Chapter 32
Parked a bit down the street from the diner, Noble looked out the car window at the lamppost-lit streets.
At this time of night, the diner was already closed, and the roads and sidewalks were pretty empty, even if there were still some cars.
But then it was a cooler night, and Bab’s Diner was located on the very edge of downtown, so near enough to see traffic, but not close enough to the bars to actually be busy with pedestrians.
Lips pursed, Ollie hesitated as he said, “I know there are some street cameras, but…”
“There are none behind the diner. If we head around to the alleyway behind the hardware store next door, we’ll at least be able to avoid any surveillance connected with it.”
The man smiled. “Did you figure that out while watching last time?”
“That I did.”
“Let’s go!” His little witch giggled as he snagged his messenger bag from the floor and tugged on the strap.
Hopping out of the driver’s side, he locked his truck and walked around the front to the sidewalk, but found himself pausing.
A frown slipped onto his face as the hair on the back of his neck rose and fell, as if someone had been watching, but had quickly looked away.
His gaze roamed the street, and while he spotted a car leaving the gas station, it was already too far away for him to really spot the driver, and he didn’t notice anyone else.
“You coming?” Ollie asked hesitantly. The man was already nervously winding his hands together as he shifted from foot to foot on the sidewalk, waiting for him.
Giving his head a shake, he hurried onto the sidewalk. “Yeah, I just thought I felt someone watching us, but I must have imagined it.”
Likely, someone had been watching and had just been temporarily curious about what they were up to in an area of the street where most things were already closed.
Leading Ollie behind Andy’s Hardware, they hurried past it, to the back of the chrome metal-sided diner.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Ollie pulled out a notebook, and what appeared to be…a can of white spray paint. Which explained the sound the man had been making when he was walking.
“Not that I’m opposed to vandalism—”
The man blinked before looking at the can in his hand with a giggle. “Oh, it’s spray paint chalk. I figured it would work better than stick chalk, with the side of the building being what it is.”
His brow rose at that. “Didn’t realize that was a thing.”
“Yeah, kids have all sorts of fun new things to play with now.”
After flipping the notebook open to the page the spell had been copied down on, the witch quickly—and rather cleanly, he might add—sprayed the first drawn symbol onto the back of the building, the white chalk paint showing up nicely against the chrome.
The symbol itself was made up of shapes and swirling lines, along with what looked like interlocking chains.
It was interesting looking, but didn’t appear significant otherwise, so most would just assume it was graffiti.
Ollie stared, his gaze flicking between the building and the page, before he crouched and placed his still-open notebook on the ground. He dropped the can back into his messenger bag as he began to dig for something else with both hands.
Noble stood there quietly as Ollie continued to search, the witch’s face scrunching up as he obviously struggled to find whatever he was looking for.
“Aha!” Ollie chimed after a few moments more, as he pulled out a rather thick-looking leather bracelet with snaps, and what looked to be a white marker?
“I thought about writing on myself, but couldn’t think of anything that would stay on well enough without smudging, but also wouldn’t be too hard to remove.
And I figured I could always burn the bracelet if I find later that I can’t get the acrylic paint marker off. ”
Even if part of him was sure Ollie would be fine… “Better safe than sorry.”
“That was my conclusion as well,” the man said as he pressed the bracelet flat on the ground, hesitating a moment before beginning to draw the second symbol.
It took at most a minute for the witch to complete the drawing, which was similar to the first, aside from a few lines angled in a different way.
Once he had finished, Ollie carefully snapped the bracelet on, before putting his supplies and notebook away.
The witch had just started to wave his arm around to help the marker dry faster, when Irene appeared two inches in front of the still-crouched man.
Noble flinched ever so slightly at her sudden appearance, while his witch let out a strangled yelp as he lost his balance and fell back on his ass.
Blinking, Irene released an almost uncertain laugh as she looked around, before saying, “Oh, hello again.”
