Jake kept his eyes on the table, not looking up at first, when Lilly and Jeffries walked into the interview room.

"You left an important part of your story out, Jake." Lilly said, giving him a cool look.

"You already knew that Ben signed up for that experiment," Jeffries said, "because you signed up for it too."

Ben looked up at the two detectives for a moment before hanging his head again.

"Yeah, I did," he said, softly.

"So you come in here with some story about finding a flyer when you were cleaning out his things?" Lilly asked.

Jake looked at her and shook his head. "That wasn't a story."

"And you didn't think to mention that you were there?" Lilly asked, sounding more skeptical. "Didn't think we'd find out that you and your best friend were at each other's throats?"

Jake narrowed his eyes. "That was me at my worst. Is that something you'd want to spend a lot of time thinking about?" He sighed. "I just wanted to forget the whole thing, pretend it never happened, and after forty-some-odd years, I'd gotten pretty damn good at it. Then when I was cleaning out the house, I saw that flyer, and I just couldn't anymore."

In the adjacent interview room, Scotty and Vera glared across the table at Professor Hatcher, who was trying to keep his composure.

"I can't believe the gall you people have, dragging me in here like a common criminal," Hatcher said, with forced indignation in his voice.

"You tell us one more lie, you're gonna find out just how much 'gall' we have," Scotty said, impatiently.

"What are you talking about?" Hatcher asked, starting to lose his resolve a bit.

"The line you sold us about shutting down the experiment because of some 'minor altercations?'" Scotty continued. "It was a full-blown riot."

"Not that you were there to see it," Vera said, giving him a condescending look. "Too busy buttering up those donors, right?"

"I told you before I wasn't there."

Vera nodded. "Except for after, when Ben threatened to embarrass you in front of the school and all your rich buddies."

Scotty leaned closer. "He was gonna expose your screw-up, probably cost you your job, and he ends up dead that same night."

Hatcher put his hands up. "No, no! You've got it all wrong!"

Scotty leaned back. "Well, we're just dumb cops. Why don't you explain it for us?"

Hatcher looked at the two detectives nervously.

"So what happened, Jake?" Lilly asked with a shrug. "You come in here, telling us about your friend's murder, but you can't bring yourself to tell us about your part in it?"

"Maybe because of something you did?" Jeffries said, leaning closer.

Jake looked at him. "I didn't hurt Ben."

"You're telling me you didn't care about him pummeling you like that?" Lilly asked. "Or about being enemies that whole time?"

Jake shook his head. "We all lost ourselves in that place, but Ben was the first one of us to come to his senses. Not only that, but he was the one who saved us from it..."

("White Room" – Cream)

Sitting the reception room at the rear of the building, Jake lifted the ice pack from his face as he heard voices in the adjacent room.

Professor Hatcher and Dean Patterson, both still wearing suits from the upscale event they'd come from, looked uneasily at the row of volunteers, both prisoners and guards, including Darren and Carter, sat against the wall of the main room, outside the cells. Most were nursing various injuries, with the grad students trying to tend to them.

"Broken arms, broken wrists, broken ribs, and that's just what I've seen so far." Ben looked up at Hatcher. "This is what was going on while you were at some fancy party with a bunch of rich donors."

Dean Patterson put a hand up to his head. "Oh, my God. This is a mess."

Hatcher looked over to the corner of the room, where Albert was propped up in a chair, while a grad student cleaned dried blood from the wound on the side of his head. Looking dazed, Albert didn't seem to notice.

"What's wrong with Number Three?" Hatcher asked, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"His name is Albert," Ben snapped, "and I think he has a concussion."

Hatcher shook his head. "I left you in charge here. You were supposed to keep the peace. That's what a guard does."

Ben stepped closer to Hatcher, his eyes narrowing. "Don't you try to put this on me, not after what you've been doing."

Hatcher tried to keep his composure. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your grad students filled me in. All those questions and evaluations you had us take at the start? You didn't make me head guard because you thought I was fair. You did it because you knew the older guys would be resentful and I'd have more to prove. You told Jake to find ways to stir up trouble whenever he could. You even had your students plant that contraband in Albert's cell to see how I'd react." A hint of regret was visible on Ben's face as he said this. "You're like some kid shaking up his ant farm to see what they do."

