Chapter 4: Confessions

"He's mutilating those people!" Jude firmly announced, pacing the floor before the Monsignor's desk.

Timothy calmly looked up to her. He had an idea of what she was talking about, with Arden and his experiments. He had known, and given him the permission.

What he didn't know, was exactly how far these experiments were going to go. His guess, Jude saw one person, slightly ill and overreacted. Anyone who is ever taken by surprise perceives things worse than they are.

The Monsignor sighed, removing his glasses and massaging his temples. "Do you realize the magnitude of the accusations you are making?" he wearily questioned. He had to find a way out of this.

Jude stopped dead in her tracks, turning back over her shoulder to look to him. "Of course I know the magnitude!" she answered, offended at the fact that he could even felt he had to ask. She was being treated as if she were tattling on some misdemeanor like he forgot to cover his mouth once while he was coughing out in the hallway.

Jude turned and made her way to his desk. "And I'm sure that if anyone else got wind of his doings, that they would understand the magnitude of the situation," she explained to him. "I want you to get rid of him before the wrong person finds out about this."

Timothy looked to her with concern. He knew that she was looking out for him. Normally, he would have listened to her. This time though, he had no choice. He had to get her to quiet down and ignore the situation. He had to make her feel like she was overreacting and that she was mistaken.

"Now sister, is it possible that you're imagining things? I mean, he is a doctor, there are going to be sick people in that room," he inquired, hoping to get her to back down from her stance.

Jude sighed, keeping her composure. He didn't know how much he was hurting her by not trusting her. She was just trying to protect this place, this dream of his. She wanted to be able to see him off to Rome. This was all for him and he was here treating her as if she were just some silly girl who saw something that scared her in the dark. How could he not trust her enough to believe her when she told him something like this?

"I'm telling you, what I saw down there was not a human anymore. I don't know how he did it, but he created a monster," she firmly stated.

Timothy placed his glasses back on his face and stood to his feet. "I'll go take a look for myself. But until then, please keep this just between us," he requested.

"Yes Father," she flatly replied. She still didn't like how long it took him to finally listen to her, but at least he was taking some action now.

Jude followed him out of the room, but went the opposite direction down the hall. With her head down, she kept a steady pace. There was no one else with her, and she wanted to get to her office before she had any company.

Quickly, she slid back into her office, making sure that the door was closed behind her, and sat down in her chair at her desk. More and more over time, she had sense that Dr. Arden was bad. Not just because he didn't get along with her. She wasn't that petty.

There was just something about him. An uneasy feeling that came over her when they had first met. A feeling that kept growing more and more intense the longer she knew him.

Sure, she was good at hiding it. She knew that at any moment she needed to, she could take him down and make sure that he didn't ruin anything here. Even now, without the support of Timothy, she knew that she could do it.

It just bothered her that he didn't believe her. Back when they were preforming the exorcism, the devil was right about something. She hated being the smartest one in the room and having no one listen to her. That was how she felt with Timothy sometimes. She would tell him about Dr. Arden, and he would tell her that it wasn't her job to worry about him. Or she would hear that he was church approved so he had to be fine.

What Timothy didn't seem to understand, was that he was the only friend that she had. Yes, he did listen to her, on everything else. This though, was the one thing that he truly needed to hear. But, she was willing to do anything for him. And yet, he wasn't willing to listen to her on this? It took her yelling in his office to finally get him to at least consider what she was saying could be true. All she was trying to do was help him out, and he didn't want to hear it.

Oooo

"Dr. Arden?" Timothy called out upon entering his office.

Arthur, who was standing before the window, simply gazing out, turned and looked to Timothy. "Something wrong Father? You seem a bit nervous," he casually noted.

Timothy stood before him. "Sister Jude has just come to me to inform me that you are using human subjects as experiments," he informed him.

Arthur waved him off as he turned back towards the window. "She didn't inform you on anything."

"I may have already known, but that doesn't change the fact that you need to hide your work better," Timothy argued.

Arthur turned back to Timothy. "The only reason she saw anything at all was because she was snooping around down here. If anything, you should watch your facility more closely," he firmly told him. He then started walking towards the priest. "When we made a deal, I expected that you would make sure to fully keep your end. I'm not going to have to start slipping on mine am I?" he inquired, beginning to smirk.

Timothy stared up to him, his eyes grew slightly larger with worry. "I'll keep her quiet," he assured.

Arthur nodded. "Good," he said. "I would hate to have to tell someone about the missing money. What was it, a couple hundred?" he asked, slowly pacing to other end of the room.

Timothy glared to him. "You know what that money was for. It wasn't as if I were taking it to get a new toy or something silly," he defensively stated.

