The meeting started a little while later and the tension between James and Bradley was obvious from the first second. Bradley was still at the same computer he’d been using earlier, but his glasses were gone. And instead of wrapping up the usual slideshow and swearing at anyone who approached him, he had his hands folded in his lap and was looking anywhere except at James. James, meanwhile, was deep in conversation with Amelia, but Gabriella wasn’t fooled by his seemingly casual posture. As Madelyn walked into the room with Graham, she looked at Gabriella, who raised her eyebrows with a grimace. 

“Alright,” James said as everyone was seated in the living room. “Two bigger cases today along with a handful of smaller ones that we’ll get to when we get to.”

The last part was heavy with meaning and Gabriella was already thinking longingly of the treadmill she’d left behind for this meeting.

“One pretty standard, one pretty out there,” James continued. “So let’s start with the standard one. We’ve got a haunting out at a church in Sterling. It got reported about three months ago, so they’re moving pretty quickly on this. Do we have a slideshow?”

“Yeah,” Bradley said.

He clicked a few things on his computer and the slide appeared on the screen James had pulled down. Instead of the usual detail Bradley put into these slideshows, there were just a few talking points in bullet format against a white background. 

Haunting at St. Mary’s Parish, Sterling

Three sightings, two witnesses

Needed: interviews

James looked at the slide for a moment, his mouth set. Technically, it was exactly what he’d asked for. But it was far from the usual slides of images and clipart ghosts with a smooth line of presentation. Bradley stayed silent and James looked at the others. “So this is an interview for today. Amelia and Bradley are on it after Amelia wraps up Warren. Which, thank you for doing.”

Amelia nodded, and James looked back at the screen. “Can you move to the next slide?”

“That’s it.”

There was just enough of a challenge in Bradley’s tone to be noticeable. They were on minute six, Gabriella confirmed with a discreet glance at her watch. She had actually expected this to happen three minutes earlier. 

“That’s it?” 

“It’s not in my job description, right? The information packets for the cases are in everyone’s email. That’s technically what I’m supposed to do, so why waste time and resources?”

They were glaring at each other now, all attempts at keeping things professional apparently instantly forgotten.

“I can do the presentation if there’s a problem,” Bradley added.  

“No, it’s fine,” James said tightly. “Alright, the next one is the weird one. Who here plays video games?”

He looked around the circle, blatantly ignoring Bradley, who sat expressionless at his station. “Sometimes,” Madelyn said.

“Same,” said Graham. 

“Never,” Amelia said.

James looked at Gabriella. “Yeah, I like video games,” she said.

The screen behind James flipped to another PowerPoint slide.

Video Game (Potentially cursed) 

Fitchburg

Needed: Full investigation

James looked at it with a raised eyebrow, then ignored Bradley again and looked back at the rest of the group.

“We have a potentially cursed video game,” he said. “About nine months ago, the Foundation received a report that people were getting sick after playing an online game.”

Okay, so it was internet based. The idea had never occurred to Gabriella, but it was only a matter of time, wasn’t it? James glanced at the nearly empty slide behind him again, then at Madelyn.

“The case was kicked off because a college student got sick and died while playing. His friend said she did some investigating on her own, realized this was a pattern, and was referred to the Foundation for more thorough, professional assistance. Nine months later, here we are.”

He gave them a grim smile. “Anyway, the case is pretty out there, so…” He looked at the screen, then at Bradley, clearly not on purpose. Gabriella darted a look toward Bradley, who – again – would have looked completely neutral if he wasn’t so obviously seething. 

James looked at his notes. “We’ve got one victim, but the woman who brought this forward thinks there are others and the Foundation agrees. However, the victim they are focusing on is named Ezekiel Thomas. He was twenty-one, lived in Fitchburg, and was a chemistry major at Fitchburg State.”

Graham made a choking noise and James looked over at him. “Bud, what… oh, shit.”

Graham waved him off with a shaking hand. “I know him,” he said. “He was in my Intro to Psych section a couple years ago. He…um…what happened?”

“Cardiac arrest,” James said quietly. “His friend, um…”

“Charlotte Lau,” Graham finished softly.

“Yeah.”

“I thought so.”

“Graham, do you want to take a break?” James asked as Madelyn took his hand.

Graham shook his head. “No,” he said. “Sorry they’re just good kids and…”

He took a shuddering breath, then looked over at Bradley. “Did you know Ezekiel?”

Gabriella wasn’t sure what she expected, but Bradley shook his head. “I’m in the business school,” he said.

“Yeah, right,” Graham said. “Sorry.”

Bradley looked unsure how to respond. “It’s okay,” he said.

James was watching Graham carefully, then Graham nodded at him. “Sorry,” he said again. “I’m fine.”

“No, man, you’re not,” James said gently. “But, listen, I don’t have you on this case. Are you sure you don’t want to dip out? I can update you later. I’m sorry, I should have made the connection.”

“It’s a big school,” Graham said. “Please, let’s just keep going.”

His voice was wavering, and he looked like he was close to tears, but waited for James to continue.

