Page 24 of Ignite
“It’s real. I just got off the phone with my connection at the state pen. Levi was found early this morning. The warden is having his death investigated. He believes Levi didn’t hang himself. Someone helped him.”
“I’m really sorry, West. Do they have any clues as to who might have done this?” I asked as I continued to look at the image.
Levi’s body was hanging from a rope that had been tied to the post of the upper bunk. His hands were at his side and appeared to have red marks around both wrists. The marks could have been from when the cops took him into custody. I wouldn’t put it past Levi to put up a fight. Something didn’t jibe with the way he was hanging from the post. It was almost as if he was put in that position. His head should have been hanging forward or to the side, not backward.
Handing West back his phone, I pointed to the screen. “Don’t you think it is rather odd that his head would be in that position?”
My feelings toward Levi weren’t exactly amicable. The fact was, I hated the guy. Looking at West, I knew his feelings were the opposite of mine. He loved his brother, even if they didn’t get along. I just wondered who from the inside could have done this. It had to be Van’s and Niles’s doing. They must have had a connection on the inside. The question was: why? Why would they go to the trouble of killing Levi?
West looked up from the screen and put his cell face down on the counter. “Whoever did this, they’re dead. Levi and I might not have got along, but he was my brother.”
I felt his pain. Not too long ago, I wanted to kill River. I hated the man. Mostly because he took the one woman I could ever love away from me. Thankfully, Kenzi found out what kind of man he was.
Scooping the rest of the vegetable soup into Kenzi’s bowl, I turned the dial from low to off. I was getting ready to head back to her room when Davian’s words about taking matters into my own hands came flashing back. “You need to tell Davian about this. We all need to work together to find out the truth.”
As I moved toward Kenzi’s bedroom, I saw West get up from his chair and head toward the stairs. It was strange, but I wanted to be there for him. But before I did anything, I had to get this soup to Kenzi. When I pushed open the door, Kenzi looked up and met my eyes.
“This is the last of the soup, but if you’re still hungry after this, I’ll make you some more,” I said as I walked toward the bed.
“This should do it,” she said as I placed the bowl on the tray still resting on her lap. “What took you so long?”
At that point, I didn’t know what to tell her. I had only moments ago told her about River. But then that I remembered our pact. We both promised never to keep things from each other.
Taking a seat on the bed, the anxiety of telling her the truth consumed me. “It’s Levi. He’s dead.”
The tray sitting on Kenzi’s lap slid off of the bed and then to the floor. As I reached out to grab it, the hot soup splashed against the sides of the bowl, which caused me to pull my hand back before I got burned. My eyes were on Kenzi as the tray fell to the floor. Kenzi and Levi had a serious relationship once upon a time, so it was only natural for her to cry. I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her.
“How?” she muttered as she lifted her head from my chest.
“He hung himself. Maybe being arrested was too much for him. I don’t know. I’m just guessing.” I just broke our pact. I should have told her my thoughts about what really happened.
“Why do bad things continue to happen? When is it going to stop??” Kenzi’s tears continued to fall and I wished I had the answers to her questions.
Before I could give her my thoughts, West tapped lightly on the door before entering the room. I looked his way and he nodded his head before leaving. It was my cue to head downstairs. I hated leaving Kenzi this way, but I needed answers of my own.
After cleaning up the mess from the spilled soup, I headed downstairs to the computer room. Kenzi fell asleep, and I was glad she had. It was late, and I was running on 18 hours with only 30 minutes of sleep. As I entered the computer room, most of the men were sitting at the long conference table that was mainly used to hold the extra clutter. I gave Patton, Stone, West, Marcus, Calvin, and Davian a quick nod before taking a seat next to West. Their eyes were all on me, like I held all the answers.
Their staring eyes were becoming uncomfortable until they moved their gaze to the door when Mitch and Zach entered. The entire team ofThe Societywas now in attendance and the meeting could begin. Davian cleared his voice, which brought our attention to him. “Let’s go through what we know so far.” Davian lowered his eyes to a manilla folder sitting on the table in front of him. “We know Niles is still free and still a threat. We have also just learned that Levi’s death wasn’t suicide.”
“Wait,” I blurted. “Did I miss something?” Between talking to West and cleaning up after Kenzi, new information must have come in.
“The warden at USP Atlanta confirmed that someone got access to his jail cell and killed him. The warden is still working with authorities to find out who it was.” Davian shared, keeping his eyes on the documents in the folder. “I have a theory, though.” Davian paused for a moment as he flipped through the file. Gathering what he was looking for, he placed four photos on the table.
My eyes fell on the photos, wondering what these four men had to do with Levi’s death. “Who are these men, Davian?”
“They are inmates in the same prison as Levi. The same prison where Crosby McCall is currently serving a life sentence.”
“So, let me guess,” I said as I lifted one photo from the table. “You think McCall had something to do with Levi’s death?” It was a crazy thought. In all the investigations we did on him, there was nothing mentioned about Levi McBride.
Davian pulled one more item from the folder. As he placed it on the table, I recognized a letter I never thought I would see again. I remembered how strange it was to use letters from a magazine to sculpt a threatening letter. Patton worked for days to find out who had written it, with no success.There is nowhere to hide. The truth will come out. The people in your circle will pay.To this day, I still hadn’t figured out what it meant.
Breaking my thoughts, Davian placed his index finger on the letter and began tapping it on the table. “This letter has to be connected to Levi’s death.”
“Why do you say that? Patton could never find out who sent it to you.” I interjected, picking up the letter and giving it another look.
“Because the warden shared this with me.” Davian picked up his phone from the table and swiped the screen. “Levi was in the middle of a plea deal to incriminate Van Wilkerson and Niles Harris. He had information on both of them dating back five years. His death wasn’t a suicide and this letter proves it.”
I took his cell from his hand and turned it my way so I could look at the screen. It was like I was staring down at the same letter in my hand, only the message was different.Two down, ten more to go. Everyone will pay.I was confused by the first letter, but this one had me baffled. Who would target Levi? Who were the other unlucky souls of the remaining 10?
