Love Immortal (12 page)

Ashley used the second bedroom as a
guestroom/office. She had a double bed in the room, along with a
bookshelf, a desk, and a computer. Jewell walked straight to the
room and turned on the computer. As she waited for the computer to
boot up, she dug the small piece of paper out of her pocket.

Jaffa Continuing Care Center

1135 Bor du Lac Drive, Lake Charles

337-555-8410

When Windows had finished booting she opened
the internet and quickly navigated to Google. First she typed in
the name of the private care center, trying to get more
information. She scanned through the results and found nothing.
Next she tried Google Maps. The exact address couldn’t be found,
but Bor du Lac drive was a short road on the banks of Lake Charles.
She quickly typed in Ashley’s address to get driving directions and
printed them. She laid the papers on the desk as carefully and
gently as if they were an original copy of the Declaration of
Independence.

Ashley called from the kitchen where she was
heating up some leftovers. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing about the care center specifically,
but I did find the street on Google Maps. It’s a short street so
finding the care center shouldn’t be difficult. I printed the
directions.”

“Great. Hungry?”

Jewell thought for a minute. She hadn’t eaten
anything since this morning when she came home from work. She had
heated the gumbo to take to Collin, but hadn’t eaten any herself.
She wasn’t sure what she had done with that. She probably left it
at the nurses’ station at the hospital. “Yeah, I guess. Now that I
know where he is, I feel like I could eat something.”

Ashley set two paper plates on the table and
went back to the kitchen for forks. Jewell took a tentative bite
and realized she was famished. With everything that had been going
on today, she hadn’t had time to think about her building
hunger.

When they had finished eating, Ashley gave
Jewell a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She also gave her an
unopened pack of underwear. “I bought it yesterday, guess it’ll
come in handy. Go ahead and try to get some sleep. I’ll wake you up
at about eight. If we leave by nine, we can be there at noon.”

Jewell turned towards the guest room with her
borrowed clothes, “thanks Ash.” Ashley just smiled and went into
her own room to get some sleep.

Jewell sat on the edge of her bed. She was
certain she wouldn’t be able to sleep. She thought about going to
the computer, but she couldn’t think of anything she wanted to look
up. Instead, she turned off the lights, and laid her head on the
pillow. Before she knew it, she was asleep, dreaming of a sandy
blonde man with stormy gray eyes.

It felt like only moments before she became
aware of Ashley gently shaking her shoulder. “Come on sleepy head.
If you want to take this road trip, we need to get started so we
won’t be too late getting home. I’ve already had my shower. I left
a towel in there for you. Get your hair dry and we’ll fix your face
and figure out what you are going to wear today.”

Jewell dragged herself out of bed and
wandered sleepily into the shower. The warm water felt good and
seemed to wash away all of the stress and worry she had felt over
the last twenty four hours. She quickly washed her hair and got out
of the shower; wrapping the huge bath sheet around herself and
drying her hair. She hadn’t taken out her contact lenses the night
before so she searched Ashley’s cabinets for some solution to clean
her lenses. After drying her hair and cleaning and replacing her
contact lenses, she walked out of the bathroom with the towel
wrapped around her.

Ashley was in her room, her closet door open
and three drawers pulled open in her dresser. She had laid out
several shirts, pants and skirts on the bed and was swapping tops
with bottoms looking for the right combination. Jewell sighed and
walked up next to Ashley. Ashley glanced over at her, and went back
to her study. Jewell looked around her room, peering into Ashley’s
closet. She was overwhelmed by the selection of clothes owned by
her friend.

When Jewell saw Ashley at the hospital, she
was always in scrubs. The hospital had a dress code which didn’t
allow Ashley to fully express herself. When they went out on their
days off, Ashley usually wore jeans and a t-shirt. Granted her
t-shirts were much more stylish than what Jewell wore, Jewell
couldn’t begin to fathom the extent of Ashley’s fetish with style.
Well, Jewell thought, at least she’d look good today.

