“Nah, babe. Levi and I are the least likely to get spooked for no reason,” I replied.
Callie snorted in disagreement but kept quiet.
“This is dire,” I murmured, looking at the cells and their peeling paint. Callie was wearing a facemask because of the possible dangers floating around in the air.
“It’s in the worst condition we’ve seen so far. Did the other cellblocks seem similar?” Callie asked.
“No. Maybe it’s because it’s the women’s wing?” Levi suggested. “Because I don’t know about anyone else, but I can almost taste the misery here.”
“It’s as though it seeped into the walls,” I agreed.
Callie was watching us closely. “What else do you sense?”
“An underlying current of anger as well as despair. It’s all around us. Don’t you feel it?” Levi inquired.
“No, everything appears perfectly normal,” Callie replied, and I frowned. The grief was almost crushing, and yet neither Callie nor Freddie seemed affected.
“Maybe it’s because they’re men?” Freddie suggested, and Callie turned to her.
“Huh?”
“Men would have sentenced the women imprisoned here. Could their spirits blame Levi and Sunny for their circumstances? Not every female jailed was guilty,” Freddie said.
Callie considered her suggestion. “That’s possible. Let me get the voice recorder out. You guys ask questions, and I’ll stay quiet.”
“Hi, I’m Sunny. I’m here to talk to you,” I began.
Levi jumped as we heard a whimper.
I checked him before continuing. “Can you tell me your name? Why were you here? Did you have a family? Children?”
I took pauses between my questions, enough time for something to answer, and Callie played the audio back. We stared at each other in surprise as an agonised scream erupted from the voice recorder.
“What the hell was that?” Levi demanded.
Callie pursed her lips and hit play again.
“Edith.”The name floated in the air.
“Her name is Edith,” Callie said, hitting pause once more. We all nodded, and Callie started the recording again.
“Mary.”
“Jayne.”
“Elizabeth.”
“Caroline.”
The names poured out, and we all stared at one another, stunned. “What the hell?” Callie murmured.
“Murder.”
“Poisoned him.”
“Beaten.”
“Lied. He lied.”
