String of Tears, page 23
“Again!” More voices, more shock treatment, and then suddenly she was back.
She let her eyes drift open. However, the bright light hurt, so she slammed them shut again. But not before she caught sight of Hurricane. She whispered, “Where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital,” he said. “Don’t try to talk, just rest.”
She reached out a hand and watched through her lowered lashes in shock, as her hand lifted away from her arm. Separated, distinctly two different pieces, as if she were only a ghost. She went to sit up and realized she was peeling her way out of her body.
Hurricane’s voice came back sharp. “Lie back down.”
She stared at him, only to realize her eyes weren’t open, but she was staring at him anyway in this ghostly form.
“I don’t think I want to,” she whispered.
“Please,” he added, his voice emotional. “Please lie back down.”
And then he did something she’d never seen before, but this wave of gentleness, love, and caring washed through her, filling her from her toes to the top of her head, then all the way down to her fingers. “Why?” she whispered. “Why do you care?”
“I don’t know, but I do, and that’s enough for me,” he stated immediately. “Please, lie back down.”
Her eyes opened wide, she contemplated it for a long moment, then slowly sank back into her body and drifted back out on the ethers, once again out cold.
*
Hurricane sat down once more on the chair beside Jewel’s hospital bed, his gaze locked on hers, her face almost ethereal, as he studied her features.
Stefan stepped into his mind. She appears to be doing better.
If you say so. She’s been here forever.
It’s been less than twelve hours, Stefan corrected, with a note of humor. It just feels like forever.
What the hell happened? Hurricane cried out softly.
I’d say it’s the pearls. I just don’t know what kind of hold somebody has over Jewel or how we can track a killer who, so far, has escaped detection for decades, Stefan murmured.
But why her? Why was she chosen?
I suspect because she could work the magic on the actual pearls themselves, Stefan replied. It’s about the only thing that makes sense. For whatever reason she had that affinity and once he realized that …
At that, Hurricane shook his head. To even think that something like this is possible …
We all know that a lot is going on out in the ethers that we don’t know about yet, much of it horrifying and beyond comprehension, but it goes on regardless.
I don’t think … I’ve never seen anything like this. Then Hurricane stopped and shook his head. Stefan, have you?
No, this is a new one for me too.
What about Grant? Did he find anything?
No, the parcel is still sitting at the courier shop.
Damn.
Stefan smiled, and Hurricane felt the emotion.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Hurricane asked.
If you’re thinking that her client knew the delivery was a fake, yes, and that would mean that he is connected to the actual pieces as well.
He couldn’t be in the pearls himself, right? Hurricane asked.
At that, Stefan paused. I won’t say no, but how would that make any sense?
It doesn’t. Never mind.
We shouldn’t discount it completely, but we need to put this into perspective.
I don’t know, Hurricane murmured. I’d hoped that at least, if we could find out who had sent the parcel, we would have some idea where to look next.
I know, Stefan agreed. Grant sent me a text, saying that he had some information, but I haven’t managed to connect with him.
Disconnect now then, Hurricane ordered, and one of you get back to me when you find out what he’s got.
With a light chuckle, Stefan, in a cool sense of withdrawal, disappeared from Hurricane’s mind. Hurricane got up, wandered around the small hospital room once again, and stared at her as she slept. “What the hell happened to you?”
As soon as he had a chance, he would go buy security cameras to place them all around her loft and all around this hospital room, so he could track if something else happened. Would give him time to sleep a bit. Until the hospital caught on and threw a fit. HIPAA be damned in this case. Somebody hadn’t fallen for the delivery ruse and had taken the chance while Hurricane was gone to move in. Nice and simple. And the worst of it was that he himself had let it happen and had, in fact, helped orchestrate the opportunity. As he sat here, chastising himself, a soft whisper reached him.
Stop.
He looked over to see her eyes still closed, her breathing slow and steady. He frowned, closed his eyes, and asked, Who is this?
A moment of startled disconnect came, before the voice replied, It’s me. What do you mean, who is this?
He looked over toward the hospital bed again but nothing gave the appearance that Jewel was awake, alert. You who?
What do you mean? she cried out. It’s me, Jewel!
He got up, slowly walked over to the bed, and asked, Where are you?
What do you mean, where am I? she murmured. I’m with you.
I know you’re with me, he replied cautiously, but I need to know where you are physically.
After a moment of confusion, she asked, Am I not physically there with you?
He smiled at that. You are, he confirmed, with a slight chuckle. I’m just wondering if you’re awake enough to recognize what’s going on.
Probably not, judging by the way you are acting, and it’s making me feel very odd.
Can you open your eyes?
At that, another disconnect came, and then she stated, They are open.
Open your other eyes.
She seemed stunned for a moment, and then she said, Oh God.
