Elijah had gotten him handcuffed to a chair as he prepared paperwork.  He'd hoped Zechariah could come to bear witness to his own attack, but perhaps he'd have to talk to him later and see if he could get him to sign a few things. He was a lawyer, he'd understand how this worked.

He looked at the man before him, he never looked so old before. He sighed heavily and looked back at his paperwork. "You knew this would happen eventually. I never wanted it to, I tried so hard to keep you out of this place, but you had to keep doing things. You could have been put here plenty of times before." Especially what he did to Noah and Simon, but he didn't say that out loud.

Ben's bulky body sat in the chair handcuffed, an awkward paradox. The fisherman had turned his face away from Elijah and looked towards the door, although he was listening. His eyes narrowed and he drew his upper lip up a little with disgust. "Then how about ye stop wastin' time, and do what ye need to do? " he grunted, still not looking at the young man on the other side of the desk. "'cause I ain't sorry for punching that..." The handcuffs rattled as he cleched his fists. "... that boar, that snake. T' hell with 'im." He grimaced.

Elijah sighed heavily as he started to fill out the paper work. "I do not know what you think he did, Ben. Zechariah is a barrister and I've worked with him for some time and he's always seemed like a respectable gentleman." He was glad the place was empty. "Why do you think he did these things? I am curious." He knew he was wrong, but he would let the man speak and he could show him how wrong he was.

Ben huffed and leaned forward a little. “Respectable… like that Mr. Hurley, I’m sure.” He threw himself back into the chair. “’e exploited Simon…” His mouth hung slightly open as he looked for the right word, then he clarified: “You know how I mean… Folk like ‘im are always danglin’ their money on front of our young un's because they know they ‘ave nowt and are desperate. And now ‘e's lustin’ after our Alice… I swear to God, if ‘e has…” his breathing became faster… if he's had ‘er, I'll kill ‘im!” He smashed his fists down on the table. The handcuffs cut into the sides of his wrists.

Elijah rose his brow. "There are bad people, that Hurley was probably like that deceased Carrington man. Money can hide monsters, but I've worked with Mister Meijer, and while he does like to egg people on, he's never been the sort that I know of. And don't be ridiculous. I am sure there has been nothing between him and Alice. She's smart and wouldn't let him touch her. And Tobias would kill him too if he had, but she doesn't have much free time away so I don't see how they'd have time." He said, as it definitely seemed like there was very few times she could have even with just her sisters. He jumped at the fist slam and put his hands on them. "Relax. You have to think about your health. You really need to stop this, this violent rage you keep falling into. It won't end well. I am telling you this right now. You don't want to be here. But I can not have you hurting anyone. I have given you too many chances." He sighed and put his face in his hands. "I feel like I've been protecting a dangerous animal sometimes."

Bruises formed where the handcuffs had cut into his wrists, but the pain was almost satisfying, something to ground him.

He launched himself back against the chair and grumbled, but that last sentence pierced his angry defence. He watched Elijah quietly. His breathing slowed.

"I don't want to give you trouble, Elijah. But I will protect me bairns if I must. Ye didn't hear Tobias. 'e said that beast was in 'is 'ome, seducin' Alice."

Elijah was glad he had calmed, but he stared at him for a moment, then sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes. "Mister Meijer is not seducing Alice, I can almost guarantee. Tobias is probably just paranoid. For one thing, he is getting married and seems very excited at being a father. For another, I don't even know how they would have spent the time together to do such a thing. She is usually around her family or Tobias isn't she? And Zechariah has cases and his own life."

"As if marriage means owt for the likes of 'im," he scoffed. "He was in their 'ome, Elijah... and 'e's already done the same to Simon..."

Elijah sighed and looked at him while his forehead rested comfortably in the palm of his hand. "That.. I don't think that is the case. You never knew the truth about Simon until it was too late. And I don't want to speak about the dead, I want him to rest in peace. But do not think that he is some predator who just wants to seduce Wards. If you talk to Alice, she will tell you that."

"You knew about Mr. Meijer and 'im?" Ben demanded to know.