The Foundation took about a week to confirm and accept her mother’s case. During that time, Gabriella’s mother spent a few days with Gabriella, then decided she was overstaying her welcome and needed to go home. Gabriella had tried to argue with her, saying that the ghost was still there and nothing had changed. But her mom insisted. Finally, Gabriella had agreed to it if she could check in everyday. She knew it would really be multiple times and her mom probably knew it too, but this was a good start until the Foundation got back to them.

Finally, Gabriella walked into work one morning and saw James and Bradley setting up a PowerPoint. Bradley was putting text into the presentation while James read off the information. It was clearly a slow morning if the two of them were working together like this. “Gabs!” James said. “Hey, good news. The Foundation assigned your mom’s house to the Hillsborough branch, but they want us on it too.”

The relief was immediate. Although she’d agreed to have her mom go home, she had been carrying that tension for days now. Every time she called or checked in with a faux-casualness she knew her mom saw right through, she was waiting for a report of a monster bursting through the dining room wall. And if she didn’t get an answer from the Foundation soon, she’d been a few days away from just doing the work herself. Not that they’d never done missions outside of the Foundation’s rules before, but she had a feeling even James would have frowned on that approach for this situation.

“Give us another minute,” James continued. “We’re going to finish up the PowerPoint, then have a team meeting. I think for the first time in two weeks, we have the whole group,”

So maybe this flu hadn’t made its way into headquarters after all? Gabriella could hope they’d be that lucky. Amelia had come back to work a few days earlier, a little thin and pale, but otherwise fine. And so far nobody else had been hit with it except her and Madelyn.

Amelia came out of the back bedroom a moment later, nodding hello to Gabriella as she came into the living room. “We’re going on a group field trip to Hillsborough’s headquarters today,” James told her.

“Oh, that’s today?”

“Yeah. You can stay here if you want, I know you’re doing the double and I appreciate it. So as a thank you, I won’t make you cross state lines for the second half.”

Amelia laughed and sat down on the couch. “I’ll take it.”

A moment later, Graham and Madelyn were there and the other two seemed to be wrapping up the presentation. “Alright,” James said. “Team meeting. We have one case today, believe it or not.”

Gabriella glanced over at the printer, expecting it to spit out a new case just to spite them. But thankfully, it stayed quiet as James said, “I’ll hand it over to Bradley.”

“We’re consulting with Hillsborough on this one,” Bradley said. “Shockingly, they’re understaffed and overwhelmed with cases. So we’re there, but it’s their turf. This one’s Gabriella’s mother’s place. It’s haunted.”

She waited cautiously for him to say anything critical about the way her mother had handled the situation, but apparently even Bradley knew not to kick that beehive. James was also watching warily, but Bradley ignored them both.

“It’s a farmhouse, built sometime in the early nineteenth century. Standard haunting up until recently. The owner, Mrs. McManus, says there are the usual cold spots, footsteps, things like that. Over the past six months it’s gotten aggressive.”

“Gabriella, are there any other situations that your mom’s told you about?” James asked.

“She reported one other thing beyond what you put on the form,” Bradley said. “There’s broken glass from last fall, and the recent physical injury. But then there was a torn screen in an upstairs bedroom.”

James watched him for a second, like he was expecting a bit more. After a beat, Bradley seemed to realize it. “She says she witnessed the screen splitting in front of her,” he continued. “In a bedroom on the upper floor. It was as though something was slowly cutting through it with a blade.”

“She didn’t mention it to me,” Gabriella said, queasy at the image of her mother witnessing that.

Wait. She turned to Bradley. “Did you-”

“Don’t interrupt.”

She raised her hand impatiently. Bradley looked like he was going to ignore her, but James shook his head and he groaned. “Ugh, fine, what?”

“Did you talk to my mom?”

“Obviously,” Bradley said. “Anyway, now that the activity has ramped up, she’s gotten the Foundation involved.”

“When did you talk to my mother?”

“Three days ago.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Gabriella demanded.

“It’s a case. She’s our client. It’s not like I asked her out on a date.”

“Bradley,” Amelia scolded.

