
“Mmm hmm,” he mumbled, without looking up.
“Do you need me to bring you anything? A drink? A snack? Possibly trash bags?” I scanned the chaos scattered around. That caught his attention and he finally looked up at me.
“Alex, you won’t believe what I’ve found. Have a seat.” He pointed to the bed, which appeared to be the only clean spot in the room.
“Looks like a bomb went off in here,” I said, stepping over the various stacks of papers covering the floor like I was playing hopscotch.
“I’m not sure how he did it, but a lot of these notes coincide with the artifacts we have on the shelves throughout the house.”
“What do you mean? Like certificates of authenticity?” I asked.
“No, better than that. I think we need to take some of these things to an appraiser and have them cataloged. My dad literally traveled the world, and I’m not sure what he was looking for or if it was only to meet with various collectors.
But according to his notes, some of these are hundreds of years old. ”
“How in the world would he have gotten the cash to purchase them? Does any of this explain what line of work he was in?” My interest was piqued, but I wasn’t sure if I was heading toward the idea that his dad was one lucky bastard, or if he was nothing more than a thief.
“I’m gonna start matching these papers to the respective item. Then I’ll contact the local museums and see if they can point me in the right direction.” He leaned over, placing the current paper in his hand on top of the desk. “One thing is still bugging me though.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“In the letter, my dad said he’d been searching for a way to have prevented my mother’s death. What do you think he meant by that?”
“I’m not sure. Your father seems to have had questionable obsessions, so that could have been a statement more than an action.
” My gut was telling me this wasn’t going to end well, and that we were about to uncover things we were better off not knowing.
Especially for Charlie. I hoped for the best but expected the worst. “Have you found anything about the pocket watch he gave you? It must have some sort of sentimental value since he kept it separate from all the other stuff.”
For a moment, I thought I saw a hint of fear cross his face. Maybe I was mistaken. “Nah, nothing yet, but I’ll let you know if I find anything.” Brushing me off, he returned to his latest obsession.
Most of my work was done online with the marketing firm I was employed with, and my boss had no problem with my continuing to work from home when I’d reached out to him about bereavement leave.
Charlie, on the other hand, taught high school history.
History had always been his passion, which told me uncovering his father’s treasure trove would keep him occupied for the foreseeable future.
I was surprised, though, that he hadn’t already researched some of the trinkets his dad collected before now.
I dove back into the proposal I’d been working on for a new client our firm recently acquired and before I knew it, it was ten o’clock and I hadn’t heard from Charlie for a few hours. This wasn’t a good sign and clearly, he had more of his father in him than he cared to admit.
I came into his father’s room to the sweetest scene.
Charlie was curled up in a ball, asleep amongst the piles of papers.
He’d emptied the entire filing cabinet and likely dozed off mid sorting.
Some documents were still clutched in his hand, while the others were scattered about.
As carefully as I could, I waded over, plucking a yellow sticky note off his forehead and tossing it to the floor.
His only movement as I picked him up was to wrap his arms around my neck.
Too tired to shower, I undressed and tucked him in, joining him after I’d showered.
I woke the next morning to the wonderful smell of bacon.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” Charlie said, standing on his tiptoes to give me a good-morning kiss.
“Good morning, handsome. How did you sleep?” I patted his ass and reached above him for two coffee cups.
“Pretty good, but I was bombarded with dreams of artifacts. It was like I was in the basement of the Smithsonian on a field trip. I really think my dad was on to something.” He turned back to the bacon pan.
“On to something such as?” I paused, unsure where this was going.
“I’m not sure, but I can feel it in my bones. He was on the verge of uncovering something big, which he may have located before his heart gave out.” He flipped the omelet in the pan. “Pour me a cup of coffee, too, please.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why his body was found in the park.” My fear of this turning into something as unhealthy for Charlie as it had for his father left me with an uneasy feeling.
“True, there aren’t any hidden gems there.” He turned off the burners and plated our food.
I fixed our coffee, just the way we both liked it and joined him at the table.
I never took the ease of our relationship for granted.
One cooked, the other washed dishes, or we did both together.
I’d offered to take turns making the meals, but Charlie found solace in cooking.
For the most part, we shared the household chores since fighting over frivolous nonsense wasn’t an option for us. Nothing was worth risking what we had.
But the following Monday, our domestic bliss hit its first speed bump.
As of late, I’ve had to go into the Seattle office for a couple of in-person client meetings. Between that and Charlie going back to work, at least, I hoped that’s where he’d been off to, we saw less and less of each other.
Each time our paths crossed, he was exhausted.
His clothes were a mess and honestly, so was he.
I begged him to take a break and relax, but he wouldn’t listen.
His mannerisms were erratic, and he frantically ran around waving his arms and carrying on unintelligible conversations with himself.
He would walk right by me without acknowledging my presence, taking off to God knew where for hours on end, and crawling into bed late at night.
My heart was breaking. What else was there to think other than he’d found someone else.
