Roses Manor, Weston Chapter 25
They didn’t plan to set up comms until they got to Roses Manor, so it was just her and Graham in the car for an hour as they drove to Weston. Gabriella didn’t mind, she liked Graham. They rarely spent long amounts of time alone together, but any fears about awkward silences vanished before they were even off St. Margaret’s Way.
“How are you doing with all of this?” she asked a little while later as they sat in a slowdown on Route Two.
Graham didn’t answer right away and for a second, she thought maybe he was pretending he hadn’t heard. But no, that was for the other guys on the team. Instead, she realized he was considering her words as the car in front of them inched further up.
“I’m okay,” he said. “James talked to me about St. Christopher’s.”
“I didn’t tell him, I swear,” Gabriella said. “I had to put it in the report, but I kept it subtle like Bradley said. But maybe not subtle enough. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine,” Graham replied. “I didn’t expect you to keep what I did a secret, I know I went off script. And I saw your report, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it if it wasn’t about me. But I guess that’s why James is captain, because he noticed it immediately. But we had a good talk.”
“Good.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, about how I’m in a position to help Ezekiel in a way that no one else in his life could. And you’re right. It’s just been two things, I think, kind of clashing. Everything changed very abruptly over the past year, not that that’s anything new to you either. But before then, I had a set role. I was a professor, and that was my contribution to the world. I didn’t plan on having kids, or getting married, or anything like that. I taught. My goal was to move from adjunct professor to full-time somewhere and, for a while, that was all I really wanted. I wasn’t thinking about marriage or kids or anything like that. So my students were really it. If that doesn’t sound too weird.”
“No, I think I understand.”
“I didn’t teach a lot of classes and some of them were pretty small, so I really got to know a lot of my students. And there was a set boundary and set rules for that relationship,” Graham continued. “I had students I was closer to than others, but it wasn’t like we were going out for drinks or telling each other our biggest secrets.”
Someone slipped into the gap between them and the next car and Graham paused to let them through. “And then I joined the Foundation and suddenly everything is so different. It’s the same five people all day every day. And the hours are so long, and everyone is so intertwined. I know it isn’t healthy.”
“No?”
“Gabriella, I spent years working in mental health. I-”
That was when he seemed to realize she was being sarcastic. “I just mean, this job is so intense. I like the staff at Cleary House, but I don’t sleep over there. And I’ve never risked my life there. And I love this work, and everyone here. I mean, I met Madelyn here. It’s incredible. But I went from a very neat, organized, not very satisfying life to… this. And it’s exciting. But then my old life got involved in the worst way I could think of. And all I could think is that I forgot my original responsibility. And that maybe this isn’t supposed to be exciting, not when it kills people. When it kills my students.”
Gabriella had nothing to say in response to that. Graham was quiet as they got into the rotary ahead, dodging a Camry that decided the traffic pattern wasn’t working for them. As they turned back onto the highway, she said, “I’m sorry about Ezekiel.”
It didn’t seem like enough, even as she said it, especially knowing how she felt when people said it about her father. But Graham just smiled slightly. “He deserved better.”
“And we’re going to do what we can for him,” Gabriella said. “You couldn’t have saved him, but you can do this for him now, you know what I mean?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you miss teaching?”
“The teaching part, yeah, I miss it sometimes,” Graham admitted. “I don’t miss the administration bullshit that came with it. Which was so similar to here that I don’t have a chance to miss that part, even if I wanted to.”
“Do you think you’ll teach again?”
“No idea. I love working at the Foundation, but I’m only thirty-one. Do you think you’ll do something else?”
“I have no idea,” Gabriella admitted.
“You have time.”
It didn’t feel like she did. When she was willing to admit it to herself, it kind of felt like she was on the same track as James. Join at twenty-two, stay forever. And she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“I have no plans to leave,” Gabriella said.
“Me neither. I guess I’m still adjusting and didn’t realize I had more to do.”