“Got it! This is the one!” Ashley suddenly
shouted. She turned, holding a violet wrap shirt which she held up
to Jewell’s shoulders. “Oh yes, definitely. This is it!”

Jewell shrugged out of her towel and started
getting dressed. She had some difficulty trying to figure out how
to make the shirt work, but with a little help from Ashley, she had
it on and expertly tied. She had to admit, Ashley knew what she was
talking about. Ashley also gave her a pair of pleated front black
capris, and a pair of black strappy sandals with heels. Ashley
dragged Jewell into the bathroom, added a few loose curls to the
bottom of Jewell’s long blonde hair and sprayed it with hairspray.
Finally, Ashley fixed Jewell’s makeup to give her a bright summer
glow.

When Ashley was finished, she took Jewell to
the full length mirror in Ashley’s room and asked Jewell what she
thought. Just as before, Jewell was shocked. She had no idea she
could look this good. Ashley was a miracle worker.

Ashley told Jewell to go grab the directions
while she grabbed two Cokes out of the fridge and they started out
on their trip. As they started out, Jewell’s dad called, obviously
worried about his daughter. Jewell assured him that she and Ashley
were just going to hang out, and Ashley promised that they wouldn’t
be late. When Jewell finished talking to her father, she turned off
her phone and stuck it in the center console. She didn’t want to
answer any more questions from her dad; he knew her too well to
hide things from him. The less she spoke to him, the better it
would be.

By twelve thirty, they had found Bor du Lac
drive, but they had no luck finding the care facility. The road
wasn’t long, so they drove the length of it three times before
finally giving up. They drove to a gas station and Ashley got out
asking the attendant if she had ever heard of the Jaffa Critical
Care Center. The attendant shook her head as she apologized. “No,
not in town. I know for sure that it wouldn’t be on Bor du Lac
drive. There’s only one building on that street and it’s definitely
not health care. You might want to check with the hospital. They
may know something. St. Patrick Hospital is just down the road,”
she quickly jotted down some directions. “I’m sure they would know
if there was a private patient care facility somewhere in
town.”

“Thanks.” Ashley smiled at the clerk and took
the paper out to the car. “The clerk inside said we should ask at
this hospital. They might be able to give us some more
information.”

Jewell nodded her head. She knew that the
hospital wouldn’t have any more information. Jaffa Critical Care
Center didn’t exist. What she wanted to know was why Collin’s uncle
would take him out of the hospital and lie about where he was
taking him. She also wondered why Dr. Babineaux would release a
patient to move to a facility that didn’t exist.

“Let’s go home. There’s something weird going
on here. Dr. Babineaux wouldn’t release a patient to a facility
that didn’t exist unless he knew something. I’m going to ask him if
he knows anything. Plus, I might be able to get Collin’s home
address from his file.”

“Jewell, you know Doc Babineaux isn’t going
to tell you anything, and if you get caught looking in a patient’s
file, you could get fired. Maybe you should let it go.”

“I know Ashley. I can’t. I don’t know why, I
just need to see him again.”

They stopped for lunch at a Burger King on
the way out of town. As they ate, they didn’t say anything. Jewell
didn’t trust herself to speak, and Ashley didn’t know what to say,
to either talk her friend out of her crazy quest, or to make her
feel better about her futile search. Really, there wasn’t anything
she could say.

When they had finished eating, they threw
their trash in the bin and started walking out the door. In the
parking lot, Jewell saw a man that she thought she recognized. As
she got into her car, she watched as the man pulled a leg with a
cast out of the car. Instantly, Jewell knew where she had seen him
before. He was the guy they brought in that had the car accident,
the one who had spilled coffee on his lap; the one with the really
creepy eyes. She shuddered.

Ashley noticed Jewell staring and looked over
her shoulder to see what she was looking at. She saw a man getting
out of his car, and then she noticed Jewell shudder. “What’s
up?”

“I know him. He came into the hospital a
couple of days ago. When they brought him into the hospital, he
stared at me and it really gave me the creeps.”

“Do you think he’s following you?”

“No, I don’t even think he saw me. It’s
probably just a coincidence.”

