A few minutes later, James sat down at the computer and started it up, knowing full well it was going to chug along until seconds before he had to be on the call. As it slowly came to life, he glanced at the printout of cases for the day. It was a fairly reasonable set of tasks. Interview for a potential possession over in Sterling. That would probably end up going to Father McEnerney once they finished their initial investigation.

A cryptid sighting in the Leominster State Forest. That was just another day at work. As long as the cryptids stayed within the state forest, they rarely needed to do anything more than interview the source and monitor the area. That was one that Amelia could probably handle before they even finished the team meeting about it.

And then two odd deaths, which generally wasn’t their business. James clicked into the video meeting program and glanced back down at the sheet as the program started up. Two individuals over in Ashburnham, a small town nearby where they really didn’t get a lot of cases. One on the railroad through town while the other was found hanging in his home. Why was the Foundation involved in this?

James flipped the page and felt the coffee creep back up his throat at the full-color images of the corpses where they’d been found. Both photos were bloody, the bodies in pieces, yet still recognizable as human remains.

“James!”

James’s head shot up and he shoved the sheets aside as McGovern, the branch liaison officer, greeted him from his small square on the screen. Seconds later, Johansen and Gold also joined in from resource management and the financial office, respectively.

“Good morning,” James said to everyone, sitting up straighter in his chair.

He knew he looked rough, but he could hope that it lent him an air of credibility. Maybe they’d think he had a ruggedness to him, something that showed he was someone to be trusted, someone who knew what he was doing. Even if he never, ever did.

The meeting began with the usual pleasantries. Then McGovern turned to James. “Did you have time to get that report in from last night?” he asked.

James shook his head, mid-sip of coffee. “No,” he said after swallowing. “It’s in the works now, but as soon as we got back to base, we needed to check a situation in Lunenburg.”

“Oh, right, that one,” McGovern said. “Alright, that makes perfect sense. Just get that in as soon as you can, will you?”

“Of course.”

“Where is Lunenburg again?” Gold asked, her voice raspy in a way that told James she had that bug that was going around.

“Just north of us,” James said. “South County caught it, but the actual action was supposedly taking place up here, so they passed it over to us.”

“Just like they’re supposed to,” Johansen said approvingly, his elderly face unnervingly close to the camera.

The meeting carried on like this. McGovern would ask about something James hadn’t done, James would tell him exactly why, and the other two would commentate. Every so often, a flash of disapproval would come over McGovern’s face, and despite everything, James would feel sheepish. He didn’t want to not be doing these things, they just weren’t giving him what he needed in order to do them. Which was usually a full crew, but he wasn’t sure it was worth even trying to get someone else on the team right now. The fact that they’d hired Graham was a miracle, and James knew it was only because of what had happened with their previous captain, Robin, earlier in the year.

“That’s it for follow-up,” McGovern said. “Once your other half arrives, we can move on to the next part.”

Amelia wasn’t supposed to be in this meeting, she was probably halfway through her daily workout by now. He was about to tell McGovern this when the door opened and Bradley walked in, still wearing his heavy winter coat. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, voice tight. “There was something going on, traffic was backed up all the way to the exit. I ended up going around.”

“There he is!” McGovern chirped as James shifted aside to make room for Bradley behind his desk. “We were just wrapping up the follow-ups for the week.”

“Any word on the van detailing reimbursement request I sent in?” Bradley asked, pulling one of James’s aunt’s old kitchen chairs over and sitting down.

“This meeting is for follow-ups only,” Gold said.

“Any follow-up on the van detailing reimbursement request I sent in?”

James shot him a look, but Bradley was taking off his coat and not looking at him. “Not yet,” McGovern said cheerfully. “They’re a bit backed up. I’ll be in touch once that goes through.”

“I paid for it out of pocket since the others were backed up too.”

James hadn’t known that and he hoped his surprise didn’t register on his face as he turned and looked as neutrally as possible at Bradley. Making sure the desk was out of sight on his webcam, he pulled over a scrap of paper and a pen.

Why did you do that?

Bradley watched him write, then pointedly ignored him as he set down the pen for a response. Instead of waiting for more than a second, James picked the pen back up instead.