"Right," Arthur responded, turning back and continuing his pace. "If I recall right, it was for a certain surgery for your mother. She needed a tumor removed from her liver."

"That's right," Timothy replied, lowering his head. He hated thinking back on that time, a time in which he didn't have the money to properly care for his mother. He was an only child, his father had passed years ago and his aunts and uncles were either older or dead. He was left alone to care for his mother.

"And I may also be right in recalling that stealing is stealing no matter what. Is that correct, Father?" he smugly implored.

Timothy lifted his head, ashamed like a young boy. "Just be more careful and I'll do my part," he instructed before turning and leaving.

Arthur smiled in his direction a moment before taking a seat at his desk. He found it amusing, being able to get away with just about anything he wanted. It just went to prove that a little blackmail could get you anywhere.

"So Sister Jude is onto us?" Mary Eunice questioned as she casually walked into the room.

Arthur looked up and offered her a smile. Seeing her always brightened his day. "Sister Mary Eunice, what brings you here?"

She came in and sat down across the desk from him and crossed her legs. "I saw Jude walk out of your room earlier," she informed him. "But I guess you already know that."

"I wouldn't worry about her," Arthur assured her.

"You know, I wouldn't shove her off that easily," Mary Eunice warned her. "Did you ever hear of what she did to her daughters?"

The fact that Jude once even had a family perplexed him. "What?" Arthur asked, trying to picture her as a mother.

"Yeah, it was a real bloodbath apparently," she mentioned. All too casually for Arthur's taste, but he let it go. "She left her daughters alone and then came back home to find out that one of them had killed the others right before killing herself. Then you have some of the patients here, the ones that have gotten worse. The woman drives people nuts," she explained, using almost animated gestures.

Arthur just looked to with disbelief. Gradually, he shifted to a smirk. "So miss holier than thou does happen to have a few skeletons in her closet."

"Oh believe me, the old bat has plenty," Mary Eunice responded.

ooooo

Kit cautiously walked into the office and sat down before the nun, Sister Jude. Normally, he would have hated coming here, because he knew to expect to be caned. Now though, he hated being here for a different reason: he might be guilty.

"You requested to see me Mr. Walker?" she asked, eying him.

"Yes Sister, I came because I think I might be guilty," he admitted.

"You finally decided to give up your story about the little green men?" she quipped.

Kit just nodded. Even though her response stung, she was a nun and if he could get her to forgive him, anyone would, including Alma. "See, I, I don't remember actually killing her, but I must have. There's no other way," he explained. "The way I see it though, if I did it, God knows then, right?"

It took Jude a second, but she nodded. "Yes, that's right," she answered with trepidation. Her thoughts going back to the night that she hit the little girl.

"May I ask you something?" he inquired. It was about to be risky, but he felt he could handle the consequences if that was truly what it came down to.

"Sure," she replied, trying to keep herself together.

"Have you ever done something so awful that you questioned whether or not you really wanted to go on?" Kit implored. Right now, he had a choice. He could either get the chair or prove himself insane and stay here. Neither one sounded good, but if it did turn out that he did indeed kill the woman he loved, he wasn't sure that he deserved that chance to live. Besides, he wanted to know whether or not he was doing the right thing here, confessing to the murder. If he wasn't sure he did it, should he be convincing himself that he did?

Jude stiffened up at the question. "We're all sinners. Just remember that," she explained. "I've done things that I shouldn't have done and I've later regretted them."

Kit nodded. Regret was understatement here. "Dr. Thredson wants me to confess to the murder. I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing here," he said. He looked up to see Jude looking to him, slightly visible concern in her eyes. "I don't want to get there and confess to a murder and take a chance of getting blamed while the real murderer is out there somewhere. If my wife was somehow murdered by someone else, I don't want to get the electric chair and then find out there is an after life and have to explain to her that she didn't really get the justice she deserved. I don't want to be the one who allowed a murderer to remain out on the streets," he told her.

"Well, what do you think Mr. Walker?" she questioned. "Do you think you deserve to get the chair or don't you?"

Jude watched as he lowered his head. "I can't make this decision for you Mr. Walker. I can tell you though, if you really think you did it, confess and take the consequences. You deserve to fry. If you think you didn't though, you have another chance to confess if you find something out. Just remember God knows what you've done and eventually, you're going to have to pay the price," she informed him. It was also a bit of a wake up call to how her life had been going lately. She herself was constantly paying. "Whether it be killing or letting the killer free."

"Thank you Sister," he said as he stood from the chair. "I'm going to go confess."

"Good for you," she replied, looking to him with a small amount of admiration. He was able to step up and take the blame. He was more courageous than she had ever been.