Gabriella and Graham were in by now and both gave him a wave from where they were sitting around the coffee table. “Sorry I’m late,” Gabriella said. “There was something going on in Fitchburg, and the traffic was just clearing up while I was on my way over.”

“Bradley said the same thing. Don’t worry about it,” James said.

Gabriella glanced over at Bradley, who was working on a slideshow for their meeting. “You live in Fitchburg too?” she asked.

He shrugged, not looking up from his work. James waited to see if there was some snarky comment coming, but nothing did. Gabriella looked like she was trying not to be insulted and he couldn’t help the ridiculous little bit of pride at seeing both sides of this interaction. Bradley hadn’t said anything terrible and Gabriella hadn’t let him get to her.

Yeah, the bar was set in hell, but he’d take the progress.

He walked over to where Bradley was working and pulled out the computer chair next to him. “Need anything?” he asked.

“Space?”

Now it was James’s turn to ignore him. “Amelia’s got the state forest under control on her own, so we just need to do Sterling and Ashburnham. I was thinking you could do Sterling with Graham while I bring Gabriella with me. Madelyn can cover comms for both until Amelia gets back. It should only be a short overlap.”

Bradley hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah, fine,” he said.

Graham had been Bradley’s college professor at some point in the past couple of years. James knew that Bradley still felt awkward about that dynamic, even though they were on equal footing in the Foundation. It was a poorly kept secret that Bradley was completing his bachelor’s degree around his work at the Foundation, but he never talked about it. The only reason James knew was because Amelia had slipped up while asking James to adjust the schedule.

James knew there was nothing to be ashamed of, but he wasn’t about to have that conversation with Bradley. So instead, he just kept his mouth shut and scheduled Bradley around his on-campus classes.

“Let me know when the slideshow is done and I’ll get us started.”

Bradley typed something into a slide. “It’s done.”

“Thanks.”

James stood up. “Alright, let’s get going,” he said. “We’ve got two cases to focus on today. Amelia’s out on the third, which, God willing, is just a statement and a quick glance in the state forest to see if anyone’s come out to play. We’ll be splitting into two groups to settle these. I’ll hand it over to Bradley for the overview.”

He pulled down the screen, and a second later, Bradley’s slideshow was on the projector. “First, Sterling,” Bradley said.

He clicked on the screen and a picture of a smiling ghost appeared. Then, as it faded, the smile became a frown. “Possession,” Bradley said. “So this family is pretty sure that their grandfather is either possessed or strongly influenced by something paranormal. It’s certainly a theory.”

The details of the case appeared on the screen with what looked like the turn of a page. James wasn’t sure where Bradley had learned these ridiculous PowerPoint tricks, but if it was one of the few things in this world that made the man happy, then whatever. “They’re saying they hear him late at night, talking to people who aren’t there,” Bradley continued. “The Foundation says that they’ve done a full medical workup on him and everything seems fine. He insists he’s talking to demons.”

“Do we do demons?” Graham asked.

Bradley nodded. “If they show up.”

“We investigate,” James said. “But demons are more Father McEnerney’s deal. So if we see solid signs of demonic activity, the case is immediately transferred.”

“That’s convenient,” Graham said.

“Yeah, the Foundation doesn’t fuck around when it comes to demons,” James said. “It’s priests and specially trained staff on those.”

Bradley clicked through to the next slide, which showed a smiling old man standing over a towering birthday cake. “This is Henry Carr, the subject of the alleged possession. Family man with three daughters and a wife. The report says they’re all very close according to the daughter that brought this to the Foundation.”

“That’s nice,” James said.

Bradley shrugged. “Sure. Anyway, his behavior is off-kilter and there are no medical reasons for it. They’re Catholic, so…”

He let the thought trail off, but James had been raised in a big Catholic family, so he could fill in the gaps. And as long as all the medical aspects had already been covered, this should be a straightforward case.

“Bradley and Graham are going to take that one,” James said. “You’ll interview the family members, try to get some readings in the rooms where he stays. Graham, were there training modules on this?”

“On demons?” Graham asked with raised eyebrows. “Uh, no.”

That was a silly oversight on the Foundation’s part. Gabriella awkwardly raised her hand. “I didn’t have anything about demons either.”

