Seeker (23 page)

“Oh yes, you said. Well, maybe a decent coffee is needed while you wait.” Frederick smiled. “If you're going to leave me for someone else then I might as well enjoy the time I have with you.”

Frederick was pleased at how quickly Willem decided that a coffee would be a good idea, but not as pleased as he was by the look of disappointment on Willem's face when he realised that they'd soon be parting company.

They walked down the slope and came out on the high street where Frederick led Willem to the closest Starbuck's. Once inside Frederick suggested a table near to the counter. Willem placed his bags on the floor and sat down, facing the windows to watch out for Charlie. His tone confirmed his disappointment at the prospect.

“I'll get the coffees in,” Frederick said.

“Fred, you don't have to.”

“No, but I want to.” Frederick smiled, and placed a kiss on Willem's lips. Willem did not pull away, and when Frederick stood up Willem's eyes were still closed, savouring the taste of the lips on his. He opened his eyes slowly, his face lighting up with a broad grin. Frederick winked at him. “Won't be long.”

While Frederick approached the counter and ordered the two cappuccinos he continued to probe Willem's thoughts. A task he was finding increasingly difficult. At first it had been simplicity itself, but now he could barely read Willem's surface thoughts. It puzzled him, but it also pleased him, since Willem had wilfully chosen to come with him.

Frederick ordered the drinks and looked over at Willem, who was now looking out of the window, his hands playing with the phone in his jeans pocket. He took the drinks off the girl behind the espresso machine and returned to the table. Willem removed his hand from his pocket and smiled at Frederick.

“This better be good coffee,” Willem said, accepting the long cup. “I'm not a huge fan of Starbuck's, what with them being the competition.”

“The competition?” Frederick asked, taking his seat once again, then nodded as if he'd only just remembered. “Of course, your expanding empire. Do you think you will get that unit at King's Cross?”

“Don't see why not. And if I do…well, I'll be shipping Ste there.”

“Ste?”

“The best manager I got. He's worked for me for so long now, most reliable and trustworthy guy I've ever known,” Willem said, and Frederick nodded in understanding.

“Always good to have reliable people around you. People you can trust,” he added, quite innocently Frederick thought.

“For sure. So, yeah, Ste will set up the new place without breaking a stride, then time to make him area manager. I'll be needing one by then.”

“Ah,” was all Frederick said to that, and watched Willem sip the hot contents of his cup. It was then that Frederick decided that when Willem was in touch with his true self he would take great pleasure in telling Willem about Stephen's betrayal. It would be interesting to see how the new and improved Willem would deal with Stephen.

“Cappuccino up to standard?”

“Yes,” Willem said, smiling with his brown eyes, “it'll pass muster.”

“Glad to hear it,” Frederick said with a laugh. They sat there in silence for a moment, just looking at each other, the activities of the coffee shop fading away into the background. Right then nothing else seemed to matter.

Frederick narrowed his eyes, wondering at just what was happening between them. It went beyond his mission; something deeper was going on now. He sat forward and took Willem's hands in his, glad to see that Willem did not pull back. “We're connecting, are we not?”

Willem swallowed slowly, and nodded his head. “Yes,” he answered in a low voice. “I've no idea why, but I can't help but feel this was meant to be.” He laughed, and shook his head. “Sorry. How cheesy was that?”

“Not the bit of it.”

Almost as if some force was pulling them together they both leaned forward and their lips met. It was a kiss that put their brief encounter in the toilet on the train to shame, seeming to last forever. Eventually they drew their tongues back into their own mouths and sat back. Willem went to speak, but no words came.

“Well,” Frederick began, but stopped when he noticed Willem's attention centred on something just behind his shoulder.

Frederick turned slowly. Standing in the doorway was Charlie.

Frederick wasn't sure what was cuter, Charlie's crumbling visage or the Clinton's bag he held in one hand, which no doubt held some little gift he'd bought for Willem. Frederick's lips curled up into a smile, and he glanced at Willem, not entirely surprised to see the guilt sweeping across his features.

“Willem,” Charlie said, but only just.

Frederick didn't look to see, but it was clear that Charlie was sinking into a pit of confusion and hurt. He didn't much care, bigger things were about to happen for Willem and Charlie was not a part of it.

Instead Frederick watched Willem intently, enjoying the way the guilt slowly transformed into determination when his eyes locked with Frederick's.

Willem had made up his mind.

Frederick looked back at Charlie, smiling at the human who had lost the man he had hoped to love. The meaning behind Frederick's smile was clear.

You have lost, Charlie, Willem is mine. Now go before I eviscerate you
.

It seemed unlikely his thoughts penetrated Charlie's mind, but the human got the message, turned, and left.

“So, that was…?” Frederick asked, returning his attention to Willem, smile and voice the epitome of innocence.

“Doesn't matter,” Willem replied, looking at the cappuccino in his hands. He shook his head. “It's strange. I came here to be with Charlie, but now…” He lifted his head, and Frederick was rewarded by a sparkle in Willem's brown eyes. “All that matters is right now. You and I.”

As it should be
, Frederick thought.

* * *

It was decided quickly that Willem would accompany Frederick while he met up with his “business partners,” before they headed back to Frederick's place to get changed for a night out. They backtracked to the train station and got a train to Benfleet, and from there a bus onto Canvey Island where Frederick's associates were situated.

They had bought an old factory in the industrial area of West Canvey back in 1953, shortly after the North Sea Flood which had cost the lives of fifty-eight Canvey residents. The converted factory was not very far from the marshes and within walking distance of Canvey Wick nature reserve, a place Frederick often spent time talking the small hours away with Celeste.