Don’t spend your money

“We need to discuss upcoming financial expectations while we’re on the call,” Johansen said as James set the pen down. “There’s been a few situations lately, so we’ll need to reallocate some resources.”

“What kinds of situations?” James asked.

“Nothing concerning your branch,” McGovern said quickly. “No, we had a few cases fall apart in Connecticut after the entire team came down with the flu at the same time.”

“Amazing how that happens,” Gold said, then ducked off-screen to sneeze.

“But it means that the region wasn’t effectively covered for a few days, so we need to look into how to keep areas covered during emergency situations like that.”

If James remembered correctly, the last time there’d been a flu outbreak in their branch, Robin had worked triples for a week. But he had a feeling that wasn’t what they were talking about.

“But how this does impact you is that the funding available might change,” Gold said.

“Change how?”

Bradley’s voice was low and James resisted the urge to kick him under the desk, even as he felt the same frustration.

“We’re not sure yet,” Johansen said. “But given the tightness of the budget in general, we’ll need to work together to figure it out.”

“Have we considered a bake sale?”

Now James did give him a swift kick in the leg. Bradley flinched and glared at him. “What do you need from us?” James asked McGovern before a fight could begin.

“We’ll start by having you keep careful track of expenses over the next month,” McGovern said. “Consider what is and isn’t necessary and give us as accurate a read on your needs as possible. We’ll see from there.”

That was shockingly reasonable, at least for the Foundation. Before Bradley could say anything else, James nodded. “That’s doable,” he said. “I’d just ask that you keep in mind that we’re understaffed and have already spent months cutting expenses as much as possible.”

“You’re not considering staff cuts, are you?” Bradley demanded.

“No, of course not,” McGovern said, the first hint of frustration in his voice. “We’re not looking to cut anybody or any essential programs.”

“Thank you,” James said. “We’ll keep track and send you the results.”

“We’ll keep those receipts,” Bradley said. “Make sure to use generic painkillers when someone falls through a floor because we don’t have the resources we need already.”

Yeah, this was going exactly as he expected it to. McGovern was trying to keep professional, but Johansen was turning red while Gold had ducked off-screen again.

“We’ll keep track,” James said again. “Is there anything else we need to address while we’re here? The promotions list? Training programs?”

Arming me so I can shoot myself and get out of this conversation?

“I think that’s all,” McGovern said. “I assume you’ve heard about Hillsborough, so if there’s anyone on your team considering applying for the position there, send them my way. Same with the one in North Aroostook County. That one is open immediately.”

James couldn’t quite tell from the camera angle, but he was pretty sure all heads turned in Bradley’s direction at the same time. At the moment, James would gladly send him to the Canadian border to fight their Bigfoot.

“I’ll do that,” James said.

“I’ve got nothing to add,” Johansen said.

“Same,” Gold said through a stuffy nose.

“Alright, let’s sign off,” McGovern said. “Thanks for coming. James, just get those reports in by the end of the day if possible.”

James had a feeling the meeting was supposed to go longer than this, but he wasn’t about to complain. So instead, he just nodded. “I’ll do that.”

They hung up the call, and James immediately turned to Bradley. “Fucking really?”

“What?” Bradley demanded, looking down at the case notes on the desk. “Are you just going to let them cut our funding little by little?”

“No, but they were clearly going to discuss everything with us, not keep it some big secret. You didn’t need to go in guns blazing. They’re asking us to keep track of expenses, not sell off our equipment.”

“For now,” Bradley said. “And by the way, I always keep track of expenses. You should know that. It’s literally part of my job.”

He flipped the page over. “They always do this and then they- Jesus.”

The gory color photos were looking up at them, cutting off whatever they had been about to fight over next. “Yeah, that’s today’s case,” James said.

“What the hell did that, and are we going to have to fight it?”

“No idea, and no idea,” James replied. “Better get those generic brand painkillers ready, huh?”

Bradley looked at him, then back down at the page. Then he ran a hand over his thin face. “I’m going to make some coffee,” he said, and walked out.

James took a breath, then glanced back out the still-open window. The car was back in the driveway next door.

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CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 3