“Right now, I could eat a horse.” Jude took the plate from Cope and dug in. Inhaling his eggs like he hadn’t eaten in a week.
Cope handed Ronan the third plate and took a seat.
“I’m dying to know what happened,” Ten said, “but this is one of those times you have to pretend your husband’s health is more important that the vital information he has.”
Cope chuckled.
“Actually,smartass, Everly is the one with all the intel. She sat in the cell with Bellamy and talked to him. The rest of us stood around like bouncers at a dance club.”
“It’s okay, Dad. I’m ready to talk.” Everly’s plate was clean, with the exception of toast crusts, which Ronan grabbed and snarfed down. “Bellamy told us what happened at the prison the day he died. He stabbed the warden and then one of the guards shot him.”
“Did he just tell you or did you see it too?” Ten was sick to his stomach over the idea that Everly had seen two murders.
“I shut off the pictures, Dad. I didn’t want to see what happened, but I needed Bellamy to tell me about it so I could see if he liked what he’d done.” Everly reached for her soda and took a sip and licked the Coke mustache left behind.
Ten breathed a sigh of relief. “That was good thinking not to see what happened. Where did you get the idea to see if Bellamy enjoyed hurting the warden?”
“From you guys.” Everly pointed to the adults in the room. “When you’re working cases you talk about people who like to hurt others and I wondered if it was the same for Bellamy and if he liked being stuck in the prison.”
“What did you learn?” Ten asked, fascinated.
“Bellamy was desperate and thought he had no other way out. He was gonna lose his job in the Navy and was angry and humiliated. He just snapped.”
Ten was impressed with Everly’s assessment of the trapped spirit.
“Bellamy said there are twenty-seven spirits being held in the prison including himself,” Ronan said.
“Bertha told us Benedict had become a demon when he died. She had a feeling he made some kind of deal with the devil,” Jude added.
Ten shivered in the warm room. “Bertha thinks he’s using demonic powers to keep the inmates in the prison?”
Ronan shook his head. “She didn’t say that, but told us we need to figure out how Benedict is keeping the souls in the prison. Where the hell do we even start? How do demons trap souls?”
“There are a couple of ways,” Cope said, turning to Tennyson.
“Tell us, Cope. Everly’s come this far.” Ten hated the idea of Everly learning about demons, but he’d rather she hear it from them, than to learn about them from a less reputable source.
“First off, it could be that Benedict is a sadistic asshole. He gets off on hurting and torturing people. There are ways he could have bound the spirits to him. Did Bellamy mention hearing any incantations or chants when he died?”
“We asked and he said no, but it sounded like he was dead for a while before he came back to consciousness, so it’s possible the warden cast some kind of spell before Bellamy woke up.” Jude got slowly to his feet, wobbled, and sat back down. “Pasta salad?”
Cope got up from his seat and went into the kitchen. “It’s also possible the spirits are there because they don’t know they can leave.”
“Bellamy tried to escape. The warden stopped him.”
“Somethingstopped him. We don’t necessarily know it was the warden. The spirits could be trapped in a time loop, or might not know they’re dead, or it could be that guilt is holding them prisoner.”
“Guilt?” Jude asked, taking the bowl of pasta from Cope.
“Forgive me for this example, but the reason Ten is still struggling with the Autumn Miller situation is because he feelsguilty for the harm she caused to Everly and Aurora, the doctor she was obsessed with, the baby who almost died in her care and the fact that Miller and the boyfriend brought a gun into the ER. Guilt is holding Ten hostage, so to speak.”
Ten nodded. Cope was right, there was no use denying it. “You think it’s possible the deeds these spirits committed in life are keeping them prisoner in death?”
“That’s my guess. Their guilt kept them from crossing over when they died, but it’s Benedict’s psychological warfare that’s keeping them trapped.” Cope folded his arms over his chest. “What we really need to do is speak to Warden Benedict. Find out what his problem is and figure out how to solve it.”
Jude snorted. “Piece of cake. While we at it, why don’t we cure world hunger and achieve world peace?”
“Let’s sleep on it and see where we are in the morning. Fitz and Jace will be back with the kids in a few minutes. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to bed once Ezra’s down.”
