Love Immortal (7 page)

CHAPTER 9

Edgar tried to move into the hospital after
the doctor had announced that the press conference was over. His
explanation, that the victim had not actually been “clinically”
dead, and therefore had not actually been “brought back to life,”
did not sway Edgar in his convictions. Joey, a friend of Edgar’s
and an orderly in the hospital, had told Edgar what had really
happened. The man had been clinically dead, his heart had stopped
beating and the doctors had called the time of death. The dead
body, Edgar knew he had been dead, had been in the room for more
than ten minutes after the doctors had called it. Unfortunately for
Edgar, his friend had been a bit tardy in removing the body, so it
didn’t go unnoticed when the body had come back to life. This upset
Edgar. If the body had come back to life in the morgue, Joey would
have been the only one to know about it, and could have discretely
removed the now living body from the hospital. Bodies went missing
from time to time.

This person was an infidel, a defiler of the
Grail. There had been other suspected infidels, but this was the
first Edgar identified. Some truly were infidels; some were simply
in the wrong place at the wrong time. Without a trial, it’s
difficult to really know for sure. Just so, people disappeared all
the time, and despite the crime shows on television that showed
week after week how a single hair at a murder investigation could
lead to the murderer, Edgar knew that most police departments were
neither that sophisticated, nor capable of solving a well-executed
murder.

Immediately following the press conference
the sheriff didn’t let anyone into the hospital. Edgar tried again
later that afternoon to enter through the main entrance. He walked
casually past the front desk and was on his way to the elevators
when he was stopped by security and escorted from the hospital.

After midnight, Edgar returned to the
hospital, this time entering through the ER. He first tried to make
it to the elevators, but was told he needed to check in at the
desk. Edgar checked in, giving a false name and stating that he was
having chest pains. He was put in a curtained off area in the
emergency ward.

When the nurse left, Edgar got out of his
chair walked towards the elevators. He was just about to push one
of the buttons when another security guard asked him where he was
going. He told the security guard that he was confused, that he
didn’t know where he was. He was escorted back to the nurses’
station and then escorted back to the where he had been before.
This time when the nurse left, Edgar left the hospital.

This, he realized, was going to be more
difficult than he thought. Edgar would either need to be sick or
injured to be admitted. And then, he would need to be sick enough,
or injured badly enough, to warrant an overnight stay in the
hospital, hopefully on the same floor as the infidel.

Edgar started considering injuries that might
be sufficient to get him admitted to the hospital. A gunshot wound,
but that might raise too many questions. A knife wound, but that
would be painful, he might not make the wound deep enough, and he
might make it too deep or hit a major organ. Yet another
consideration was being admitted to the psych ward, if the
investigators thought he was suicidal.

This was far more difficult than Edgar could
imagine. He had to be admitted, but he definitely did not want to
die. That was crucial to the plan. Edgar finally determined that a
car accident would be the easiest way to get admitted to the
hospital. Even if his injuries were minor, the hospital would
surely want to keep him overnight for observation.

Actually planning the car accident was a
little more difficult. A single car crash always raised suspicions,
unless there were circumstances to suggest that the driver may have
lost control. Involving another vehicle in the crash was
unacceptable. Edgar finally decided that spilled coffee, especially
when it was hot, could definitely cause a driver to lose
control.

A few days later, Edgar drove through the
McDonald’s drive-through and purchased a cup of plain black coffee,
large. He drove around the corner and poured the cup of coffee into
his lap, quickly accelerated, and drove his car down the
embankment.

As the car started to roll, Edgar leaned into
the fall. When his car suddenly flipped onto its side, Edgar, to
his horror, realized he had not fastened his seatbelt. Now that was
stupid, he thought as his head smacked into the passenger side
door.