“So, the- I mean, Ezekiel – his friend says that he didn’t show any strange symptoms or behavior until he started playing an online mystery game. I don’t really get the details, since I don’t really play video games, but the case file has them. It’s a game that he found online. She says he acted like himself up until he got really sick. There’s no strange medical history, and it happened abruptly. He started having symptoms and died within the week.”

Gabriella stole a glance over at Graham, who was looking at the floor with his hand still in Madelyn’s. Then she looked back at James.

“His friend, um, Charlotte, she said that she did her own investigating for about two months before someone steered her toward us. In that time, she found that a handful of people had either gotten sick and died or gotten sick and recovered, and that this was a pattern on message boards and social media. Not linking the illness to the game, necessarily, but that it was mentioned so much.”

“So she based it on social media accounts?” Amelia asked.

“That’s what she says,” James said. “We’ll have to go over some of them again, but as a baseline, her information seems to be solid. It’s our case because the… it happened here. But apparently the LLC behind the game is based out of Weston, so we may end up looping South Middlesex County in too. The Foundation took Ms. Lau’s statement and set up a case file for it. So we have to just take it from here, I guess.”

He looked at Graham, and Gabriella could tell he wanted to say something, but there really wasn’t anything to say, was there? So instead he looked at Madelyn.

“Mads, I know you’re absolutely smoked with your training, but I want you as the lead on this one. As our tech expert.”

“Yes,” she said immediately. “Of course.”

“Gab, you’re going to assist her.”

Graham stood up and quietly slipped away from the meeting, motioning for Madelyn to stay. Despite the tragedy of it, there was still a spark of excitement in Gabriella at the idea of hauntings on the internet. “Yeah, absolutely,” she said, forcing her voice not to betray those thoughts.

“I was thinking about it earlier and I want to get you in touch with a woman I know who used to work for the Foundation and is freelancing now. Her name is Jessamyn, she’s fantastic and would probably have some ideas about this whole online aspect.”

“You didn’t mention that,” Bradley said abruptly.

“Didn’t think I had to.”

“Is she coming on as a contractor or as a consultant?”

“Why does it matter? She’d be coming on to help.”

“Because the way they’re going to pay her is completely different for different roles and the paperwork is different. I’m not going to waste Jessamyn’s time.”

“No, but you’ll waste mine.”

And they were off. At least they’d waited until Graham was out of the room. Maybe they’d just shout it out and just get it out of their systems while Gabriella thought about where an online case would even start. 

“We can figure it out later,” James said, before Bradley could respond. “I haven’t even talked to her yet so there’s no point in you biting my fucking head off before…”

He stopped, as though remembering they were in a meeting and this was super inappropriate. Then he took a breath and turned back to the screen. “Mad, you’re in charge of setting up the case. Gabs, you know the drill. Madelyn is your point person on this one, so do what she says. You two start on that today and let me know your progress, let’s say around five. Amelia, you two have the church and when Graham gets back, he’ll be on comms for that one. Wait, no.” James stopped and Gabriella noticed him start to turn toward Bradley as though to discuss the plan, then stop and just look at all of them. “Amelia, I’m going to have Graham on side work for a while today. I’ll take comms. Alright, dismissed.”

He gave them an attempt at a smile, then turned and walked into his office before anyone could ask any further questions. Madelyn stood up, caught her balance, then came over to Gabriella.

“I need to go,” she said, nodding in the direction Graham had gone. “I’m sorry, I’ll get started when-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gabriella said. “Go.”

Madelyn hurried down the stairs, gripping the handrail, which wobbled slightly as she went. Gabriella waited until she was at the bottom and had gone out the front door before getting up. 

Bradley was still sitting at the computer bank, staring down at the floor as Gabriella passed him to go to the dining room table, which was filled with weapons and tools. That screwdriver sitting there might be a holy screwdriver with a divine purpose, but it would do to tighten the railing on their stairs. 

“I have the case information for you,” Bradley said as she came back in.

“Thanks, let me just do this and I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah.”

It took thirty seconds to get the railing back into place. She gave it a final tug, then, satisfied, went back upstairs to find the living room empty and a manila folder waiting for her on the coffee table.

***

It was more sleet than rain outside by this point in the morning and it was actually kind of nice now that Gabriella was not trying to drive through rush hour traffic. Watching it frost the ground in the neglected backyard was cozily distracting, but it was time to get to work.

Before she even looked at the game, she was going to take some time to read through the notes the Foundation sent over. Maybe she’d get lucky this time and there’d be more detail than usual. Maybe they’d even have the original research that Charlotte Lau had done.

Madelyn had been gone for about twenty minutes, not that Gabriella was going to get frustrated by that. She’d seen Graham’s face in the meeting. The poor guy had tried to hide it, but he was wrecked by this. And not only was he going to deal with the loss of his student, he was going to have to hear them all talk about it over and over until the case was solved.

So she’d better get it over with quickly then.

Gabriella’s back had started to protest when she worked hunched on the bed these days, so now she was lying on her stomach, legs kicked up in the air like a teenager as she opened the manila folder Bradley had left her.