Hatcher shrugged. "I told you this would be a working prison. Real prison guards have to deal with unexpected situations all the time."

"They don't have to deal with the warden sabotaging them behind their back," Ben shot back. He looked over at Patterson. "Did you know he was doing this?"

The suspicious look the Dean was giving Hatcher was enough of an answer for Ben.

Hatcher sighed. "All right, fine. You have my word, for the remainder of the experiment, I won't interfere."

Ben recoiled, looking incredulously at the professor. "You can't be serious! Look at these guys!" Ben gestured at the injured volunteers. "You think I'm gonna let you use them as guinea pigs any more than you already have? No way. Unless you want the school, or the newspapers finding out what happened here, and how you stacked the deck, this experiment's over."

Hatcher scowled at Ben. "Don't you threaten me, young man. This is over when I say it's over."

"Did you hear what I said?" Ben stepped closer, but not raising his voice. "I'm saying no."

Hatcher started to wilt under Ben's stare, before Patterson stepped in and gently pushed them apart. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Patterson said, smiling nervously. "We don't need to get anyone else involved. We're not going to make anyone do anything they don't want to do, right?" Patterson looked at Hatcher, who shook his head submissively.

Ben nodded coolly, before looking back at the volunteers. "Some of these guys need to be checked out by a doctor. We've got to get them to a hospital. Now."

"Okay." Patterson nodded, before turning to Hatcher. "We'll take them to Saint Boniface," Patterson said, softly. "It's not far from here. I know some of the doctors there. It'll be handled quietly."

Hatcher nodded in acknowledgment, then looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Wait a minute. What about...?" Hatcher trailed off, gesturing towards the clock.

Patterson, noticing the time, sighed. "Oh, right. Somebody better stay here."

"I guess I'll stay behind," Hatcher said.

Ben shook his head. "No way. I don't trust you. I'll be the one to stay."

"Fine," Hatcher said, through gritted teeth, as Patterson gestured for the grad students to help the volunteers to their feet.

"Come on, boys," Patterson announced, sounding almost paternal. "We're going to take you to a doctor. Let's get you loaded in the cars."

Ben walked over to Jake, still sitting in his chair, and gave him a sad smile as he helped his friend to his feet.

"It's okay, buddy," Ben said. "I got you. Put your weight on me."

"Ben..." Jake said, weakly.

"I'm sorry, man," Ben said, looking his friend over, and patting him on the arm, "but it's gonna be okay."

Jake nodded wearily, as Ben, ignoring the scowl Hatcher was giving him, walked him outside...

Hatcher held up a finger. "That boy was alive when I left."

Scotty nodded. "Yeah, well, there's one little problem," he said, opening the folder in front of him and pulling out one of the papers inside. "We've managed to track down a dozen or so of your volunteers and the grad students you had watching them. Wasn't easy, cause a lot of them scattered, almost like they were trying to get as far away as possible. But a lot of them remember you and Dean Patterson telling them, if they wanted to graduate, they should keep their mouths shut."

Hatcher shook his head. "No, that… that's a mistake."

Vera leaned in. "Not only that, but we managed to find a couple of the ladies that ran the school archives. You know those librarian types, they remember everything. These two remember you telling them to get rid of all of the records after the investigation died down."

"Too bad for you one of the students managed to save a box," Scotty added.

Vera glared at the professor. "You may not have killed Ben, but you knew damn well his murder was connected to your experiment, and you covered it up to save your own ass."

"No, you don't understand," Hatcher said, growing more defensive.

"No, we understand just fine," Scotty retorted, "and intimidating witnesses and destroying evidence makes you an accessory after the fact."

The weight of hearing this seemed to push down on Hatcher, who buried his face in his hands.

"It wasn't supposed to turn out like that!" Hatcher said through his teeth, before looking back at the detectives. "It was just supposed to be a simple experiment."

