Roses Manor, Weston Chapter 18
There was no way it was this easy. It was a trap, it had to be. Gabriella was at the end of the next level – which, based on the flashing banner at the beginning reading ALMOST THERE – was likely the last. Those lines on yet another chalkboard stared down at her, waiting for her code. And at the bottom of the screen was a math problem.
It wasn’t two plus two, but it wasn’t something that required a mathematics degree either. So, pulling out all of her rusty college math course memory, Gabriella took some scrap paper and got to work.
1-9-0-2-0
She did the equation twice, getting the same answer both times. Still not satisfied, she went out to the living room, where Madelyn was working at the computer bank. She had headphones on while Bradley did comms for Graham, Amelia, and James on the computer across from her.
Gabriella watched Madelyn frown, take a note on her own scrap paper, then return to the screen, still scowling. There was a video playing and while Gabriella had no idea what the context was, it had to be her course.
She was about to set the problem aside for a little while and wait until Madelyn had a free moment, when Madelyn caught sight of her, jumped slightly, then took off her headphones. “You scared me,” she said with a laugh. “What’s up?”
“I think I solved the code for the last level, but I’m scared what will happen if I get it wrong. Do you mind solving this too?”
“Solving what?” James asked over comms.
“A math problem.”
“Oh, fun.”
“Send me a picture,” Graham called. “I’m waiting for our witness to get out of work, so I have a little time.”
“Me too,” Amelia said. “Though I’ll probably get it wrong.”
James scoffed, the sound slightly staticky. “Send it to everyone,” he said. “If we all get different answers, then we’re doomed anyway.”
Gabriella took a picture of the equation she’d written down and sent it out to everyone. Madelyn wrote it in her notebook and Bradley did the same.
They were all silent for a few minutes, the only sound scratching pens. “I think I have it,” Madelyn said quietly.
She showed Gabriella her page, which also read 1-9-0-2-0 below notes about ghoul-specific technology Gabriella would have to reluctantly ask about later. Bradley held up his notebook with the same answer. “Alright, I think I got it too,” Graham said. “Did everybody else?”
There were calls of agreement over the comms as Graham read off the same answer Gabriella had. “I got the same,” Amelia said.
There was a pause. “James?” Gabriella prompted.
“Ignore mine.”
“What did you get?”
“Much different from everyone else. You got it right.”
Something in his voice made her want to drop it immediately. “Okay, I’m going to plug those numbers in,” she said, mostly to Madelyn.
“Go for it.”
Gabriella had set the laptop down on the couch, so she sat down and slowly input the numbers, rereading them several times to make sure she had them right. Then she took a breath and hit ENTER.
Behind her, she heard Bradley talking quietly with Amelia over comms, but Gabriella was completely focused on the screen as it flickered rhythmically, pulses of light gradually getting brighter and brighter as the numbers grew in size, taking up half the screen, right in the center. Her heart was racing, something new was happening, and the energy reader started beeping in a way that had Madelyn tearing off her headphones and hurrying over.
Gabriella turned the screen away and took a deep breath, the images still seared into her eyes in negative. She kept breathing, slow and rhythmic in contrast to what had been on the screen. “I’m fine,” she said to Madelyn, who was now sitting next to her with a hand on her arm. “Something happened though.”
She looked back at the screen as the lights died down. The numbers were gone now, and the screen was a dark red, the same music playing in an ominous minor key. Then text began scrolling slowly across it.
OUR PRINCESS IS IN ANOTHER CASTLE
Beneath it was a stock photo of a woman. She was beautiful, with long blonde hair and model thin features. She smiled at the camera in a trained way that tried to look spontaneous. Compared to the level of detail displayed in the rest of this game, throwing a stock photo on just looked cheap.
Gabriella’s stomach sank. “‘Our princess is in another castle,’” Madelyn read. “What do you think that means?”
Donkey Kong had been long before Gabriella watched her dad play, but he’d told her about it often enough from his own childhood. “It means this is nowhere near over.”
***
Gabriella woke up at three the next morning to start her shift. Grumbling, she pulled herself out of bed and threw on a bathrobe against the chill of her studio apartment. She picked up her phone from her bedside table, where it now and would always live while she was sleeping, slid it in her robe pocket, then walked out to the kitchen to make her coffee.
As the coffee was brewing, she pulled out her phone again and noticed a few text messages. A note from James from nine last night that she knew would be answered immediately if she texted back right now, and something from an unknown number.
It was a picture. And when Gabriella opened the message, she recognized the woman in the photo. Blonde hair, thin face, forced delight in her smile. This time she sat in a diner booth with a beautifully crafted cheeseburger and fries on a plate in front of her. They hadn’t been touched, but she had a hand cupped over her fountain drink and was laughing like the person across from her had made the funniest joke ever.
The princess, apparently. Gabriella sighed, trying to remember if she’d given her phone number to anybody in the game. She could swear she hadn’t, but it was so early and she just wanted to go back to bed and sleep off the headache that was forming.
But her shift started at four today, so she forced herself to drink a large glass of water, then poured her coffee.
It was obviously connected to the game, this was the same woman. But she’d have to prove it. If not to James, then to the higher ups. And based on what he’d texted her and the email she knew she shouldn’t be opening before she got to work, today was going to be far too busy to do more than just discuss the Sixteen Roses case.
***
The phone was ringing, pulling Gabriella out of vague dreams about the previous day’s nonstop cases. She grunted, reached over for it, and answered.
“Hello?”
There was silence and she realized she’d been dumb enough to answer without checking the caller ID. Great, another little detail for the postmortem report when a monster came out of the phone and killed her. She waited to hear anything, then realized there was sound, it was just so faint that she’d missed it at first.
Crying.
It was a woman sobbing, her voice gradually getting louder as she cried. Gabriella listened with growing dread. “Hello?” she said again. “Are you alright?”
Just sobbing, even louder now. The voice seemed to get closer to the phone as it got louder and for a brief second, she wondered if this woman actually was about to press her way through Gabriella’s cell phone. She felt a little silly putting it on speaker and moving it away from her ear, but a year and a half on this job had taught her not to ignore that gut instinct.
But no, it just stayed loud, so loud she expected a neighbor to pound on the wall for her to shut the fuck up. And then the call cut off sharply, leaving her in silence.
She still had six hours until she had to be at work, but this couldn’t wait, could it? Sighing, Gabriella dialed the main number.
“North County Branch, Amelia speaking.”
Gabriella laid out the story for Amelia. “Tell you what,” Amelia said, through a yawn, “Don’t block their number. But let any other calls from them go to voicemail, that way you have a record. Does that work?”
She could do that. “Alright, go get some sleep,” Amelia said. “See you in the morning.”
Gabriella wanted to tell Amelia to do the same, but based on the sound of voices behind her, the night shift was busy. She was about to offer to come in, forced herself not to, and instead agreed and hung up. She was asleep again almost before she had fully laid back down.
