Irene’s mouth opened, and she was obviously talking, but no sound came out.
“Yeah…I’m going to assume I need Ollie here to actually hear you, so you may want to wait until he gets back before saying anything important.”
Her mouth shut, and Noble could only assume she had heard him.
He glanced over as Ollie stepped out of the restroom and hurried back to the table.
“Did she say anything?” the little witch asked softly as he sat down.
“She tried, but I couldn’t hear her.”
Ollie blinked. “Oh, maybe I need to be here for it to work? I haven’t really tested it out. And as far as I know, every time Annabel and Jahla were in the same room, I was also there,” the man mused, before looking over at Irene and saying, “Hello.”
“Hello,” she spoke, her voice sounding almost hesitant, as if she was worried it wouldn’t work again. But fortunately, this time, sound actually came out.
“Heard that,” Noble drawled. Wanting to get past the introduction stage of things quickly, he said, “Hi, I’m Noble, and this is Ollie. Could you confirm that your name is Irene Genson?”
“I am.” She giggled happily, before quickly blurting out, “This is so strange. No one’s ever been able to see me. So, as you can imagine, talking was pretty much out of the question. Though, now that you can see me, and I can talk, I’m not really sure what to say. It’s almost like I’m rusty. Which, if you knew me, you’d find hilarious. Ask anyone who did and they’d say I was a chatterbox, and frankly, could probably stand to say less!”
Noble didn’t know her at all, but based on what she just said, without taking even a fake breath in between sentences, she was likely correct about the last part. Not that ghosts needed to breathe, but he assumed—like the taking steps while floating thing—it was automatic. Besides, she had in fact taken a breath at the end.
Ollie smiled. “So, hi, Irene. Yes, we can see you and hear you. And we are here to help you…move on? That is the best way I can explain it, I think. I can’t tell you exactly where you’ll move on to, but I am assuming you have something keeping you here. But before we get into all that, our best guess is that you were murdered. Is that right?”
“Yes!” the ghost chimed, way too brightly. “Not a fun experience, although I don't remember dying per se.”
“Do you know who killed you?” Noble asked.
Irene shook her head. “I don’t.”
“Can you tell us what you do remember?” Ollie pressed.
“What I remember… Well, I stayed behind alone after closing. I didn’t intend to that day, but decided at the lastminute, after locking up, that I wanted to get some paperwork done. While my name may not have been in the diner’s name, I am…or rather, Iwastechnically the co-owner.”
“I’m surprised I didn’t know that…” Ollie mused with a frown, as if it would be normal for his Baby to know about some small detail from over sixty years ago.
Then again, with the man’s love of history, maybe it was. Funny how Georgie didn’t bring that fact up, though.
Noble asked, just to confirm, “So, you opened the diner together with Marlow Babs?”
“Yes, we were friends and business partners, and we split all the expenses equally. Anyway, as I was saying, I stayed behind in my office to work. It was quite late by the time I finished, but as I was leaving my office, I heard a noise coming from the kitchen. Thinking nothing of it, I headed in, just to be sure we weren’t being robbed, which I suppose was stupid of me. I only made it a few steps into the kitchen…and there was this—” Her face pinched. “—horrifying crunch, and pain, and then…the next time I opened my eyes, I was like this.” She waved at herself.
“How was your relationship with Marlow? Or better yet, Georgie?”
“Good. Good, the man was my best friend, and had been since we were teenagers. Marlow was—ah… What do you young people call it now?” She frowned, then her face suddenly brightened up as she chimed, “Oh, right! He was the introvert to my extroverted-ness! He liked to stay inside, and was always pretty quiet, but he was a good, kind man, and a great friend. His wife could be a bit high-strung, but still pretty nice.
“As for Georgie, I mean, he was a good kid. A good man now, I suppose. Though I don’t know why you are asking about them. I really don’t think they’d hurt me. They…” She frowned, trailing off for a moment, before wispily saying, “Someone else was there…”
Ollie’s eyes widened. “Someone was there? Didn’t you say you were alone? Though I suppose you obviously weren’t alone if someone killed you…”
“I thought I was, but now that I’m saying it, I realize I wasn’t. At least, I think I wasn’t… I’m not actually sure if what I’m remembering really happened. It’s just so…vague in my mind now. But you see, there was this really nice padded bench in the kitchen. It was in a little nook, hidden behind some supply shelves. Sometimes the staff liked to nap on it. And right before I died, I saw eyes staring back at me through the cracks between the supplies. They were wide and scared.”
He looked briefly at Ollie, before turning back to the ghost. “Did you recognize them?”
Irene’s frown deepened, as she stared blankly for a moment before shaking her head. “I’m sorry, no. Maybe at one point I did, but now they aren’t clear enough in my head for me to place them.”
Ollie took a calming breath. “So, someone killed you, and someone else witnessed it happening. The question is…why did they stay quiet? And an even better question, for you specifically, Irene…do you know why you are still here? What is holding you back?”
Noble had some guesses on the first part, but kept them to himself, and instead added, “If it’s revenge, I’m afraid you’re out of luck, as whoever did it is likely dead already, or near to it age-wise.”
