He ran a hand over the top of Ollie’s head, his red curls pulled into a messy bun like always. “Ollie, you didn’t know.”
“That excuse can only last so long,” the man murmured without lifting his head.
“Well, you have fun being dramatic. I’m going to try to contact some people,” Red said unhelpfully.
The witch’s head popped up with an obviously offended gasp. “I am not being dramatic!”
Noble glared after the familiar as he hopped off the table and left the room.
Looking back to Ollie, he tensed on finding the man’s eyes narrowed on him. “I’m not, right?!”
“You—” He laughed hesitantly. “—can sometimes be a little dramatic.” As the witch’s gaze narrowed further, he rushed to add, “But you aren’t being dramatic right now.”
“Right!? I am situationally and appropriately dramatic when I need to be. And that is fine.”
Noble gave the man a peck on the forehead. “You are, and it is, Baby.”
He chuckled fondly as the witch beamed at him—ah, so cute.
Ollie staredat the sketch on his desk after lightening a line around the man’s lip.
Staring at the almost piercing, dark, sunken eyes, the sharp, shallow angles of his face, the thick brow, the disheveled long hair, he felt a flicker of recognition, as if seeing someone after a long time, yet he was sure he didn’t know them… “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve seen his face recently.”
Noble, who was sitting on the couch in his office reading the newspaper, looked at it, his brow raised. “Why not try to think about where you’ve been recently? Maybe it will jog your memory as to where you’ve seen him?”
Where he’d been… Well, that would narrow it down as he hadn’t exactly been to too many places. The diner was obviously one, as was Old Bits and Bobs, Noble’s house, an office supply store, and the grocery store. Then there was that random location in the woods… Not to mention the police—AH!
“I know! I know where I’ve seen his face! A photo on the wall at the police station. It’s funny because when I saw it, I thought the man’s face looked familiar, but couldn’t place it. But then that makes sense, as I had only seen him once in that alleyway, and he had looked a lot less put together.”
Noble smirk. “Him being a deceased police officer is going to make finding his name a hell of a lot easier.”
“I’d say! And with his death likely having been violent and possibly occurring while on duty, it will make it even easier. Though, I suppose I may be assuming that last bit,” Ollie said with a giggle as he pulled his laptop over and opened it.
After quickly logging in and opening a browser, he typed ‘Westerly Heights police deaths on duty’ into the search bar and hit search. Ollie scrolled through, scanning the headlines and photos. He found what he was looking for only halfway down the page, and clicked the link.
“Found him! Undercover officer, Jack Hayes, died eight years ago while on duty during a drug-related shootout.”
Huh, he hadn’t realized they had that big of a drug problem in the area…
“Good job, Baby,” Noble said sweetly.
“Thank you! Now we just need to wait for Red to give us a place where we can actually buy the things we need to make the potion.”
Hopefully, that wouldn’t take long,he thought, as he quickly jotted down the man’s name in a notepad. And while he waited, he could…do some work-related research on how to make a gem glow scientifically. Research that was completely unrelated to his boyfriend possibly being his enemy—yep, unrelated…
Since Noble happened to be out running an errand, Jahla stood back, watching as Ollie calmly argued with an older white lady with dyed blonde hair styled into an inverted bob. Jahla mainly was there to make sure he didn’t get beat up. She supposed she should have just gotten security and let them handle it, but figured Ollie wouldn’t want to go that far unless things went south. Though, she was sure she could handle a barely five foot tall older woman in khakis and a white flowery blouse on her own. Regardless of what she could handle, Jahlacouldtell Ollie was starting to get angry by how clipped his tone was becoming.
“Ma’am, this is private property, and you have worn out your welcome. If you do not remove yourself, I will be forced to call the authorities to do it for me,” Ollie stated stiffly.
Yeah, her friend was reaching the end of his patience.
The woman’s face turned bright red in anger. “Authorities!? For what?! The one who should be arrested is you for allowing perversion in front of children!”
“Drag Queen Storytime features child-appropriate clothing and reading materials. And as I mentioned before, though I hate to have to repeat the obvious, the act of drag and dressing up is, in itself, not sexual. If you find it sexual, that is a you problem, and perhaps you should be questioning why you feel the need to sexualize everything.
“Not that it matters what you think, as legally I am in the clear. This is a privately-owned library, and as long as the programs I hold are appropriate for their target audiences, I can do what I dang well please. Now, are you going to leave on your own or am I calling the police?”
The woman glared for a moment, then glanced toward the road and back, an uncertain look in her eyes for a moment before the anger returned.
