James called Celia a few minutes later as they stood by their cars on the edge of her property. He offered to go over first thing in the morning, remembering his date with Meredith as the offer left his mouth. But she refused anyway, saying the girls needed the morning to rest. They’d talk afterward, before James went to work.

“And you have a date,” she added with a forced laugh. 

“I can-”

“The girls need to rest,” Celia said. “Take an hour to go be a person, then we’ll talk when we’ve all had a break.”

James couldn’t argue with that. They agreed that she and the girls would stay at Gran’s for the night and reassess in the morning. James trusted the protections over there. And he wasn’t too worried about him and Bradley just yet. Polly Grace wouldn’t take the initiative to hurt anyone, including them. It wasn’t until the family became aware they’d been caught that the two of them would be in trouble. So hopefully they could end this as soon as they found out.

The cut on Bradley’s forehead was deep, but it wasn’t bleeding as freely as they left the house. So when he flat out refused to get stitches, James didn’t argue too much. 

“I’ll put a band aid on,” Bradley said as he pulled out his little first aid kit from his car.

James motioned for him to move into the porch light so he could look at the cut. “It’s wide,” he said before putting the doll dress back on it. “If you’re not going to get it checked, let’s at least get a butterfly bandage on.”

“Do you have any in your car?”

“No, but there’s some at Headquarters.”

“I’m not going back to Headquarters, I’m just going to go home.”

“Do you have any at home?”

“Yeah.”

That was a lie. “Come to my house,” James said. “I have some there.”

Bradley looked at his car and James could tell he was calculating whether he could get there and lock himself in before James got to him. “I’m like ten minutes from here,” James continued. “We’ll get the bandage on and I’ll bring you back to your car.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

James wasn’t positive this one was a lie, but short of tying him up and throwing him in the trunk, there was no way to force the issue. So he just got in his car and headed toward his house, hoping Bradley would follow but not really expecting him to.

Polly fucking Grace. He should have kept a greater eye out for her, shouldn’t he? The conjurer who cursed people for pay. Uncle Tommy had alerted him to her, but even with the backing of the Foundation, there had been no way to actually catch her. So if it was just two assholes alone in a house trying to do it? There was a real possibility they’d die.

Just like he and Amelia had almost died when she cut their brakes on the orders of Jeremy and Janis, who then found themselves unable to pay their rapidly increasing tab and paid for it with their lives. How much had the Devens’ agreed to pay? Was the whole family involved? What about their daughter? James didn’t know for sure, but Polly Grace didn’t seem concerned about the ethics of killing children.

He’d have to contact the family, wouldn’t he? This case was now impossible to continue without bringing it to the Foundation. But maybe McGovern would have some ideas. He knew more than he let on even if he was unbelievably naïve about this stupid organization.

James was so lost in his thoughts that it was almost a surprise when he pulled up in front of his house ten minutes later. And it was an even bigger surprise when Bradley pulled up behind him.

“You live here?” Bradley said, getting out of the car with a hand still pressing the doll dress to his forehead. He looked up at the house. “I knew you were close, but what the hell is wrong with you?”

They couldn’t quite see Headquarters from this angle, but if they went on his balcony, he could almost see into the bedroom windows if he wanted to be a creeper. “I know,” James said. “But it was cheaper than keeping our old place and we didn’t have to get any weird new roommates.”

Hadn’t Graham asked if Bradley wanted to move in? He’d turned them down, so that once again wasn’t an insult to him. Regardless, Bradley didn’t seem to notice or care. “It started bleeding again on the way over,” he said. 

“You were going to go home, weren’t you?” 

Bradley shrugged, but he followed James into the building and up the stairs to his and Graham’s apartment. It was a comfortable space. The front door opened into the living room, which led back into the kitchen. His bedroom was off the living room, only a few feet from the front door. As he led Bradley in, James could see a pile of clean, but unfolded laundry on his bed through the open door. Graham’s bedroom door, which was on the other side of the living room, next to the kitchen, was neatly closed.

“You’re bleeding through that,” James said. He motioned toward the paper towel holder on the kitchen counter. “Go grab a paper towel and sit at the table, I’m going to get the first aid kit. Want a beer?”

Bradley looked like he was almost surprised to be here. “Um, yeah, thanks.”

Graham was the one who cooked here most often, so he was the one who used the first aid kit. It took James a second to remember where he stashed it, but it was in the cabinet above the fridge. He grabbed it, then got two beers out of the fridge and handed one of them to Bradley.