Bradley rolled his eyes. “Yes, I talked to her. I needed to get some more information for the Foundation to officially assign the case, so I called her. All official, all on the record. Satisfied?”

“Yeah,” Gabriella said. “Sorry, it’s just weird. Like if I called your mom or something.”

“I wouldn’t notice. Can I get back to the presentation?”

Gabriella tried not to get flustered. Why did she always have to be the one feeling guilty at the end of these fights when he was such a prick about everything? “Fine,” she muttered.

“Thank you. Anyway, Hillsborough wants to go in later today. So we’re going to meet them at their headquarters this morning to go over the case. Since we’re doing a little social visit, we don’t need anyone on comms, but Amelia’s going to cover the base. I’ll have my phone on. If there’s no service because we’re in fucking New Hampshire, call their base phone.”

“It’s New Hampshire, not Mars,” James said. “We’ll probably be fine.”

“Right.”

“Alright, everyone thank Brad for that exciting presentation,” James said. “Gabriella, Graham, Bradley – we leave in about twenty minutes. Madelyn, Amelia – be good while we’re gone.”

Gabriella had been hoping to squeeze in her workout before they left, but that apparently wasn’t happening today. James came over and sat next to her as the others started to scatter.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m glad we’re going to be part of it. She insisted on going back, and it’s not like I could stop her.”

“Of course not,” James said. “But it’s a straightforward case. So we’ll take care of it and you won’t need to stress about her anymore, okay?”

She had to smile at that. “Okay.”

“And don’t worry about Bradley. He and your mom would never have worked out.”

Gabriella swung a yellow throw pillow at him, catching him in the face before he could react. James grabbed the pillow, laughing, before she could get another hit in.

---

The Hillsborough County team was located in Nashua which was just under an hour’s drive away from Leominster. When they pulled up in front of the duplex home on a hill just outside of downtown Nashua, Gabriella was surprised. It was a nice enough place, but the neighborhood was densely populated and there was only a little space between this house and the neighbors. How did they possibly keep what they did discreet when they were only feet away from other people as they planned and prepared for cases?

James pulled the van up along the sidewalk and turned it off, tugging on the emergency brake to keep it from rolling. The brake stayed stiffly put where it was.

“Want me to try?” Gabriella asked after a moment of watching James struggle with it.

She pulled on the brake too, trying to force it out of place. But nothing was moving it. This was frustrating, but Gabriella honestly couldn’t believe this was the first major problem they were having with the van and it really wasn’t that bad of one.

“Do we have any bricks?” James asked, glancing back at Bradley.

“No.”

“It’s not too steep,” Graham offered. “It’ll probably be fine.”

James didn’t look fully convinced, but as he moved his foot off the brake, it stayed in place. “Okay, let’s head in and talk to them. I’ll just text Amelia and let her know we’re here.”

They got out of the van, clustering on the sidewalk in front of the old stone wall that lined it. The duplex was high over the sidewalk and a set of stairs were cut into the wall, leading up to the front yard. Just like back home, the air was frigid and heavy clouds loomed over them, promising snow tonight.

They walked up the steep front steps and onto the worn dirt pathway at the top. It led through a tiny front yard filled with dried, yellow grass. A flowerbed was tucked neatly around a black lamp post, but the flowers were gone and the lamp was out. Despite this, the front porch looked well cared for and there were two doors to choose from.

“Which one?” Gabriella asked James.

He glanced at Bradley, then Graham, then back at her. “Not sure,” he admitted.

Both entrances looked occupied. One door had a sparkling snowman decoration on it from the dollar store. The other had a blue and silver wreath hanging in the middle of the window. Gabriella tried to look through the windows for any clues, but they were both frosted. James pulled out his phone and was about to dial when the door with the wreath opened and a tall young woman with white-blonde hair stepped out.

“Hi,” she said. “Sorry, come on in.”

The space behind her was dim, with a narrow hallway containing stairs and an entrance into what looked like it had previously been a living room, but was now an office. From a desk at the back of the room, a man waved to them. He looked like he was a little older than James, maybe forty. As they closed the door behind them, he got up and began walking over. Meanwhile, the young woman hurried up the stairs without another word, disappearing into the house.

