“Chris has another roommate interview lined up for us.”

James looked up from his computer at Graham, who was standing in the office doorway, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. The buddy of a buddy.”

“Sounds like a treat.”

Graham stepped into the room and sat down on the couch. “Should we bother?”

James shrugged. “I mean, I haven’t had a chance to find anyone. But after the last guy, the idea of living with anyone Chris suggests is losing its shine.”

“I’ve been asking around a little,” Graham said.

“Oh yeah? When have you had time?” James paused for a second. “Wait, have you been asking the team?”

Graham shook his head. “No. Well, I mentioned it to Bradley, but that’s it.”

“If he wants to live with his captain and his Psych 101 professor? Oh, I’m sure he jumped at the chance. He barely tolerates working with me.”

“Of course he refused,” Graham said with a laugh. “But it wasn’t because of you, at least he didn’t say it was. Something about keeping work and home separate.”

James had nothing to say to that. He reached for his own coffee while Graham continued.

“Either way, though,” Graham said. “We need to figure out a plan. Sorry for not discussing this with you in advance, but there’s an apartment coming up for rent in two months. I just saw it this morning. Two bedrooms and way cheaper than our place now. I didn’t know how long it would stay on the market, so I made an appointment to look at it tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?”

Moving would be a pain in the ass. He’d have to clean, he’d have to pack, and then they’d have to figure out first, last, and security. Maybe this was a bad idea. They could just take this new guy and stay put.

“Look,” Graham said, interrupting James’s anxiety spiral as it began. “It’s work, I know. But it’d be cheaper, even with just us. And it looks like a decent place. Here, may I?”

Without waiting for an answer, he came behind the desk and leaned around James to start typing. “What if I was doing something confidential back here?” James demanded.

“Then it would be the first time in your entire life,” Graham retorted, pulling up the apartment listing. “Here, check it out.”

James had to admit, it was a nice place. It was definitely an older building that had been renovated into apartments, but the rooms were sunny and looked bigger than their current ones. He scrolled through to see a small kitchen, then a yard.

“Let’s see where it is,” he said, copying the address and pulling up a map.

It loaded a second later, and James realized why the street name had looked familiar. It was less than a block away from Headquarters.

“Oh, God,” Graham muttered.

“Talk about home and work life,” James said.

He clicked back to the listing. “It is a nice place.”

“And no weird roommates,” Graham said.

“Why? Where are you going?”

Graham just looked at him and shook his head. He clearly didn’t give James the credit he deserved for being hilarious.

“Yeah,” James said. “It’s going to be hell to get it done, but this sounds good to me.”

“So you want to go tomorrow? It’s at noon.”

He’d be here at work, but apparently, it was a three-minute walk away. “I’m in,” he said.

He closed the browser and Graham went back to the couch to pick up his coffee. “There’s a small case that just came through,” he said. “Amelia took it since you were busy. But she’s sending me and Madelyn to take some statements down at City Hall.”

“Poltergeist?” James asked.

“Yeah.”

“Check your email,” he said as he went back into his own inbox. “I’ve got a whole report on that from a couple of weeks ago.”

He sent Graham the report. “Good luck,” he said. “Report back, I’ll be trapped here under the paperwork.”

Graham started to walk away just as James remembered what he’d wanted to say to him earlier. “Oh, Graham!”

Graham stopped and turned around. “I also sent you the cryptid specialization modules that the Foundation has,” James said. “If they’re not completely useless, please let me know so I can die from shock.”

Graham grinned at him. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

---

James got the last of the Delinsky paperwork sent off right before lunch. Even seeing their name on the top of his document pissed him off right now. The fucking audacity to expect him and the team to become their, what, their paranormal protection squad? And for McGovern to just throw that on top of their existing work as though it was no big deal. Unbelievable.

He knew exactly how it would go, too. There’d be a small thing, they’d investigate it, and be done. Then there’d be another. And another, though maybe not quite so paranormal this time. And eventually, they’d end up working exclusively for the Delinskys as their usual work turned into a side hustle.

No, even if McGovern thought it could work, James knew for a fact that it never would.

James walked out of his office and headed toward the kitchen. He’d packed lunch today, and for once, he was actually going to eat it. Sure, it was leftover pizza, but he wasn’t buying new takeout today, so he’d count it.

Amelia was sitting in the living room, eating a sandwich and reading something on her phone. She looked up as he came in.

“Hey,” she said. “I actually need to talk to you.”

This was it. He knew without a doubt at that moment. She was leaving. It was a good thing for her. Hillsborough was a good branch, they knew their shit. She could run her team and maybe sometimes they’d still work together.

“Yeah?” he said, trying to keep these thoughts out of his tone. “What’s up?”

“So I talked to the captain over at Hillsborough this morning.”

“You’re taking the job?”

“No, I turned it down.”

The knot in James’s stomach vanished just as he was trying to force himself to casually eat the pepperoni slice in his hand. He looked over at Amelia, hoping he hadn’t misheard. “What?”

“Yeah,” she said, scratching her head. “Listen, I appreciate you putting my name in for it. And someday, yeah, it’d be cool to be in charge. But I’m actually really enjoying being second in command for now. So I’d rather stay here with you guys.”

“Are you sure?” James asked. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay if you’d rather…”

“I’m sure,” she said. “There will be others. I’m only twenty-five, I’ve got plenty of time.”

He knew the relief was clear on his face by the way her expression softened. But rather than teasing him like he expected, she just smiled and stole a pepperoni.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 27