Roses Manor, Weston Chapter 11
“Honestly, whatever information Jessamyn’s guy has will help,” Madelyn said as they walked back into the living room a few minutes later. “What you said about this spreading through the whole internet is haunting me.”
She laughed and shook her head, looking out the window at the snow. “Where are you in the game?”
“The second secret level,” Gabriella said. “But before I start digging for more clues, I want to try something.”
This had just occurred to her and it was too stupid not to try. She started toward the back bedroom, Madelyn behind her. When she got there, the laptop was still sitting on the bed where she’d left it earlier. “So I got to the second secret level, and it had another place to insert a code,” Gabriella said as she tried to wake up the computer. It sputtered reluctantly to life. “But what if that’s a trick?”
She was going to feel foolish if this didn’t actually work, but it was a shitty enough trick that maybe the creators of the game would have actually thought this way. After a few minutes, the game finally chugged to life, with her character at the end of the level, the blackboard with its three spaces in front of him.
“So, in the first level, this is where the numbers had to go,” Gabriella said, pointing at the blackboard. “I assumed yesterday that there were numbers somewhere for this level. But what if there isn’t? What if to pass this, you have to have the audacity to think you’re more clever than the creators?”
She pressed the keys, and her character started walking. He bounced off the end of the screen and fell backward in a surprisingly animated way. “You’re thinking there’s no code?” Madelyn asked.
“I have no idea,” Gabriella admitted. “But it’d be a clever trap. Especially at this level, where you’re theoretically raring to find the hints.”
Another walk to the end of the screen and the guy bounced off again, turning into a bunny for a second, then back again. But the last time had required patience too, enough to stare at a screen for minutes on end until tiny numbers appeared. So she’d give it one more…
The character walked right offscreen. Beside her, the sensor flickered red again, and they both turned to look at it. When they looked back at the screen, the monster was there again, close up, sneering as a loud roar came out of the shitty speakers. Both Madelyn and Gabriella screamed and jerked backward, Gabriella catching Madelyn before she fell off the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Amelia demanded from down the hall as she ran toward the room.
“Another fucking jump scare,” Gabriella muttered, uncomfortably aware of how fast her heart was going.
But there her character was on the screen, in Classroom Three.
***
Of course this trick didn’t work again at the end of Classroom Three. “Could we ask online?” Gabriella asked. “Maybe I could make an account and ask around.”
“It’s a possibility,” Madelyn said as she frowned at the classroom. “But if you show up somewhere with a brand new account with no followers, asking detailed questions, people are going to be suspicious. Especially if the creators know what kind of danger they’re putting people in, which is likely. But I wonder if Jessamyn’s contact will have some ideas. I’m waiting for him to get back to me. But since he’s not Foundation, I’m not sure what to do when he does. Actually…” Madelyn glanced at her watch. “I’m going to call James.”
She put the phone on speaker and called him while Gabriella reluctantly went back to the beginning of the level. James picked up on the first ring. “Hey,” he whispered.
“Hi, do you have a sec?” Madelyn asked.
“Yeah, is everything okay? Hang on.”
He moved, the sound of shuffling coming over the line. “Sorry,” he said, voice still low. “Bradley’s sleeping in the living room and I don’t want to be a jerk.”
They’d been ready to kill each other for days, and now he didn’t want to be a jerk. Gabriella might have to accept that she’d just never understand those two. “It’s not an emergency,” Madelyn said. “It’s just urgent and Amelia is working with Graham on a different case, so I don’t want to interrupt while she’s on comms.”
“Sounds serious. What’s up?”
His voice was light, teasing in a way he saved for Madelyn in particular. “We realized that this game is potentially internet wide,” Madelyn said. “And we could be playing for months in order to get anywhere near solving it. But we talked to Jessamyn earlier, and she has a contact in the UK that might have some ideas. I might also want to talk to some contacts I have about it and see if anyone has either experience or ideas about how to get into closed resources.”
“Will any of it be illegal?” James asked.
Madelyn glanced at Gabriella. “No.”
“Bullshit,” James said. “Do me a favor and don’t commit any crimes unless you absolutely have to. But Jessamyn’s contact, great. Will you be doing a full interview with this guy or just asking a quick question?”
“Probably an interview to establish legitimacy on both sides,” Madelyn said. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. I don’t know the rules if we have someone working on an official case. Would they be a contractor, or…?”