Canvey Island was separated from most of South Essex by a network of creeks, and was prone to flood from the intense tides coming in from the North Sea, but its seven square miles was protected by fifteen miles of concrete sea walls built in the '80s, as well as flood sirens and an internal surface storm drainage system which pumped the excess water back into the Estuary surrounding the island. Since the defences had been installed Canvey had only suffered minor flooding, but still Frederick wondered at the sense of his associates buying up property on the island.

Other than the factory, Celeste pretty much left the industrial side of Canvey alone, but she had her fingers in much of the properties and amenities to the east of the island where the residential areas were constructed, including a small holiday camp and many seafront restaurants. Frederick shouldn't have been too surprised really; Celeste was a woman of affluence and could never settle for being a minor player in any place she spent much of her time. She was the same in her native France, owning more properties and businesses than most people would believe, but then she'd been around long enough to build up quite a
résumé
.

As usual Frederick felt his blood warm at the thought of a reunion with Celeste. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her for a long time; two days was a short time in anyone's life, especially his. But time apart from Celeste was never a good thing really, often necessary, but rarely out of choice. They had been together for so long it was almost as if they lost something of their functionality when away from each other. But on occasion parting company was needed, and the last two days was a case in point.

Willem stopped outside the factory and looked up at its imposing edifice. He glanced at Frederick. “I'll wait out here.”

“Why?”

Willem frowned, unable to take his eyes off the grey building. “I don't know, I just…” He shook his head and turned to Frederick, his face conveying his helplessness in expressing his feelings on this. He forced a smile. “Just being silly, probably. But I don't want to get in your way. I'll wait here while you take care of your business.”

A smokescreen, and Frederick knew it. The ka in him was at odds with Willem now, and his humanity was fighting against it. Frederick smiled to himself, and placed an arm around Willem's shoulders. “It is going to be fine. I told them I've got company, and they're looking forward to meeting you.”

“Yeah?”

“For sure.”

Frederick watched Willem's face, as the man weighed it up. He felt Willem relax under his arm. “Okay, cool,” Willem said with a firm nod.

“Good.” Frederick hefted the weight of Willem's holdall in his hand and took Willem's hand in his free one. He gave it a gentle squeeze. “Come on, then.”

Hand in hand they walked towards the factory, Willem totally unaware of what awaited him inside, and Frederick glowing with anticipation at what was to come. He had been waiting for so very long he could hardly believe that finally the greatest event in the lives of his people was almost upon them.

“When did you tell your associates you had company?” Willem asked suddenly as Frederick released his hand and reached for the door.

Frederick stopped, his hand resting against the door. He looked at Willem and blinked. “Ah,” he said.

* * *

They walked through a high vaulted passageway that ran the length of the factory, having left Willem's luggage in a small room at the front of the building. The passage split the factory in two, with doors along either wall leading to various rooms and chambers. In the centre of the ceiling high above was a large skylight, the sun shining through. Occasional balconies ran the length of the passageway, with three of them branching out to bridges linking several of the upper chambers. There were no electric lights along the passage, instead torches made of kindling hung next to each of the paintings that filled the gaps between the doors all along the passage. The paintings were portraits of people known to Frederick; some more so than others, while a few of the paintings showed landscapes of places that he and Celeste had visited over their long years of companionship. Most of them sparked memories in him. Over there was Strathclyde Loch in Scotland as it looked at the turn of the twentieth century, over here was a portrait of an elderly man in a tuxedo of a bygone era, his deep brown eyes watching as Willem and Frederick passed by. Frederick smiled, he had always liked that old face, there was an air of wisdom about it that he missed greatly. Every time he saw the painting he felt wistful.

“That's you, isn't it?” Willem asked.

For a second Frederick started in surprise, then realised Willem was pointing at a different painting. “Yes, that is indeed me.”

Of all the paintings in the passageway it was the only one not painted by Celeste. It showed Frederick and an old woman of about eighty, standing tall, her eyes still sparkling with strength despite her apparent age. They stood against the backdrop of
Château de Maupassant
in Marseilles, France. He reached out a hand and ran his fingers along the body of the woman.

“Your mother?”

Frederick shook his head and laughed. “No, it's Ce…” He stopped himself abruptly. Some truths Willem simply wasn't ready for. By the start of next week, though, so much would become clear to him. But not right now, so instead Frederick said, “someone very dear to me. About five years ago.”

“What happened to her? Is she…?”

Frederick placed an arm around Willem's shoulder. “She's still around. You will get to meet her soon.”

“Good,” Willem said, allowing himself to be guided to a door a little further up the passage. “I want to meet all the important people in your life, hear the stories they have about you. Learn about the person you were before meeting me.”

Frederick smiled, wishing he could say the same. He knew ample about the person Willem was, but it was the person he was to become that interested Frederick mostly. “More cheese?” he asked playfully.

Willem laughed, looking away in embarrassment. “A little.”

“Willem, let's not rush things too much. We have all the time in the world, and much more besides.”

“Wait,” Willem said, placing a hand over Frederick's to stop him opening the door. Frederick looked at him closely, and was surprised to see something like fear in Willem's eyes. “Are you sure this is okay?”

“What do you mean?” Frederick asked, enjoying the feeling of warmth from Willem's hand.

“I don't know. I just feel like I'm…intruding or something. I know you said these are your business partners, but…” Willem indicated the paintings. “There's something more than just business here, Frederick.”

He was clearly in two minds, which made a lot of sense to Frederick. But Celeste was waiting to meet him, and Frederick couldn't keep her waiting for much longer. He released the door handle and linked his fingers with Willem's, pulling Willem closer to him.

“Do you trust me?” he asked softly, their noses almost touching.

Willem swallowed, but didn't answer.

“My business partners are the only family I've got left, Willem. Understand that. We've worked together a very long time, we know each other intimately, and I assure you that they will like you. And can't wait to meet you.”