Roses Manor, Weston Chapter 16
Somehow, Gabriella had been so caught up in solving the Sixteen Roses case that she didn’t think about how incredibly awkward it would be to have Elliot at headquarters. James had given her the okay to bring him onto the case when she brought the idea to him the next morning, but that didn’t mean that everyone was happy to see him.
Which included James. “So you think you can help with the case?” he asked as Gabriella led Elliot into his office that afternoon, both of them still somewhat dusted with the snow that had been coming down outside as she went out to meet him in the yard.
“I hope so.”
James nodded. “It’s worth a shot,” he said. “I just need to make a quick call to find out what we have to do admin-wise, since you work for Foundation already.”
“Is Bradley off now?” Gabriella asked, aware of the hopeful note in her voice she was trying to suppress.
James glanced at her and she could see in his face that Bradley was not her only concern here, but James was being as professional as possible in order to solve the case. “He’s on lunch,” he said as he dialled.
A second later, she heard McGovern pick up on the other end of the line. After quick pleasantries, James said, “Sir, we have a member of the Hillsborough County team that is consulting on this case. He has some experience that might help us.”
“Excellent,” McGovern said. “It’s always nice to see the teams working together.”
“Of course,” James said, though his face didn’t reflect the sentiment. “What paperwork does the Foundation need from us?”
“Can I call you back in a few minutes? I’ll find out.”
This left them in an awkward silence, politely sitting in James’s office. Gabriella didn’t feel any frustration coming toward her on a professional level, but she got a feeling that she might hear about this later. Whether “this” was working with Elliot or dating him, she wasn’t sure.
“So Gabriella mentioned you discussed geocaching?” Elliot said after a few minutes.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility.”
“Have you ever played Spider’s Edge? That’s the one my brother was really into that used it as part of the gameplay.”
“I don’t play video games.”
God, she’d forgotten that James could be so cold when he didn’t like someone. This was like the opposite of him and Bradley lashing out at each other, but equally unpleasant.
She gave him a look, but he just shrugged. “If you have ideas, we’re happy to have them,” he said.
“Thanks.”
Then there was silence for another moment. “Once we know what information the Foundation needs, I’ll let you go to work,” James said. “Gabs, I can-”
Elliot looked at him strangely and James stopped. “Yeah?”
“Nothing.”
“Fine. Anyway, Gabs, I can move the church pickup to tomorrow so you can work on this. I’d go and grab the cameras myself, but I have to go out on Trinity Farms and Bradley can’t drive yet. It’s just us until Amelia and Graham get here tonight.”
Gabriella noticed a name missing and was just going to hope it was Madelyn’s planned day off and nothing more. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll go before I come here tomorrow morning.”
“Perfect. Just fill in your time card when you get here. You can either shoot to go there at the beginning of your shift, or go earlier and get the extra hour.”
If Elliot was spending the night at her house, Gabriella would forsake the otherwise enticing extra hour of pay. Then the phone rang before they could have much more awkward silence or conversation. It was McGovern, cheerfully puncturing the tension.
“So, yes, there are usually cross-team consultancy forms to submit,” McGovern said over the speakerphone. “Since Mr. Ramsey isn’t a member of your branch and comes from a separate state. But you know how they’ve been lately about paperwork. The administrators say not to worry about those. Prentiss said there are too many forms to keep track of and too much to do. They’re too busy to deal with that nonsense. Just send me an email with the hours, dates, and cases.”
“Excellent,” James said with an almost warm smile. “I appreciate it.”
James hung up and looked at them. “That solves that,” he said. “Let me know when you leave and I’ll email McGovern.”
The total lack of paperwork was strange, but she wasn’t going to complain if the Foundation was easing up on their usual formalities. “Thanks,” Gabriella said.
“Don’t forget, team meeting in about an hour.”
Elliot looked at Gabriella. “Should I…”
She turned to James. “Doesn’t matter to me,” he said.