Our sex life had become non-existent, and Charlie wasn’t one to go days without it. The nights no longer belonged to us. I’d go to bed alone and wake up the same way. I knew he came home at some point, based upon certain items that were moved around the house.
After several weeks of this, it affected my sleep and in return, performance at work.
I’d been called into a one-on-one meeting with my boss, and we agreed it was in my best interest to take an extended leave of absence.
I didn’t go into details with him, just left it at my partner wasn’t handling the loss well.
With Charlie’s and my paths no longer crossing, the only way to resolve whatever this was, was to confront him.
With this time off it allowed me to basically stalk my own home twenty-four-seven now and figure this out.
If it meant seeking help for Charlie, then so be it.
His mental and physical well-being were what mattered most to me.
It was mid-afternoon on a Wednesday when the sound of metal hitting the wood floor drew my attention.
Out of the office and down the stairs I went and found Charlie picking up a coppery artifact from the floor, animatedly cursing himself.
I watched him for a few moments as he agitatedly paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, tugging at his hair.
The pocket watch dangled between the fingers of his right hand.
His behavior unnerved me, scared the ever-loving fuck out of me, to be honest. He repeatedly yelled, “Why did he do that?”
I couldn’t take it anymore, I stalked across the room, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him.
“Charlie?” I asked but received no response.
It was as though he was in a trance. “Charlie!” I yelled, but he kept mumbling.
I was losing him, he was succumbing to the voices in his head, and I feared a padded cell would be his next stop.
I shook him with all my might, shouting at the top of my lungs, “Charlie!”
He stopped, his eyes darted left and right, unable to focus. Those beautiful blues were devoid of all emotion, like the light behind them had diminished. “Charlie, my love, come back to me.” I pulled him to my chest and lost it, bawling uncontrollably. “Please.”
“Alex?” He whispered.
“I’m here, baby. What’s happening to you?” Tears streamed down my face.
Once he regained focus, the reality of whatever had taken place hit him. “Oh, Alex. What have I done?”
Those words were not what I wanted to hear, and the anger I’d cast aside in order to comfort him hit me. I pushed away, holding him at arm’s length, dreading the answer to the question I was about to ask. “Who is he, Charlie?”
“Who’s who?” he mumbled.
I moved away. Containing my emotions was proving to be a challenge. “You know who, Charlie. Who’s your lover? Your dealer? Or is he both?”
“What are you talking about?” That question was enough to bring him around.
“Look at you.” I gestured to his unkempt appearance, the dark circles under his eyes, the grayish tone his skin had taken on. “You’re gone for days on end. You look like you’re coming off a major bender. Are you fucking someone else?”
“Fucking who, Alex? You’re the only one I fuck,” he shouted back.
“You haven’t fucked me in weeks! Are you doing drugs?” My fists were balled at my sides, and I was on the verge of a total meltdown.
“I don’t do drugs, Alex. You know that, and I also don’t fuck around. It pisses me off that you would think I would.” Charlie distractedly fiddled with the watch again.
“You’ve lost all grip on reality. You’re never home, so I know something’s up.
I’ve never ever lied to you, Charlie, and as far as I know you’ve never lied to me.
Remember me? The man you supposedly love and promised to be faithful to.
” Anger overcame me like it never had before.
All rational thoughts were gone, and I was already running through my mind what I needed to pack before I left.
I refused to stand by and watch the life we’d built together fall apart at the hands of another man.
“Alex, I do love you. You know that. I’m not fucking around. I’m not doing drugs. I’m following some of the leads I found in my dad’s journals.” Arms extended as he came toward me.
I fell back on the couch, out of his reach, and buried my face in my hands, crying like I’d never cried before. Charlie sat beside me and rubbed my back. I wanted to pull away, but it seemed I needed his touch more than my anger.
“I’m sorry, Alex, I never meant to hurt you. I should’ve told you what I was doing, but it took me by surprise and once it happened, I couldn’t stop following it.”
“What in the fuck are you talking about, Charlie?” I dropped my hands and sat back, knocking him away. When I glanced up he was twisting the pocket watch in his hands again.
He stood and went right back to pacing. “This,” he said, pointing to the pocket watch. “This is the key to all my father accomplished. His leads, his travels, his journals – they all revolve around this watch.”
“You’re not making any sense. Look at you, Charlie,” I said, eyeing him up and down. “When’s the last time you’ve showered? Eaten? Even looked in the mirror?”
He glanced across the room at the mirror hanging above the fireplace and caught a glimpse of himself. His fingers traced along his sunken cheeks, and when the shock registered, he began to cry. “Now I understand what happened to my father.”
“What do you mean?”
He held up the watch. “This, Alex. This is the source of information, it’s also the cause of his death.”
I reached for the watch dangling between his fingers, but he pulled back. I grabbed at it, our hands met as the dial on top turned and the pin depressed. He tried to pull the watch back and as he screamed, “No!” the distance between us increased, Charlie and our living room faded away…