by H. P. Bayne
“Took the job here as caretaker because I needed the money,” he said. “I had no real skills or talents.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger. “No real smarts for anything. One thing I could do was fix and maintain things. Figured this would be easy money. I could even put up with the ghosts. Figured, hey, they didn’t scare me when they were alive. Why should they scare me now they’re dead?”
He paused, then drifted to the side of the room and lowered himself into one of the chairs he’d made. He waited until Sully had joined him, sitting in the chair next to him while Dez hovered around the woodworking table.
Pip started to lift his head but stopped partway before lowering his head again. “First time I heard the footsteps, I thought it was an intruder. It was at night, so I took my big flashlight and went in. Searched everywhere but couldn’t find nothing. I listened but didn’t hear it again. Next night, same thing. Footsteps with no one there. Called the police that time, thinking maybe I was missing something. Maybe the intruder was living in there somewhere and moving around while I was searching so I wouldn’t find him. Police sent four people and the five of us split up. Nothing. That’s when I knew it wasn’t an intruder.”
He rubbed at the bridge of his nose as if staving off a headache. “Happened every night for the first week. Steps were loud and even, made me think it had to be a guard. Coving was the first one came to mind. I knew he died on the property. Maybe he hadn’t left. Maybe he was still in there, terrorizing everyone else who stayed behind.”
Sully leaned forward, trying to catch Pip’s eye and failing. “Why didn’t you mention this the other day?”
“Told you. I keep out of it. Keep my head down. Only way to survive in this place.”
Something lingered in Pip’s face, an unpleasant truth yet to be revealed. “There’s something else,” Sully said.
Pip’s shoulders tensed, along with the muscles in his jaw. Finally, he heaved a pained sigh and slumped even farther forward, elbows on knees, head sunk deep. “Was a night right after I started where I was checking the place over. Happened to go onto death row. Something drew me to Hell’s Gate. I stood there a while, wondering what it must have been like for the men staring down a death sentence. Hell, if I’d done what I done a few years earlier, coulda been me taking the drop.
“I was in there when I heard the footsteps coming up the hall. I wanted out of there, but it’s the end of the range. There was nowhere to go, no way to slip past whatever was coming. I stood there, frozen, nothing to do but wait.”
He scrubbed at his face as if trying to wipe away the remnants of a nightmare. “Footsteps stopped at the doorway. Next thing I know, something has me by the throat. Something I couldn’t see. That was the worst part, knowing he was standing there, holding me up against the wall, and I couldn’t even see him.
“Thought I was gonna die. Really did. One point though, the pressure eased a little, enough I could get a partial breath and speak a bit. Thing is, I couldn’t see him, but I knew it was Coving. Told him, ‘Hey, Officer Coving, I got no beef with you. I’m just trying to take care of the place. Do what you want, but leave me be.’”
“And he let you go?” Dez asked.
Pip nodded. “Never had no beef with each other. Man wanted everyone afraid of him, and I was. Still am. Long as you’re afraid, maybe you’re safe. I dunno. All I know is he’s left me alone ever since—and I’m not doing nothing to change that. Not ever.”
Finally, Pip peered up at Sully. Sully struggled not to wince at the pain and fear in Pip’s eyes.
“I can’t die in this place, Sully,” he said. “If I die in here, I’ll be like the others—trapped here forever. With him. Far as I’m concerned, might as well be in hell.”
14
Dez considered what Pip had told them as he and Sully made their way back toward the main prison.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” Sully agreed.
Dez wasn’t finished. “I mean, can you imagine feeling like your only option in life is to accept a job at a place with this kind of history—much less live here?”
“Not everyone has a great set of skills.” Sully shrugged. “I guess he could probably train as a professional carpenter.”
“Yeah, but what happens when potential clients start asking about his personal history and whether he has a criminal record? Loads of people wouldn’t look kindly on having a convicted killer in their homes—even if the homicide was understandable on some level. Might be the job he’s got now is the only one he’s qualified for or able to hold down with any measure of certainty.”