***
Once they were alone in the gray bedroom with the laptop on the bed beside them, Gabriella had less regret about bringing Elliot here than she had back in James’s office. Even if they were literally sitting on a bed together, it was a bed in one of the bedrooms at work, and thus one of the least sexy places in the world. But it felt good to focus on the case. At least until Elliot finished redoing the level, got to the code entry point at the end, and stopped.
“Why did he call you Gabs?”
“Huh?”
“Your boss. That’s kind of weird, you’re an adult. Isn’t it a little infantilizing?”
“That my cousin uses the same nickname he’s used my entire life?” Gabriella asked. “No, I don’t really notice it.”
Elliot was quiet for a second and Gabriella looked at the game screen. Her avatar was tapping its foot impatiently beside the blackboard, and that just made her hate it more.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Bradley’s voice from the doorway made them both jump. Gabriella had been unsure how to get the conversation back on track, but this seemed like the worst possible solution to that problem.
“Elliot’s consulting on the case,” Gabriella said.
“Ah.”
“Wait,” Elliot said, looking at the screen again in an obvious attempt to avoid dealing with Bradley. And since he’d attempted to fight Bradley the first time they met each other, Gabriella couldn’t really blame him.
“What is it?” she asked, hoping there was actually something there.
“That, right there,” he said, pointing at a symbol on the wall. “That’s just a little different from the other images around it. I can’t click on it. But what if…”
He took a screenshot, saved it, then cropped it so that the symbol, a little jagged rose, was the only thing in the image. Then he opened a search engine page and dropped it in.
“They did this with a game my brother liked,” he explained. “Maybe it isn’t the emails that we want just yet.”
Bradley stayed in the doorway, propped on his crutches and watching with them as the search results popped up. An identical picture appeared a few rows down. Elliot clicked on it and a web page opened. It was empty except for three numbers in the corner.
“Got it.”
Her irritation had almost completely melted away as he passed her the laptop. She went to the game, put in the numbers, and the screen rattled and went dark.
“Shit,” Gabriella muttered, the banished player immediately returning to mind.
“It’s just transitioning,” Elliot said.
“No, it shut down.”
“Let me see it.” Bradley motioned for the laptop and Gabriella held it out, though kept it intentionally over the other bed, forcing Bradley to come in and sit down in order to get it. “You’re all impossible,” he muttered as he did so, then took the laptop.
Elliot and Gabriella watched as he whacked the side of the computer, lighting the screen up again. “This one sucks,” Bradley said, handing it back to Gabriella. “If you can save the game, try moving it to the desktop in the back bedroom. Madelyn mentioned the later levels might be sucking up power.”
“Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
He looked at Elliot and Gabriella waited for him to say something vile. But he just got to his feet and shuffled out the door.
Classroom Four was now on display, almost identical to Classroom Three. The music was playing again, in a slightly different key, if that was possible. “Thank you,” she said.
“Of course.” Elliot replied. “Wow, that music is creepy.”
“You don’t have to stay for the meeting.”
“Are you sure? I can.”
“Are you sure you want to?”
Elliot shrugged. “If we’re talking about the game, maybe it’s a good idea.”
“You really don’t have to,” Gabriella said. “I’ll be out in a couple hours and I’ll buy us dinner after. I’ll give you my key if you want to hang out at my place.”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll stay here with you.”
Once the game was saved, they got up and headed out to the hallway, leaving the laptop behind. James and Bradley were in the living room, talking quietly on the couch. The fact that they weren’t fighting anymore was kind of nice, but Gabriella also didn’t trust whatever this was.
“Want me to keep going on Sixteen Roses after the meeting?” Gabriella asked James. “Elliot figured out this level, so maybe we can go through the next one and see.”
“Yeah,” he said. “That’s fine.”
She sat down on the other couch, gesturing for Elliot to join her. “So what happened?” he asked Bradley, motioning toward the crutches.
“None of your fucking business.”
Gabriella looked at James, but he didn’t seem inclined to say anything.
