That night, Gabriella got home and crawled straight into bed. They’d stayed for a few hours after the case ended, wrapping things up with Father McEnerney and making sure everything had been taken care of. There was no paperwork to send in, but James still wanted to keep a record of everything that had happened, both for future use and just in case anything more came up.

Amelia wasn’t severely injured, but Dr. Oliver still wanted her to get checked when they’d called her for advice. Amelia hadn’t been thrilled, but she agreed to go to the emergency room. Bradley brought her there and James sent Madelyn and Gabriella home to get some rest. He and Graham were on tonight and, from the tired looks on both their faces, she assumed they’d both be sleeping through most of the shift. As Gabriella left, she knew her plans for the night were very similar.

Her studio apartment was dimly lit with the small strands of Christmas lights she’d bought at the discount store as she walked inside, dropping her bag on the floor and toeing off her shoes. Gabriella felt oddly detached from the events of the day, but she had enough experience to know that she’d spend the next few days processing it.

It was fine. It didn’t mean she couldn’t do the job, it just meant she needed to take care of herself. Maybe it was the fact that she’d finally taken that first step to finding help to do so, but she felt a little lighter tonight. She wasn’t quite as doomed as she tended to feel these days.

Just as she was drifting off to sleep a little while later, her phone buzzed on her bedside table, where she’d started leaving it again.

ELLIOT

Good night <3

Seeing his name glowing up at her, her breath caught slightly. She remembered the smirk on the mischief’s face, then the way it had so smoothly become Elliot. Even when she’d been positive it wasn’t him, some part of her had held onto the possibility that it might be. She’d kissed it. God, she’d gone further with the mischief than she’d ever gone with Elliot, and it was all because her job required it.

She was going to have to dig into that sometime, wasn’t she? No wonder everyone else was single. But at least this meant that maybe he wasn’t mad after all. She’d call him in the morning.

There were no nightmares that night. Gabriella woke up to the peaceful glow of her night lights at two o’clock in the morning, surfacing from a vague dream involving the beach. But everything was quiet and there was no sign of the mischief as she rolled over and went back to sleep.

---

Gabriella’s neighbors had put out jack-o’-lanterns and plastic skeletons on the front steps. One pumpkin gave her a sloppily carved grin from the bottom of the steps as she walked out that next morning.

Right. Tomorrow was Halloween. She’d been so busy with work that she’d nearly forgotten, which was almost funny. Maybe she’d leave a bowl of candy outside of her door for trick-or-treaters to take from. If there were any in her new neighborhood. She’d barely spent any time here, so she had no idea if there were any kids around.

It was as though a Halloween filter had been set over the world as she got into her car and drove to work. The trees were brilliantly red and orange, with the wind artfully swirling falling leaves around. The suburban neighborhoods she drove through as she moved away from the city center had varying degrees of elaborate displays up in their front yards. Skeletons climbed up vinyl siding and inflatable trees glowed in the cloudy light. It was all very festive and made her want a hot cup of tea and a scary book. Even as she was pulling up to her job where she banished monsters for a halfway decent paycheck.

As she walked up the front stairs, a plastic skeleton greeted her from the door. Its eyes flashed a fluorescent white as its jaw moved mechanically up and down. A tinny voice growled. “Happy Halloween!”

Graham and James had been on overnight last night. This was exactly the kind of thing James would do, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Once her heart rate had slowed a little, Gabriella had to laugh.

She walked inside and realized the skeleton wasn’t the only recent addition. Plastic pumpkins lined the stairs leading up to the main living area. A scarecrow loomed from the kitchen doorway. And a huge, cozy Halloween throw blanket was crumpled on the couch. Gabriella was tempted to take it and wrap herself up while she started her work, but it had already been claimed by Fang, who was curled up in it with her nose curled into her tail.

“Happy Halloween!” James called from the kitchen.

He walked out wearing the most hideous pumpkin sweater she’d ever seen. Gabriella burst out laughing and he grinned, then pressed a button on his shoulder that made the pumpkin’s eyes light up.

“Alright, which aunt did you steal that from?” Gabriella asked as he handed her a mug of pumpkin-spiced coffee a moment later.

“Bev, but she gave it to me,” James said.

“So this was all you?” Gabriella asked, motioning to the decorations around them.

“I thought it would be fun,” James said. “Since we’re not doing the party.”

His face fell just a little, but then he smiled again. “It was a stupid idea,” he said. “I thought it would be fun, but we’ve been too busy to plan anything fun and I don’t want to make people come in when they’re not working if they don’t want to. Especially if it’s going to suck.”

Gabriella wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, but James just took a sip of his coffee. “Besides,” he said. “I know you were all just being nice about it. It was a silly idea. So I did this instead!”

His face brightened again in a way that she knew from years of experience wasn’t completely sincere as he swept a hand across the decorations again. “I wanted to get one of those massive plastic skeletons,” he said. “But it was too expensive. Plus, Graham and Christopher would probably kick me out if I tried to store it at home. So I have to save it until next year.”

---

There was a quick team meeting when everybody got there a little while later. Amelia looked around the room with an amused, indulgent look on her face while Madelyn tucked the Halloween throw blanket more firmly around the cat’s sleeping frame. Bradley sat at a computer, typing and determinedly ignoring all of the festivities around him. Graham sat down next to Gabriella with a coffee mug of his own.

“I was so scared James was going to come home with that twelve-foot plastic skeleton,” he whispered to her when James was out of the room.