“Probably. You ready to go home?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

* * *

When Edgar was released from the hospital, he
borrowed a car to drive to Lake Charles to find the care facility
where the infidel had been taken. When he took the Ryan Street exit
in Lake Charles heading towards downtown, he realized that he
hadn’t had breakfast. As he drove down Ryan Street, he saw a Burger
King. He pulled in and was just about to get out of his car when he
saw the blonde nurse from the hospital leaving with another
woman.

He sat in his car, watching the women as they
left the restaurant. He wondered if they were in town for the same
reason he was. He couldn’t be one hundred percent positive, but
considering the conversation he overheard the day before, he was
relatively certain that they were here looking for the infidel as
well. From the look on the blonde’s face, it didn’t look like their
search had been successful. As the women got into their car, he
opened the door to get out. Out of the corner of his eye, he
noticed the blonde looking at him. He wondered if she recognized
him. He limped into the restaurant without looking back.

Chapter 18

They drove to Ashley’s apartment. As Ashley
got out of the car, she leaned in the passenger side door assessing
Jewell’s face. She had the same deadpan expression that she when
she first found out Collin was gone. Her eyes were devoid of hope,
and her face was drawn and pale. “Are you going to be okay?”

“What?” Jewell looked at Ashley as if she
didn’t realize she wasn’t alone.

“I said are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” Jewell’s voice caught in her
throat.

“Maybe we can drive to work together
tonight.”

“I don’t know Ash. I just…I don’t know if I’m
going to work tonight.”

Ashley’s face creased with worry. Something
had to change. What could she say to give her friend a little hope?
She couldn’t stay home alone tonight; it wouldn’t help her at
all.

“What about his file? Didn’t you say you
might see if you can find his address?” Ashley tried to sound
hopeful. “I could help. I go into the records room all the time. I
doubt anyone would notice if I took a quick peek in the wrong
file…accidentally, of course.” She winked at Jewell and gave her a
half smile.

“Yeah, I guess.”

Ashley stood up and closed the door. She
watched until Jewell drove through the gates of the apartment
complex then picked up her phone and dialed Jewell’s home number.
She didn’t know if Jewell’s dad was home today, but she had to
try.

Tommy picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?”

“Hey Tommy, this is Ashley. I’m glad you’re
home. We’ve got a problem.”

“I knew last night wasn’t about a girl’s
night out. What happened?” Tommy sat at the kitchen table and
rubbed his temple. He sensed that something was very wrong.

“It’s Collin. What do you know about
him?”

“Is Collin that guy at the hospital that
Jewell took a liking to?”

“Yeah. Apparently, she really took a liking
to him. She was visiting him every day before and after work. There
was something, I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like, after she
met him, she was whole. Like there had been a piece of her missing,
but we had just never noticed it before.”

“I know.” Tommy sighed heavily. He was quiet
for a minute. Every person has one true soul mate. That was what he
used to tell Jewell all the time. Tommy saw it in her eyes the
first time she spoke of Collin. This was her soul mate. He could
only hope that she hadn’t lost hers the way he had lost his. “What
happened?” Tommy knew that if he was her true soul mate, the
feeling would be mutual. He wouldn’t have turned her away. But if
he wasn’t, if this was just the infatuation of a first crush, then
she would just need to get beyond the first couple of days of
heartbreak.

“They discharged him. His uncle is a doctor
and he supposedly took him to some private care facility. Jewell
managed to get the address in Lake Charles. We went there today but
there was no private care facility. The information was
deliberately falsified.”

So he hadn’t necessarily left her by his own
choice. If he was her soul mate, he would find his way back to her,
but would it be too late? “I’m assuming she didn’t take it
well.”

“No, she’s worse than she was before. She
said she wasn’t going to go in to work today. I think I convinced
her to go, but…Tommy, I’m worried about her. Really worried. I
think she needs someone to be there, just in case…” She let the
thought trail off.

“That’s not a problem. I’ve got some vacation
time saved up at work. I’ll call in a few favors and take a couple
of days off. Is she on her way home?”