Chapter 18

"Dealing with the Devil"

We had survived the terrors of Six Flags New Orleans, we had unmasked Jocco the Jester and seemingly gotten one step to solving the mystery of the disappearances that had occurred in the park. Still, there was more questions that needed to be answered and while the rest of the gang was being treated for their injuries, I knew I couldn't wait for the FBI to interrogate Jack Ramsay.

…

Eventually, I came across Jack's room which was under guard by two FBI Agents. Of course, they weren't going to let me in.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones," one of them said, pushing me back. "We cannot permit you to see Mr. Ramsay."

"I don't give a damn," I said under my breath. "I want answers and I'm not going to wait until you do your questioning."

"Let him in," I heard Jack say from his bed and the agents complied, granting me access to Jack Ramsay's room.

Stepping inside the room, I saw the man who was pretending to be Jocco the Jester lying in a hospital bed, his left wrist shackled to the side of the bed with a pair of handcuffs. He had a look on his face that could display both a look of victory and a look of defeat at the same time.

"Jack, do you even realize how much trouble you are in?" I questioned, standing at the foot of his bed.

"Of course, I am aware. What some people would do to make a living? Tch, don't we all?"

"You badly wounded a federal agent for starters," I said. "Not to mention that you were working with a ghost."

"He wasn't just any ghost, Mr. Jones!" retorted Jack in a snarky tone. "Reverend Kane was going to give me a chance to see my family again. Do you even know what it was like being the only survivor after Katrina came through?"

Right away, this was a sign that he had one of those survivor's guilt cases being the only survivor of a monster hurricane.

"I told him that if I would give him enough souls, he would bring my family back from the dead."

Sitting down at the foot of his bed, I wanted to get as much information out of Jack as much as possible.

"What about the job you were doing for Six Flags? Taking pictures?"

"It was a coverup for my true intentions. Reverend Kane taught me to hide my intentions for as much as possible and he succeeded."

Still, there was one more question that I needed to have answered.

"What about Daphne?"

"Who?"

This caused a trigger in me and I pulled him to my face.

"Don't get cute with me, buster! You know who I'm talking about! What does Reverend Kane want with Daphne Blake?"

Rather than being fearful of me, Jack merely chuckled as if he was amused by my outburst.

"You should be lucky that the family of one of the people killed isn't in here with you," I snarled, releasing my grip on him. "Answer my question, what does Reverend Kane want with Daphne?"

Still being arrogant, Jack simply rolled his eyes at me.

"Your friend is a beautiful soul, inside and out," Jack explained. "Reverend Kane wants such an innocent soul to capture souls trying to enter the afterlife. He had another soul targeted, but she was guarded."

Right away, I could tell something about what Jack was confessing to me. That interview with the Freeling family we did for "Coast to Coast" a while back: they did talk about their youngest daughter who was targeted by the ghosts that were supposedly living in the house they lived in at the time.

"He failed to stop her from reaching the afterlife, so he needed another innocent soul and she was it."

The more I listened, the more I realized the gravity of the supposed situation we now found ourselves in.

"What about the people you killed and tortured in the park? Were you thinking about them? Did you want Daphne to feel what they felt?"

"My master needed soldiers for his army, what else could I do?" Jack said. "How else could anyone be delighted at the fact that their beloved friend Jocco would give back what was stolen from them by the hurricane?"

But I wasn't believing him, not for a solitary second. In fact, the only thing I could imagine was seeing Daphne being tortured by this guy. Daphne was the love of my life and I wasn't going to let her be subjected in this manner.

…

"All those people you killed in the park, did you do to them what you did to Shaggy and Scooby?"

"Who?"

"Don't get cute with me again!"

"You mean that hippie and his dog? Can you imagine he wanted a last photograph before I killed him? What some people will do for everlasting glory? He had a choice, they all did! Serve me or the Reverend…there was no other chances!"

I then began to get a suspicious feeling that Reverend Kane was already on his next move. In our time at Mystery Inc, we had captured and uncovered many supernatural beings, but Reverend Kane was a real ghost and he would be impossible to capture easily!

"And if you want to know," added Jack. "The vomit creatures that attacked the hippie, his dog and the nerd, that was him! The alligators who tried to extract the soul of his target from her body, that was him! My job was simply to capture souls without freeing them and he would help me get back what I want."

Having heard enough, I rose from my feet and prepared to make my way over to the exit.

"And I would have gotten what I wanted," Jack finally said. "If it wasn't for you…"

"Meddling Kids?" I finished, before turning to give one last look at the man who had been Jocco the Jester. "They all say that."

The smile that had been on Jack's face quickly disappeared and I left the hospital room knowing that I had more important matters to attend to. Reverend Kane had a new target on his radar and it was someone who was very close to me.

"Fred!" I heard Daphne called having changed into one of her many purple dresses. After hugging her for a moment, I decided to get more information on Agent Gordon.

"How's Agent Gordon?"

"They say she may never walk again," Daphne answered, shaking her head in sadness. "And never have kids."

Just hearing those facts made my skin crawl. I mean, what if Daphne or any of my friends would end up in a situation where they never walk or have kids of their own? Could it be that Reverend Kane is just as cold hearted?

"What about Jack?"

"He's the FBI's problem now," I answered, escorting Daphne back to the room she was staying at and shutting the door, leaving us alone inside. "Right now, we've got a new enemy at Mystery Inc."

…