O’Toole House Chapter 5
Gabriella had texted James a little while ago that she’d stop by on her way home, but it still felt rude to just walk into his apartment. So she’d knocked a couple times. But when he didn’t answer the door, she opened the door with her key and went inside.
“James?” she called.
He didn’t answer, but hopefully he was just asleep. She walked toward his half-open bedroom door. “Hey, James?”
“‘Just don’t eat anything,’” he said from somewhere inside, his tone harsh and mocking.
Gabriella froze, her hand up to knock on the door. “‘Just don’t eat anything and you’ll be fine,’” James said again, his voice dripping with contempt. “You know what? Fuck you.”
Through the open door, she could see he was on the phone. Who the hell would James be talking to like that? Gabriella shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but she was glued to the ground out here, barely breathing as she listened to the silence on the other side. “You can plan all the fucking secret agent, late night coffeeshop meetings you want, you’re as bad as the rest of them,” James said. “No, you’re worse. Man, I really thought that maybe you got it. I thought maybe there was one person in the entire goddamn Foundation who realized what the hell you’re all doing to your teams and actually cared. And I can’t believe how fucking wrong I was.”
McGovern. God dammit, McGovern had called him again. Gabriella knew word had gotten around about what happened. Not just because of the staff support offers. Of course people talked, it’d be stupid to assume they didn’t. But Amelia had specifically told McGovern to call her with anything, not James. Especially now that James was on medical leave.
Gabriella had never seen James like that before. When she got to headquarters that first morning, he’d been asleep. Jolene explained he’d be like that for most of the antidote sequence, he had to be or the pain would be too much. It was almost a relief, as much as Gabriella wanted to see him. He was James. He’d wake up and he’d be alright. Even knowing everything that had happened, she still had a naïve thought that maybe he’d be his usual self.
But then he’d screamed like that, the sound desperate and horrible, and Amelia had gone running. Gabriella acted on instinct when they reached the room, wrapping herself around him while Amelia figured out what was happening. She thought maybe James would tell her no, let go. He was fine. Even if he wasn’t fine, he’d force himself to be fine. And when he’d held onto her like she was the only thing keeping him alive, that, more than anything, was when the reality of the situation had set in for her.
“‘Just don’t eat anything,’” James mimicked again.
It hadn’t been hard to figure out what happened there. McGovern’s signed orders were still sitting on James’s desk.
There was a thud that she assumed was his phone landing on the rug by his bed, then the sound of his ragged breathing. There was no way in hell he’d want to see her right now, so Gabriella crept into the kitchen and opened the fridge. The tomato soup she’d brought over was thawed and still full, but when she glanced over, she saw the thermos from yesterday soaking in the sink. Hopefully that was a good sign.
Her car was still outside and she could leave at any point, but she sat at the kitchen table and considered what to do. He might get mad at her for being in here if he came out of his room. And Graham was going to be home from Cleary House soon. She could just leave.
Gabriella sat there, frozen with indecision. She needed to be back at work in about twelve hours. Sleeping here would be inappropriate and something about going all the way home right now was unappealing, especially with the O’Toole house right there. She truly didn’t know what to do.
There was the sound of a key in the door and, despite everything, her heart sped up. Graham changed the locks. He’d talked about that in detail, to the point where she thought that maybe he was trying to remind himself that he’d done it too. There were only a few copies of this new key and only James, Graham, and whoever was currently holding the two copies they had at headquarters had access to them.
And sure enough, it was Graham that walked in. “I thought that was your car,” he said.
“I just wanted to check in on him before I went home. Can we talk outside for a second?”
James’s bedroom door was still open, but he was silent in there. Graham glanced at it, then started for the hallway.
Out in the hall, she told him everything that had just happened. Graham sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I don’t blame him,” he said. “Did you talk to him?”
“He doesn’t want me to see him with a nosebleed, let alone through all of this.”
Graham looked like he wanted to disagree, but couldn’t. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll try to talk to him.”
“Wait,” Gabriella said. “I’m sorry, you worked both jobs today, didn’t you?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, but I can take a couple minutes.”
“No, I can-”
“Gabriella, when are you back at work?”
“Six am.”
“And how long were you there?”
“Twenty-four hours. But-”
“Go home.”
She felt a little chastened despite his gentle tone. But Graham smiled at her. “Listen,” he said. “This is a marathon, not a sprint, do you understand?”
“Yeah.”
“If you’re going to be here for him, you need to take care of yourself, too.”
“I know.”
She felt in her pocket for her car keys. “Can you tell him goodbye for me?” she asked. “If he’s awake.”
“Of course.”
She wanted to go back in, but instead forced herself to go downstairs and get in her car.
***
Gabriella didn’t expect to see Nick Bana at the house when she got there the next day. The family had planned to go to a hotel soon, but he’d insisted on staying a couple more nights for work reasons. At least according to Sarah. She was scheduled to meet with Sarah for a couple minutes today and assumed they’d be alone.
But he opened the door for her when she rang the bell. Nick was tall and lean, with gray-streaked black hair. He looked at her, then silently turned and walked back into the kitchen. He leaned against the door frame as a young girl, who had to be their daughter Melissa, looked at her curiously from the kitchen table.
“Do whatever you’re here to do,” Nick said, waving her off dismissively after ignoring her extended hand to shake. “My daughter and I are leaving in a moment and my wife is up in the office.”
The little girl smiled awkwardly at Gabriella and Gabriella smiled back. “Do you have any information you want to add to what your wife said yesterday?” she asked Nick.
“Nope,” he said with a small, smug smile.
“I heard-” the daughter started, but Nick turned and held out a hand to stop her. “We need to get going,” he said. “Finish your lunch.”
