Instead, he had Jake report to him about Elliot’s movements, which turned out to be perfectly reasonable, even though Jake went as far as to tell Knight what exactly Elliot was taking from the kitchen. The one thing Jake was worried about was a video Elliot had made in the corridor in front of the room Knight allocated to him, but since there was nothing incriminating in that area, Knight told him not to worry. He half-expected nightly visits to the gargoyle statue, or Elliot attempting to somehow join Fane’s ghost in the cellar, but Jake said nothing of the sort, and he apparently installed a camera close to Elliot’s room to monitor him even as he slept. That was what dedication looked like.
And as Knight thought of it, he grinned at his blackened boots. Jake smiled back widely. “I’m finished. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Which was Jake’s code for ‘would you like your dick sucked?’.
For a moment, Knight considered getting some more polishing from their permanently eager prospect, but he’d only returned last night and kind of preferred the novelty of Elliot’s lips for now. “No. You did well. Keep that up and you might finally get that patch.”
Jake turned to Gray, but he dismissed him as well. “I’m good, Prospect, you can go.”
Jake sighed deeply but didn’t complain and got up, taking all the shoe-cleaning equipment with him.
Once he was gone, Gray glanced toward the kitchen and finally moved one of his chess figures. “He doesn’t have any mirrors in his room, does he?”
Knight looked up at him. “What? No. Why?”
Gray leaned back on the sofa, now awaiting Knight’s move. “We don’t want him approached by that thing on the other side. What if he offers his soul to bring Fane back to life or some other reckless shit like that?”
Laurent’s eyes went wider. “That’s exactly something he’d do, isn’t it? Can we even risk having him here?”
Knight’s entire body went cold, and he fought hard so as not to attract any suspicion with his body language. Fane’s ghost had already been called, and if nothing had changed he was still waiting in the room he’d died in, like an ugly fat fly that refused to leave you in peace.
He was already breaking sweat.
“Look, the point is that he keeps publishing those ridiculous claims because he doesn’t know any better. I want your name clean as much as you do, but if we have him here, we can actually work on showing him the way.”
Laurent gave one reluctant nod. “I suppose. There’s news about one of the recovered bodies. Both legs and arms of the man had been broken in several places. Maybe that is a good thing to mention.”
Knight raised his hand and waved at Elliot. “Come here! Did I tell you my first ever YouTube video has almost two thousand views already? Only a thousand more, and I’m winning that bet.”
Elliot’s mouth was too full for him to speak, but he promptly took his plate and marched all the way to the sofas. There was a spring in his step that had been missing before, and at least on an everyday basis he wasn’t wearing the makeup. It was for the better because his pretty, angular face was a treat to look at, even if half hidden under the bangs.
When Elliot got to their little group he sat on the sofa next to Knight. “You were supposed to make a man-bun in it, not take your shirt off on top of that. But if you play dirty, I can do that too,” Elliot said and took another bite of his monstrosity of a sandwich.
Knight groaned, completely distracted from the game of chess when Elliot’s thigh aligned with his. “And what does that mean?”
Elliot reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a necklace on a long rusty chain. “I’ve made a new video today, and I assure you it will top the popularity of the one about cannibalism. I found this necklace in a wall in one of the rooms. It has the initials ‘L.M.’ engraved inside.” He waved the simple, oval-shaped locket.
Knight snapped it out of his hand and looked at the thing. “How is that related to your content?”
“Well, I’ve made a video about this finding and how this necklace could be proof that Laurent Mercier and William were lovers. Despite knowing he was in danger if someone found out about his homosexuality, William still kept this gift from Laurent,” Elliot said with a smug smile on his face. Instead of finishing his first sandwich, he had a big bite of the other one on the plate.
Laurent got up ostentatiously, taking all his notes. “Excuse me, I suddenly feel nauseated.”
Knight looked at the necklace, then back at Elliot, completely blown away by the idiocy of that claim. “This necklace is not from the early nineteenth century. This is some cheap thing from the sixties!”