Love Immortal (22 page)

“The last time I saw her she was walking
towards exam 3.”

Jewell steadied herself. She felt extremely
nauseous and a little dizzy. When she was certain that she could
walk, she went to find Nurse Yohanan to ask if she could take a
break. Even though she had just come on her shift, Nurse Yohanan
was sympathetic and told her to take twenty minutes to compose
herself. Jewell went straight upstairs to talk to Ashley.

Jewell and Ashley sat at the nurses’ station
as Jewell explained that the man she had seen tonight and in Lake
Charles had also asked about her yesterday. “What do you think he
wants?” Ashley asked Jewell when she had finished explaining
everything.

“I don’t know. That first night he was here
though, the way he looked at me. I can’t describe it. He didn’t
look at me like he thought I was attractive, or like he was just
watching me because I was more interesting than the wall. I don’t
know, it was just sinister, you know?”

“Did security say what they were going to
do?”

“No. Officer Garrett said that he was going
to send a couple of guys to see if he was still lurking somewhere.
He said that one of his officers had reported a suspicious man
loitering near the ER yesterday. He fit the description of the guy
that was there tonight. I asked Lea to see if she could find his
file so I could find out who he is, maybe where he lives or
something. What should I do? Ashley, this is really scaring me!
What does he want?”

Ashley reached over to give Jewell a hug. “I
don’t know honey. I’ll make sure I ride with you so at least you
won’t be coming and going alone. Our schedules are pretty much the
same, but I’ll talk to my supervisor and see if she’ll work with
me. You might want to talk to Nurse Yohanan too. Then, we should
probably call security when we come in and leave. Tom is usually at
the gate, I’m sure that if we let him know, he can radio security
when we come in, and we can just call security when we get ready to
leave. Plus, now that they know about this guy, they’ll be watching
for him and I’m sure they won’t let him in the garage. It’ll be
okay, you’ll see.”

“I hope so.” Jewell was feeling a bit better.
Now that she had time to calm down a bit, and after everything
Ashley had said, she felt reassured. She looked at her watch. “I’ve
got to get back to work. I’ll see you at lunch.”

When she went back downstairs, Lea was
talking to Officer Garrett, the head of security. She was handing
him a patient file, she assumed it was the file for the man
following her. When Lea saw her, she motioned to Jewell to come
over. Jewell spoke to Officer Garrett for about an hour, explaining
everything: the first time she saw him, the visit to Lake Charles,
and coming in to work tonight. Officer Garrett told her that they
didn’t catch him, but had a description from the previous night,
along with a description of his car and his license plate number.
He also promised to notify the New Orleans police.

“If you see anything suspicious, make sure
you let us know. And we suggest that you don’t go in and out of the
hospital alone. Call security for an escort if it makes you feel
safer.”

Jewell smiled and thanked the officer.

She ate lunch with Ashley, saying little. She
did tell Ashley about her conversation with Officer Garrett. They
agreed to meet in the locker room after work to walk to Jewell’s
car. When it was time to go, a security officer walked Ashley and
Jewell to Jewell’s car. As usual, Collin was waiting for her. Still
out of hearing distance, Ashley leaned over and asked, “What are
you going to tell Collin?”

“Oh no, I hadn’t thought of that. What should
I tell him?” The officer was walking behind the two girls and
hadn’t heard their conversation; he was looking for signs of
danger. Jewell turned back to the officer, “can you give me a
minute? I’ll just be over there.” She pointed toward where Collin
was standing.

The security guard looked toward Collin, “You
know him?”

“He’s my boyfriend. I’ve got to go talk to
him.”

“I’ll wait here.” The security guard stood in
a professional at ease position, legs slightly spread, his hands
clasped loosely in the small of his back. Jewell briefly wondered
if this officer had a military background. She walked over to
Collin who looked confused.

“What’s with the escort?” Collin asked.

“There’ve been some problems with some guy
hanging around. It’s just to ensure the security of the nurses
until they’re sure they have the situation under control.”

Collin glared at her suspiciously, “problems
related to you?”

Not wanting to upset him, Jewell quickly
shook her head. “No, just in general.”

