The Revelation Room (The Ben Whittle Investigation Series Book 1) (12 page)

‘No.’

Ebb laughed. ‘Your attempt at compliance isn’t fooling
anyone, Satan.’

Tweezer agreed. ‘He’s inside him as sure as eggs make
omelettes.’

Ebb reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass
vial. He unscrewed the cap and drew a small amount of clear liquid into a
dropper attached to the lid. He moved closer to Ben.

Ben pushed up on the leather restraints securing his legs.
His right knee cracked. Pain shot through his leg and speared his stomach. ‘Let
me go. Please. I don’t want to do this.’

Ebb pointed the dropper at Ben. ‘See how Satan hijacks him
and takes hostage of his soul?’

Tweezer agreed. ‘I smell him, Father. I smell him in the air
I breathe.’

Ebb reached up and dripped liquid onto Ben’s left wrist.
 

Ben screamed and thrashed from side to side as a thousand
white-hot needles tattooed his skin. The pain in the rest of his body was
totally eclipsed by the burning in his wrist.

Ebb stepped back and turned to the rest of the group. ‘See
how Satan resists the holy water?’

‘Yes, Father,’ the group mumbled.

Tweezer stepped up close to Ben. ‘Not so bold now, are you,
Satan?’

Ben screamed.  

Ebb seemed unconcerned. He moved to the other side of the
crossbeam. ‘Satan scurries around inside him like a rat in a henhouse. But we
shall flush him out. Flush him out so God’s light can scorch his eyeballs.’

‘Praise Jesus,’ Tweezer hollered.

Ebb administered a shot of acid to Ben’s right wrist.

Ben screamed and thrashed on the cross as the whole of his
right arm caught fire.

Ebb stepped back and studied Ben as if he was an exhibit in
a science laboratory. He screwed the cap back on the bottle and put it back in
his pocket. ‘It’s going to be a long night.’

One of Ben’s knees popped. The one Stutter-buck had
fractured all those years ago when he’d jumped from the conker tree. He gasped
for air. His hands felt as if they’d been set alight with napalm. ‘Fuck, fuck,
fuck—’

Ebb held up a hand. ‘I hear your profanity, Satan. I hear
your curses. I hear your vulgarity.’

Ben vomited. Bile dribbled down his chin.  

Ebb laughed. ‘See how Satan tries to garner pity?’

‘We afford him no pity,’ Tweezer said.

‘F-Fuck,’ Ben shouted.

Ebb smiled. ‘We pay no heed to your weasel-words, Satan. We
do not fear you.’

Ben wasn’t aware that he’d wet himself. Or that his left
shoulder had dislocated. The burning in his wrists trumped everything else at
the moment.

Tweezer turned to Ebb. ‘Should we light fires beneath his
feet, Father?’

Ebb seemed to ponder this for a moment. ‘Perhaps, Bother
Tweezer. I fear we may need radical action to rid Benjamin of his unwanted
guest.’

‘No,’ Ben screamed.

Ebb pointed at Ben. ‘Satan controls him.’

Tweezer agreed. ‘Satan is his puppet-master.’

Ben shook his head violently. ‘No.’

Ebb wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
‘Possession is a terrible thing. But a rotten tooth has to be pulled out
whether the mouth likes it or not.’

‘Please don’t d-d-do anything else.’

Ebb made a sign of the cross. ‘Don’t think that you can fool
us, Satan. Benjamin is not the first soul you have used to attempt to trick
your way inside The Sons and Daughters of Salvation.’

Tweezer pointed at Ben’s hand. ‘See how the holy water has
marked him, Father?’

‘Confirmation of my gravest fears, Brother Tweezer.’

Ben knew he was going to die. No one would ever find him.
His mother would go to her grave never knowing what had happened to him.

Tweezer pointed at Ben. ‘Leave now, Satan.’

Ebb held up a hand. ‘Enough. Leave him be. Benjamin needs to
rest to prepare for the exorcism.’

Tweezer stepped back and bowed his head. ‘Yes, Father.’

‘Come. We shall pray for Benjamin’s soul.’

Maddie lay on a king-sized bed in
Ebb’s quarters with her wrists handcuffed to a brass head rail. Her white robe
was still fastened around the middle with its yellow sash, but the bottom part
had flapped open to reveal the tops of her legs. Her hands were dead. Pins and
needles drip-fed her arms with a steady, throbbing tingle.

The room, a converted attic in the farmhouse, was painted
brilliant white. Even in the fading light, it seemed bright and disorientating.
There was a large cross fixed to the wall above the bed. Through a skylight
above the bed, Maddie could see ribbons of cloud bleeding into the darkening
sky. Compared to the derelict state of the rest of the building, the room was
like paradise.

