James woke up to quiet the next morning. He had set his usual four alarms, so maybe they hadn’t gone off yet. But no…he somewhat remembered his phone going off, the familiar ringtone drilling into his brain as he reached over, still mostly asleep, and turned it off. And that hadn’t been the first time.

He opened his eyes and reached for his phone. Eleven AM. He’d hit snooze on every single alarm without fully waking up. But thankfully he wasn’t scheduled for another hour, so he had time to clean up and get ready without rushing.

There was a text on his phone from about eight that morning.

BRADLEY

Are you awake?

Shit, why was he asking? If it was an emergency, James had to assume that Bradley would actually call. Or even just show up and start knocking on his door. There were no other texts, no missed calls, and he would have heard the knocking.

JAMES

Sorry, just got this. What’s up?

Bradley had worked the overnight shift, so he was probably asleep right now. It couldn’t have been an emergency, James assured himself. Besides, Amelia was on right now, she would have taken care of anything.

He got up and went into the overly-bright kitchen, pouring a bowl of raisin bran. His stomach twisted at the sight and he couldn’t even make himself pour milk on it. There was a reason for that, there had to be a reason. But he couldn’t think of it, so he poured the cereal back in the box, then made some peanut butter toast. That with blueberries would be enough. And he’d be able to get it down.

Blueberries were okay. There were no strawberries here or at headquarters. Not after he’d smelled them in the kitchen and thrown up back in July. He’d thought no one noticed, but apparently they had because the small box of strawberries that had found its way into the fridge was gone an hour later. When he went to apologize to the group at large, no one would let him. 

They should be able to keep strawberries in the fridge if they wanted strawberries. He was fine, they didn’t need to worry about him, not when there were so many other things to worry about.

God dammit, why had he overslept? And what had been the issue at work? James got dressed and brushed his teeth, mentally running through everything that could be going on. By the time he got to headquarters, he was tempted to call and ask Bradley what was wrong.

“Good morning,” Amelia said as he came into the living room. “Your cousin Celia called a little while ago, she put in a report with the Department of Children and Families about the kid who was here last night. And Bradley apparently had a conversation with the parents too, so-”

“Motherfucker,” James muttered as the pieces fell into place. “What time?”

“What do you mean?”

“What time did Bradley talk to them?”

“Before he left,” Amelia replied. “Eight-thirty or so? Why?”

“Because he knew I’d stop him if I knew about it,” James said. “He texted me to ask if I was up. Because if I was, I’d tell him I’d deal with that this afternoon like I told him last night. And I wasn’t and the text didn’t wake me up, which he must have fucking known was going to happen, so-”

“Because you were here working at midnight?” Amelia suggested.

That took a little of the wind out of his sails, but he was still pissed off. “He should have waited,” James said. “He didn’t have to be the one doing that. I could’ve handled it.”

Amelia was watching him with her eyebrows raised. “I told him not to,” James muttered. “Whatever. Alright, I’m just going to get situated for the afternoon.”

He went into his office and set down his water bottle, tempted to go out and get another cup of coffee. He hadn’t remembered to pack a lunch, so he’d have to go home and get something later on. While he’d prefer to just skip it, Gabriella was going to be here today and she’d catch him immediately if he tried. 

In fact, she was in his doorway right now. “Good morning,” she said.

“Hey, Gabs.”

She came in and sat down on one of the chairs across from him. “What happened last night?”

“I lost my Cool Uncle status.”

“Never,” she said. “You’ll always be a cool uncle.”

Again, he wasn’t sure how to feel about hearing that from an adult on his team. “Penny’s friend with shitty parents showed up here because the ghost showed up in his bedroom. Because he took a hat, which he either thankfully or not thankfully threw onto the grounds of the middle school on his way here in the middle of the night. So guess what you and I get to do in a little while?”

“Please tell me we’re not going in his house.”

“No,” James said, unsure if he was relieved about that or not. He couldn’t know, because he hadn’t talked to the parents. And who knew what Bradley had said to them before he left? Now James didn’t have nearly enough information to start that line of investigation and he wasn’t sure how much of his anger was about that and how much was that Bradley had gone behind his back. “No, we’re going to the school. It’s a half-day today and the administrators said we can come in after school. We need to find the hat and talk to Mr. Lopez to see if he knows anything else.”

Her face lit up. “Great,” she said. “When?”

“We need to do a quick meeting, then we’ll head over.”