“Motherfucker, he’s never going to let me live today down,” James muttered as he clearly closed a door as quietly as possible on his end. “Um, yeah. Okay, so I think it’s usually an independent contractor. We rarely put people down as consultants if they’re not already employed by the Foundation, I think they’re trying to phase that out. But if you do end up working with him, the…” He sighed. “God dammit. The forms are on the computer, or you can make a copy from the one in the filing cabinet. Don’t actually use that one, they’ll make us pay to get another. But if it’s someone you’re meeting online, you’ll probably have to scan it, anyway. And the form doesn’t-”
His voice was so quiet that Gabriella had to lean in close, even on speaker. “If the form that we have saved in the system won’t allow them to fill it in on the computer, they’ll have to print it out, scan it, and send us a copy. And yes, that can technically go to either me or Bradley. But please, please send it to me. Do not CC him, I will write you up if you CC him, understand me? The Foundation claims you can fill these things out online, but it never works so I wouldn’t even bother trying. So yeah, contractor. The official Foundation form is in there, along with a standard 1099 tax form. If they’re not in the US, there’s more to it, but I’ll have to check. Does that help? Do you have any other questions for me?”
“Yeah,” Madelyn said. “Did you hide in your bathroom to talk about these forms?”
“My bedroom door isn’t latching properly. The landlord said he’d be over soon and that was a month ago. And I’m trying to be kind to an injured friend.”
“You’re trying not to be heard.”
“You’re not helping matters, Ms. Arroyo. Alright, let me know if you need anything. I’m three minutes away.”
“Up to you what you want to do now,” Madelyn said to Gabriella after she hung up. “I guess, either keep looking on social media or, if you feel that’s been thoroughly used up, go do something else for a little while.’
“I’ll be in the gym,” Gabriella said, without having to consider it for more than a few seconds.
Her mind was still on the case as she ran a little while later, sneakers pounding rhythmically on the treadmill belt that needed some maintenance when she was done with her workout. Depending on what Madelyn could find out, they were going to still need to look other places for clues. She’d heard of games like this before, but never really had much interest in them. Why would she, when she had to solve real mysteries at work every day? But the idea of the case stretching out from the game itself was intriguing. Frustrating, infuriating, but intriguing.
The rest of the day went forward in a rush of standard cases that were quickly dispatched. They even got through two historical cases, both of which only needed a few photos and energy readings in order to be packed away. This made Gabriella wonder what could have possibly made them worth leaving incomplete for fifty and twenty-two years, respectively. But after the first historical case they’d done, she wasn’t sure she wanted answers to that question for any more of them.
By the time she got home, she was feeling tired, but satisfied with her work from the day. James texted her for an update as she was walking in the door, and she got to be the one to tell him they’d need those foreign nation consult forms after all.
JAMES
I couldn’t find which form it is. She’s sure there’s no one in the entire country that could do it instead?
GABRIELLA
This is the one that Jessamyn’s parents have. Do you think it’s worth getting reliable intel if you have to risk hearing about it from Bradley?
JAMES
Let me get back to you on that.
After a hot shower, Gabriella wasn’t quite ready for bed and it was still pretty early. She was about to go sit on the couch and scroll through garbage on her phone for a little while, when another text came through.
ELLIOT
How’s it going?
Gabriella considered his message as she popped a chip in her mouth. Both the content and the sender. It had been a couple weeks since she’d spoken to Elliot, since at least one of them seemed to always be working. How it was going was a whole mess. But overall okay? She hadn’t been hit by a car (which was apparently a common theme in the Foundation, a thought that was more unsettling than any of the ghosts she’d dealt with that day) and she was doing pretty well with her case. Her girlfriend wasn’t moving to Australia in a month. So overall, not bad.
GABRIELLA
Good. You?
Was that too generic? If she was more detailed, then maybe he’d want to keep the conversation going. Ughhh, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to talk to him at all. Maybe she should just take advantage of the night to herself and go to sleep.
But of course, when her phone buzzed again she looked at it.
ELLIOT
I just handled an energy cleansing on my own for the first time.
Energy. From ghosts. Which he hadn’t believed in a year ago. She could still remember the humiliation boiling inside her as he stormed out of her mother’s house, leaving her behind. And how he said she was either being scammed or she was scamming people.
And now here he was telling her about the energy cleansing he just did. Next it would be Bigfoot.
But if she was going to have conversations with him, especially about work, she needed to let all of that go. Especially since she was engaging him. It wasn’t fair to Elliot if she led him to think everything was fine, then lashed out when it became too much. So she had to either get over it or stop answering his texts.
And stop texting first, not that it was always her. But she did it often enough that she wasn’t innocent.
GABRIELLA That’s great. Congratulations.
Patronizing? He’d been patronizing to her and-
No, she had to stop this right now. Either get over it immediately or do not text him back. If he even texted her again.
Of course he was going to text her again. And sure enough he did, about a minute later.
ELLIOT
It was wild. I had Saskia on with me the whole time, but this was the first time I did it by myself.
Alright, now Gabriella had to make a decision. And not making a decision was making a decision. She ate another chip. Then her phone buzzed again.
ELLIOT
And I realize what an asshole I sound like when I was such a jerk about all of this to you. I’m really sorry.