Maddie had no sense of time. After they had left the
kitchen, Sister Alice had taken her upstairs to a room with a brass plaque
fixed to the door. The plaque had the word
Sisters
inscribed on it.
Sister Alice had given her the robe and told her to put it on. She’d then
fetched Maddie a drink of elderflower juice. Maddie hadn’t realised just how
thirsty she was until she’d started drinking the juice. She’d drained it in
several long gulps.

Soon after, Maddie had felt tired enough to sleep on broken
glass. Sister Alice had helped her out of the room and up another flight of
stairs to Ebb’s living quarters. And that was all she could remember. Sister
Alice must have laid her on the bed and handcuffed her wrists to the head rail.

Maddie watched Ebb walk into the room. He dabbed at his head
with a white handkerchief. She could see the mound of his stomach beneath his
robe. So much for abstinence.

‘It’s a hot one today, Madeline.’

Maddie looked into those button brown eyes for signs of
humanity. Nothing. Two lumps of black coal.

Ebb smiled. Flesh folded around his eyes. ‘Would you like a
drink? We don’t want you dehydrating.’

Maddie shook her head. ‘Where’s Ben?’

‘Please address me as Father.’

‘Father.’

‘In this world of inflated prices, Madeline, manners are
free. Perhaps your headmaster daddy should have taken time out of his busy
schedule to teach you that.’

Maddie looked up at the skylight. ‘I wouldn’t have listened
to him if he had.’

‘I don’t suppose you would,’ Ebb agreed. ‘You have spirit,
Madeline. Spunk. I admire that. I’m afraid Benjamin is a bit of a wet sponge.’

‘Where is he?’

Ebb made a face to suggest his patience was wearing as thin
as his hair. ‘Aren’t we forgetting something?’

‘Sorry, Father.’

Ebb inclined his head. ‘That’s better. It’s quite painless,
isn’t it? As for Benjamin, he’s well. He’s getting ready for his inauguration.’

‘What do you mean, “inauguration”?’

Ebb put a finger to his lips. ‘Too many questions, Madeline.
All will be revealed in good time.’

‘Is it too much to ask why I’m chained to this bed?’

Ebb nodded. ‘Yes, Madeline, it is.’

Only my father calls me Madeline, you twisted bastard
,
Maddie thought. ‘My arms are dead.’

Ebb looked at her. ‘A numb arm never hurt no one. Think how
Jesus felt nailed to the cross. Your discomfort is not comparable to the
suffering of the Lord.’

‘I just want to know what’s going to happen to me.’

Ebb sat on the edge of the bed. ‘You’re going to bare your
soul, Madeline. Bare your soul to Jesus.’

Maddie’s throat closed. ‘How?’

‘Did you used to take a peek at your Christmas presents
before Christmas day? Sneak down in the middle of the night and rattle all the
goodies wrapped up under the tree?’

Maddie grappled with the sudden change of direction. ‘No.’

‘I’ll bet you did. I’ll bet mummy and daddy spoiled you
rotten at Christmas. Contaminated your head with all those dirty material
possessions. I’d even venture as far as to say they bought you a puppy, right?’

‘No.’

Ebb ignored her. ‘How much is that doggy in the window? The
one with the waggledy tail?’

‘I don’t even like dogs.’

‘I’ll bet it was a Labrador.’

‘No.’

‘Complete with a roll of toilet paper wrapped around its
cutie-pie Labrador body.’

‘No.’

‘What did you call it?’

Maddie shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

‘
Nothing
? That’s not a very nice name for a puppy.
What about Fido? That’s a good doggy name.’

‘I didn’t—’

‘My dog’s called Max. Do you like the name Max?’

Maddie tried to shrug. Her cuffs jangled against the head
rail. Hot needles injected her shoulders. If she could just wrap her legs
around Ebb’s neck and twist. Her legs were strong and supple due to her love of
dance and trampoline.

‘Max is a nice name, don’t you agree?’

Maddie nodded. It was safer to agree with him.  

‘She’s an Alsatian.’

‘She?’

‘Maxine. You assumed Max was a male, right?’

Maddie frowned. ‘I suppose—’

‘You’ll have to learn not to take things at face value,
Madeline.’

‘I’ll try.’

Ebb studied her for a while, as if appraising a piece of art
in a gallery. ‘A child is a product of those around it who shape and mould it
with their misguided beliefs. No one will blame you for getting a puppy at
Christmas, Madeline. Least of all me. We’re here to protect and nurture you,
not to point fingers at you.’

Maddie wondered how chaining her to a bed was conducive to
protecting and nurturing.

 ‘Dogs have many qualities most humans can only dream
 of. When I say dogs, I mean proper dogs, not those stupid yippy-yappy
things like my mother used to own. Bite you one minute, shag your leg the next.
 If I had my way, every one of those damned things would shame the
shovel.’

Maddie was about to ask what “shame the shovel” meant, but
then thought better of it.

‘What do you think Maxine’s best quality is?’