“I’m just going to check my cameras,” Gabriella said.
“None of those are going in the bedrooms,” Nick told her, suddenly stern. “I’ll indulge her to a point, but none of you are going anywhere near our rooms.”
“Of course not,” Gabriella said. She was two minutes in and might already hate this man. But she was also extremely grateful that she was the one who had come here instead of Bradley.
“Good.”
He walked out of the room, brushing past Gabriella as he did so. His daughter stood up as he walked away. “It’s real,” Melissa whispered as she walked over to the sink and put her plate and cup in.
Gabriella looked at her, not wanting to draw Nick’s attention. “It’s super loud,” Melissa added, nervously playing with her hoodie string. “It says horrible things in the basement.”
“Are you in danger?” Gabriella asked. “Does it happen in your room?”
“I don’t think so. And no.”
“Liss, let’s go!” Nick called irritably from the front hallway.
Melissa hurried after him, leaving Gabriella alone in the little kitchen. She stood awkwardly for a second, wondering exactly what she should do. But then there were footsteps on the stairs.
“I’m sorry!” Sarah Bana said as she came into the kitchen. “I got stuck on a work call and got off it as fast as I could. Have you gotten the cameras yet?”
“Not yet,” Gabriella said. “I’m going to leave the cameras another three days. We’re getting all the videos back at headquarters, but a few have been coming in badly. But I want to take some more readings while I’m here.”
“Feel free,” Sarah said. “I’ll be up in my office if you need me.”
“And there’s been nothing up there?”
“Nope,” Sarah said. “That’s…that’s weird isn’t it?”
“Kind of,” Gabriella said, pulling out a piece of scrap paper to note that down. “You all sleep up there?”
“Not Nick,” Sarah said. “He’s got insomnia so he tends to sleep down here in the living room.”
That was interesting. She’d have to keep that in mind.
The readings were all quiet, but she knew there was enough data on the videos to prove that there was something going on and it was likely demonic. She ran through the motions, then made her way back to headquarters, getting there at the same time as Bradley, who was coming back from the other case Amelia had sent him out on.
“I’m fucking wiped,” he muttered into the phone as he walked toward the front door beside Gabriella. “It’s fine, I promise. I’ll stop by the store on my way over later. Tell me what you need for it, I’ll get it started.”
There was a second of quiet. “Graham, I’m a grown man. I know how to cook. Yeah, I’ll get it. Alright, bye.”
He hung up. “Do you think it’s weird there’s no activity in the bedrooms?” Gabriella asked.
“No, who has the fucking time right now?”
“Cute,” she muttered.
“Yeah. It’s a little weird,” Bradley said. “But if there’s a history in the house already, then we’re going to have some weirdness going on.”
As they walked up to the front steps, Bradley suddenly put out a hand to stop her. “Did you talk to Amelia?” he asked.
“Not in a little while.”
“Okay. Saskia is taking the night shift tonight. It looks like she’s already here.”
Somehow she’d missed the car parked just beyond Bradley’s on the sidewalk. “That’s fine,” Gabriella said. “Is it just her?”
“As far as I know. Your ghost douche isn’t on tonight, but he’ll be here at some point.”
Gabriella sighed. “If it means we can keep this place running, Amelia can actually sleep every few days, and James can recover, I’ll deal with him being here. He texted me to check in the other night anyway.”
“Right. Because you’re best friends.”
She wasn’t going to deal with this right now, so she just ignored him.
When they got inside, Saskia and Amelia were in the living room looking at something on the computer. Saskia looked a little different than last time Gabriella had seen her. She still towered over Amelia, but her white-blonde hair had been cut into a flattering bob that shifted around her face as she nodded along to Amelia’s explanation. “It’s not a bad setup,” Amelia was saying. “Overnights tend to be pretty quiet. Jolene Oliver might be here for a little while, but she’s a medic, not an agent. So don’t try to have her do anything branch-related. But if anything happens, we do have Graham on call tonight. He lives right up the street, so he can be here quickly.”
Something came over Bradley’s face, just for a second, before it settled into the usual irritation he had at dealing with anything involving the Hillsborough County team. “Hi,” Saskia said quietly as she saw them.
“Hi,” Gabriella said.
Bradley nodded at her. “Saskia’s got the night shift. Oh shit, I’m sorry, Gabriella,” Amelia said. “I didn’t text you. Sorry, I was going to and then there was this complaint that came in from the Foundation and it turned into a whole thing, and then I had to-” She took a breath. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Gabriella said quickly. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it.”
Amelia didn’t need more to worry about. “Sorry,” she said again.
Gabriella thought of James apologizing over and over, even when he wasn’t fully lucid. Apologizing was his first instinct and that hurt to think about. He deserved better.
“I sent Madelyn home early,” Amelia said. “She’s pissed, but she couldn’t fucking walk and she’d be stuck here if she didn’t leave then. But Saskia said she’s fine solo from here.”
“I usually take the night shifts at Hillsborough,” Saskia said, her voice still soft but not nearly as frightened or hesitant as it had been the last time Gabriella dealt with her directly.
“Madelyn was going to check in on James, but I convinced her to go home,” Amelia said.
“I’m going over in a few minutes anyway,” Bradley said. “Graham’s on his way back from Cleary House, so we’ll see if we can get him to eat anything.”
“There’s soup in the fridge,” Gabriella said quietly.
Bradley didn’t seem to expect her to be part of the conversation. But he nodded. “I’m buying some stuff too.”
“Don’t stay long,” Amelia said, as though any of them had that option. “Get some rest, both of you.”
“I have everything here,” Saskia said, and Gabriella mostly believed her. But any hesitation was canceled out by the fact that she was going straight to bed the second she got home.