“Hey, welcome,” the man said. “My name is Patrick, I’m the interim captain here.”

He shook hands all around, hesitating slightly when he got to Gabriella. “Gabriella,” she said, holding out her own hand first and resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

He took it, that same smile on his face. “Excellent,” he said. “Nice to meet you all. Come into the kitchen and we’ll talk.”

The narrow hallway opened into a large, warm kitchen. The light was still somewhat dim in here, but somebody had put a large lamp in the corner. Its glow made up for the sickly light coming from above. There was a large fridge and some ancient-looking cabinets, along with a small table cluttered with groceries in the center of the room. It reminded Gabriella of the apartment she’d lived in during her senior year of college. Old, kind of falling apart, yet cared for.

“Sorry for the mess,” Patrick said, scooping some papers and shopping bags off of the table. “Our captain just retired and we’re still in transition.”

James nodded sympathetically and Gabriella could see the immediate connection there. Maybe this would be as enjoyable as investigating her own mother’s house possibly could be. A good crew would make a big difference.

“He was going to stay until April, but then retired when he heard we’d have a new captain coming,” Patrick continued. “But then she refused the job.”

“Wait, who did they get?” Bradley asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Really?” Now Patrick looked a little skeptical. “Amelia Cohen was going to take the job, then turned it down. You didn’t hear about that at all?”

Gabriella saw James and Graham exchange a look and the hope she’d felt began to dim. “Amelia didn’t accept the job,” James started cautiously. “She didn’t even start the official interview process.”

“She came here to meet the team and Dyson said she was going to take the job,” Patrick said. “So he quit. Then she bailed on us.”

“How could she bail if she wasn’t even offered the job?” Bradley demanded.

James turned to him with a warning look and now Gabriella could see this case swiftly going downhill. Which, since it was her mother’s house and safety on the line, was the absolute last thing she wanted. She tamped down her own frustration and kept her mouth shut.

“Look,” Patrick said. “I’m just going on what Dyson told us. But now I’m stuck here as captain until we find someone because she didn’t want it.”

“Yeah, well, that’s pretty familiar,” James said. “But I really don’t appreciate you talking about my second in command like that. She had no obligation to you.”

“Sure, sure,” Patrick said, looking like maybe he hadn’t realized he’d pushed too far until now. “I get it. But…”

He trailed off and Gabriella could see the argument was about to spark back to life. “So the case,” she said quickly.

The men all turned to look at her. “Since we’re here as support, what exactly do you want us doing?”

“Well, the more bodies in the field, the better,” Patrick said. “I’ll know more about what we need once we’re at the location. We’re going to need to interview the homeowner again. I know one of your team did, but we’ll need to match accounts. Sometimes the homeowner changes the story up. You know, get more attention on it. Spice things up for money or fame or whatever. She could be doing that, so we need to be sure.”

“That’s my fucking mother you’re talking about.”

The words were out before Gabriella could stop them. James looked over at her in alarm and Patrick looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Meanwhile, Gabriella felt Graham’s supportive hand land on her shoulder while Bradley looked off into the middle distance, clearly trying not to laugh.

“Your mother?” Patrick said. “I had no idea, I’m- I’m sorry.”

He started to stammer out an explanation, but Gabriella was done. “No,” she said. “I’ll tell you right now. She’s not lying, and she’s not looking for fame. The only reason I was able to convince her to go to the Foundation, even when me and James both work for them, is because she got hurt. So please tell me honestly, right now, so we don’t waste any time. Are you taking this case seriously?”

Patrick looked like he had no clue what to say to her. He turned to James, but James just raised his eyebrows. So Patrick turned back to Gabriella, who was trying very hard to make sure no one could see her trembling.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, we’re taking the case seriously. I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. There’s just a lot going on and we’re still trying to find our feet.”

“Where’s the rest of your team?” James asked.

“Out of a case,” Patrick replied. “It’s a quick one, so they may be back before you leave. Saskia is on comms next door.”