“Fucking Polly Grace,” he muttered as he opened his and took a sip. “I should have known. This was all targeted toward Penny, just because some kid didn’t get the role of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” James said with a laugh. “All that over a sixth grade musical.”

Bradley cracked his beer, one hand still pressing a now-bloody napkin to his forehead. “Unbelievable,” he said. “So what do we do? Do we try to contact her?”

“I thought of that,” James said. “But what do we do? Try to convince her to listen to us instead? She doesn’t care about anything except money, at least based on what happened last time. She killed those people because they didn’t pay their bill. I don’t want to get involved in making deals with her.”

“No, you’re right.”

Bradley took down the napkin and looked at it. “I think it stopped.”

“You sure you don’t want someone who isn’t an asshole to look at it?”

Bradley laughed and took a long sip of his beer. “It doesn’t need stitches,” he said.

“Right. Alright, let me see it.”

James opened the first aid kit and stood beside the table, tilting Bradley’s head up with a hand under his chin so he could see the cut along his hairline. He swept a lock of hair off the cut and Bradley took a sharp breath. “Sorry,” James said. “Yeah, let me just clean it. A butterfly will probably do it. Close your eyes so I don’t drip this in them.”

He wiped the cut with an alcohol swab. Once the blood was gone, it didn’t look as bad as James expected it to. As long as it didn’t keep reopening, Bradley was probably correct that he didn’t need to get any stitches. So that was one less argument to deal with.

And hopefully one less facial scar for yet another member of the team.

They were silent as James opened a couple of butterfly bandages and set them down on the table. He was still certain there was nothing to worry about tonight. Tomorrow, maybe. Once Polly Grace knew he and Bradley existed? Definitely.

But that knowledge didn’t stop him from looking uneasily over at the front door as he bandaged Bradley’s forehead, as though Polly Grace was going to burst in right now. But a couple minutes later, the cut was covered, and they were still alone. 

“Beautiful,” he said, smoothing down the bandages with his thumb once it was done.

He expected Bradley to laugh, but he still had his eyes closed and seemed lost in thought. “What’s up?” James asked.

“Hmm?” Bradley jolted slightly as he opened his eyes. “Nothing. Just thinking about the credit card. Why was it there?”

“Exposure,” James said. “That’s my guess. They gave that to her and she has the power to ruin them financially and socially. It’s symbolic.”

“They probably have more money than those two clowns at Delinsky’s did.”

He wanted to tell Bradley not to call them clowns, that they were desperate and angry and made terrible decisions. But among the terrible decisions Jeremy and Janis had made was trying to kill him and Amelia, which might have been the purchase that pushed them over the edge to being unable to afford to pay Polly Grace. 

So he just drank his beer and glanced at the clock. It was just after two. And he was supposed to meet Meredith in less than six hours for breakfast.

“The girls and Celia are safe at my Gran’s house, so it’s a problem for tomorrow,” James said. “I mean, Gran’s gone, she’s been gone for years. But Celia’s mom lives there now, and it’s not like she changed anything. She still calls it Gran’s too, actually. But they’re safe there. And you and I are safe for the moment.”

Bradley just nodded, looking as tired as James felt. “When are you on again?” James asked.

“Tomorrow night. You?”

“Same. I’m actually seeing Meredith tomorrow morning. Remember the woman who keeps bringing the big boxes of old shit the Foundation wants us to solve? I’m buying her breakfast and we’re going to talk about anything else on the planet.”

“Oh yeah. Nice.”

James yawned, then finished his beer. “I have to head to bed,” he said. “You want to just crash here? No point driving home this late, you can have the couch. Or take my bed and I’ll take the couch.”

“I’m fine, but thanks.”

A polite, gracious answer. Bradley must have been tired. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m planning to sleep till noon, anyway.”

“And you’re not about to leave here and just go sleep at Headquarters?”

Bradley looked at him over his beer. “Like you should fucking talk.”

He stood up, putting a couple fingers to the bandaged cut. “Thanks,” he said.

“Yeah, of course,” James replied. “Alright, drive safe. And don’t go to work.”

“I won’t, God.”

He started for the door. “See you tomorrow,” James said. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Yeah.”

James locked the door behind him, then went straight to the shower. A few hours of sleep, then he’d be fine to meet Meredith.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 24