James came in a moment later and pulled a computer chair over to the front of the room. The handprint on his face was finally fading, looking less distinct than it had even when Gabriella got there. “Before we start the official meeting,” James said, “I just wanted to check in with everyone. How are you doing after yesterday?”

There was a quiet chorus of affirmatives, and James nodded. “Everything seems to be resolved,” he said. “Father McEnerney is going to keep in touch with the family for a little bit. And if anyone has any dreams about the mischief, even if you think it’s not really there, please let me know. I know it’s a weird frigging thing to report, but work with me on this one, yeah?”

The others nodded. “Good,” he said. “Alright, let’s move onto the official meeting, the one where we’ll actually have minutes. First thing’s first, there’s a new case today. The Foundation has gotten a few reports of strange things happening in one of the cemeteries in town- oh for Christ’s sake.”

He rolled his eyes. “They want us to look into what’s going on at Fairview Hills Cemetery. Um, I guess I’ll go take some pictures later. There better not be anything happening at Fairview Hills Cemetery anymore. But thankfully it took them this long to get it together.”

Gabriella rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s all, I think,” James said, glancing at his notes.

She waited for him to mention the Halloween party, but instead, he just closed his notebook and got up, signaling that the meeting was over. “I’ll head over there now,” he said, pulling on his coat. “A couple of blank readings and some photos should be enough to satisfy them. Then we can move on to whatever’s next on the schedule. Do me a favor and take a look while I’m gone?”

He walked down the stairs, put on his shoes, and was out the door a moment later, leaving the others still sitting in the living room. As soon as he was gone, Amelia turned to Gabriella.

“Has he mentioned anything more about a Halloween party to you?” she asked. “He was all over it a few weeks ago, but then stopped mentioning it and Halloween is tomorrow.”

If anyone was going to plan a Halloween party the day before, it would be James. So Gabriella wasn’t too surprised that Amelia mentioned it.

“Yeah,” she said. “He thought no one else was interested, so he said he just decorated instead. He didn’t want to waste our time.”

Amelia grimaced. “I guess I wasn’t obvious enough. I already bought snacks,” she said. “But I’d still be up for it if you all are. Tomorrow night?”

“I’m working anyway,” Madelyn said.

Graham shrugged. “I mean, if you guys want to, I’ll come by.”

“I’m not,” Bradley said. “If you want to, have fun. But I’m not coming in for a Halloween party on my night off.”

“Fine,” Amelia said. “I get it. But anyone who wants to, I’ll have takeout and beers.”

“Should we tell James?” Gabriella asked.

Amelia shook her head. “Nah,” she said. “He’ll just try to talk us out of it or think we’re doing it because we feel bad for him. I’m doing it because I want junk food and beer and to wear a goofy costume. Oh yeah, costumes are mandatory.”

Graham laughed. “Let me look through my closet full of costumes,” he said.

“I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic,” Amelia said.

“I’m not. Do you know how many faculty Halloween parties I’ve attended? Let me know if anyone needs one.”

Gabriella smiled, her mind already on what kind of costume she could get at the last minute.

---

It was lunchtime before Gabriella got a chance to call Elliot. She ducked outside and headed down the back stairs, sitting down on the bottom step. As she waited for him to answer, her heart sped up in her chest. And when he answered, sounding exactly like the mischief’s impression of him, it didn’t help her nerves.

“Hi,” she said. “It’s, um, Gabriella.”

He laughed. “I know.”

She winced. “Right. Listen, I wanted to say sorry about yesterday.”

“What about yesterday?”

Was he messing with her? “When you tried to ask me a question, and I rushed off the phone?”

“Oh, that. Yeah, that’s no problem. I knew you were working. What, did you think I’d be mad at you?”

She suddenly felt so foolish and when he laughed after her long pause, she felt even more so. “You were at work,” he said. “I get it, I spend half my life at work. What do you do anyway? I realized I never asked.”

“Historical preservation and research.”

The lie rolled off her tongue, and she remembered as she said it that it was James’s explanation whenever he had to hide his work. It was close enough that it almost assuaged the guilt, but not enough. She’d have to tell eventually, wouldn’t she?

“Oh, that’s neat.”

She could tell he was just being polite and was surprised that it was a relief. “It is,” she said.

“Was that all you wanted to talk about?” Elliot asked.

Hearing his real voice was helping her to anchor her impression of him back in her mind, tossing out the fake one. “No, actually,” she said, gathering up her courage. “I wanted to see if you want to have dinner with me again this weekend? I’m off on Sunday night. I’m sorry I haven’t actually confirmed a second date. I’ve been so busy, but I really like you and-”

“I’d love that,” he said.

Her face was bright red, she was sure of it. And she was grateful she was alone out here. “Great!” she said, a little too loud. “I mean, that’s great. I’ll call you tonight and we can figure out a place.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Hey, let your mom know that I can help with painting the downstairs bathroom, too. As long as Agatha behaves, that is.”

Gabriella’s heart skipped a beat, but Elliot laughed and she felt that touch of disappointment again as he continued. “Hopefully all the ghosts get in their Halloween fun and then we can move on for the real best holiday, Christmas.”

They chatted for another minute, then Elliot got off the phone, saying he needed to get back to his own work. He wished her a Happy Halloween and Gabriella responded in kind, not bothering to hide her smile as he said he’d be bringing his nephew trick or treating tonight. They hung up and Gabriella stayed out in the chilly backyard for another moment after they ended the call, enjoying the sharpness of the air on her face.

This was good. This was doable. She’d just take it a step at a time and see what happened. It wasn’t like she was in any sort of a hurry.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 24