He fiddled with the radio dial to get away from the mattress commercial playing quietly under their conversation. She glanced down at the comms unit sitting in the center console, then reached over and popped out the batteries.
“What was Bradley like in class?”
Graham laughed as he realized she was holding the batteries in one hand and the comms in the other. “What are you expecting me to say?” he asked. “He didn’t say much. Except he once told off a student who was giving me grief about the syllabus, but I don’t think it was for my sake. I think the kid just pissed him off.”
Gabriella laughed. Then they were quiet for a while as the traffic began to ease up.
***
The stairs in front of Roses Manor weren’t as icy today as they were when she and Madelyn were here, but Gabriella knew it still wouldn’t have been possible for Madelyn to do this with her. As she walked up the stairs, the heart monitor shifted under her chunky bracelets and the audio-only comms unit awkwardly tucked into an already uncomfortable bra threatened to pop out. But as long as James didn’t speak on the other end, no one was going to notice it. Some teams had earpieces, but according to Bradley, theirs had disappeared a long time ago and he blamed a previous team member for stealing them. Gabriella didn’t know how true that was, especially when James said the guy wasn’t actually that bad, but what truly mattered was that the Foundation never replaced them. So now James could do nothing but observe, which she knew must be driving him nuts.
Despite everything she knew about these people, Gabriella had to admit that the space was beautiful. When they got to the top of the stairs, following a trail of fairy lights that led into the manor itself, Gabriella was struck by how genuinely lovely it was. None of the garishness she expected was present in the space itself. The old mansion had been returned to its former glory and the wide entrance hall was tastefully decorated with two massive staircases curving upward to a blocked off upstairs area. The rug was plush under her heels and she worried about tracking snow and dirt for just a second before deciding she didn’t give a fuck about that.
Around them were other couples, many of them gazing around the space in wonder. She glanced at Graham, who was looking coolly around as though he saw luxury like this every day. He had a camera on his lapel, so James could see everything too. They couldn’t talk to him and he couldn’t talk to them without giving away their position. But the more information Graham and Gabriella could send back to Headquarters, the better shape they were in if things went wrong here.
Which was likely.
“I’ll take our coats,” Graham said.
Gabriella wanted to keep hers with her, something about this felt even more off than she’d expected when she got ready earlier. But they’d stand out that way, wouldn’t they? Like maybe they were expecting things to go wrong? And she didn’t want to draw that kind of attention to them, so she shrugged her coat off and handed it to him. Graham walked a few feet over to where the coat check was, leaving her alone in the center of the entrance hall under a sign that read, Welcome, Sixteen Roses Champions!
Graham returned with no coats, but handed her a glass of champagne. “Don’t drink it,” he whispered in her ear as he handed it to her.
Gabriella wasn’t eating or drinking a damn thing they offered. Not after they’d nearly killed her through the game. Dinner was probably part of the event, so they were going to have to figure out how to manage that without anyone getting suspicious, but first things first. Hopefully they wouldn’t reach that point.
“Hors d’œuvre?”
A woman’s voice behind them made her jump. She grinned broadly at them, holding out a plate of bacon wrapped scallops.
“No, thank you.”
Around them, no one else seemed to have the same concerns. The party was majority male, of varying ages. Some had brought dates, while others had come solo. Graham stepped away again to scan the crowd and Gabriella looked around as though still playing the game. Which she was, in a way. Was there anything that stood out? Something that didn’t quite fit in this image of opulence? It probably wouldn’t be a broken window or literal connect-the-dots puzzle this time, but there had to be something.
“Some party, huh?”
This time it was a male voice. She turned to see a young man smiling at her, a glass of champagne in one hand and a small plate in the other. “Yeah,” she said, the effort of forcing down nerves and anger lending her voice a tinge of disdain she hadn’t intended. “Yeah, it’s pretty good.”
The man’s smile faltered a little, then he recovered. “You must be great at these things to get to the level you got to. So many people just never get there.”
