35
JULIA
The room was soiled and small but she was familiar with filthy spaces, cramped rooms; the walls were white and there was a single red door locked from the outside. Through the door’s window she glimpsed people pass. But only their shadows, through a screen.
They did not want anyone to see her.
She’d been brought by plane. A short flight, though she hadn’t known it, and when the hood was dropped over her head it was the closest she’d come to terror. The black fabric against her face, Leo’s voice – they will strip you hurt you humiliate you – echoing as she stared into the dark. The woman’s voice against her ear like rough paper. And then, at the end, adding softly: ‘Shall I put the earmuffs on now?’
Julia had tried hard not to cry.
But so far none of it had happened. There ha