The air had been so charged and so unpleasant out there that it was a relief to be alone in here. She’d been planning to go back down to the gym and finish her workout, but that meant another shower and another change of clothes. Plus the possibility the fight had just moved downstairs and James and Bradley were currently beating each other to death with ten-pound kettlebells.

Alright, focus, Gabriella. The first page was a brief overview of the case. Suspected paranormal influence via an online program. No signs of hypnosis, mind control, or illusion based on the witness description. That was good. She’d seen the way James always suppressed a shudder at the mention of those things. And since he’d swooped in and taken her off the living scarecrow case earlier this year, she would do the same for him if the opportunity arose.

But Ezekiel had died from something directly connected to this game. The overview said his official cause of death was cardiac arrest, which made no sense. He was a healthy twenty-one-year-old in his final year at Fitchburg State University. Two siblings, one in the United States, one in Denmark. He was active, happy, and popular. And he’d gone from perfect health to death in a matter of days.

Case brought forth by Charlotte Lau, age twenty, also of Fitchburg. She was a close friend of Ezekiel, and they lived together in an apartment off campus. She said he’d been playing the game intently, but had seemed completely normal otherwise, including going to class and his on-campus job. After about a month of playing, he’d started feeling ill, beginning with headaches and fainting. He’d kept playing while on bedrest, just to keep himself occupied. She found his body a couple days later.

Lau didn’t accept that it was a freak situation and started investigating on her own. Gabriella liked her already, just from the few things she knew. And apparently Graham thought the world of this woman, which was a strong mark in her favor. 

Gabriella noted that the game was the only major change in Ezekiel’s life. He’d been to the doctor a month earlier and got a clean bill of health. No major changes at school. His friend had brought the case to the Foundation nine months ago. But she’d started her own investigation shortly after his death, putting Ezekiel’s death almost exactly a year earlier. Mid-semester with a full class load. But his grades were good and Lau insisted there was nothing there that might have led to a stress-related health problem.

So she’d focused on the game. According to Lau’s notes, it was an online browser based game, no downloads, no app. But she didn’t know much about it. Just that he enjoyed it. He’d suggested it to her, but she wasn’t a fan of video games herself. 

So Lau did her research based on the game and it seemed as solid as something like this could be. She’d looked up as much as she could about the game online (more information about that on the next page, said the report) and then she’d just searched it on different social media channels. Everywhere that she could, really. There wasn’t a ton about it, it appeared to be an independently produced game and she was pleasantly surprised at first to find it mentioned at all. There were official accounts for Roses LLC, but they mostly reposted other people’s statements about how great the game was.

Then Lau said her surprise turned to horror as she put the patterns together. A number of accounts had been memorialized some time after mentioning the game. And after finding twelve people around the world who had died after playing, she’d realized she was in over her head. That was when she found the Foundation. And now the Foundation had brought it to them.

Like James had said, it was assigned to North Worcester because Thomas’s case had originated here. He lived in Fitchburg, but had been buried in New York where his family lived. 

She took a sip of water and moved on to the next pack of stapled pages, which was about the game itself. It was called Sixteen Roses and was, as Charlotte Lau had stated, browser based. The creators were Roses LLC – whose PO Box was, interestingly, in Boston, not Weston – and there were no other games online created by that team. The first mention of it was five years earlier when the website had been bought and set up. They had social media channels and a newsletter. The newsletter appeared to go out sporadically to their followers and the social media updates were equally sporadic and cryptic.

The game itself was very basic, to the point of simple. Collect the roses and save the princess. Gabriella was tempted to pull it up and check it out now, but she’d finish reading the background information and talk to Madelyn about their approach first. 

As she was thinking about it, Madelyn walked into the bedroom. “Sorry,” she said.

“No, it’s fine,” Gabriella said, sitting up on the bed. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah. He’s upset, but he’s going to be okay. James told him to go home for a little while and come back later if he wants, but he doesn’t have to.”

He would, even if he shouldn’t. They all knew it because they’d all do the same thing. “Alright,” Madelyn said, stiffly sitting down on the other bed. “Fill me in.”

About ten minutes later, Gabriella finally typed the address of the game into the browser of the clunky old Foundation laptop they’d assigned to this task. As she hit Enter, the screen went black.

“Fuck,” she muttered, moving the mouse uselessly as the curser disappeared. 

“I can’t believe this is what finally killed this thing,” Madelyn said a moment later as it stayed black. “Maybe we can open it on one of the desktop computers. James won’t mind if we sacrifice one.”

She stood up and started out the door. Gabriella was about to get off the bed and follow her, but then the screen gradually began to fade from black into blue. “That’s not the blue screen of death, right?” she asked.

Madelyn laughed bitterly, but then came back in and looked at it. “Nope,” she said, frowning as she peered at the screen.

And then text appeared.

SIXTEEN ROSES

ENTER

And the cursor was back. “You know what?” Madelyn asked. “I think the game was supposed to fade out, then back in as part of the effect, but this laptop is so old that it took forever to fade back in.”

Gabriella laughed. “Typical,” she said. “Alright, should I enter?”

She and Madelyn exchanged a guiltily excited look. “Let’s do it,” Madelyn said.

---

CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 3