Sully scanned the ground. “Yeah, I kind of get that to some extent. Not like I’ve got a lot of skills outside of the whole seeing-the-dead thing. If Lachlan hadn’t hired me on, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now. I definitely didn’t picture myself working in a bar the rest of my life.”
“Not so many options for a fired cop either,” Dez said. “Guess we’ve been pretty lucky.”
“Yeah,” Sully said. “We have.”
They reached the prison’s back door, then paused, eyeing each other.
“Ready for this?” Dez asked.
Sully, hands stuffed deep in the pockets of his jeans, shrugged and frowned. “Do we have a choice?”
Dez heaved a sigh and opened the door for Sully. He trailed him down the hall until Sully stalled at the end.
“What?” Dez asked.
“Waiting for a guy to pass.”
The fact Dez didn’t see anything told him what kind of guy this was. He suppressed a shudder and stood back until Sully led the way again.
By the time they reentered the main body of the prison, the cameraman and the host were gone, as were the voices. They’d either moved past the sound wall toward the other end of the prison where death row was located, or they’d returned to the offices. Not much point worrying about it. They’d find out soon enough.
Sully passed through the prison and back toward the administration area until they’d reemerged at the intersection with the hall leading to Ed and Kevin’s office. Dez could hear voices from here, raised in laughter and excited chatter. Leanna’s voice rose above everyone else’s.
With Sully having drawn to a halt, Dez gave him an encouraging nudge, then led them the rest of the way.
A group of people, including Ed and Kevin, stood in the office’s reception area, the individual offices too small to hold them all. Ed was the first to notice Dez and Sully, and he motioned them back with a jut of the head. A moment after they’d ducked back into the hall, Ed joined them.
“I thought I saw your vehicle outside,” he whispered. “You still all right with this?”
“We’ll have to be,” Dez said.
“You find out anything?”
“We found out there are an awful lot of people who bit the biscuit here. We also learned of a series of suspicious hanging deaths that occurred here in the seventies. Two were declared homicides, other two were inconclusive.”
Ed lifted his brows. “Were they solved?”
Dez shook his head. “Nope. But we learned something else. A guard who worked here named Peter Coving had been investigated for reports he took prisoners into the basement and tortured them.”
“You aren’t serious.”
“Afraid so.”
“Prison officials didn’t tell us anything about that.”
“Not surprised,” Sully said. “Sounds like they couldn’t get anyone to cooperate with the investigation. Coving was never sanctioned.”
Ed glanced back and forth between them. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t people have reported what he was doing?”
“Few reasons,” Dez said. “First off, there’s an unwritten rule in prisons and on the street against ratting. Guess it pertains to guards as well as other prisoners—at least back then. And there’s the fear factor. If their accounts weren’t believed, they’d be not only trapped here with Coving, but Coving with a grudge. And if he did get
canned, they might have been dealt with harshly by guards who were loyal to Coving.”
“One thing we know for sure,” Sully said. “Prisoners were terrified of him. We talked to Pip a few minutes ago. He kept his head down around Coving to avoid problems with him, but he was very much aware of his reputation. He also told us a ghost he suspects was Coving attacked him the same way you and I were.”
Ed’s hand went to his chest, mouth dropping open. “But—my God. He didn’t say anything about this to me or Kevin. When did this happen?”
“Some time ago,” Dez said. “Around the time he started work here, before you guys were in the picture. I get the impression he doesn’t speak about it. Sully had to pry it out of him. Pip’s still scared of Coving and doesn’t want to do anything to go up against him. Doesn’t want to upset the apple cart, so to speak.”
Ed nodded numbly. “Of course. I can certainly understand. Poor man. I can’t imagine what he’s gone through working here, carrying this around with him.” He forced a smile. “I think once our business gets off the ground, a significant raise is in Pip’s future.”