Edgar wasn’t sure if the car stopped rolling
before or after he fell unconscious. He was in a lot of pain. His
head was where most of the pain was focused, at the moment, but as
he looked down to see his leg bent in a rather unnatural direction,
the pain in his head lost precedence to the pain in his leg. He
wasn’t sure how badly he was injured, there were parts of him he
could not feel at all to his immense concern. When he heard the
grating sound on the door above his head he looked up, trying to
focus, and saw a fireman trying to pry the car door open.

He remembered the fireman yelling into his
car, trying to get his attention. Edgar tried to respond, but the
world quickly swam out of focus and he lost consciousness
again.

Chapter 10

Jewell found it difficult to concentrate on
assigned tasks, and had difficulty remembering the simplest things.
She was relieved that she wasn’t assigned to triage. Even though
she thought her training would kick in during an emergency, she
couldn’t be certain, and she didn’t want to test her theory when
someone’s life was at risk.

Jewell was in a room with a worried mother
and her sick toddler taking a history. It didn’t seem serious,
probably strep or a bad cold. She never told the patients what she
thought, it wasn’t her place to diagnose illness, but she did
reassure the mother with a kind smile, and reassuring pat to her
hand.

As Jewell walked out of the examination area,
she heard a commotion as a stretcher was unloaded from an
ambulance. She stood against the wall while a man was whisked past
her into a room. He didn’t look good, but his injuries didn’t look
too serious. He was conscious, his eyes darting between the people
surrounding him. As he passed her, his eyes found hers. His stare
made her uncomfortable. She tried to look away, but was unable to
until a paramedic stepped in front of her, breaking the line of
sight. Something about that man sent a shiver down her spine making
the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

Jewell walked toward the nurses’ station to
record her notes on the toddler she had just seen. As she walked,
she looked back toward the man. Even though she couldn’t see him
anymore, her stomach tightened at the thought of being in the same
room with him. She hoped she wouldn’t be asked to help in his
care.

At the nurses’ station, Madelyn was sitting
at one of the computers typing in notes. Maddie was always a wealth
of information. She kept her ears open and never missed a detail.
The problem was that she was usually anxious to share those details
with anyone who would listen.

“What do you know about the guy who just came
in?” Jewell asked Maddie in the most casual tone she could muster.
Jewell was still a little creeped out by that man’s stare

Maddie grinned and her eyes lit at the
opportunity to share some gossip. “Well,” she started, as if the
information was so juicy it was just oozing out of her, “it was a
one car MVA; the idiot spilled coffee in his lap and drove off the
road. What a schmuck!”

Jewell sighed; Maddie could be a bit
judgmental as well. Jewell didn’t dislike Maddie, but sometimes,
Jewell found her a bit irritating. Jewell gave her a slight nod and
forced a bit of a smile in appreciation for the information.

“They’ll probably just keep him overnight for
observation because he has a concussion, and then send him home in
the morning. Idiot! Coffee! Can you believe it? What a moron!”

Jewell looked at her notes as she rolled her
eyes, shut her folder and stood up. She smiled, “Thanks Maddie.
I’ll probably see you later.”

“Sure Jewell, see you around.” Jewell heard
Maddie giggle quietly to herself and mutter the word “idiot” under
her breath as Jewell walked away.

Jewell turned her thoughts back to Collin.
She glanced at her watch and was chagrinned to see that it was only
ten o’clock. Eight hours until she could see Collin again. She knew
he was probably asleep and wished she could sleep away the next
eight hours as well. On a positive note, there was a full moon
tonight. That meant the ER would be interesting at least.

She was right, not a dull moment from the
drunk stumbling in to let everyone know he had been poisoned, to
the man who had been bitten by an alligator while he was noodling;
a southern tradition of catching a catfish by sticking your arm
into a dark murky hole hoping to find a catfish.

Jewell’s stomach knotted with anticipation as
she watched the hands on the clock slowly creeping towards six a.m.
She was tired, dead on her feet, and could barely lift her arms; it
had been a busy night. But Jewell knew that Collin’s presence would
melt away any physical and mental fatigue she felt. As six
approached, she hoped that there wouldn’t be one last case that she
would need to attend before leaving. She had finished her last case
half an hour ago, and if nothing new came in, she could leave right
at six. As the hands moved ever closer, she heard the screams of a
siren approaching. Her heart sank. She hoped that the case wouldn’t
be assigned to her. Please, please, please, she thought as an
elderly woman was wheeled into the ER.