They met up in the living room a few minutes later, once James had a game plan for the afternoon. Yes, it would probably be destroyed by three, but whatever. 

“So me and Gabs are going to go to the school,” James said as he sat at the computer bank, looking at nothing just above Gabriella and Amelia as he considered his plan. “Cody said he threw the hat onto the school grounds, not that he went into the school and put it back. So we’re going to have to look around. I’m going to need to talk to Mr. Lopez about the artifacts and maybe ask if Penny and Lacey took anything from the school. Which I’m sure will make Penny love me even more right now. I don’t know what to do about the other kid, Cody. His parents have been reported to DCF, so that responsibility’s fulfilled. I know Bradley spoke to the parents, did he write up anything?”

“Yeah,” Amelia said. 

She reached for a piece of notebook paper on the coffee table and handed it to James, who looked it over. It was a short writeup in Bradley’s careful handwriting.

Talked to the residents of 76 Elderberry Rd after incident involving unattended minor son at their residence. Son reports apparition in his bedroom approx 10pm. Home alone. Son left the home with stolen artifact from investigation site and returned it to CTMS, likely on grounds but unknown for sure. Parents did not respond to multiple contact attempts by Capt. McManus. Capt brought the child to a family friend who contacted DCF at 8am.

8:30am, I visited the home (fucking great, James thought, bracing himself for the rest) to talk to parents. Neither seemed concerned about son, more concerned about house. They claim no previous paranormal phenomena, but did not display any surprise about my visit or content of conversation.

Official report to be filed approx 8pm Sept 22.

BMD

Bradley had initialed the bottom of the page as though this were the official report, not a page pulled from a twenty-five cent notebook. James knew the actual, morbid reason for that was that it meant this could work as the official report in case something were to happen on the case, leaving the agent too injured or too dead to submit something more. But right now it just made him more irritated.

“Alright,” he said. “I’ll talk to him tonight before I leave, so we can work out what, if anything, needs to be done at the house. It’s fine, whatever.”

Amelia looked at him, but he ignored it. He didn’t need to get into it with two of his teammates today. “Amelia, how’s your day looking?”

“I started Donovan this morning with Gabriella,” Amelia said, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. “I’m going to go check the property out tomorrow when Madelyn’s here.”

“Do you need someone there with you?” James asked.

“Nah,” Amelia said easily. “It’s all outdoors, I’m more afraid of ticks than ghosts during the daylight.”

James and Gabriella left a few minutes after the meeting. James’s phone was silent. That made sense now that he knew why Bradley had texted him. He didn’t need a response. In fact, he’d been betting on James not responding. 

What had he said to the parents? James hadn’t exactly planned on being friendly with them, they were neglectful, abusive parents. But he’d planned to have as calm a conversation as possible so that he could keep their son safe. 

Whatever. He needed to focus on this for the next several hours, then he’d talk to Bradley. Or yell at him. Or write him up or whatever needed to be done. Bradley had his own endless pile of work, he hadn’t needed to do this one too. Especially if James told him not to. James needed to keep everything under control and he couldn’t if Bradley was just going to do whatever the hell he wanted to.

They pulled into the large parking lot of Cross Trail Middle School, where a few cars were parked around the auditorium. James moved toward the other side of the school, where a field of yellow grass met the main road and its sidewalk as the field transitioned into woods.

“If I had to guess, Cody was riding down this sidewalk and tossed the hat somewhere around here,” James said, shielding his eyes to look around as they got out of the car. He motioned toward the trees at the edge of the woods and what looked like a small, dried-up stream. “It wasn’t windy last night, so it probably didn’t go far. Can you look around this area while I go in and talk to Mr. Lopez?”

“Yeah,” Gabriella said. “I’ll meet you in there.”

“Perfect. We’ll have to do some readings in there too.”

She moved toward the trees while James started across the lot. The sun beat down on him and he felt a little guilty taking the option that included air conditioning. But he did need to talk to the man and Mr. Lopez was expecting him.

He was sweating slightly as he got to the auditorium entrance. The door was unlocked, so he let himself in. The hall looked almost the same as it had, the only difference being the broken sets that were currently being worked on by a tall man with bleached hair and deeply tanned skin. He looked up and laughed as James came in. “You startled me,” he said, standing up and wiping his hands on his paint-stained jeans. “You must be the investigator.”

“Yeah, I’m James,” James said, holding out a hand to shake.

“Luis,” the man said.