“How does that work?”

James waved his hand around. Gabriella wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at, but Patrick seemed to.

“Oh, the apartments?” he asked, seemingly eager to move on. “It’s actually a good setup. We keep all the investigation equipment over on that side, while this side is administration, research, and breaks. It keeps things separated nicely.”

Gabriella could see the appeal of that. Even if it was just next door, you’d get a break from staring at weapons and training equipment while trying to eat your salad.

“Once they get back, we’ll be going over to the farmhouse to do some precursory investigation and set up the equipment. The owner says she’ll be there. We’ll interview her and any other witnesses that are available.”

“I’m available,” Gabriella said, the irritation flaring back up. “I’m literally right here.”

James glanced at her warningly now, and she wondered if maybe she’d pushed it a little too far. But she was still heated and this guy was stepping in it left and right, so maybe she was entitled to a bit of snark. Did Patrick not read any of the reports? She’d painstakingly filled in at least three different forms for this and unless the Foundation hadn’t sent them – which was always a possibility – all that information seemed to have missed Patrick entirely.

“Great,” Patrick said, still looking a little unsettled. “We’ll do you, then go to the homeowner.”

“Okay then.”

An awkward silence fell over the table. “Um, do you want to do it now?” Patrick finally asked.

She had no feelings either way. But if it got them out of this house faster, she would gladly do it. “Sure.”

“Come to my office then.”

Before she could fully realize what was happening, the disdain was replaced by a sweep of fear that seemed to come out of nowhere. She didn’t want to be alone with this captain. She knew it was unreasonable, but she could vaguely feel it was because the last time she’d been alone with a captain that wasn’t James, he’d tried to kill her.

“I’ll go with you.”

Graham’s voice cut through the fear she was desperately trying to keep off of her face. She looked at him and he shrugged. “I know it’s not an interrogation, but you should have someone for support. If you want, that is.”

Patrick looked like he was about to say something, but Gabriella nodded quickly. “Yes,” she said. “Yeah, I’d appreciate it.”

She glanced at James, who nodded too. Then she and Graham followed Patrick back into his office.

Like James’s office, there were weird esoteric resources all mixed into the mess of paperwork. This office was about the same size too, with the shades tightly shut against the sun. In this case, the light was more washed out than in the kitchen. Patrick waved to two squashy chairs beside the desk.

“Take a seat,” he said. “Do you mind if I record?”

That wasn’t out of the ordinary, so Gabriella nodded. Patrick brought out a small recorder and set it on a clear space on his desk. “Alright, interview one. Subject: witness. Can you state your name?”

“Gabriella McManus.”

“Please note for the record that Ms. McManus is an employee of the Foundation and closely connected with this case.”

She bristled again, though he probably didn’t mean any offense. Patrick shifted the recorder so that it was a little closer to her and Graham. “Ms. McManus, could you please tell us about the paranormal phenomena you experienced at your mother’s house?”

Gabriella launched into the story for what felt like the hundredth time. Occasionally, Patrick would interject to ask her to clarify something, but other than that, he stayed quiet. Graham sat beside her, a comforting presence when she’d already been feeling on edge after the conversation in the kitchen.

Finally, she wrapped up everything she could say about it. Patrick nodded and turned off the recorder.

“Thanks,” he said. “That’s going to be really useful.”

“So what happens now?” Gabriella asked.

“It’s next on our list of cases for today,” Patrick said. “The team should be back shortly, so we’ll do a brief meeting and head over for noon once our current case is wrapped. If your team wants to meet us there, that would be fine. We’ll work together, but the case is officially Hillsborough’s.”

“Yeah,” Gabriella said.

“I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page here,” Patrick continued. “We’re busy with cases and I want to get through this as quickly and efficiently as possible. If we don’t know who answers to who, then it might get bogged down.”

“We’re not in charge,” Graham said, saving Gabriella from blurting out anything rude again. “That’s between you and our captain.”

“Of course, of course.”

Patrick rubbed his forehead and then shook his head. “Right, let’s go talk to the rest of your team and figure out where it’ll go from here.”

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 6