Pinewood Corner Kitchen Chapter 4
The phone rang a couple hours later while Gabriella was working on research for Madelyn’s upcoming case. Unfortunately, she was the closest person to the phone, so she answered.
“Hi, Gabriella. This is Richard McGovern.”
So it was what James had called a quality McGovern day more than once. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“Is James still there?”
“He’s eating lunch.”
“Is he there, though?”
She glanced into James’s office. The room was dark, but she knew he was in there, either eating lunch or sleeping through his break. Either way, he was not available, no matter what he might have to say about it. “No. Can I take a message?”
Maybe James would get pissed at her, but he was on his lunch break. If the Foundation and McGovern were going to push him to go back to the way he was before, only this time traumatized, then she was going to interfere in that as badly as any of the others.
McGovern sighed and she considered hanging up. “I received a message that a client has been trying to get in touch with the North Worcester County team and is being ignored.”
“We haven’t had anyone…” She trailed off and resisted the urge to swear. “Nobody has tried to contact us through official channels.”
“Has someone been trying to contact you at all?”
“Not that I can confirm,” Gabriella lied. “We did have a client try to require an NDA before they would tell us any information we need for the case. I told them to get in touch with their intake representative if they had questions or changed their mind. But we haven’t heard anything from the Foundation about that situation.”
There was some shuffling on the other end of the line. “I’ll relay that message back to the intake representative,” McGovern said.
“Thank you, sir.”
There was a pause, like he wanted to say something else. Gabriella waited a moment, remembering the resources he’d secretly sent her as the Foundation locked itself up around them. And the way he’d defended her from Harding in the archives. That didn’t fix things, but this man wasn’t a monster.
“Please tell Captain McManus it was nice to see him back.”
Was there someone else in the room with him? “Thank you, sir,” she said. “I’ll relay that message too.”
***
James came out of his office a little while later, thankfully twenty minutes past the end of his break. “Your guys changed their minds,” he said through a yawn. “They’ll talk without an NDA.”
Gabriella wasn’t sure if she wanted this or not. “Great,” she said.
James laughed. “What’s up?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I know they’re annoying, but that was the fakest enthusiasm I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s nothing.”
“You can tell me.”
He sounded earnest and she looked back over, surprised. “You don’t have to keep work concerns from me anymore,” James continued. “It’s fine. Actually, if it’s work-related, I need to know this shit if I’m going to be a good captain.”
“You are a good captain,” Gabriella argued. “You’ve always been a good captain.”
“We’re not talking about me,” he said, dismissing her concern exactly like she expected. “What’s going on?”
“They’re annoying,” Gabriella said. “That’s really all it is. And they told Graham I was being unreasonable when I went to call you the second time. I wasn’t supposed to hear it and he shut them down, but…”
She shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Are you still okay doing the case?”
“Of course I am,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.”
Not that she could ever stop him either. “Graham’s wrapping up something first, then he’ll talk to you. You guys were scheduled for this all day, so I haven’t actually reassigned you to anything. And I reopened the case in the system.”
“Okay.”
“I have a meeting, so just text when you’re leaving.”
“McGovern?”
“No, some other stuff,” he said. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”
He smiled and went back into his office.
Twenty minutes later, Gabriella and Graham were on their way back to Holden to interview the Chapmans again. Gabriella wasn’t fully convinced that they weren’t going to change their minds again once they got there, but whatever.
“It was probably a misunderstanding,” Graham said as he drove. “Hopefully it’ll be smooth from here.”
“Hopefully,” she echoed.
Once again, Jan Chapman opened the door for them. “Thank you for coming back,” she said, that same warmth from the beginning of their last meeting radiating from her. “We spoke to our lawyer and the NDA isn’t necessary. Though we will ask for your discretion and that you understand there are some things we won’t be able to discuss.”
“We understand,” Graham said. “It’s a business thing.”
“You get it,” Jan said.
There was no pointed look or anything like that, but Gabriella could feel it. Graham got it. Gabriella was unreasonable.
“Come on in,” Jan said, sweeping them back into the building.
Once again, they ended up sitting at a table in the gleaming kitchen. Steve joined them, taking his time pouring more coffee and laying out another plate of cookies. Again, the Chapmans watched Gabriella and Graham carefully as they tried the cookies – pistachio this time – and both gave the expected amount of praise.
“So how about you tell us what we can help you with,” Gabriella said.
“Well,” Steve started with a heavy sigh, “We’re being psychically attacked.”
She didn’t even bother asking about recording. Instead, she just started taking notes as the Chapmans told her and Graham about the attacks that had begun piling up, starting small with strange sounds that woke them up at night, or ominous feelings around their house and business headquarters. But they had manifested physically and then escalated until finally a small fire had erupted in their home. The damage had been minimal, thankfully, but that was when they’d realized they needed more help than the occasional cleansing from friends trained in such things.