Sully grinned. “I think he’d like that.”
Ed’s expression fell. “So do you think you’ll be able to get rid of Coving?”
“I don’t think he’s the only problem,” Sully said. “You’ve got two forces at work here. One is Coving, and the other is the presence in Hell’s Gate. We’ve got a theory about it. Basically, something—maybe Coving, maybe something else—is keeping certain ghosts trapped in that cell. Their energy has combined to form a larger entity, sort of like a paranormal mob. It might be once we deal with Coving, the mob will disperse, and it will clear the cell. But it could be I’ll have to deal with that energy myself. One way or another, we’ll get this sorted out.”
Ed’s expression had shifted widely throughout the explanation, moving from curiosity to horror to what it was now—relief.
“So you can deal with it?”
Sully nodded. “One way or another.”
Ed released his breath in a whoosh. “You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you.”
“One problem,” Dez said. “You’ve got this crew about to go in there and rile things up. This could get worse before it gets better. If you and Kevin could stay out of the way for the next while, that would probably be a good idea. Pip’s back in the shop, and he’s planning on staying there. Maybe you and Kevin could head home for the night.”
Ed frowned. “I’d love to. I really would. But Kevin’s insisting on being here for any questions or interviews needed throughout the night. I couldn’t drag him away if I tried. I wouldn’t feel right leaving him here on his own.” He gave a shrug. “One of us needs to be the voice of reason.”
Dez nodded. “All right. I get it. I’m sure you’ll do your best to keep him back.”
“Sure will.”
At that moment, the subject of their conversation popped his head from the office. “Ed?” His eyes landed upon Dez and Sully, and he beamed. “Oh, good, you’re here! The rest of the crew has been anxious to meet you.” He turned back into the room. “Leanna, Ian, Roy, they’re here.”
Leanna was the first to emerge. She grinned as if greeting old friends rather than two guys with whom she’d spent several hours arguing on and off. “I’m so glad you’re here! I thought I saw your SUV out there.” She gave them a coy side-eye. “You weren’t trying to rid the place of the Hell’s Gate ghost behind our backs now, were you?”
“Perish the thought,” Dez said. He’d laid on the sarcasm, but Leanna didn’t appear to notice.
“Wonderful,” she said. As she walked fully into the hallway, two men followed. One was tall and slim, around her age with blond hair and a discerning expression with “skeptic” written all over it. The other was a shorter, plumper guy with hair so dark it was almost black and an open countenance. Something about the shorter man made him seem likeable from the outset. The tall man, on the other hand…
Leanna made the introductions, pointing to each of her crew members in turn.
“Sullivan Gray, Dez Braddock, this is my husband, Ian Rogers.” The taller man. “And Roy Phipps.” The shorter.
Dez extended a hand to each, as did Sully. Roy pumped their hands enthusiastically. Ian’s grasp was too tight as was his smile.
“Great to meet you,” Roy said. He turned to Sully. “I read all about you in the papers. Not to make light of it, given the reason you were in the news, of course, but I’m incredibly fascinated by what you do. I’m really looking forward to working with you tonight.”
Ian made a sort of “harrumph” noise.
Leanna nudged him lightly, her expression falling just short of an eye-roll. “Ian always takes some convincing, I’m afraid.”
“Skeptic,” Dez reasoned.
Ian cast them a poisonous smile. “Psychic, actually. I’m what some call a psychic medium. I sense when spirits are around. Sometimes I can channel them and get them to speak through me.”
Sully raised his brows. “Okay.”
Ian chuckled. “Looks like we’re going to have to convince each other.”
Dez bristled on Sully’s behalf. “Hold on. You think Sully’s making it up?”
“I’m saying people with truly developed psychic gifts aren’t as common as some think.”
Sully gave him a smile. To anyone besides Dez, it probably appeared friendly. “I won’t argue with you there.”
