Fanatic ⇒ Only Murders In The Building

12 → Open And Shut

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'Open And Shut'
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"No f*cking way!" Mabel exclaimed as the trio rushed out of her flat, the woman dragging Callum along by his arm as he was still dumbfounded by the revelation. "We have to tell Charles! He's gonna hate us!"

"He already hates us," Oliver stated before suddenly pausing to face the younger pair. "Guys! What a terrific goddamn finale this is gonna be."

"That's your concern?" Callum asked, his tone coming out more sharper and meaner than expected.

"Oliver, he could be in danger," Mabel argued, glaring at the older man.

"Right. Right. For sure," Oliver replied with a multitude of hand gestures. "But that might not be so bad either."

"Oliver, I swear to god, I will—" Callum began to threaten but pulled away by Mabel with a nervous 'okayy', worried for both men.

The trio piled into the lift and waited for Charles' floor. All was awkwardly silent except for the sound of Oliver drumming his fingers against the pram's handle. Callum hated them. Well, he guessed all of them did but he didn't expect it to hit him so hard. First his mother, now...

Ding!

The doors opened to the 11th floor as the trio flooded out the lift.

"Charles!" They all began to yell, rapidly knocking on his door and trying the handle.

"Okay, we-we gotta break the door down," Oliver stated with a serious tone.

"Excuse me?"

"Come on!" The older man exclaimed, pulling Mabel and Callum away from the door. "Okay. One... two... Callum, Mabel, go!" The younger pair did not move. Oliver looked between the pair and the door before running at the door himself. Mabel and Callum shared a look of disbelief.

Oliver hit the ground with a smack and a cry which made Callum laugh.

"Oh my god, she's gotten to you already," Oliver commented, immediately getting up from the floor. Callum released a sigh of relief as Charles stepped out the lift; a small weight lifted off his chest.

"What's going on?" Charles asked, looking around the group who had a mixture of worry and distress on their faces.

"So, funny story..." Mabel began, wanting to tell Charles slowly.

"You're sleeping with a murderer!" Oliver blurted out.

"What?" Charles questioned, eyes darting to Callum knowing he wouldn't lie about it. The Brit look distressed as if the world was falling down around him.

Charles invited the trio in so they wouldn't be shouting at each other in the corridor. Oliver and Mabel stood in front of Charles with the evidence, while Callum took a seat on the sofa, hugging a pillow as if it were a lifeline.

"You two could not look more crazy right now," Charles told the pair before sitting down next to Callum.

"For the record, it's not fun for me to tell you any of this," Mabel replied before pointing to Callum. "Do you think it's fun for him?"

"Oh yeah, so fun. Just found out my friend is a murderer. That's a second one to the list!" Callum said sarcastically, clutching at the pillow for comfort.

"Nor I. Nor does it give me pleasure to remind you that you're being recorded," Oliver reminded, receiving a slap on the arm from Mabel. "He's dating the potential killer, Mabel! The rules are changing by the minute!"

"Jan lives on the sixth floor. Tim was carrying someone else's trash bag full of suicide notes and cocktail glasses from the sixth floor," Mabel gently explained to Charles. "So, I know this isn't easy to hear, but... we found out that Tim was having some sort of romantic thing with—"