CHAPTER 9
The person whom I was considering my last hope was in no condition to speak now, and the machines which were needed to conduct sleep studies were not functioning either. This was definitely not a co-incidence. Whoever did this was sure that I was going to come here and they also knew who my point of contact was. They completely swept me off of any footing I had left. Was this going to be the end? Is there no way left to prove my innocence?
I went to the hospital to check on Alice. On enquiry I was informed that she was out of danger but she had to be on complete bed rest for at least two weeks. There was no way I could get help from her now, I didn't want to put her under any more risk. I went to her room to greet her. The sight I saw there made me sad, because Alice was in this state because of me.
"Hey Alice. How are you feeling now?"
"What do you think? This Old woman is still alive and kicking" She chuckled. But I could see how much pain she was going through.
"Sorry Alice. I brought this to you. Those guys clearly knew who you were and they most probably did this to stop me from getting close to the truth."
"Please Richie! Don't blame yourself. They might have done this too stop you as you said, but I was definitely not helping you just because you asked. I was genuinely interested. And now more than ever, I really want to help you."
"It's Okay Alice. You should take plenty of rest now. I'll find some other way to get to the truth."
"Oh no! Not after they did this to me. I want you to go and meet my daughter who is also an oneirologist. She will help you with this. And she has a secret facility which no one can ever break into."
"Alice I can't do this. Putting lives of more people in risk. And if they do come to know somehow, that I am working with your daughter they might go after her or maybe they might come after you too."
"Oh I don't care anymore. Both you and I will get my revenge. Just go and meet her. Her name is Jessica. This is the address of her secret facility. Well probably you know this place already. It's the same place we met first – 'Pizzas from Sicily'"
This new piece of information just blew my mind. What If Mr. X always intended for me to meet Jessica and not Alice. Maybe that is why he had sent me to that place. Maybe just because I missed a clue there and took a detour, now Mr. X is dead and Alice is injured. Now, I had to go and meet Jessica and find out more.
"Richie! Richie! What are you doing spacing out at a moment like this. You don't have a moment to spare. There is a clock ticking on you and you have to get to the culprit soon. I'll inform Jessica that you would be stopping by. You should get going."
"Yeah sure. Thanks a lot Alice for all your help. I promise you I'll find these people and make sure they are duly punished. Take care! Bye!"
I left the hospital to go to the pizza place. It was evening already. The cold breeze helped me calm down a little. I took the subway and on my way I was re-thinking all the events and all my actions. Could Mr. X's life might have been saved? Was there a chance that Alice might have been at her lab doing her research and not lying in a hospital bed? Could I have got to the culprit way before anything bad happened? I wasn't sure of anything anymore. All I knew was to end this, I need to have Jessica study my dreams and find the culprit.
I reached the restaurant. Two days I was sitting here, trying to figure out who Mr. X now and here I was again, trying to prove that I was not his murderer, life is really unpredictable. The manager came out to greet me. As soon as I said that I was here to meet Jessica, he let me in and told me to wait. He called someone and on getting their approval he approached towards me slowly. The person on the other side must have been Jessica.
He came to me and did a complete check if I was carrying some weapons or something. Each passing moment was getting me more intrigued about Jessica. Who was she? Was she a very important person? Why this secrecy and why so much security? As soon as he confirmed that I had no intentions of harming anyone he told me to follow.
We passed through a huge passageway to reach a room which was completely white without any window or any opening except for the door. There was no one in that room. Why was I brought in here? We went in the room and the manager closed the door behind us. The moment the door closed something very unusual happened.
Suddenly the completely empty room was filled with shelves and objects which were definitely not there until a moment ago. We walked across the room. The manager led the way. He started knocking the wall and if I was not wrong he wasn't knocking randomly but followed some pattern and after a few knocks the wall revealed a biometric scanner. I was completely stunned! The manager scanned his thumb and retina and suddenly a door opened in the wall and we were let in. I was completely awestruck at this moment. So many levels of security for one person. Just how important was she?
The door opened into another room which was filled with tons of equipment, probably for sleep studies and data collection. There was a woman sitting with her back towards us. She was working on something.
"Uhmm... Sorry to disturb you. I am Richmond Thawne. Your mom Alice Parker is an acquaintance to me. She told me to meet you. I guess she must have filled you inn all the details."
"Yeah Richie, as a matter of fact she did."
She turned towards us and started walking towards me
"Hello. I am Jessica Parker. I am an oneirologist by profession but there is more to it as you must have guessed by now. Since my mother trusts you enough to send you here, I think I can trust you too. I work for one of CIA's secret bodies. We here work to do deep dive studies into the brains of criminals arrested by CIA agents to retrieve any key information which might be useful to the government."
