Lights Out by Nate Southard

Darren. His expression was a desperate one. “Father, come on. You see what I’m getting at, don’t you? It’s not crazy. You’ve got to know that!”
    Darren shrugged. “I really don’t know, Ray. I’m more likely to believe in a more mundane explanation before I take a leap toward the supernatural.”
    “But you believe in the supernatural. That’s your whole thing!”
    “I believe in the Divine. It’s completely different.”
    “That’s bullshit, Father, if you’ll excuse the Italian.”
    Darren stiffened at the remark. It stung like a thorn under a fingernail. He opened his mouth to speak, and he realized his lips were trembling. Anger began to rise within him, and he pushed it back down. He took a long, calming breath before speaking.
    “I’m sorry you feel like that, Ray.”
    Morrow shook his head. “I know that game, Father. That ‘I’m apologizing for you, not to you’ shit. I’m a little smarter than that.”
    “Good. I don’t want you to think I’m really apologizing. Not when I shouldn’t have to.”
    “Will the two of you stop?” Timms cut in. “I think I liked it better when you were ganging up on me.”
    Darren nodded.
    “Good. Ray, I want you to organize the C.O.’s into teams to turn Burnham upside-down. We’re not stopping until we’ve found those goddamn bodies.”
    “Right.”
    “Darren?”
    “I’d like to be available to the prisoners.”
    “How?”
    “I can take counseling appointments.”
    “They’re not getting out of their cells, Darren.”
    “That’s fine. I can go to them, whatever. I just want to be available if any of them need to talk. Maybe I can do something useful, rather than fooling myself."
    Ron gave him a glare, but Darren only looked a question back at him. They eyed each other for a moment, and the warden finally turned away.
    “Get going Morrow. I want those bodies recovered.”
    “Right,” the guard said as he left.
    Darren listened to Morrow’s receding footsteps, his eyes never leaving Ron’s.
    “You’re not going to hit me, are you?” Timms asked.
    “I’ve been thinking about it, but I’m pretty sure it’s a sin of some kind.”
    The warden cracked a smile. “Pretty sure? Aren’t you supposed to be an expert on that sort of thing?”
    “I’m Catholic. There are way too many sins out there for me to keep up with.”
    He kept his poker face going for a few seconds, but then the chuckles came, breaking through the mask. Timms joined him, and soon they were both laughing, making the forensics team stop and stare.
    “Does this mean you’re not pissed at me anymore?”
    “I never said that. I’m a priest, though. I can forgive you.”
    “Good to hear.”
    Timms motioned to the freezers. Their steel doors really had been beat to hell. They looked like they’d been tossed from the top of a mountain, hitting every single rock on the way down, only to land on a pile of lit dynamite. “So tell me the truth, Darren. What do you make of this?”
    “I really don’t know. I’m hoping the forensics team is going to turn something up that tells us who’s responsible. If they don’t find any fingerprints but the victims’, though...Well, if that’s the case I’ll have to see what else I’m willing to believe.”
    Ron nodded, letting out a slow hiss before speaking. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
    “Glad I could help.”
    “Listen, you want to get out of here? I’m getting more than a little creeped out, and we should probably give these guys room to do their jobs, anyway.”
    “Sounds fair.”
    Darren turned and started out the door, and Timms fell into step beside him.
    “I really am sorry.”
    “For what, Ron?”
    “For yesterday, saying you don’t make a difference here. You do. I’m just an idiot sometimes. Fucking job makes me lash out, I guess.”
    “I know.” He gave his friend a smile. “It’s okay, though. You’re forgiven.”
    “I get to go to heaven, then?”
    “I won’t make any promises. You