Great. “Alright,” James said, hoping he didn’t sound like his impatience was directed toward them. “Graham, just follow Bradley’s lead. Um, we might have some resources somewhere in the building.”

“We have some very basic things in the filing cabinet,” Bradley said, motioning toward the old filing cabinet that was buried behind the worn couch, beside the collapsing plywood shelf that made up their branch library. “But nothing in depth. Is there anything in the collection in your office?”

James glanced at Gabriella. Robin had left behind a collection of very old, worn-out reference books. She’d been organizing and analyzing the books in his office over the past few weeks, but they hadn’t had a chance to talk about it. “Yeah,” Gabriella said, face turning pink under their scrutiny. “I found some. They’re pretty creepy.”

“Can you show Bradley where they are?” James asked.

“In your office?”

“What kinds of secrets do you think I have in there?” James said with a laugh. “Yeah, just grab them and then come back.”

She got up and went into the office, hesitating just slightly at the door. Bradley followed, looking to all the world like James had just sent him on a pointless quest that would likely end in death.

As they disappeared into the office, James looked at Graham and Madelyn. “Alright, so Graham, that’s going to be your focus. Mads, are you up for double comms for a little while?”

She shrugged. “I mean, these cases seem simple enough.”

“Great, thanks. Amelia will be back in a little while. Then she can join you and you can split the teams.”

A moment later, Gabriella and Bradley were back, each carrying a handful of books. James squinted at them through the dust floating off the volumes. “All of those?”

“Yeah,” Gabriella said. “There’s even more still in there.”

They both set their stacks of books on the dining room table and James cringed a little as the dust flew up into their faces. Gabriella coughed and waved it away while Bradley closed his eyes and ducked to the side.

“I can go through these ones later, but I won’t get to it until tomorrow at the earliest,” Bradley said, sitting back down at his computer.

“It’s okay, I’ve taken notes already,” Gabriella said.

James couldn’t help the satisfaction he felt as Bradley looked up at her in surprise. And clearly, based on the smile on her face, Gabriella couldn’t either. “You’ve read them?” Bradley asked.

“Yeah.”

“All of them?”

“I’ve got about two volumes left to go through, but almost.”

Bradley glanced over at James, who gave him a little nod, trying hard not to smirk. “Huh,” he said, turning back to Gabriella.

“I’ll show you my notes,” Gabriella said. “Are you thinking about using them for training materials? To go with the modules the Foundation sent?”

Now Bradley looked around like he might have gotten dropped into an alternate universe. “Um, yeah,” he said, clearly caught off guard. “Yeah, I was.”

James could watch Gabriella being smoothly professional all day. “Great,” she said. “I’ll show you what I’ve got. It’ll convert easily.”

“Okay. Um, thanks.”

Gabriella turned to James, who winked at her. Bradley didn’t see, since he’d turned back to the computer by this point, but he seemed thrown off course. The mouse skittered across the screen up on the projector as he found his place in the presentation.

“That’s it,” he said, clicking on the screen again.

The cheerful cartoon ghost appeared again against a black screen. “Great,” James said. “So that’s going to be Brad and Graham. What do you have on the Delinsky case?”

“Delinsky?” Bradley said. Then his eyes widened. “Shit, no, not yet. I swear I…”

James didn’t know what was weirder, the fact that Bradley didn’t have the case prepared, or that he actually seemed flustered. Maybe there was something he’d need to address, but that could wait until later. “That’s fine,” he said. “Hang on, let me grab the notes and I’ll take it from here.”

He got up and hurried into his office, noting the dirt on the floor in front of the bookcase where the demon encyclopedia had been. But he’d clean it up later. They needed to wrap up this meeting first. So he grabbed the case file off his desk and hurried back out.

“Update came through,” Bradley said, handing him a piece of paper as he walked back into the living room.

Amelia must have wrapped up her case and sent in the follow-up report. But as James glanced at the paper, his stomach sank. When he looked up, all the others were watching him curiously.

“What now?” Graham asked.

James shook his head. “Sorry, it’s just an update on the case I was about to share with you all. I couldn’t figure out exactly why they were sending it this way. But apparently, it is definitely one of ours.”