“Then how come you two are the only ones with
an escort?” Jewell was finding that it was going to be very
difficult to lie to Collin, but she stuck to her story.

“We were just the last ones out.”

Collin continued to eye her, clearly not
convinced. “Well then, why don’t we grab some coffee and beignets?”
He reached for her hand.

Jewel shifted away from him, shrugging her
shoulders. “Collin, I’m so tired. I really need to go home and get
some sleep; tomorrow?”

“If you’re sure.” The concern was evident
both on his face and in his voice.

“I’m sure. I’ll see you later, okay?” She
gave him a hug that, without realizing it, conveyed her fear
clearly to Collin.

“I’ll pick you up for work.”

“No, I’m riding with Ashley. Her car’s not
working so I have to drive her.” The lies were uncomfortable, but
until she knew what was happening, she didn’t want to tell Collin
about it.

“I love you.” He hugged her back.

“I love you too.” She smiled, looking up at
him. At least that had been an honest answer. He watched her as she
walked back to Ashley and the security guard, and then followed her
as they walked to the car.

“What did you tell him?” Ashley asked.

“I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Jewell, don’t you think you should tell
him?”

“No, the police and security have everything
in control. It’ll be okay.” Her voice was shaking. Ashley looked at
Jewell. It was obvious that she thought Jewell was making the wrong
decision, but she wasn’t going to tell her friend what was best for
her.

Chapter 25

Collin walked into the front door and looked
around. He heard voices coming from the kitchen so he walked down
the hall in that direction. When he opened the door, everyone
stopped talking and looked at him.

“What?” He looked at the group of people
sitting around the table.

“Percy?” Gladys said, looking at Collin’s
uncle.

“Collin, you know how I feel about you
getting too close to people. We won’t be here forever. What are you
going to do when we leave?”

“Maybe I won’t do anything. Maybe I’ll stay
here.” Collin responded defiantly.

“You can’t Collin.”

“Why? Because you’re my legal guardian? Well,
I have something to tell you Uncle Percy, I’m an adult now. What I
do with my life from now on is my choice. Don’t get me wrong, I
love you, and I’m grateful for all you’ve done for me, but I love
Jewell.”

Percy sighed. He looked at Gladys who just
shrugged. Kendryck got up to get a glass of water and Dot and Carl
were engaged in their own personal conversation, too interested in
each other to help Percy. Percy looked at Collin, clearly
exasperated, but not knowing what to say.

“Is that it, then?” Collin asked, glaring at
everyone sitting at the table. When no one said anything, he walked
out, going to his quarters behind the house. He grabbed a fishing
pole and wandered out to a pond, or more of a swamp, about two
miles from the house. Living on such a large piece of land
definitely had its advantages.

After he had been out for a few hours, he
started feeling better and started walking back to the house. The
worst part about all of this was Jewell. What was going on with
her? He glanced at his watch. It was only noon; the middle of the
night for Jewell. It would be rude to drive to her house just to
make himself feel better. He didn’t really feel like going to New
Orleans. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. After he put his pole
away, he walked into the house and headed toward the kitchen. He
wasn’t really hungry, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do.
Walking into the house, he saw his uncle watching TV in the parlor.
Collin walked in and sat down next to Percy.

“I’m sorry.” Collin didn’t look at his
uncle.

Percy put his arm around his nephew. “I’m
sorry too. I know that you really like this girl, but you know that
you can’t get too involved with people. We’ve already been here for
a couple of years, we’ll probably move on in another year or
so.”

“But why? Why can’t I get close to someone?
Why do I have to move?”

Percy, with his usual evasiveness said “I
thought we’d go to Australia. I haven’t been there in a while, and
I miss vegemite. Have you ever had vegemite?

Collin sighed. He gave his uncle a quick hug
and got up from the couch. “I’m going to see if I can find some
lunch, do you want anything?”

