Chapter 34
Noble moved without hesitation or caution, taking off as soon as he saw the older man tense.
Reaching Georgie Babs, he disarmed the man in one swift move as he swung his shovel at Ollie.
Catching the man’s arm, he twisted it back, not slowing even when he realized just how little resistance or force there had been behind the attack.
Georgie shouted out in pain. The shovel dropping to the ground with a thud, Noble kicked the would-be weapon far away before kneeing the back of the man’s legs, forcing him to kneel.
The process only took mere seconds, and once he'd finished, he looked to Ollie, only to find his Baby staring up at him with wide, shocked, almost confused eyes.
“How…” Ollie rasped softly.
Shit…
How…had Noble moved that fast?
They had reached their destination, which was basically a random spot of grass in the middle of the woods, by what appeared to be a tree with a single line carved in it.
Then Ollie had heard movement, and he saw Georgie with his shovel—which sort of rubbed a bit of salt in his shovel-related wounds.
But that didn’t matter now, because the problem was…
the only one he’d seen in the area in that moment was Mr. Babs.
Noble had been nowhere in sight, and then he… And then he was.
Of course…it was dark. Ollie only had the single beam of a rather weak flashlight to see by, even if his night vision had possibly started to kick in slightly the longer they walked.
However, it wasn’t like he’d been paying super close attention to anywhere else at that moment, so he could have easily missed Noble’s approach.
Even if it had seemed like his boyfriend had moved faster than what should have been humanly possible—a ridiculous idea, for sure, as Noble was human—it most likely was just the result of him being too focused on the man coming at him with a shovel.
Really, it all boiled down to Ollie overreacting to what his brain had basically ignored in favor of self-preservation.
“Ah.” Ollie blinked, realizing that Noble was staring at him with a touch of concern. “Um, I’m fine. Thank you?” He smiled hesitantly, before looking down at Georgie, who was no longer yelling in pain, but he did look pained, or rather downtrodden… Ashamed maybe?
He cleared his throat. “Georgie…what—”
“Why couldn’t you just have stayed away?! I never wanted to hurt you…or anyone!” the man croaked out.
“Then why did you?” Noble asked darkly.
“I wasn’t… I wouldn’t…” The man trailed off, sagging further.
Ollie grimaced. “Georgie…who is buried here?”
Georgie’s head jerked up in shock, his eyes widening as he spoke, his words barely above a whisper. “How did you know?”
“Does it matter?” Ollie narrowed his eyes at the man before asking, “You’re not going to try to hurt me again, are you? Though I am a bit curious as to how you knew we were coming here.”
The old man shook his head. “No…I…I don’t know if I’d have actually been able to…
I just…I was at the gas station…and I saw you two.
I thought nothing of it, so drove off to grab something at the store quickly, but then, I saw you again!
And you were… You were going in the wrong direction, going where you shouldn’t… and I…” He trailed off on a wince.
Well, that explained how he knew and managed to follow them.
“Let him up, Noble.”
Noble hesitated for a moment before slowly letting go.
Despite Georgie having tried to smack him with a shovel, Ollie hurried to help the older man get up when he began to struggle as he tried to push to his feet.
Mr. Babs grunted on straightening up, rasping, “Thank you.”
“Welcome, Georgie.”
“Ollie,” Noble sighed.
“What?! He has a bad knee from an accident he had a few years back!?” Ollie defended. “Anyway, you know why we are here, don’t you, Georgie? So, just tell us. Tell us how Irene Genson died.”
Georgie stared at Ollie, a kid he’d known since he was a baby, and struggled with the realization he’d actually tried to harm him only moments ago.
“Irene…she…” He trailed off, wincing as the horrible memories came flooding back.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
George's eyes cracked open at Irene's voice, and he shifted on the plush, almost sofa-like bench to peek through the cracks in the shelves.
He opened his mouth to say something, but his words froze in his throat when he spotted the person standing directly behind Irene.
When he realized what was about to happen, he tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Tears filled his eyes as he stared on in horror, Irene’s shocked gaze staring right back as she collapsed.
Ollie watched a range of emotions flicker across Georgie’s face, as the man seemed to struggle to say anything. Sadness, shock, fear, and more, but the one that kept coming back was this look of utter helplessness.
Seconds passed before the man finally stuttered, “I-I couldn’t—I should have warned her! I w-wanted to warn her, but my voice wouldn’t come out! And then…it was too late. And—”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Noble asked.
“I wanted to!” Georgie cried before whimpering, “God, I wanted to…but it was… It was my mom!”
Ollie’s mouth opened to say something, but it snapped shut as the man’s words computed in his brain. He looked at Noble, eyes wide. The man just shrugged in response.
“Darline…? But…” Irene said slowly, sounding lost.
“Your mom killed her…not Marlow?”
“NO! Dad… Dad couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone a person.” Tears filled Georgie’s eyes. “You have to understand, it wasn’t really her… That last year…wasn’t really her!”
Ollie’s brow pulled before a vague memory wiggled free, a wave of sadness washing through him as he gasped, “Brain cancer. Your mom died of brain cancer. It was near her frontal lobe, wasn’t it?”
The man seemed to sag a bit, almost in relief, when he realized Ollie knew exactly what he was saying.
“Yes…that last year she was alive, it was like someone else had taken over. Dad and I tried to keep her calm…but she was jealous to the extreme, constantly accusing my dad of cheating. And it seemed, with each passing month, her paranoia got worse…and eventually, she started to get violent.”
“And let me guess, her paranoia latched onto Irene as the number one threat to her marriage?” Noble mused.
“Darline!?” Irene rasped again in continued disbelief. “Also, I would never flirt with or even be suggestive towards a married man! And Marlow was my friend, we… We never saw each other in that—”
Since Mr. Babs couldn’t see or hear Irene, he accidentally cut her off.
