Following Ollie out and into the next room, he eyed the displays that lit up when the man flipped the switch. With wooden walls and floors, instead of the whole room being the display, this one had small display cases spaced throughout. Each had a mini world inside, often nature-related, as they were full of small animal figurines.
That described most of the cases, except for the three large ones that lined the left wall. While they also showed off miniature worlds, the only figurines inside were gnomes.
“Are the gnomes in here newer?” Noble asked.
“Ah, everything is technically an antique, but you are right, most of these are newer than the ones in the other room, though a few are just as old. They are mainly here because they are small. Cute, aren’t they?!”
“Very cute,” he agreed, staring down at the man. And he wasn’t lying. Ollie was, in fact, adorable.
Flipping the lights off with a giggle, Ollie said, “Viewing done, let’s go check out the case file!”
Ollie setthe folder aside on the table as he sagged a bit in his chair, staring blankly at the shelf that he knew held all books on ghosts in the secret library. “I feel this just further confirms that it likely was Marlow.”
And Ollie didn’t know how to feel about that. As quiet and kept to himself as Marlow could be, the man had always seemed…kind. Like, every interaction he’d had with the man had been positive. How had he missed that Marlow was capable of something like this?
Am I really that blind to the bad in the people around me?He gnawed on his bottom lip at the thought…
Noble clucked his tongue. “It confirms that the blood was cleaned up, since the police didn’t find any. But then, we already knew the body had been moved, since she died there. They listed him as a possible suspect, yet aside from some interviews, he was never charged. The problem for me is that his alibi was his family…” The man trailed off and started to stare at him a bit too intensely, before reaching out and prodding his hands apart. He’d apparently been wringing them together hard enough for his skin to redden.
Not sure how to react, Ollie smiled hesitantly.
“Ollie, stop beating yourself up over not realizing what that man had done. You weren’t even born when it happened. Not to mention that you didn’t even know about Irene’s death until recently. Based on the notes, not even the police thought he did it. You weren’t the only one fooled, and you have even lessreason to doubt it, since you didn’t have a single clue as to who she was, or that someone related to the diner had died.”
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I just feel…stupid. Like, how couldn’t I have noticed? But then, I also didn’t notice that William was a serial killer, and had bad intentions when he invited me inside that night. Like, clearly, I’m not that smart.”
At least, not as smart as he once thought he was…
“Ollie!” Noble snapped harshly. “Don’t talk about yourself that way. You are not stupid.”
“But aren’t I? It was pretty stupid of me to go out and meet up with someone I didn’t know, to ask about a ghost. I feel someone smart would realize that was a bad idea.”
“Ollie, you aren’t stupid, you are just a bit…naïve. It’s not a bad thing, but it can be slightly detrimental when it comes to your safety. You view the world in positives, which sometimes means you don’t see the evil out there. It has nothing to do with your intelligence, and everything to do with you wanting to believe there is more of one than the other.”
“I mean, I do know that bad things happen, and that there are evil, unredeemable people in the world, but…maybe I just forget sometimes that a lot of bad things like to hide behind a fake façade of good?”
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look for the good in everyone. You just need to remember that you never know what’s hidden beneath that good.”
Ollie huffed. “Is it so wrong that I just don’t want to look at every person I meet or interact with, and automatically fall into the habit of thinking they must be lying or hiding something?! Just thinking about living like that feels exhausting.”
Noble knewfor a fact that living like that was exhausting. Mainly as that was how he’d lived his life for the last hundred and fifty years—though it was possible he had done so even before that. But if it meant Ollie could continue living his life, viewing the people around him as good, he’d live the next hundred and fifty years the same way, just so the little witch didn’t have to.
“Ollie, Baby, just keep living as you have, okay? There is nothing wrong with wanting to see the good in people. All I ask is that you don’t do things alone, take a bit more precaution when it comes to your safety, and stop trying to beat yourself up over not knowing something. You are mine, and I don’t like hearing you talk bad about yourself.” Cupping the man’s face with one hand, he pressed a kiss to his forehead. “Understand?”
“Mm,” Ollie mumbled with a sniff.
“Iunderstand that you do not have any further tracking information than I do. I’m not calling about the tracking. I want you to look into where the boxes went, not to tell me where your systemthinksthe boxes are. Because the system thinks the boxes were sent out and delivered last year, when they were in fact shipped to me last week,” Ollie said, doing his very best not to get testy, as Jahla tugged him further into the forest behind the library. They were following Annabel and Red, and Noble was right behind them.
That he was managing to hold his anger back was really a testament to his patience, considering the massive headache he had and his irritation at not one, but two boxes of newly cleaned books going missing in the mail! Specifically, two boxes of ratherrare and very out of print art books that would be a pain in the butt to replace…
The whole day had honestly been a train wreck. From the missing books, to multiple library guests spilling drinks, to a child having a meltdown and throwing books, to one of the toilets breaking and gushing nasty water everywhere. Like, it was only Wednesday and he was already feeling beyond done with the week.
“From our information, the two boxes you are talking about have already been delivered.”
Ollie’s left eye started to twitch. “Ma’am, the delivery date listed is fromlastyear. The boxes were shipped out this past Saturday, November 2nd ofthisyear. Unless someone’s invented a time machine, that isn’t scientifically or physically possible. It’s just impossible! Please, put an inquiry in to have them search for my boxes.”
“Unless there is proof of them not being delivered, I’m afraid it may not help.”
“Proof?! The proof is that I don’t have them! What I do have is a photo of the receipt from the company that shipped them showing the date they were shipped, and when they were supposed to be delivered. And what do you know, both are dated THIS year! All things I mentioned before. And if I really need to explain further why it’s impossible for a package shipped this year to be delivered the year before, then?—"
