What happened to Grace Sinclair? (Friday Barnes)

~8~

                   ~News from the hospital~

Olive had been right to warn her, because the second Friday opened the door Elliot had showered them with questions.

Very, very, loud questions.

"Yell quieter." Friday whined, her brain turning to mush by the second.

Elliot sighed. "Sorry, Detective. I just- I'm a bit lost as to why Grace's husband would want no visitors. Seems odd to me."

Friday nodded. "Yeah, same. But I can't think straight right now, can't we discuss this later when I'm not mostly asleep?"

Elliot nodded and looked over Alice's shoulder to see the time on her phone.

"Yeah, we're all tired, especially you two, so we'll sleep. It's like 9:40 PM." He said.

Friday scrapped the chair back, standing up.

Olive had somehow fallen asleep in her chair, and Elliot picked her up to take her to the mattress on the floor that was her's.

Their room of the warehouse was simple. 4 mattresses on the floor that had been made up with clean sheets and pillows were in the far right corner of the room. On the far left was a large curtain that had been put up so that they could get changed. In the middle of the room over to the right was a table with chairs that had food and laptops on them and on the left was a couch and a rug with holes.

It wasn't much, but it was comfortable.

They kept clothes in a chest of draws that sat behind the curtain, each of them had a drawer.

There was electricity in the large building so phones sat on the floor charging from whatever port still worked.

By 10:00 PM, everyone was asleep, except for Alice, who moved from a chair at the table to the couch and had swapped the phone for a book.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Friday woke up much later than usual.

She ran a hand through her hair and yawned.

The sun shone through the broken window and brought warm breeze with it.

She was the only one up in their little room so she was quiet when she walked over to the phone charging on the floor.

She walked past the floor length mirror leaning against the wall and caught herself by surprise.

Her hair was messy and her shirt hung off her frame. There were dark circles under her eyes but the sun had hit her brown eyes in a way that made them seem to glow gold.

"You look very hot right now, Detective." Alice said, walking past and stopping behind Friday, looking in the mirror.

Alice was a lot taller than Friday, so she could effortlessly see herself over Friday.

She san a hand through her black hair and cocked her head slightly.

"Mornings don't do me justice." She sighed, glaring at her reflection.

Friday stared at the girl, then walked away.

She picked up the phone that was on the floor next to the couch and unlocked it.

24 missed calls from the hospital, 9 from a number she didn't recognise and 1 from Ian.

She had 3 voicemails.

She went to voicemail and clicked the first one. It was from the hospital.

'Hello Miss Barnes. This is Jennie from the hospital, I just wanted to let you know that there has been a breakthrough with Mrs Sinclair! Call me as soon as possible, thanks!"

Friday went to the next message, the one from the phone number she didn't recognise.

'Hello, my name is Eden Carpenter, we met at the hospital yesterday. I'm a co-worker of Grace. I was just calling to let you know that I'm trying to get hold of CPS. I got a call from the hospital about Grace's daughter, Kirsten. They think James is doing something to her but I can't get through to them. I was wondering if you'd mind also giving them a call. Thanks."

Friday went over to the table and sat down, pulling over a notepad and pen. She scribbled down 'call CPS about Kirsten Sinclair,' and 'call back the hospital.'

She clicked the last voicemail message that had come from Ian and put the phone to her ear.

'Hey, I know you're probably asleep but I've been thinking about that night in the hospital. Are you sure everything is ok? You can tell me if something is wrong. Anyway. Love you."

Friday smiled but her stomach was churning. She stood up, walking over to her discarded jeans and sticking her hand in the pocket.

The note was gone. Friday panicked. Where had it gone?

"Looking for this?"

Friday spun around. Elliot was standing behind her, the sun shining on his dark skin.

He was holding the note between his middle and fore fingers, a look of accusation on his face.

Friday began to panic more. "Did you-"

"Read it? Yeah." He walked over to her and crossed his arms. "Wanna tell me something?"

Friday focused her attention on the hole in her shirt. "It's nothing. Give it back."

She went to grab it but he held his arm up so she couldn't reach it.

"Not until you tell me who gave it to you." He said.

"I don't know anything." She lied. She may not know who gave it to her, but she ad a pretty solid idea.

"That's bullshit. You're smarter than that. You would at least have a- hey!" He yelled as she elbowed him in the stomach.

He bent over and she grabbed the note from his hand while he was low enough she could reach it.

"Barnes!" He yelled going to grab her as she left the room, taking the notepad and phone with her.

She heard Alice say something to Elliot as she shut the door.