"Well, hey, look on the bright side," Vera said, with a hint of condescension. "Now you got a chance to try your experiment again."

"Yeah," Scotty said, with the same condescending tone. "Up close and personal, this time."

Hatcher lowered his head and sighed.

Jake shook his head. "Never thought that'd be the last time I saw him."

Lilly looked away, as though thinking of something, before turning back to Jake. "Jake, you said that Ben, Hatcher, and the Dean were all looking at the clock on the wall?"

Jake nodded with a hint of surprise on his face. "Yeah, I'd forgotten about that until now."

"Do you remember what time it was?"

Jake shrugged. "About twenty to twelve, give or take."

Lilly looked at Jeffries with a knowing glance.

The person sitting across from Lilly and Kat in the interview room gave them an uninterested look.

"We've been looking into your history, Shirley," Lilly said, pulling several pages out of the folder on the table. They looked like photocopies of documents several years old. "A lot of applications over the years for things you wouldn't expect a secretary back then to try out for."

Shirley just stared at her, confused. "What are you talking about?"

Lilly looked over some of the pages. "You applied for jobs with the Department of Corrections three times, with Philly PD twice, with the FBI, state police, and a few private security firms."

Kat shook her head. "No takers, huh?"

Shirley frowned. "Not as many doors open to women back then. I shouldn't have to tell the two of you about that. What does this have to do with Ben anyway?"

"Well, it's just curious. You said you didn't care about volunteering for the experiment one way or another, but these are all jobs that involve authority," Lilly gave a faint smile, "like the kind you had when you were a guard."

"Look, I don't know where you think you're going with this, but it was just a stupid three-week job."

"Two weeks, actually," Kat said. "Ben made them shut down the experiment early, remember?"

"No cell phones back then, so he stayed behind to tell the midnight shift," Lilly leaned closer. "Your shift."

Shirley shook her head. "There were lots of guys with me on the midnight shift."

"Yeah, we found their punch cards." Lilly pulled a few cards out of the folder and gave a hint of a chuckle. "They were all twenty minutes late."

"Not you, though," Kat said. "You were professional, right on time."

"And he told you this job, that you supposedly didn't care about, was being cut short." Lilly said.

Shirley said nothing.

Kat looked at the pages on the table, then back at Shirley. "You know what I think? I think you got a taste of something in that place, and you've been trying to get it back ever since."

Shirley stared at the pages, a reminder of years of rejection. A look of bitterness came over her face. "Honey, sugar, sweetheart. That's what they used to call me, the Dean and everyone else in that office." She laughed cynically. "It's not like I had a name, right?

Lilly and Kat listened, a hint of empathy on their faces.

"You know, at least once a week, he'd have me pull some file out of the bottom drawer, just so he could watch me bend over. I think what pissed me off the most was that he wouldn't even pretend to read it after." Shirley leaned forward, years of anger finally coming out. "When I put on that uniform, nobody in that place treated me like that, at least not more than once. You know what I got a 'taste' of in that place? Respect, for the first time in my life."

Lilly nodded, solemnly. "And Ben was taking that away."

"Did you tell him that?" Kat asked.

Shirley shook her head. "He wouldn't have understood…"

Shirley rushed through the hallway, the Dean's mail in hand, frantically checking the cells. Each one was open and empty.

Looking around the joining rooms, she finally noticed someone in the reception room at the rear. It was Ben. He'd changed back into his street clothes, and his uniform was bunched up in a ball in his hands. He was staring through the open doorway outside, watching storm clouds forming overhead, with a hint of thunder. He looked like he was lost in thought.

"Ben!" Shirley called, causing him to spin around. "What's going on? Where are the prisoners? Why aren't they in their cells?"

Ben shook his head and walked over to her. "It's over, Shirley."

Shirley looked at him, confused. "Over? What are you talking about?"

"Look, this whole experiment's gotten out of hand."

"But they can't just stop it like that!"

"Shirley, there was a riot here a few hours ago! People got hurt. I almost strangled my best friend tonight!"

"Look, it's our job to keep the prisoners in line."

