O’Toole House Chapter 12
Gabriella was working with Elliot again the next day and she really wanted some time to just talk to him. If they were going to be friends, then they needed to actually be friends. And being on comms with him and Bradley was not going to help with that.
Did she still have lingering feelings for him? Yes, she had to admit she did, no matter how much he pissed her off. But actually working toward being friends would probably be the best way to work through them and move on. Especially because disconnecting completely was not possible right now. So the fact that they would have some time today was good. Maybe they could get lunch or something.
Just as friends.
But of course she and Bradley had to go to the O’Toole House first. The whole family had been gone for three days since the cleansing and the house was silent. There had been no activity. No blood, no swearing, nothing terrifying and destructive going after a twelve-year-old girl. The Banas had been out of the house and not so much as a leaf had fallen off a plant.
“Maybe it worked?” Gabriella said as she moved through the slightly less fragrant cellar of the O’Toole House, checking a text Amelia had just sent about maybe stopping by another case on their way back to headquarters later.
Hopefully today wasn’t going to be driving from case to case forever. Elliot was arriving to help with the afternoon soon and the more she anticipated spending time with him, the more stressful it was going to become.
“Maybe,” Bradley said, but his voice was heavy with skepticism.
“How are you feeling?”
“I feel fucking fine,” he snapped. “Just lay off. I’m going to go look outside.”
He stomped off. “Maybe stop being an asshole for five fucking minutes,” Gabriella muttered a split second before she remembered that her comms were sending everything she said to both Bradley and Graham. Her phone buzzed a second later and, mortified, she picked it up.
GRAHAM
You’re not wrong and he knows it
She laughed slightly, still embarrassed, and slid her phone back in her pocket. “Alright, I’m going to finish up the basement,” she said to Graham.
“Roger that.”
“There’s a couple dead spots down here, so if you try to talk to me and I don’t answer, check in with Bradley. Then he can come down here and make sure I’m actually dead.”
It was a bleak, inappropriate joke, but Graham actually laughed. Which was a relief, because she was concerned as soon as the words left her mouth that she’d gone too far again.
“I’m in the yard,” Bradley said, his voice clipped and irritated. “There’s no activity here either.”
“What do you want to do?” she asked him.
“Readings throughout the entire house.”
“Including the bedrooms?”
“Yes, including the fucking bedrooms,” Bradley snapped. “Would it be a full investigation without it? Jesus Christ.”
Now she just felt like an idiot while Graham was silently disapproving on comms. “I have written permission from Sarah Bana,” Bradley said after a stretch of silence, the heat gone from his voice. “No cameras in the bedrooms because Nick doesn’t want it. But readings are alright.”
“Yeah, okay.”
She had a couple more things to check down here before she went upstairs, which she was okay with because her face was burning and she didn’t particularly feel like facing Bradley and his ability to make her feel tiny right now.
“Hey, man, how’s it going?”
She heard Elliot’s voice on the other end of the comms, just a little ways away from the speaker. She’d greet him, but she didn’t want to deal with whatever Bradley would say, so she stayed quiet as she moved back toward the hole by the dryer.
“Hey, what’s up?” Graham asked.
“Not much,” Elliot said. “I like the cat, she’s cute.”
“Isn’t she?” Graham said. “She’s a good old girl.”
If the topic had been anything but Fang, Gabriella knew Bradley would have said something about focusing on the case. Because God forbid anyone have any fun with anything when he was around. But then Elliot spoke again.
“Listen, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, but I’m on comms.”
“It’s fine, I’ll be quick. Um, so you and Madelyn are dating, right?”
“Yeah,” Graham said. “Why?”
“Did you guys, I mean, did you have to work around the rules about dating in the Foundation?”
There were rules about dating in the Foundation? Gabriella almost said something, but then Graham was talking again.
“No,” he said. “We’re the same rank, so there’s nothing against it. The specialties don’t count as a different rank, except maybe second-in-command? I’m not entirely sure about that one. James explained it one night but it was after like four beers each, so I’m not sure. But no, to actually answer your question. No, we didn’t. Why?”