“Do you have any thoughts on who might be doing it?” Graham asked. “Has anyone made any kind of threats against you lately?”
Steve and Jan looked at each other. “We know exactly who it is,” Jan said.
Then she stopped as Gabriella waited, her pen ready. The dramatic pause went on a little too long. “His name is Casey Romano.”
Gabriella didn’t recognize that name. She thought maybe it was another famous blogger or something, but Graham looked as lost as she was. “Why do you think that?” she asked.
“I don’t think it,” Jan said, the harshness appearing and disappearing so fast that Gabriella could almost convince herself it wasn’t there. “We know it’s him.”
She wrote down his name. “Can you give me some details why?”
“He’s harassed us online and lately he’s been escalating. He’s psychic and he has the ability to do this.”
“What do you mean by harassing you online?”
This one had echoes of Sixteen Roses and Gabriella was tempted to see if Madelyn wanted it instead of her. If they were going to be going on another online scavenger hunt, it was more up her alley. But that was James’s decision, she had to remind herself.
“We posted a recipe for a flat iron steak a few months back and he commented on the post with some criticisms,” Jan said. “That’s nothing new, we’re professionals online. We have thick skin. Casey Romano is nothing. But some of his comments were unfounded, so Steve responded to let him know that. Casey responded from there and it turned into much more of a thing than it needed to be. He was belligerent, and finally we told him we’d block him from the site if he kept this up.”
Was that possible? She made a note to ask Madelyn.
“After that, the attacks started,” Steve said.
“And how long did his online harassment go on for?” Gabriella asked.
“We didn’t hear from him again online,” said Jan. “But he’s local, I know he’s around.”
Gabriella glanced at Graham, who remained straight-faced. “So this man left some comments on the blog,” she said. “Do-”
“Excuse me,” Jan snapped, glaring at her. “It’s not a blog.”
“Excuse me?” Gabriella echoed.
“I said it isn’t a blog,” Jan said. “We aren’t some mother scribbling recipes for Marry Me Chicken or Better Than Sex Cake while her baby screams in the background. We’re professional chefs with a business in upscale, approachable eating. There’s a difference.”
“Right,” Gabriella said, memories of her mom’s cake (renamed for the kids and more sensitive members of the family) rising to the surface as she resisted the warring urges to scream and leave. “So he left some comments. Have you spoken to him in any other capacity?”
“No,” Steve said. “Think about it. This man is dangerous. He can attack us in our home, he can stalk us from place to place, and he knows exactly where we are when he strikes. I’m not putting myself or my wife in that situation.”
Could he really do all of that? “We understand,” Graham said. “We’ll look into that. Is there anyone else who might be doing this to you?”
“It’s him,” Jan said as Steve looked unimpressed behind her. “We know it’s him.”
“Alright,” Graham said smoothly. “Is there anything else you feel is important for us to know?”
“No.”
“So here’s how things will go from here,” Gabriella said. “We can set up some sensors in your home, cameras as well if you’re comfortable with it-”
“Absolutely not,” Steve interrupted.
“Alright,” Gabriella said, hating her life right now. “The more information we can get, the more likely we are to find a solution. But I understand. Are you comfortable with the sensors? They would collect energy readings and alert us to anything strange in your home. We can also put up some protective measures.”
“Yeah, fine,” Jan said. “But only the sensors. No cameras or ‘protective measures’ beyond that. And we have cameras everywhere, just be warned.”
“You have cameras?” Graham asked. “Would you be comfortable sharing any of the footage with us?”
“No,” Steve replied.
“That’s fine,” Gabriella said. “We’ll come out and put those in place. We can also do some here. Then we’ll take a few days of readings and figure out a plan on our end.”
“As long as this ends with Casey Romano being taken care of, I don’t care what you have to do,” Steve said.
“We aren’t law enforcement,” Gabriella said carefully. “We investigate paranormal phenomena.”
“And he’s a paranormal phenomenon.”
“We’ll be in touch,” Graham said before Gabriella derailed the investigation by responding to that.
They left a few minutes later and Gabriella took some time to look out the window and seethe before reminding herself she had to be a professional again.
“They’re difficult, I know,” Graham said after a few minutes of silence.
“’We’re not some mother making Better Than Sex Cake,'” she mimicked. “They’re assholes.”
“I think you have to be to succeed in their field,” Graham said. “I’m not defending them, but that’s the reality of it. I’ve seen it plenty in academia too. You can be brilliant and get outpaced by someone who is just cutthroat. So if you’re brilliant and cutthroat, you reach the top.”
“Speaking of cutthroat, they really have it in for this Casey Romano guy,” Gabriella said. “I’m going to see if I can track him down. I’d be curious to get his side of the story.”