A little paint got onto James’s glove, staining the black with a drop of bright green. “Sorry,” Luis said. “I can wash that for you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” James said. “Is Marcos Lopez still here?”

“Yeah, he’s in the auditorium with the kids,” Luis said. “I’m his husband, I’m just here to try and fix some of the damage to their set.”

James wasn’t sure what to say. Sorry seemed inappropriate, but it was also his first impulse. “I’ll go talk to him,” he said instead. “My coworker is going to come in in a few minutes, she knows to go to the auditorium.”

“Great,” Luis said, already looking down at the sets again with a focused frown.

James went into the auditorium, where groups of kids were scattered throughout the seats, reading through scripts together. There was a small roar of activity going on in here and he wondered if Mr. Lopez had had to change things on the fly for these last few weeks of the program. James spotted him up beside the stage, enthusiastically directing a young boy and girl who were under the spotlight, which was being controlled by a tiny preteen girl at the back of the theater.

“More enthusiasm, Melissa!” he was saying, swinging his arms in front of him as though in anger. “More rage. He broke your heart, you let him have it now!”

The girl, who was about six inches taller than the boy in front of her, took a breath. “IT’S TOO LATE, DANIEL!” she shouted. “WHERE WAS THIS APOLOGY TWENTY YEARS AGO?”

“YES!” Mr. Lopez exclaimed. “Yes, take that energy and keep going with it!”

He turned as James approached. “Hi,” he said. “Give me just another second, then I’m ready to talk.”

He turned back to the stage before James could say anything. “And Brad, you need to tell her the truth. Feel that truth you’ve been hiding for twenty years and give it power. Give it the power it deserves!”

This Brad was about thirteen, with curly red hair. He looked at Melissa. “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOUR SISTER!” he bellowed in a monotone.

James walked briskly toward the other end of the stage so that the kids didn’t see the laughter he was failing to keep inside. He pretended he was intently studying the area around the stage, which was no longer in a salt circle and had no significance anymore.

“Good work, you two,” Mr. Lopez said behind him. “Go take a seat and spend some more time on the scene, we’ll run it again later.”

Melissa and Brad hurried off the stage and up the aisle toward the back of the theater while Mr. Lopez made his way over to James. “What’s going on?” he asked. “I’ve got some time to talk while the kids work.”

“How badly did you need to change things?” James asked. “I met Luis a minute ago while he was painting the set.”

Mr. Lopez grimaced. “We’ll still do the showcase,” he said. “But I’ve got the kids working on other scenes for now to give Luis some time. They’re going to burn out on their showcase scenes if we just run them over and over, so I want them to take a break and try something new. They’re into it.”

He seemed happier than he had been when James and Bradley were here yesterday. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to need to look in the props closet,” James said. 

“Of course,” Mr. Lopez said. “Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?”

“I’m not sure,” James admitted. “There’s a hat that seems to be connected to the haunting here and…” 

Lopez wasn’t a suspect here, he could tell him about the case. “The spirit appeared again at Cody Weber’s house and we think it was because he took a hat from the auditorium. He says he brought it back here at ten last night to get rid of it, so Gabriella’s checking for it outside.”

“Is Cody okay?” Mr. Lopez asked immediately.

“He is,” James said.

“And did his useless parents do anything to help?”

So apparently Cody’s situation was well known. “Not last night,” James said. “He’s staying with Celia.”

“Oh good,” Mr. Lopez said with genuine relief on his face. “That boy’s been through it with his parents. He had a hat? Like a prop hat?”

“I don’t know, but I doubt it,” James said. “I’m hoping Gabriella will find it and we can see if you recognize it.”

“Of course.”

“And I want to go through the prop closet to see if there’s anything in there that you don’t recognize. Or do, for any particular reason outside of the drama club.”

“We can do that,” Mr. Lopez said, the first hints of skepticism James had seen yet from the man coming onto his face. “But that closet is a mess.”

James’s hopes for a short visit were deteriorating. But before he could make any plans, the auditorium door opened and he turned to see Gabriella hurrying down the aisle.

“Found it!” she said, flushed and a little breathless as she approached James. “It was in the creek bed, so it’s kind of gross. I mean, it’s really gross, but not just because of the water. I can- Mr. Lopez!”

“Gabriella!”

Mr. Lopez embraced Gabriella tightly, the admittedly gross hat in her hand forgotten. “Look at you,” Mr. Lopez said as he let go, keeping his hands on her arms and looking at her fondly. “You grew up.”

