“It all fits,” Gabriella said, sitting down next to James on the couch a few minutes later. “The timing, the curse, it makes sense. But, um, do you have, like, lost time or anything?”

James frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Is there any point before the accident that you don’t remember?”

“No?”

“Amelia said the same thing.”

“Gabs, I wasn’t drinking.”

Gabriella looked at him in alarm. “What the hell? No, of course not. Jesus, James, I was talking about mind control. Who the hell would think you were drunk?”

“The cop that found us. Mind control?”

“It isn’t that far out there if it’s connected to the Delinskys, remember?” Gabriella said. “Something made Rita Delinsky travel from Wellesley to Ashburnham without even knowing it.”

“No, I don’t have any points I don’t remember,” James said. “And I was with Amelia the whole time. So I don’t think anything made either of us cut our own brakes.”

“So either it’s a different curse or it was quick and sloppy.”

James rubbed his forehead, trying to shake the queasy feeling that even the mention of mind control gave him. “Apparently. If we’re thinking of a curse. Which I am, but we need more information about pretty much everything first.”

“Who do we need to talk to?” Gabriella asked.

James thought for a second. “Um, we need more information about what happened to the dead Delinskys. Rita Delinsky, I guess. That jackass at the Foxborough location.”

“Bradley sent in a request to the Foundation for all the information they have on the dead Delinskys before he left,” Gabriella said. “I’m keeping an eye out for that to come in.”

Her next words were interrupted by the phone ringing again. Gabriella picked it up. “North County, Gabriella speaking.”

She paused and James could hear someone on the other end, just barely. “Yeah, hang on, he’s right here.”

She handed the phone to James. “Liaison,” she whispered.

James cringed, then held the phone to his ear. “James here.”

“James!”

McGovern’s voice was loud against his pounding head, and James resisted the urge to once again pull away from the receiver. Where had these people learned to talk on the phone? “Yeah.”

“How are you feeling? I received the report of everything that happened last night.”

“Not bad,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of shape the van is in, but we’re both alright.”

“Good, good,” McGovern said. “Don’t worry about the van, we’ll figure it out.”

“Oh, um, thanks,” James said.

“We’ll get it to one of our partner garages and it’ll be good as new,” McGovern continued.

There was the delusional Foundation optimism James had been expecting. He hadn’t seen the full damage to the van yet, but there had certainly been smoke and crushed steel as he’d gotten out of it.

“I’ll need you to file an official report,” McGovern said. “Bradley sent one in, but since he’s not the captain or second in command, it can’t be official.”

“Fine,” James said.

He’d just copy Bradley’s and change a few words. “Is there anything else?”

“Just that the Delinsky family sends their regards,” McGovern said. “You can resume your investigations tomorrow.”

Father McEnerney must have gotten to them, James thought. “Thank you,” he said out loud. “I’ll be here at Headquarters today, but it won’t be a full workday. Amelia is being released from the hospital and I’m on rest orders.”

“Of course,” McGovern said. “We don’t want to impede that. I’ll check in later.”

“Thanks.”

McGovern hung up and James reluctantly stood to put the phone back on the cradle. Seconds after he’d sat back down, it rang again.

“Motherfucker…” James muttered as he stood up, pain lacing through his back, and walked over to it.

“North County branch, James speaking.”

“James, hi, it’s Zach.”

Zach… Zach… “Oh, hi,” James said, the voice falling into place.

“I heard about the accident and wanted to check in and make sure you were okay,” Zach Delinsky said.

“I’m fine, thanks. Wait, how’d you get this number?”

Zach laughed, waving aside James’s question with just his light voice. “It’s not a business call,” he said. “I’m just checking out of concern. I know your accident happened the same way my family’s have.”

“Right, yeah,” James said. “Well, I’m fine.”

“Good. I was worried about you.”

This wasn’t flirting, either. This was just a call of concern. No big deal, Gabriella didn’t need to know about it.

“Do you need anything?” Zach continued. “Anything at all, just let me know.”

“No, I really don’t,” James said. “But thank you.”

“Medical bills? You can send them our way. I’ll make sure they go through the system.”

“The Foundation’s covering it,” James said. “Really, I’m fine.”

“Just making sure you’re taken care of,” Zach said. “Between that and dealing with my family over the past few days…”

James laughed a little, the tightness in his chest easing somewhat. “I met… oh, I’ve lost track. But there were a few older ones and a younger one and they were not happy to meet me.”

“The younger one’s my cousin, James,” Zach said, voice easy like they were just catching up. “He’s a good kid. Nervous, though.”

James thought back to the way the kid had cowered beside the Foundation agent. “I don’t blame him, though.”

“Oh, no. No. But he’s always been like that.”

They spent a few more minutes on the phone together and finally, James had to hang up. He put the phone back down and prayed it would stay silent long enough for him to catch his breath.

He missed his phone, now dust at the bottom of some overhang on the South Shore. Maybe the Foundation would cover the cost of a new one, since he lost his while doing their work. He got up and walked into his office, letting the door stay open behind him.

The couch Aunt Bev had pawned off on him was sitting just inside the entrance, pressed up against a bare wall. It was ugly, but extremely comfortable. When she’d offered it up, he hadn’t wanted it at first. But then he needed some more seating in his office, and the couch was kind of cozy. Made the room a little less simultaneously spooky and sterile. So he’d enlisted Graham and Amelia to help him get it, and now it was, as Amelia put it, the showpiece of his office.

The computer slowly turned on as James sat down in his desk chair. He hadn’t lied, he wasn’t going to do much today, especially if Amelia was getting out of the hospital. But he’d catch up on his email. Then maybe he’d grab a nap on that couch so he could stay in the loop without getting yelled at for working.

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 14