Wasn’t the point of this that they all reached the same level? “Yeah, it was a challenge.”
“I finished it in a couple days.”
“That’s cool.”
“Not hungry?” he asked. “The food’s pretty great.”
The tone was casual, but the immediate questioning put her even more on edge. “I don’t like seafood,” she lied.
“Me neither,” he said, and she ignored the tiny piece of bacon left on his plate from the bacon-wrapped scallop.
“Ah.”
“Can I buy you a drink?”
She held up the one she had. “My date already got me one, thanks.”
He glanced over at Graham, then gave Gabriella a smile and disappeared into the crowd.
“He wanted to impress you,” Graham said.
Gabriella laughed slightly, then looked down at the ribbon around the champagne glass. It was light blue and delicate, with neat writing on it.
Our princess is in another castle.
“You see that?” she said, more to James on the other end of the comms than Graham. She angled the drink so he could get a picture through Graham’s camera.
“Look at those paintings,” Graham said, motioning toward the portraits on the wall behind her.
They were oil paintings, clearly designed to look antique, and for a moment, she thought maybe that was the case. A row of family portraits that had hung in this home for decades. But she stepped closer to one, which showed a beautiful young woman with her blonde hair in an elaborate updo. Gabriella had last seen her laughing over a cheeseburger in a royalty-free photo sent to her phone.
“That’s her,” she whispered to Graham, touching his arm and pointing.
They weren’t investigators, they were simply a couple at an upscale event, impressed by the art and money around them. “She’s the woman who’s been calling us.”
“So who do we think they are?” Graham asked, motioning to the two paintings on either side of the woman.
“I don’t know,” Gabriella said. “Maybe princes?”
She wasn’t fully sold on this theory, but the sound of a spoon clinking against a glass made her look up. And her question was answered immediately. On the balcony above them were the same two men from the paintings, both dressed in tuxedos and gazing regally down at the crowd. They were both probably in their thirties, tall and handsome, but somewhat sallow. Like they hadn’t seen the sun in a little while, or were getting over a long illness. The sound of the crowd died down as the man on the left continued to clink his glass.
“Champions,” he said with a broad smile. “Champions all. Thank you so much for coming to our celebration tonight. My name is Daniel Ford, and this is my business partner, Charlie Jackson. Ever since we put Sixteen Roses out into the world three years ago, we’ve looked forward to this night. Thank you all for clearing your schedules and honoring your commitment to be here. I know many of you have been waiting for this night almost as long as Charlie and I. And that it wasn’t easy to get last-minute flights when the time finally came. But know that it is appreciated.”
Graham leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Notice that they didn’t buy the flights for people. You’d think if they’re obligated to be here, these guys would accommodate that.”
“They’re fucking broke,” Gabriella whispered back.
Graham forced down his smile as Daniel Ford continued talking. “Before the dinner and the dancing, there is a small ceremony. For the champions only. But never fear! You’ll be reunited with your own princesses before long.”
She glanced at Graham, who continued to look steadily at the hosts, clearly sending as much information back to headquarters as possible. He turned to her, leaning in close. To anyone else, it might look like a kiss goodbye before the ceremony. “I’ll be fine in there,” Gabriella whispered. “If the comms disconnect, I’ll meet you back here when it’s over.”
She wanted to do something, anything, more productive than just strolling into whichever room they led the champions to. But some of the men in nice tuxedos without dates were, in fact, guarding the doors. They were subtle about it, but this was clearly a trap.
Gabriella hadn’t come completely unprepared. She had a small packet of oil in her bra and a knife strapped to her non-visible thigh, as well as a protective pendant clipped to her dress. But no pockets to stash anything else. Graham slipped a small bag of iron filings in her hand as they embraced. “Do you need anything else?” he asked, tucking the iron beside the heart monitor under her bracelets.
James was probably furious at headquarters that he couldn’t talk to them right now. “I’m okay,” she said, trying to believe it. “I’ll see you soon.”