I was completely speechless. Not because of all this information she gave. I hardly listened to all of it. I was already dumbstruck the moment she turned to look at me.
I knew Jessica already, because I had seen her in my dreams!!

CHAPTER 10
The more I am trying to solve this case, the more entangled I get into my dream. Now there's one more person coming to life. But, I don't remember what was she doing in my dream. Guess I'll just focus on my real life now. After all I had a criminal to catch within 48 hrs.
I had to spend the next two days, mostly locked up in this basement running tests, and the little time left would be used to investigate outside. So there was no way I could meet with Sarah for a few days. So I thought maybe I should inform her, or she may get worried. So I called her.
"Hey Babe, what's up?"
"Nothing much Richie. I was just thinking about you. You have not even met me in two days and the calls too are like a formality. Something wrong Hon?"
"Yeah! Not just something, everything is wrong at this point. I just didn't want to worry you. "
"Oh you poor thing... Where are you now? Let us meet for dinner. Maybe we can talk about stuff. You might feel better you know."
Well honestly I was torn between meeting her or not, because it seemed like I was putting everyone around me at risk. But this was something I wanted to do. Because anyway there was no way I could meet her for the next two days.
"Yeah we should. I would really love it. Would you like to have Pizzas? There's this place Pizzas from Sicily. Would you like to go there?"
"Hey waittt!! Wasn't that one of your clues? A clue you got when we went to the Sunshine Plaza. Why are you there?"
"Well it's a long story. Maybe I can tell you over the dinner. Does 9 o'clock sound good to you?"
"Yeah cool babe. I'll be there Bu-bye"
"Bye babe."
I told Jessica about the dinner I was gonna have with Sarah. I could see the rage building up on her face.
"How could you, just call your girlfriend here? This place is to remain a secret you know?"
"I know I know. Firstly, I trust Sarah with my life, I am sure it is safe to tell her. But don't worry, I won't speak a word about this place if you don't want me to. This will just be a dinner. The place on top of this facility is a restaurant after all."
"Okay fine. Suit yourself. Just remember if this puts any of us at risk, forget any help from me and then you'll never be able to know the answers to your questions. So act accordingly."
"Yeah I will remember that. Thanks a lot! Bye"
I went out to the restaurant. Sarah arrived in sometime. It felt so nice just to meet her after all that had happened. Her warm hug was just what I needed. We were talking about stuff. I told her all about how I could be the murderer and how now Alice was hurt because of me. I told her all except the Jessica part and what I was doing there.
"Aww... baby. Don't be so hard on yourself. It was not your fault that Alice was hurt. But that aside what are you doing here then. Shouldn't you be trying to prove your innocence."
"Well this was the place I first met Alice and this is exactly where I got the clue about the museum from you. I thought maybe this place might have something more I may have missed so I just swung by to find out more."
It felt so awkward blatantly lying to her. But I couldn't help it. Jessica didn't want Sarah to know. Anyway I could just tell the truth to her after a couple of days.
"Oh! Alright. You found something then?"
"No not yet. But I thought maybe I'll try to find something after the dinner. Because dinner with you was something I absolutely needed right now. Thanks babe for coming all the way here."
"Oh no Richie don't embarrass me. It's nothing at all compared to what you are going through. Anyway let's order something. It's probably getting late."
"Yeah sure. You have to go back home too. I am gonna stay at a friends' nearby. So let's order."
We had a sumptuous meal. After all I was not going to able to meet her, talk to her, have dinner with her for two days again. And if I could not prove my innocence then I don't know for how long. So I thought I should probably make this our best dinner.
After that feast of a dinner, I was back into my thoughts about my dream. Sarah read through this that I was too worried. She slowly came close to me and held my hand. It was that romantic moment where you just forget the existence of the world around you. We hugged for quite a long time. Just standing there in the middle of the restaurant, until the manager came beside us and cleared his throat. Until then we had just forgotten where we were. At that moment, I could see blush creep onto Sarah's face.
"I think I should leave now. Bye Richie!"
She came close to me, kissed me and ran out giggling like a child. And now I was the one who was standing there, just red with embarrassment.
After this amazing night, I was fully ready for work now. I was completely aware that I had a clock ticking on me and now I had to prove my innocence not just for me but for Sarah too. So that I could go on more such lovely dates. With this thought in mind, I turned back and signalled the manager to take me back to the lab.
We went back and when the door to the secret room opened I went in there with full energy calling for Jessica.
"So let's begin Jessica. Say what have got to do." But I got no reply.
"Jessica! Jessica! Where are you?" I started calling out loudly.
At this point even the manager started shouting.
But to no avail.
She wasn't there.Jessica just went missing!