ELLIOT
About all of it.
That was not at all what she’d expected. And now Gabriella had to face the possibility that she was surrounded by psychics and they were all hearing her worst, most private thoughts. But no, that wasn’t true, that was her paranoid, overtired mind at work. The only actual psychic she knew was Bradley, which was possibly the worst option of all of them. And Gabriella was getting off that train of thought right now. She was figuring out how to respond to this and fast.
GABRIELLA
Thank you-
It needed more. She couldn’t just send it like that.
GABRIELLA
Thank you. It’s weird, honestly. And yeah, you did hurt me and I don’t know how I feel about that right now. It was never a scam.
She sent it before she could wonder if she was too harsh. Probably.
GABRIELLA
But also, I’m glad that you’re liking the work. It’s a great field.
There, that softened it a little while still being the truth. She finished off her chips while watching her phone for any other answer. And as one didn’t come, she worried that maybe she’d been too harsh after all, despite everything. The guilt slipped into her stomach as she brushed the crumbs off of her pajama t-shirt and got up to brush her teeth and wash her face. Great, now she’d managed to dampen her evening off.
The phone buzzed as she spit out her toothpaste, but Elliot was calling this time. She picked up before he could think she wouldn’t.
“Hang on,” she said, then rinsed and spit. “Sorry.”
“No, I should have asked if it was a good time to call,” Elliot said.
“It was. I mean, it is now. I was just brushing my teeth.”
“Hey, listen, I mean it,” he said, before she could think of anything to say to move the conversation in a productive direction. “And I’m not just saying that. I was really awful and arrogant about everything. None of that was cool. I tried to fight your friend like a fucking caveman.”
“He would have killed you,” she said.
“You think?”
“Yeah.”
“He could take me?”
“No, at the moment you’d win because he got hit by a car. But outside of that, yeah.”
“Ah.”
Elliot sounded a little disappointed, but then kept going. “Anyway, I just figured I should say it outright. I’ve tried to like, drop hints or talk around it, but I don’t think I apologized flat out for not believing you or for the shit I said. God, I left you in the house, I didn’t stop that guy at your mom’s-”
“That’s not on you,” Gabriella said quietly.
“Thanks. Am I missing any?”
“You told my mom about Robin”
“Who’s Robin?”
“My boss. The one who tried to kill me. I told you not to tell anyone, and you told everyone. Including my mom. I hadn’t told her about it.”
There was silence on the other end. “I’m such an asshole,” Elliot said finally. “I’m so sorry, I’ll leave you alone. God, I can’t believe I-”
“No, I… You asked if there was anything else. There’s that. And I know it would have lingered if I didn’t say anything.”
“No, good. Yeah, I asked, didn’t I?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m really sorry. I don’t expect anything from you, I just want to make sure you know.”
“I do. Thank you.”
“Of course.”
They were quiet for a long moment. “Why did you join the Foundation?” she asked.
In the time they’d been talking again, it had all been surface level. She hadn’t had the heart to ask him about that. And she wasn’t sure she could have handled that conversation without the conversation they’d just had, especially the part about her secret being revealed. But now she was pretty confident she could.
“It was what happened at your mom’s,” Elliot said. “I saw you go down that well, after what he did to you. And then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And you told me about talking to my dad. I talked to him for a while after, like a lot. And actually listened to him. I’m embarrassed that I dismissed him for so long about his experiences. But I spent some time thinking and it really quickly led back to the Foundation. I got in touch with the county office, which was Hillsborough, and it happened to be right after the old guy left and they were desperate for people. And it felt like fate.”
“It’s not fate,” Gabriella said. “They’re horrible about staffing.”
“I mean, yeah, I know that now.”
She laughed, and it felt good. “I swear, it wasn’t something weird or desperate,” Elliot said. “I wasn’t trying to get you back or show you I changed. I have. I mean, I think I have. I hope I have. But I also know there’s no reason for you to believe that.”
“Other than that you’ve been working for the Foundation for six months now?”
“Seven.”
“No one does that to prove a point. I believe you.”
“I appreciate you saying that.”
“So tell me about the energy cleansing.”
Elliot launched into the story, telling it with that familiar enthusiasm. By this point, they’d been broken up longer than they’d been together. But listening to him talk, Gabriella relaxed back into that familiar feeling, laughing as he described the way the house had been all jumbled when they arrived, and actually leaning in in anticipation as he mentioned the first failed attempt.
Before she realized it, they’d been on the phone for an hour. “I actually have to get to work,” Elliot said. “I’m overnight tonight.”
“You should have told me,” she said. “I wouldn’t have kept you.”
“No, I was happy to talk to you,” he said. “You should get some sleep though. Good night, Gabriella.”
She smiled. “Good night, Elliot.”
They hung up and she set down her phone, feeling much lighter than she had at the beginning of that conversation.