She laughed. “Yeah.”

“What happened here?” he asked gently as he motioned toward the scar running down her face.

Gabriella brushed her fingers against it. “It was a work accident,” she said. “I know, it’s bad.”

“No, darling, you’re beautiful. Oh, look at you.”

He embraced her again and James tried to ignore the tightness in his throat. When they finally let go, Gabriella held up the hat for them both to see. It was a dirty black knit cap, just like anything that might show up in any lost and found. 

“That’s not a prop hat,” Mr. Lopez said after studying it for a few seconds.

“You’re sure?” James asked.

“Positive,” he replied. “I would never allow my students to share that hat, that’s just asking for a lice infestation.”

Gabriella dropped the hat. “I don’t mean right now,” Mr. Lopez said quickly, stooping down to pick it back up. “I mean, if they all wore it. We have hats, yeah, but ones that can easily be sprayed. This one…”

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly as he looked it over. “Cody said he got it from the prop closet?”

“Yeah,” James replied. 

“What do you want to do with it?” Gabriella asked.

James considered it for a second. “It seems like things were quiet when it was here, so it’s the safest bet,” he said. “Let’s keep it here temporarily, but sealed.”

“Salt circle?” Gabriella suggested.

“Perfect,” James said. “Let’s bring it back to the prop closet. If there’s a space where we can keep it on its own, surrounded by salt, then that will work as long as no one touches it.”

Mr. Lopez laughed. “I’m not sure there’s a square inch of empty space in that closet,” he said. “But we can give it a try.”

***

He wasn’t exaggerating about the closet. When Mr. Lopez opened the door, a stack of crinkly dresses tumbled out and landed at James’s feet. They took an hour to go through the first round of…stuff, there was no other word to describe it. There was everything that someone might need to put on a play, plus dozens of other assorted things that James couldn’t imagine ever had a place anywhere. 

Mr. Lopez had to go back to the group of middle schoolers he was in charge of, so it was mostly James and Gabriella going through the mess, looking for anything with strange energy readings. After an hour, they went outside to update Amelia.

“Do you need us back at headquarters?” James asked, standing by his car and looking out over the grass blowing lazily in the hot wind.

“Take your time,” Amelia said. “It’s shockingly slow over here.”

James was sure there were plenty of other things he could be doing at headquarters, but as long as Amelia was fine, he wasn’t going to stress too much. He got off the call and he and Gabriella went back into the auditorium. As they came in the door, the girl, Melissa, from earlier approached them shyly.

“Gabriella?” she said.

There wasn’t a chance that Gabriella and this girl had gone to school together. Gabriella turned and looked at her for a second before recognition sparked in her eyes. “Melissa!” she exclaimed. “Hi! How’s everything going? Oh my God, how are you?”

“I’m alright,” Melissa said, smiling now, but still shy. 

“And your parents?”

“They’re okay,” Melissa said. “Me and Mom are living with Grandma and Grandpa in Leominster now. They sold the house.”

Gabriella looked horrified for a split second before Melissa continued. “There were guys that wanted to tear it down and build another. They know everything that happened.”

“Oh, good,” Gabriella said. 

She looked hesitant for a second and James was tempted to ask what was going on, but he’d give them some privacy.

“Dad’s okay,” Melissa said. “He said it’s gone.”

“And you haven’t heard anything from the demon?”

James had been looking down at the stage, but his head whipped back around at the word “demon.” Melissa was shaking her head. “Nothing,” she said. “Not since we left.”

“Good,” Gabriella said. “I am so glad to hear that.”

She turned to James. “James, this is Melissa. I worked a case at her house a few months ago.”

While he was gone. This was the demon house she and Bradley had worked when James was too insane to do his job. The one he’d offered to help Amelia with right after he’d tried to kill her. He smiled at the kid, hoping it looked real. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said.

“Drama club!” Mr. Lopez called. “Everyone up to the stage!”

“Thank you again,” the girl said, sounding far older than twelve or thirteen. “I really mean it.”

“Of course,” Gabriella said. “Tell your parents hi for me.”

Melissa hurried to catch up with her classmates and James looked at Gabriella. She was smiling. 

“She’s a good kid,” Gabriella said quietly. “Her dad put her in a really shitty situation.”

“And you helped her.”

“Well, me and Bradley. And Manny. And Father McEnerney.”

James laughed, trying to will away the twist in his stomach.