Gabriella picked up the energy reader as the comms crackled slightly. Was he interested in trying again? And would she say yes and just keep this cycle going on forever? The crackling went silent as she walked toward the stairs and that was a relief. She didn’t want to have to think about it while she was busy trying to be a good investigator.
“-for months,” Elliot’s voice cut in as she reached the first step. “I know there’s rules against it, but I’ve been really into her since I started at the Foundation. And she’s into me too, I know. But Saskia is captain, so I don’t know what to do.”
Gabriella almost dropped the energy sensor from her suddenly shaking hands. She should have told Elliot she was here, but the words weren’t coming out. He’d been into Saskia this whole time? Mutually? Then what the hell-
“Did you just take a little break from that whole ‘we’re so mutually into each other thing’ this winter?” Bradley’s voice came across the comms.
She thought maybe she misheard him even as her mind was doing the same desperate calculations.
“What do you mean?” Elliot asked, suddenly sounding even more nervous. “Were you there the entire time?”
“I’m on comms,” Graham said. “I told you. Twice. And Gabriella’s here-”
“No, I just think it’s great that you could shut all that shit off long enough to get with McManus and then-”
“Nothing happened with Gabriella!” Elliot broke in. “I needed to get away from Saskia and there was nothing official, or- or-”
“Elliot,” Gabriella said.
There was silence on the other end. “Gabriella?” Elliot finally asked.
“I told you, I’m on comms, man,” Graham said irritably.
“Yeah, nothing happened,” Gabriella said, suddenly furious. “Nothing happened twice, in fact, the night before the gala.”
“Gabriella, I didn’t mean it like that,” Elliot said. “I just meant that we weren’t dating or anything.”
“Forget it,” Gabriella said. Maybe he was right and she was overreacting. Or maybe it was shitty of him. Either way, she was going to stay angry for now. “I have to finish this.”
She wanted to turn the comms off, but she didn’t want to get eaten by O’Toole’s demon just to prove a point. So instead, she took a deep breath and kept moving.
She went through the basement for new readings, resolutely ignoring everything happening on comms. Not that there was much. Elliot wasn’t speaking anymore either, so she wasn’t sure if he was still there or not. Bradley checked in with Graham, who was keeping things short and professional.
James wouldn’t be doing that, he’d be needling Elliot and egging Bradley on to say whatever he wanted to say. He hadn’t done anything to stop Bradley from being a jerk to Elliot when he was at headquarters helping them with the Sixteen Roses case. He’d been just as bad about it.
But he wasn’t here. And the basement needed to get finished. Her phone buzzed and she ignored it until the basement was done and she was making her way upstairs.
ELLIOT
Please call me when you’re done. I need to talk to you.
Gabriella put her phone away, wiped her eyes angrily, and moved into the living room. Then the kitchen. She was finishing the back porch when heavy footsteps on the stairs nearly made her scream into the comms.
“Upstairs is done,” Bradley said brusquely as he walked into the room. “So’s the yard.”
“I’m done too.”
He checked his watch. “Let’s head out.”
She should drive, he was probably going to throw up on the steering wheel. And he was mad at her and maybe she was mad at him, so this was going to be a silent, shitty ride back to a silent, shitty remainder of her shift. Her phone buzzed again, twice in rapid succession.
AMELIA
Can you and Bradley stop by Mama’s for final interviews before you come back? There might be more, I’ll let you know.
ELLIOT
Please. I’m sorry.
Thank God. She’d drive from case to case forever if it meant not facing Elliot right now. Bradley scoffed and she realized he’d seen the text over her shoulder. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He didn’t say anything. “You were right,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him as they got into the car. “That was a shitty way for someone to treat you,” he continued.
Then he shut off his comms and she realized hers was still on too. “Graham, we’re heading out,” she said, then turned off her own.