Ripping you to shreds, hopefully
. ‘I can’t think
straight with my arms like this.’

Ebb ignored her. ‘Loyalty, Madeline. That dog would walk
over broken glass and through a hail of bullets for me. She never complains.
Unlike humans who dedicate their lives to whinging and whining.’

Maddie pushed herself up on the bed and tried to relieve the
pressure on her wrists. Maybe she could kick out and kill him with a single
blow to the temple.  

‘What about cats, Madeline? Do you like cats?’

‘No.’ The truth. They made her sneeze for starters.

Ebb smoothed out creases in the white duvet. ‘Me neither.
Nasty little cowardly killers. Have you noticed the way people excuse their
behaviour by saying, “Oh, it’s just what they do.” Really? Is that what they
say about paedophiles and rapists? “It’s just what they do”?’

‘People are weak.’

‘They are, Madeline. Weak and full of excuses. If your daddy
was here, he’d be defending the education system. Denying the systematic
brainwashing of whole generations of good young people. Correct?’

Maddie nodded. ‘Yes.’

Ebb pursed his lips. ‘From the minute you can talk, they
tell you to shut your mouth.’

Maddie had heard a very similar line in a song.  

Ebb thumped the bed. ‘Soon as you’re old enough to wipe your
own backside they’re force-feeding you with lies and teaching you to be a
greedy capitalist pig.’

Maddie tried to measure the distance between her foot and
Ebb’s head.  

‘Remember assemblies?’

Maddie nodded.

‘We had a deputy headmaster called Oxlade-Bullingdon.
Everyone called him The Ox. A beast of a man. He used to parade up and down the
stage during assembly, threatening this and threatening that. It’s a damn good
job they banned the cane. Oxlade-Bullingdon looked like a man who might have
enjoyed thrashing children. Do they still have the cane at your father’s
school, Madeline?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Does he paddle his warped beliefs into the backsides of the
innocent? Does he brainwash them with the Devil’s doctrine?’

Maddie grappled for an answer. It was impossible to think.

‘Of course he does. Don’t move. Don’t talk. And above all
else, don’t think. Not unless you want Orwell’s Thought Police to come knocking
on your door and rattling on your windows like Wee Willie Winkie. So much for
free speech. Free speech, my eye. A headless chicken has more rights.’

‘Can I have some water?’

Ebb blinked, as if coming out of a trance. ‘Pardon?’

‘Can I have a drink?’

‘Yes. What would you like? I’ve got some Australian
Chardonnay. It’s rather good for the price.’

‘I didn’t think you allowed alcohol?’

Ebb smiled. ‘We do on special occasions, Madeline. The Lord
permits
some
downtime. Don’t worry, I’ve squared it with Jesus.’

Maddie watched him leave the room. The muscles in her neck
throbbed. The tips of her fingers throbbed. A thought: even if she managed to
kick out and disable Ebb, she would still be manacled to the bed. What then?
She’d be in even deeper trouble than she was already. 

Ebb returned a few minutes later with a glass of wine and a
pink and white striped straw. He held the straw to her lips. Maddie drained the
glass without pausing for breath.  

Ebb smiled and stepped back. ‘Better?’

Maddie nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Yes, Father,’ Ebb corrected.

‘Yes, Father.’

Ebb put the glass down on a solid oak night table. ‘That
should help you to relax.’

‘But why have you handcuffed me to the bed?’

Ebb looked at her. ‘Because Satan lives in you, Madeline.’

‘Satan?’

Ebb paraded up and down beside the bed. ‘Satan. Beelzebub.
The Devil. Call him what you will.’

‘He’s not inside me,’ Maddie protested.

Ebb stopped walking and turned to face her. He held up a
hand. ‘
You
don’t know he’s inside you, Madeline. But he is. As sure as
there are fleas on a cat.’

Maddie shook her head. ‘No. No, he’s not.’

Ebb pursed his lips and held a finger in the air as though
testing wind direction. ‘A common tale, I’m afraid. But how can you know,
child, when he hijacks your soul? It is our job – our duty – to flush him out.
The restraints are to prepare for Satan’s resistance.’

Maddie searched her mind for a way to reason with a man that
had lost all sense of reason. Her mind was all out of ideas. The wine had
blunted the edges of her senses.

‘And he will resist, Madeline.’

Maddie’s lips went numb. Why were her lips numb? ‘He won’t.
I won’t let him.’

‘Satan already controls your tongue, child.’

‘I—’

‘Silence, Satan. Be still.’ 

‘I wanna go-wome,’ Maddie slurred.

‘You’ll be going back to the flames of Hell where you
belong.’

Maddie closed her eyes. An image of her father flashed in
her mind’s eye. Pastor Tom, with his smiling blue eyes shadowed by his trilby
hat and his arthritic hands drawn together in a gesture of prayer.