Chapter Text
"What about disguises?", asked Charles, all of a sudden. "That's a detective thing innit?"
They'd been tearing their hair out on their second case, which Charles had already dubbed 'the bloody bouquet debacle' -even if, as Edwin had pointed out "we're not even done with the case Charles, we should at least wait until it's closed to name it"-.
Nice folks were having their dream wedding, bride is handed the bouquet, she tosses it, and suddenly everyone in sight is ready to claw eyes out for it. Like, litteraly. When the whole thing was done, all that was left was a very gore wedding venue and about fifty corpses.
Fifty corpses that'd shown up -well, not all of them, thankfully, and most had stayed outside while a couple headed in- in their brand new office, having heard of Dead Boy Detectives, solvers of supernatural mysteries.
"That might be useful, yes", admitted Edwin. "After all, many great detectives wore disguises, even if Hercules Poirot was quite against all these sorts of things. Actually, I read something about it just yesterday-"
And off he was, diving into the piles of books they'd left on the floor, until Charles was done putting up the shelves.
They'd been pretty successful with their first case, and maybe it'd gone up to their head -along with the very handsome reward the deceased wedding party had promised- because they'd accepted immediately, only to then spend the next few days finding... nothing.
"We could interview that lady at the wedding venue, right?", suggested Charles, as Edwin grabbed a book, turning pages quickly. "The wedding planner? She's the only one who survived, she's gotta know something."
"And if we could take on an alive appearance, we might be able to talk to her", nodded Edwin. "Brilliant idea, Charles."
Charles was very thankful, right here and there, that he couldn't feel heat or cold anywhere, because he was pretty sure he would've warmed like a tea kettle. Instead, he just gave Edwin one of those big grins that Edwin only seemed to now be getting accustomed to.
"I get a lot of those, you know", he said. "Finding anything?"
"Perhaps", said Edwin. "Look here..."
And that was how Mr. Rowland and Mrs. Payne were born, kind of.
Well, not that fast. First they had to actually understand what the book was saying, then customize those looks, then figure out the whole 'if you take off the item the charm that is linked to the whole outfit disappears and so no Charles, taking off your glasses to look cool is not an option'.
The customizing had been a whole thing too.
"It should be inconspicuous", said Edwin. "People that no one would pay attention to, that can go almost everywhere."
Charles tried to think really hard, but finally shook his head.
"Sorry, mate, haven't got the slighest idea."
They had a whole pile of detective books they'd been studying, and Charles picked up a random one, flipping it to see if it gave him any answer on the back cover -it did not-.
"Someone no one would notice...", muttered Edwin.
"Two people no one would notice", corrected Charles. "We're a package deal, remember?"
He put down the book, reached for another one.
"We could do like Miss Marple", realized Edwin. "No one ever notices her until she reveals the answer, do they?"
"You want us to dress up as two old ladies?", said Charles, pulling a face.
"Don't make this face Charles, that is quite impolite."
"I'm just saying", said Charles, holding his hands up as if in surrender, "if I'm gonna be seen again after all that time, I don't wanna spend the whole day..."
He tried to find a way to say it nicely, but it only ended as a lame "like that?".
"I see your point", said Edwin -he did not really see it-. "Well, I think we should take on adult forms anyways, that would spare us quite a few questions."
"Especially at a wedding planner company", nodded Charles.
"Right, we have to take that in consideration too."
Edwin pursed his lips, visibly thinking.
"We might have to go as a couple", he finally concluded.
The next thing he knew, Charles had suddenly disappeared.
"Charles?", he worried.
Charles appeared almost immediately again, looking sheepish.
"Sorry mate, forgot to not fall through the floor. Did you just say we should go there as a couple?"
"Well, yes. I would be the woman, and you would be the man", explained Edwin. "Trying to get married, looking for a wedding planner. It makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Right", said Charles, but he still looked a bit stunned.
He made a gesture, pointing at Edwin and then himself.
"Both of us together?"
Edwin scrunched his nose at that.
"I can see how it'd be uncomfortable-"
"No, no it's brills mate", assured Charles, and he even put on a big smile. "Proper investigating, right?"
"Right", said Edwin.
And that's how Mr. Rowland and Mrs. Payne -they actually argued quite a bit about whose name to use, before deciding they could very well keep their own- came to be, and found themselves sitting awkwardly in a waiting room.
Thankfully, the wedding planner was back from her sick leave -she probably needed it, having seen the whole 'people decapitating each other for a bouquet' ordeal-, and she soon came through the door of one of the rooms, giving them a bright smile.
"Mr. Rowland and Mrs. Payne?", she called. "If you'll follow me, please."
Edwin gave a look to the man sitting next to him, greying hair and glasses, and Charles gave a look to the woman sitting next to him, long curly hair and beret, before they stood up -Charles put an arm around his waist, which made him almost jump in surprise, but he'd told him before that he might do that, "you know, to make it more believable"-.
"I'm Patricia", said the wedding planner, giving them a customer service smile as they entered her office, Edwin trying to look very natural and not like he was freaking out about Charles' arm. "We are very happy that you chose our company, may I know how you have heard of it?"
"Clients", blurted out Charles, as he let go of Edwin so they could sit down -but instead, the damn man moved his hand to Edwin's lap, which was quite definitely not helping-. "They, uh..."
He glanced at Edwin, then back at the wedding planner, his usual Charles-smile not looking quite the same when it was on someone else's face.
"They loved the service."
"Well that's very good news", she said, grabbing a notebook. "What date were you thinking of?"
"7th of january", answered Charles, before Edwin could even stress about this, because how could he have not thought about this? But Charles just gave him a pat on the thigh, still smiling to Patricia. "Day we met."
It was, actually. And it was far enough in the future that it wouldn't be odd for them to already be planning the wedding.
"How lovely", commented Patricia. "May I ask if you'll be planning on keeping only one of your names, or should I use both names?"
"Simply Rowland is fine", said Ed shortly, before deciding they'd had enough with the chit-chat and they were here to investigate, after all, not decide on the flower arrangements for a future wedding. "However, we have heard of an incident linked to this company before..."
It was easier to get information when they looked like two concerned people who just wanted to get married without any repetition of the Black Dinner of 1440. Once the wedding planner had broken down crying talking about how she'd ordered the flowers from a shop she'd never gone to before and it'd been a bit shady but she'd been so stressed and all that had happened, they'd assured they'd stay in contact for their own wedding and left.
"Should get you a proper ring if we're keeping that disguise", mentionned Charles as they left, and Edwin somehow almost tripped over his own feet.