“I saw her standing behind Irene with the hammer, and the words just got caught in my throat when I realized what she was about to do. I don’t even know how she got there since my dad had hidden the keys to the other car in fear she’d hurt someone.
“There was so much blood… The smell was awful. And my mom was almost catatonic once Irene was dead. She just stared blankly without a word. I didn’t know what else to do, aside from obviously freak out.
“But eventually…my dad showed up, looking for us. Which was good as it never crossed my mind to call him, and likely if I had, it would have been used as evidence, I’m sure.
” The man took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
“You know, that was one of the few times I witnessed my dad openly and loudly weep.
The sound always stuck with me afterwards, as he sounded so hollow and lost at the time.
“They were friends, you know. Irene and him… Still, he never got angry or lashed out at Mom for what she’d done. But then, she wasn’t really there anymore… He bawled for a while, but eventually, he went silent. Even though the tears were still coming when he started cleaning my mother up.”
“Oh, Marlow…” Irene sighed sadly. “I knew she was sick, but he never told me how bad it had gotten…”
Ollie swallowed hard, blinking rapidly as tears threatened to break free. The fact of the matter was…the whole situation was a tragedy… No one had won or come out on top. Just pain all around.
Sniffling, he cleared his throat and managed to softly ask, without crying, “Did you help him bury her?”
“No…he didn’t want me involved any more than I was.
Dad cleaned my mother up and then drove us home, and went back to do everything himself.
I didn’t even know where Irene was buried until about six months before my dad died.
I think he knew he didn’t have much time left, and didn’t want her to be left completely alone…
He wanted… He wanted me to visit her, so s-she wouldn’t be lonely. ”
Georgie took a shuddered breath. “Anyway, after he buried her body, he came home and…we never talked about it. We went on like it never happened, as horrible as that sounds. I-I wanted to tell someone, but she was my mom, you know? And she was already dying… She did die, only two months later. They were my parents… I just…couldn’t lose both of them, even though I knew Irene deserved better. ”
Ollie rubbed at his eyes when his tears broke free as Mr. Babs started to weep.
At the same time, Irene reached out to the man, looking distressed when her hand passed right through him. “Oh, Georgie, you were a kid. You can’t blame yourself for not saying anything back then.”
“Mr. Babs, what happened wasn’t your fault.
You were a kid.” Ollie gently gripped his shoulder, because despite everything…
he cared about the man. He had known Georgie all his life, and he cared, so watching him like this hurt.
“Your mother was dying, and if you had spoken out about it, you’d have lost them both.
So, I get it. But why, at least after your father died, didn’t you tell anyone?
There’s no one left to protect. You were only seven when it happened.
You witnessed it, but didn’t help hide the body, and were never even questioned, so they wouldn’t have been able to come after you for lying.
The likelihood of you being charged with anything was low, so why didn’t you say anything? ”
The man shook his head. “I don’t know… Fear? I know it’s not right. The guilt alone should have forced the words out, yet…still I kept quiet… It was just…easier.”
Sniffling, Ollie brushed another tear from his face as more broke free, before pressing forward. “Isn’t it time for you to do the right thing, Georgie? Her family has a right to know what happened to her, don’t they? Don’t her brothers have a right to know?”
“They do,” the man sobbed. “They do, y-you’re right!”
“Call the police then, right now. Call them, and let Irene and her family finally get the closure they deserve,” Ollie said firmly.
Taking a stuttered breath, Georgie nodded and pulled his cell phone from his pocket.
They all stayed quiet as they listened to the man talk to the police. The call took longer than one would think, but after hanging up, Mr. Babs looked at him with tears still trailing down his cheeks before glancing towards the ground where Irene was buried and then back to him. “How did you know?”
Ollie hesitated, glancing briefly at Noble, who unhelpfully shrugged, before blurting, “I know this sounds crazy, but I saw her! She sort of…led us here?”
Georgie’s eyes widened. “Y-you, what?!”
“Her ghost… I can see her…ghost.” Yeah, that sounded about as crazy out loud as it had in his head. But the shift in conversation had finally stopped his tears at least.
Mr. Babs’ tears, however, seemed to fall faster as he stuttered out, “I-is she’s st-still h-here?!”
“She is.”
Sniffing hard, the man cried, “I’m sorry, Irene. I’m so sorry!”
So much for his crying stopping, he thought as his tears came rushing back and a distressed whimper slipped past his lips, the sound prompting Noble to move closer and run a comforting hand along his back.
“Tell him there is nothing to forgive. I never blamed him,” Irene said.
“S-she says she n-never blamed you, and there is nothing to for-forgive,” he stuttered, fighting back the urge to wail.
His face crumbled further as Georgie wordlessly nodded.
Ollie moved to hug the man, but Noble held him back. “Ollie, we should really go before the cops come. Or at least hide somewhere until we can blend into the crowd that will no doubt show up.”
He looked back and forth between Noble and Georgie helplessly, tears still trailing down his face. “B-but—”
“Go, go…” Mr. Babs waved them away. “I’m not…going anywhere.”
Nodding, he clung to Noble’s arm as they turned and walked away from the still weeping man, Irene trailing behind, Ollie’s heart breaking a bit as they did.
When Georgie was out of view, Irene softly rasped, “I never blamed him, I… I knew… I knew it was him behind the shelves. I thought I didn’t know who it was, but I did! I’m sure I did at some point. But then I guess I forgot…” She frowned.
Ollie sniffled and tried to take a calming breath. “M-maybe time makes the memories confusing?”
Something he should look into, when he didn’t feel like curling up into a ball and becoming a sobbing mess, as it was pretty important to know how much they could trust a ghost’s memory. But then, maybe it was just like a living person’s? Tinted by bias and faded with time.