Heart over Haunting (On Hold)

Chapter 3

Avalon's old silver blue labaron pulled up to the TAPS office just a couple minutes before nine.  She ran up and stopped in front of the door before calmly opening it and walking inside.

"Hey, right on time." Grant smiled as he walked out of the back office.

"I try to be." the young woman smiled.

You have no idea.

"Well, Jason isn't here this morning and you've already met Kris, so I'll introduce you to the other two."

"Okay."

They went down the basement stairs and into a small room where a man who had his back to them was working on some electronic devices.  He was maybe slightly taller than average, a little overweight, his short dark brown hair was partially hidden by a baseball cap and there were tattoos all over his arms and legs.

"Hey, Steve?" Grant knocked on the door frame.

"Yes?" he turned around, revealing soft brown eyes and a slight beard.

"This is Avalon Bates.  She's our new team member."

Avalon smiled, "Hi."

"Hi." he smiled, "I'm Steve Gonsalves."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too."

"Well, we'd better let you get back to work." Grant started back upstairs.

Avalon followed him back to the main area and into another office.  Sitting behind the desk at a computer was a young man.  His dark brown eyes were focused on the screen and his short dark brown hair was partially covered by a golf cap.

Grant knocked on the door frame, "Hey, Tango?"

The young man looked up at his boss then his eyes flickered to Avalon, "Yes?"

"Meet your new team mate, Avalon Bates." Grant smiled.

The young man stood up quickly and took off his cap, "Hi.  I'm Dave Tango."

Wow.  What a gentleman.

Avalon smiled, "Hi.  It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." he smiled.

"Tango do you know if the other desk in Kris's office is ready yet?" Grant spoke up.

"I think so." he started to walk around his desk, "I'll check."

"You don't have to do that." Grant said, but the younger man was already out the door.

Avalon followed him, and her new boss trailed after them.  When they entered the other office, Tango was putting pencils in the holder and the computer was booting up.

"You didn't have to do that.  But thank you." Avalon smiled.

Tango smiled, "I just thought it would be the nice thing to do."

Just then Grant came in, "So, this is where you'll be working."

Tango nodded to Avalon and left the room.

The young woman brought her attention back to her boss, "What exactly will I be doing?"

"Helping Kris do research on cases and things like that.  And of course you'll be an investigator in training."

"Are there certain times when I'm required to be here?"

"Only when Kris needs your help and when we're getting ready to head out on a case."

"So I take it she'll let me know when she needs my help?"

"Yes.  I'll give her your phone number."

"Alright then." Avalon grinned, "I still can't believe this is happening."

Grant smiled, "It's good to have a really enthusiastic person around."

Avalon smiled, "So, should I hang around here for awhile?"

"Sure.  Get a feel for the place.  I'll just be in my office if you need something."

"Okay.  Thanks."

After her boss had left, Avalon began wandering through the other rooms.

This isn't a dream.  I'm actually here!