Dez’s turn to nudge a family member. They hadn’t even started, and the situation had already taken a significant downturn.
Ian glanced one more time between them, whispered something to Leanna and disappeared down the hall to the stairs leading to the guardroom. Kevin promptly trotted after him.
Leanna tucked her hair behind an ear. “We’re setting up a control room in the guardroom. Ian’s getting it put together. We always set up locked-off cameras in hotspot areas, and we keep our monitors in one place. It also allows us to follow crew members on solo vigils while we’re carrying hand-helds.”
“Solo vigils?” Dez asked. “You mean you want to have someone walking around in here alone?”
“We always do,” she said. “You haven’t seen the show?”
“Our whole lives have been one big paranormal show,” Sully said. “Neither of us find it very entertaining.”
“I can appreciate that, I think.”
Funny, Dez thought, how Ian’s appearance on the scene suddenly made Leanna seem like a bearable character by comparison.
She went one better, leaning toward them. “I have to apologize for my husband. He’s not used to having outsiders on vigils.” She patted Sully on the arm before heading off toward the basement door herself.
Roy lingered behind. His expression suggested he was trying to decide whether to say something, so Dez waited him out. Finally, he took a breath and spoke, addressing Sully.
“Listen, Ian and I have been best friends since high school. I love the guy like a brother, but he can be an asshole. I’m sorry about that. Honestly, he’s used to being the only psychic on an investigation. When he heard you were joining us, he wasn’t happy about it. Both Leanna and I are glad to have you though. You’re a known name, and as far as I’m concerned, the genuine article. Don’t let Ian get to you.”
Sully stepped forward, putting himself closer to Roy, the better to make a point. “I don’t think I can get either Leanna or Ian to listen, so I need you to hear me on this. Don’t do any solo investigations tonight. Especially on death row. Please. It’s not safe. By night’s end, I’m planning on making it safe, but if you guys go riling things up, there’s no telling what could happen. Whatever you do, don’t volunteer for anything on your own.”
Roy appeared uncomfortable, sticking his hands in his pockets. “You don’t really volunteer for anything with Ian and Leanna. You get volun-told.”
“If you have any problems, let us know,” Dez said. “We’ll sort things out for you. Maybe they can order you to do certa
in things, but they can’t order us. We’ll keep an eye out for you. You get sent to death row for anything, we’ll find you.”
Roy’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.” He glanced at the door to the stairs, then back at Dez and Sully. “Guess I should go help Ian. He hates setup.”
He shook each of their hands again and headed off.
Ed, who’d been quietly listening to the exchange, moved to them. “I’m sorry about all of this. I really am. I wouldn’t say as much to him, but Ian’s a real jerk.”
“Probably not much of a psychic either,” Dez said. “I’d be willing to bet half the reason he dislikes having Sully here is he’s worried about being exposed.”
“He seems pretty good on the show,” Ed reasoned.
Dez shrugged. “Time will tell, I guess. Just can’t figure on a real psychic going to all that effort to rile up the ghosts he supposedly can communicate with.”
Sully gave a half-smile. “Hey, he just treated us like garbage. If he’s a jerk to the living, why not the dead too?”
15
Sully and Dez went out of their way over the next couple of hours to stay out of the crew’s path. Sully would have been happy avoiding them the rest of the night but knew it wouldn’t be possible given Leanna and Ian’s plan was to spend as much time on death row as possible.
“It’s where the action is,” she told Sully as she wound an arm through his.
Didn’t Sully know it.
“I’m hoping to convince you to do a couple of interviews throughout the night,” she continued as they walked with Sully down the hall toward the main prison body, Dez behind. The sun had set, paving the way for the lights-out portion of the investigation. Sully knew Dez was dreading that part. For his part, so was Sully. Something about being able to see ghosts the moment he entered a room was strangely comforting. In the dark, they could pop out of the shadows in unexpected ways, startling even him.
That said, the ghosts might be nothing compared to being forced to go on camera.