Helping Ollie to his feet, as the man grumbled to himself about ghosts being stupidly good at jump-scaring unsuspecting people, Noble asked, “Still think you can take us to your body?”
The ghost’s brow wrinkled for a moment, before a wide smile appeared on her face as she said, “Yes. I’m sure I can.”
“Here!” Irene cried, pointing from the back seat, before quickly adding, “We’ll have to walk from here.”
The last bit was pretty obvious, Ollie thought as he eyed the area, while Noble pulled off the gravel road onto a patch of grass where the annoying little pebbles had spilled over and formed a makeshift parking space.
Considering it was a single lane road, he imagined the locals would use it to turn around, or to get out of the way of oncoming traffic. Either way, it was pretty rural where they were. And they hadn’t seen another car for at least twenty minutes of the forty-five-minute drive.
After pulling his flashlight from his bag and turning it on, Ollie unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out as soon as the truck was fully parked.
Hurrying around to the bed, as Irene basically floated through the side of the vehicle, he opened it and snagged the shovel he’d put in there before leaving the library.
“Um…Ollie?” Noble said slowly.
He glanced back at the man, who was now standing behind him. “Yes?” he asked with a smile.
“I didn’t ask about the shovel, when I really should have, and now, I guess I really have to…” His boyfriend sighed. “Baby, you can’t just dig her body up.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
The question was echoed by Irene, before she pointed out, “Wouldn’t it be the easiest way for me to be found?”
Noble’s face pinched. “Ollie, for one, you aren’t police.
And two, going to a random spot in a heavily wooded area that, from my guess, is either publicly or privately owned, and somehow managing to find a body is what one would call…
suspicious. Very, very suspicious, and highly unrecommended in general.
Lastly, I have a sinking feeling that you may not have thought any further than just digging her body up. As in, you have no plan beyond that.”
Ollie stared at the man like a deer in headlights at basically being exposed, before he let out a sheepish laugh and admitted, “I, um…may have just planned to wing it a bit?”
Noble chuckled. “I figured.”
“I mean…” Ollie scratched his cheek and glanced at Irene.
“There is a reason you are still here, right?
You want your brothers to know what happened to you, and wouldn't it be better for them to find out about it due to your body being found? And like, what better way to get the cops out here than a body?!”
“That doesn’t mean we need to actually dig her up. We can always call in an anonymous tip.”
“B-but what if they don’t find the right spot?! Oh, maybe I could stick my shovel in the right location, and—”
“Fingerprints,” his boyfriend pointed out.
“Right…” He sagged a bit, frowning as he looked down sadly at his shovel. Was it wrong that he had been fully prepared to dig up a body, and that it was sort of a letdown now he wasn’t even going to get to use his shovel at all? Like, it was a brand new shovel!? He’d been prepared!
Ollie sighed. He supposed it was a bit rude to dig someone up. He frowned—was it rude?
Shaking the ridiculous thoughts from his head, he couldn’t help but ask one more time, “Are you sure we can’t use it?”
“I’m sure, Baby.”
Huffing, he tossed his shovel back into the truck bed, wincing and blurting, “Sorry,” at the thud it made as it landed.
“It’s fine.” Noble waved away his worry about damaging his truck, then shut the bed and moved to the side door as he said, “But, speaking of evidence, there's no point in adding our footprints to the mix.”
The man dug around for a moment before pulling out two sets of what looked to blue booties that crime scene people wore.
“Oh, that was a smart thing to bring!”
Though…had Noble actually brought them…or were they already in his truck? Ollie supposed it was something the man might need as a bodyguard.
Was it? Well, if he worked with rich people, maybe they didn’t want him walking through their nice, expensive houses with shoes on. Booties would be faster than taking your shoes on and off.
Oh, maybe he should put together a crime scene kit! It would save time, and like, he could fill it with gloves and other useful stuff, so he’d never have to worry about fingerprints when possibly digging up a body again!
Not that he planned to go digging for bodies on the regular… Not that he was even getting to dig up a body this time…
He sighed as he wistfully thought, My shovel.