Page 24 of Nothing Left

Hopefully, a night's sleep in a quiet prison cell would help Heather to recover, and it might even bring back some of the memories that had been suppressed until now.

Tomorrow, she decided, she was going to go straight back to the prison and check again on the young American woman to see if she had anything more that might help them. She messaged Ebury to tell her that this was going to be her plan for the morning, to make sure that they could have access to the prison and to Heather herself.

All of this, of course, was assuming no more victims were called in by tomorrow.

***

Juliette jumped into wakefulness, jerked out of sleep by the loud, trilling sound of her phone. It was the alarm, and quickly, she silenced it, but still felt her heart accelerating because instinctively she'd believed it would be a ringing phone that woke her.

It wasn't. Whatever the night had brought, there were no more murders, but still a disturbing puzzle to solve.

She dressed quickly and rushed downstairs to meet the others.

"Let's go to the prison first," she said. "I want to check on Heather."

"I've been worrying about her all night," Sierra said. "But I’ve got something we can ask her when we’re there. I've been reading the chat boards overnight, and there's something I found that might possibly give us some new information."

"What's that?" Juliette asked.

"A couple of people are talking about the fact that a pizza delivery man was getting lost and knocking on doors in that apartment building late at night. I was wondering if he maybe heard or saw something?"

Wyatt's focus sharpened. "There were pizza boxes on the counter in the apartment. I didn't think much of that because nobody mentioned ordering the food, and I thought they must have been from earlier. But maybe not?" He glanced at Juliette.

"We can ask Heather," she said.

On this Sunday morning, which was fine and sunny, Juliette could hear church bells ringing as they set off along the road. Tomorrow being Monday, she was sure the streets would be clogged with traffic, but today, the tourists were not yet out and about, and the drive to the prison was extremely quick. They were there within just a few minutes, parking in the secure parking lot after showing their IDs and then getting out and heading to the same entrance they'd used the day before.

There was the same guard as yesterday, with the same grim-faced demeanor. Politely, Juliette greeted them and waited while they were checked in, the security screening done, and finally led along the same corridor as before. But this time, in the end, they turned the other way.

They were taken to a small cell at the end of the corridor, and Juliette felt deeply relieved that the prison manager had listened to their valid pleas about Heather's safety and had agreed for her to be moved to a solitary cell.

There she was, in the cell on her own, at the end of the corridor. The barred door offered little privacy from the world, although there was a screen beyond that separated the toilet and shower from the rest of the cell. Heather was sitting on the narrow bed, and to Juliette's relief, she was picking at a bowl of cereal. So she was, at least, eating - something that she was sure the world, and her parents in particular would be relieved about.

She looked up when the three FBI team members and the guard approached, and then she stood up, put down her bowl, and walked to the front of the cell.

Although she still looked deeply troubled, Juliette saw that she looked less physically ill than yesterday. A night's sleep, though most probably not the best rest she’d ever had, had at least gone some way to restoring her health. Juliette hoped that her memory would have recovered hand in hand with that.

"How are you feeling this morning, Heather?" she asked. There was a narrow steel bench outside the cell, but when Heather was standing at the barred gate, there was nowhere for her to sit, so Juliette remained standing too.

Heather looked up at Juliette, nodding slowly. "I'm... okay," she said quietly. I guess I'm still frightened and confused. I had a terrible nightmare. A monster with zigzag teeth was attacking me on the bathroom floor and trying to bite me.”

Zigzag teeth? Juliette exchanged a glance with Wyatt.

"If you have the nightmare again, try to write it down as soon as you wake," she said. "It might be a suppressed memory or something that could help us."

“I’ll do that,” Heather promised. Then she sighed. “Do you know if I'll be able to see my parents anytime soon? Or speak to them?"

Juliette nodded. "Your father is getting on a flight sometime today, I believe," she said. "I'm not sure when he will arrive, though. They're very worried about you, and they'll be glad that you're in separate accommodation now."

Heather nodded. "Yes, I feel safer here."

Juliette looked again at her slim fingers, her narrow shoulders, and thought of how unlikely it was that she had driven the knife deep into her friend's chest.

"I wanted to ask you about takeout food. Do you remember ordering any takeout?" she asked.

Heather's eyes widened. "You know, I do remember that we talked about it. But I don't remember the food arriving. I guess it might have done, though, and I might have eaten some of it because that would explain why I threw up for so long. My stomach wasn't empty." She grimaced apologetically at having to discuss the topic.

"Do you know where you ordered it from?" Juliette asked.

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