When Collin arrived at the hospital before
Jewell’s shift, he parked his car and went to stand in his usual
place, a place where he would be certain to see her as she walked
into work. He had noticed that security seemed to be tighter. At
the entrance to the garage the gate, which was usually up, was
lowered and he had to stop to give the attendant his ID before
entering the garage. He was also surprised that the attendant knew
who he was. The man had laughed as he handed Collin’s driver’s
license back to him. “So you’re Collin. I’ve heard a lot about
you.” Then he lifted the gate so that Collin could enter the
garage. Collin noticed a security guard discretely positioned so
that he could see who was entering and leaving the garage. In the
guard house, Collin noticed a piece of paper tacked to a bulletin
board with a license plate number, the description of a car, and
the physical characteristics of someone, apparently with a broken
leg.

As he wound his way through the garage,
Collin spotted two more security guards on foot with billy clubs
out, and one sitting in his car near the exit to the garage. Maybe
Jewell wasn’t lying; maybe the person didn’t have any interest in a
particular person, but rather was just some sick freak with a nurse
fetish. While he was waiting, he watched several nurses walk into
the building. He noticed security guards walking past, but none of
them took any particular interest in the nurses entering the
hospital.

Collin didn’t see Jewell’s car as he wound
through the garage which meant she probably wasn’t there yet, but
he knew that he would see her as she walked toward the hospital. He
watched towards the parking area, waiting for her. When he finally
saw her, he noticed a security guard, following behind her and
Ashley as they made their way to the hospital. This only confirmed
his fear that this was about her in particular and not about the
nurses in general. When Jewell saw Collin, both Ashley and Jewell
walked toward where he was standing. Collin smiled at Ashley and
asked if he could have a minute alone with Jewell. Ashley winked at
him and started toward the employee entrance. Collin watched the
guard as Ashley left. He hadn’t moved. He stood a discrete distance
from them, but his attention was definitely focused on Jewell.

Jewell practically threw herself at Collin;
out of excitement or fear, Collin wasn’t certain. “Did you want to
tell me the truth now?” He asked her gently.

She sighed and leaned the top of her head
against his chest staring down at the pavement. “A couple of nights
ago a guy came in looking for a blonde nurse with a ponytail. Since
I’m the only nurse on night shift with blonde hair, they assume he
meant me. He showed up again last night, but left before they could
catch him.”

“Catch him? Why were they trying to catch
him? I’m up here every night looking for you and they’ve never
tried to catch me.”

“A couple of the nurses saw him and reported
him. He just looked a little weird, that’s all.”

“Seems like pretty tight security for ‘a
little weird.’ Maybe I should start driving you to work.”

“No, it’s fine. Security here has everything
under control, and the guy hasn’t come back. I’ll be fine. Plus
Ashley rides with me every day, so I’m never coming in alone. Tom
at the guardhouse lets security know when I come in and I tell
security when I leave, so it’s fine, see?” Jewell looked up at
Collin, trying to read his face. She didn’t want a personal body
guard.

“Do you know what this guy wants?”

“No. He’s probably just some creep. He came
into the ER a couple of days after you came in. I guess he saw me
and just got obsessed or something.”

“I can definitely understand how that can
happen.” He smiled and gave her a little squeeze. “Well, it does
look like they’re taking pretty good care of you.” He waved at the
security guard who waved back, but didn’t smile. The security
guard’s eyes were constantly searching the shadows and the
surrounding area for possible danger. “It’s a good thing the guy at
the guardhouse knew who I was too, or he wouldn’t have let me in!
Apparently, you’ve been telling stories about me.”

She hugged him. “It’s kind of unbelievable
that you’re mine. I can’t help telling everyone how wonderful you
are. I’ve got to get to work. Will you be here in the morning?”

“If they let me in.”

“I’ll make sure security knows who you are.”
She gave him a quick kiss and ran towards the hospital.

As Collin walked back to his car, he stopped
to talk with the security guard. “What do you think about all
this?”

He shrugged. “It’s definitely worth taking
seriously, but we’ve had incidents like this before, usually with
ex-boyfriends,” he eyed Collin, “but the group we’ve got here is
pretty tight and none of our nurses have ever been hurt while
they’re on hospital property. We’ve also alerted the New Orleans
police, although they can’t do anything unless the guy tries
something.”