“The murder one?” Bradley asked with a frown.

“Yeah,” he said. “Delinsky. So I guess we’re starting from zero on that one, anyway.”

Bradley scowled at him, but James just turned to the others. “Okay, so the other case on the docket is because of a couple of strange deaths in one family.”

Gabriella winced. “That’s rough,” she said.

“Yeah,” James agreed.

Both were from the same large family and he couldn’t help applying the facts of the case to their own. If it were his uncle and aunt, for instance, who had died, he wouldn’t be so blasé about it. So he’d make sure to treat this one with the same respect.

“I’ll warn you, the photos are pretty graphic,” James said. “But we’ve got two unexplained deaths and one survivor who saw something weird.”

Bradley’s head shot up at this, and James nodded. “Yeah, that’s the update,” he said.

“Shit.”

“What’s going on?” Madelyn asked.

“Two brothers in the same family. Um, if you’ve ever shopped at Delinsky’s, this is that family.”

Delinsky’s was an upscale clothing store with shops up and down the East Coast. James hadn’t put the pieces together before right now as he looked at the new report. Which made sense, considering most of his clothes came from Walmart and Goodwill. But this still added an additional layer to it all.

“So the first victim is Jim Delinsky, age fifty-three. His body was found hanging in the barn behind the family’s Ashburnham summer cottage yesterday,” James said. “Um, his head was found in the rafters on the other side of the barn.”

“Excuse me?” Graham said calmly, despite a nauseated expression on his face.

“Yeah.”

“Well, fuck.” Graham let out a long breath. “So we’re assuming it’s not a suicide?”

Don’t laugh, don’t laugh. James took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No,” he said. “No, we’re not thinking that’s a possibility.”

“Does the Foundation have any thoughts on what did it?” Gabriella asked, looking equally sick.

“Now they do, but I’ll get to that in a moment,” James said. “There’s also his brother, Robert Delinsky, age sixty. His body was found the same morning, along the train tracks in Ashburnham. The body was also in rough shape, like it had been hit by a train.”

“Is there any reason why it wouldn’t have been?” Bradley asked.

“Because those tracks have been out of commission for a decade.”

“So let me get this straight,” Madelyn said, holding up a hand. “We’ve got two brothers, both gruesomely killed the same day in implausible ways?”

“Nailed it.”

“And what’s the update?” Bradley asked.

“Rita Delinsky, age forty-five,” James said, reading from the printout. “She was found alive and conscious, but badly injured on the ice on the lake beside their summer cottage. She says she doesn’t remember how she got out there, but she saw a figure on the ice beside her.”

“Does she remember getting injured?” Graham asked.

James shrugged. “This is all I have to go on. The family is working with the Foundation and they want whatever is happening to be resolved quickly. So they clearly think there’s a paranormal aspect to it. Which, looking at it right now, that’s pretty obvious.”

“Curse,” Bradley said. “I still think it carries all the hallmarks of a family curse.”

“It’s likely,” James said. “And that’s what the Foundation is leaning toward. Though the figure part is new and doesn’t quite fit the usual standard of a family curse.”

“A new curse then?” Gabriella asked.

“That’s what I was thinking,” James said. “Either way, Gabs, you and I are going to be interviewing Rita Delinsky later today at the hospital, then the other family members over at the cottage.”

“So, by ‘cottage,’” Gabriella started. “Are we talking, like, an actual little cottage or a rich person’s mansion that’s called a cottage to be cute?”

“I think we can both take a wild guess,” James said with a laugh. “But we’ll find out when we get there.”

He looked at the gathered group. “Alright,” he said. “So Gabs and I are going to be heading to the hospital, then Ashburnham. Bradley and Graham, you’re going to Sterling. Madelyn, you’re holding things down here. Any questions?”

Everybody shook their heads. “Alright,” he said. “I figure we get going shortly. But I don’t have anything else to add.”

The others started to scatter. “Bradley, you got a sec?” he asked before Bradley could take off.

“Not really.”

“It’ll just be a minute.”

“Fine.”

James started walking to his office, trying not to look back to see if Bradley would follow. Apparently, the faked confidence worked, because Bradley reluctantly stood up and walked into the office behind him.