The woman was in her eighties. She had
suffered a heart attack. Her husband was by her side holding her
hand as she was wheeled back to a room, whispering that he would
never leave her. It made her think of Collin. Would they grow old
together? Would she someday be holding Collin’s hand as one of them
passed from this life to the next? Surprisingly, the thought didn’t
make her sad, but instead, gave her hope that perhaps this is what
her future held, a long and happy life with someone she loved. And
she did love Collin; as crazy as it seemed, she knew that it was
love and she would sacrifice everything to be with him.

Fortunately, Jewell was not assigned to this
case, so she quickly ran to the locker rooms. She took a cold
shower not waiting for the water to warm, partly to wake her up
after her long shift, but also because she knew that Collin didn’t
like the smell of the antiseptic soap. It prolonged the wait to see
him, but it was for him, she wanted to make him happy. Besides, he
needed his rest. She hated to wake him so early in the morning.
After she had showered, she changed into fresh clothes that she had
brought specifically for this. She had also put one of her
honeysuckle sachets in her bag to help keep her clothes smelling
fresh as they sat for twelve hours in her locker.

She pulled on a pair of faded jeans that made
her legs look good. Then she pulled her royal blue polo over her
head. She had chosen this shirt because Ashley told her it made her
eyes look amazing and it was one of the few shirts that actually
fit her right; it wasn’t so oversized that it hung off her body.
She quickly brushed her face with mineral powder and dusted her
cheeks with a little blush. Then she very carefully applied the eye
shadow Ashley had given her just as she had been instructed. She
pulled a brush through her hair and stepped back from the mirror to
assess how she looked. She knew Ashley would be proud of her. As an
afterthought, she rubbed the sachet of honeysuckle over her hair,
and threw everything in her locker.

She waited impatiently for the elevator and
when the doors finally opened she rushed in, pounding the button
for the sixth floor repeatedly as if it would make the elevator
move faster. After what seemed an eternity, the doors opened
releasing her from her temporary prison and she ran to Collin’s
room.

Fearing that he would still be asleep, she
very slowly opened the door and peeked in. As was usual, he was
lying on his side, facing away from the door. “Honeysuckle” she
heard him say, and she could hear the smile in his voice. She
laughed as she pushed through the door and quickly crossed the room
to sit in the ugly vinyl recliner next to the bed.

Collin smiled and reached for her hand. She
took it quickly, reveling in his warm touch. She looked into his
stormy gray eyes and lost herself.

“Has your uncle come by to visit yet?” Jewell
asked, breaking the silence.

“No, but like I said, that’s Uncle Percy. He
probably figures that if the hospital hasn’t called to tell him I’m
dead, everything must be fine. Plus, I keep leaving messages on his
phone. I’m assuming I sound better than I did a few days ago, so
that gives him even less excuse to stop by.” He shrugged like it
didn’t matter, but Jewell could tell that it hurt him. “At least I
have you to look forward to every day. It gives me an incentive to
get better.” He grinned. Jewell noticed that his smile wasn’t quite
as lopsided as it had been. The right side of his face was starting
to regain some of its mobility. This was a great sign; it meant
that there might not be any serious nerve damage. Too, even though
he seemed lucid enough, it was another indication that there was no
brain damage.

“Your smile looks better. It’s not as one
sided as it was. Does it hurt when you smile?”

“Yeah, everything hurts, but honestly, it’s
not too bad. I don’t even use the morphine. And I’ve figured out
what hurts the most when I move; so I don’t move that way.”

Jewell was sure that he was trying to play
down the true extent of his pain for her sake. She appreciated the
effort, but she knew that the pain must be excruciating. She
thought that he was sweet though, trying to spare her feelings that
way.