"They're not prisoners!" Ben said, holding up his uniform, before tossing it on a nearby table. "And we're not guards! They just told us we were and we let it go to our heads. But no more. I told Hatcher we weren't gonna play along anymore."

Shirley looked at him for a moment. Her eyes narrowed. "You stopped it?"

"I had to, Shirley, before things got worse."

She shook her head in disbelief. "You had no right to do that."

"We've taken this way too far. It's time to get back to the real world."

Shirley's look of disbelief gave way to anger. "The real world? Do you have any idea what 'the real world' is for me, Ben?" She rolled her eyes, as her voice began to rise. "No, what am I saying? Of course you don't. I thought you were different, but you're just like all the others. I supported you, I stood up for you, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Shirley…" Ben said, putting up his hands, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Shirley pointed the rolled up stack of mail directly at Ben. "You need to go find Hatcher and tell him you changed your mind. Now!"

Ben shook his head. "No, Shirley, I'm not doing that. Listen to me-"

"No, you listen!" Shirley shouted. "You are not taking this away from me! Now tell Hatcher you changed your mind!"

Ben looked at her with a mix of sympathy and nervousness. "Shirley, I'm sorry, but I can't do that!"

"Yes, you can! You have to! I'm not going back!"

As she said the last words, she gave Ben a shove with both hands, pushing him back a step. She heard him make a faint noise as she did so. When she pulled her hands away, the pile of mail stayed on him for an instant, before falling away, revealing the Dean's gold-plated letter opener, now embedded in Ben's stomach, a cloud of blood forming around it.

Ben looked at her with wide eyes, clearly in shock. Shirley was breathing heavily, but didn't move. Looking down at the wound, he managed to maintain enough instinct to pull the letter opener out, dropping it to the floor, with a growing puddle of blood joining it moments later.

Still in shock, and starting to tremble from the sudden cold he was feeling, Ben took a few steps backwards, stumbling a bit, never taking his eyes off Shirley. After a second, he managed to regain his footing, pressing his hands against the wound. He walked through the doorway to the outside, where the rain was starting to come down.

Still breathing heavily, Shirley stepped forward, picked up the bloody letter opener, and stood there, glaring, as Ben walked further away, until he finally disappeared into the rain…

("Abraham, Martin, and John" – Dion)

Standing against the line-up wall, Shirley looked up at the camera taking her picture, while Lilly watched from the corner of the room. After turning to the side for another picture, a young female uniform officer took Shirley by the arm and escorted her out of the room. Shirley gave a weary, resigned look at the officer, then at Lilly, as she was led away…

Scotty walked Professor Hatcher down the row of cells, holding him firmly by the arm, until they reached an open, empty one. Hatcher stepped inside, and turned to see Scotty close the door, with a hint of a smirk on his face. Hatcher gave the cell a quick look around, then lowered and shook his head with a sigh…

Stillman walked through storage, carrying Ben's case box. He placed it on a shelf among the others, pulled out a marker, and marked CLOSED on the side…

Sitting at his desk, Vera picked up the elaborate-looking sandwich. Instead of taking a bite, however, he looked at it for a moment, then turned to see Kat at her own desk, holding a cup of coffee, likely with cinnamon in it. The two exchanged looks for a moment, which earned them a puzzled look from Jeffries as he walked by, before Vera gave an affirming nod to Kat, and bit into his sandwich…

Carter and Albert looked out at the vast, empty field, where the prison facility had once stood. There was no sign it had ever even been there. They turned to see Darren, who was walking towards them. Rather than usual his scowl, Darren's face had a look of humility, almost contrition. He extended a tentative hand to the two of them, waiting to see their reaction. Carter and Albert looked warily at each other for a moment, before Carter, then Albert, nodded and shook Darren's hand.

Halfway across the field, Jake was looking around as well, when, for a moment, he thought he glimpsed Ben giving him a friendly smile. Feeling young again for a moment, Jake smiled back warmly, and watched as Ben nodded and walked off, fading away. Jake gave a sigh of relief and walked back towards the others.

THE END