“Look,” he said as James closed the door. “If this is about the Delinsky presentation-”

“Not just that,” James said. “Though, is everything okay?”

“Fine.”

God, he didn’t know what else he expected from this conversation. But he was the captain, so it was his job to have it. “It’s just not like you to forget,” James said. “I’m not, like, mad or anything. Obviously. But if there’s something going on-”

“There’s not.”

“If there’s something going on,” James repeated, ignoring the interruption. “You can tell me and we’ll work it out.”

“There’s nothing going on,” Bradley said. “Is there anything else?”

Yep, like having a heart-to-heart with a brick. Fine, whatever, he couldn’t work miracles. “Yeah, actually.”

“Great.”

Bradley’s tone made James want to end the meeting now. “I wanted to ask you,” he started, keeping his voice low again as he glanced over to make sure the door was closed. “Do you know if Amelia changed her mind about wanting to become captain?”

“You’re resigning?”

James blinked at him, stunned both by the fact that it was even a possibility and that it had apparently startled Bradley. “What?” he said. “No, I’m not. But that Hillsborough position is opening, and I mentioned it to her. I thought she’d be excited, but she just, like, closed up when I told her. So I wondered if maybe I’d missed something.”

“I haven’t heard anything,” Bradley said.

“Okay.”

So maybe it was nothing. And if he kept asking around, Amelia would find out and get pissed. He was just overreacting and making a big deal out of nothing.

“Is there anything else?”

“No, that’s it.”

Bradley turned to leave. “So you’d miss me?” James said before he could get to the door.

Bradley glanced over his shoulder. “What?”

“If I’d said yes, I was resigning. You’d miss me?”

“I’d welcome the quiet.”

“You’d stand outside my window with a boombox, wouldn’t you? Playing ‘Spooky Scary Skeletons’ until I agreed to come back?”

Bradley’s mouth twitched, but he just glared at James. “I have to go,” he said.

“Alright, you go see a boy about a demon. Don’t worry, I’ll be here when you get back.”

Bradley swore under his breath as he swept out of the office, but James was amused to see he was turning red. After a beat, he headed back to his desk, then grabbed his car keys and went out to the living room, where Gabriella and Madelyn were standing. “Gabs, are you ready to go, or do you need more time?” James asked.

“I’m ready,” Gabriella said. “Let me get my bag.”

Graham came out of the kitchen, pulling on his coat. “James,” he said. “Thank you so much for riling up Bradley just before I’m stuck in the car with him. Truly, I’m in your debt.”

Whoops. “My bad,” James said. “Um, I’ll buy you a beer tonight.”

“Speaking of,” Graham started as he zipped his neat black coat. “Chris wanted to talk to both of us tonight. He said it’s important.”

That could only mean one of two things. Either he wanted to move someone in or he was moving out. Neither of which were particularly great options for James and Graham. And looking at Graham’s grimace, James could tell he was thinking the same thing.

“I’ll get a six-pack,” James edited. “I’m home tonight, but I’m going to bed early. So it better not be one of his three AM chats.”

“Same here,” Graham said. “I told him I was pretty sure we would both be home, so he should be reasonable.”

Or at least as reasonable as Chris got. He was their harmless, though extremely odd, third roommate. He was at least eight years older than James and had provided good references, but as little information as legally possible on his background when he’d moved in with them.

“Graham, are you coming?”

Bradley’s impatient voice came up the stairs, and Graham rolled his eyes. “Thanks a lot,” he muttered.

“A twelve-pack,” James promised.

“I already gave final grades last year. I have no power anymore.”

Graham’s voice was almost silent, but James still looked toward the stairs in case Bradley heard him. God, if Bradley found out James knew. Though he knew Graham and James were housemates, so maybe he thought James already knew. But no, he would have said something. Oh, James was never going to tell him anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Graham hurried down the steps and the two of them left a second later. James turned to Madelyn, who was getting herself situated at the computer. “You’re still good for both?” he confirmed as he pulled on his own coat.

“Yeah,” she said. “As long as things don’t get too complicated on either end, I’m fine. And when Amelia gets back, it can get as complicated as it needs to.”

“Great,” James said as Gabriella came into the room. “Alright, we’re out.”

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 5