Oh God what? he asked, wanting to laugh, but didn’t want to freak her out.
Am I dead?
Chapter 21
Jewel slowly opened her physical eyes and stared around at the hospital room. Then her gaze caught sight of Hurricane standing at the end of her bed. Are you okay? she asked him.
“I’m okay,” he said out loud, his mouth moving, reassuring her that something was back to normal. “How are you?”
I’m okay, she replied, with a smile.
“Good. In that case, you may want to use your vocal cords.” But his gaze was intense, studying her, as if trying to figure out just what she was doing.
She stared at him, and then slowly, as if a huge amount of pressure was required, she opened her mouth and slowly rotated her jaw, as if killing her. “Hurricane?” she asked, and her voice croaked. She stared at him in shock. “Is that my voice?” she asked in a still raspy tone.
He nodded. “Yes, that is definitely your voice.”
She closed her eyelids and asked, “What happened?”
“You apparently had a stronger connection in the spirit side of life than in the physical. You appear to have opened up a pathway or somehow allowed part of you to communicate with others on the ethers.”
Her heart sank. That statement should be a shock, and yet it wasn’t. This was normal; she just didn’t know how to explain it. I think this is the way I’m used to talking. She sensed his surprise and realized that, once again, she’d whispered in his mind, not out loud physically. She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Things are very confusing right now.” She frowned and struggled to regain control of her physical mouth. As soon as she could get the words articulated, she asked, “What happened?”
He sat on the side of her bed, picked up her hand, and just held it. “Maybe you could tell me that.”
She blinked at him and slowly shook her head. “I don’t have any memory of it.”
He nodded. “I was afraid you would say that.” But his tone was almost absentminded, as if heavy in thought in other ways. He looked down at her again. “How long have you been able to do this?”
She frowned at him.
“No,” he said, “I need to know.”
“I don’t know. It just feels like it’s …” She frowned at that, hoping her voice would ease up because it hurt to talk. “It feels like it …” She tried again, then struggled once more.
“Feels like what? Feels like it’s more comfortable, feels like it’s natural, feels like it’s something you used to do but haven’t done in a long time, so it’s rusty?”
“No,” she whispered. “It feels more comfortable to speak in my head.” She swallowed and winced, like her throat hurt. “Like it’s what I used to do, like what I’m used to doing.” She hesitated, then added, “But physically speaking is what’s rusty, like I haven’t done it in a long time. … What is going on?”
“I’m not sure. It could be that you’ve connected with a victim, and she may have been isolated to the point or gagged to the point that she was never allowed to talk, and that’s what’s happening to you now, and you’re just manifesting her symptoms.”
She stared at him with her physical eyes, and something about that rang true, but something about it didn’t. Something in here, something I’m … I’ve never really understood before.
“What’s that?”
I used to do this. I used to speak in my head all the time.
“Speaking in your head to yourself is very common,” he murmured. “However, if you have somebody else you could speak with in your head, that makes it very uncommon.”
She blinked several times, then spoke out loud again. “I think I did, but I don’t know who it was.”
“That would be very helpful to know,” he stated, his gaze watchful. “It might help explain why you were picked.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice gaining strength. She shuffled in the bed and slowly sat up. Looking over at the glass of water, she pointed.
He got up immediately and moved to hand her the water. “Was there an incident in your childhood or somewhere in your life, where you were held captive?”
She shook her head. “Not to my knowledge.”
“Are there any periods of your life that you don’t have any knowledge of? Like big blocks of time you are missing or time frames missing from your memory?”
“I don’t think so.” Jewel stared at him. “That’s a freaky thing to think about.”
“It is, but it might explain some of this.”
“I don’t think it explains anything. All it does is raise way more questions.”
“That’s often what happens,” he agreed, with a smile. “Yet, if we could figure out what’s happening to you, we might have a chance of figuring out how this other person is involved.”
She sighed. “I don’t know of anything that ever happened to me,” she murmured. “My life is an open book.”
He stared at her. “Where were you born?”
“Illinois.”
“What year?”
She reeled off a number.
“Who were your parents?”
She gave him the names immediately.
“Siblings?”
“None.”
“Where’d you go to school?”
She gave him the elementary, middle, and high school info.
“Who was your first boyfriend?”
At that, she stopped, then looked at him and frowned. “I don’t remember.”
He nodded. “So, what I’m about to tell you is a bit out there, but you have to consider the possibility. I asked you questions, and the other answers came fast, really fast, as if they were by rote. Many people would have to stop and think about the name of their elementary school, for example, but that information was almost at the tip of your tongue. I’m afraid you may have been fed information known to the public that could be retrieved easily at a later point in time.”
He pulled out his phone and said, “I’ll talk to Grant for a minute. You sit here, sip that water. And rest.”
“Wait,” she called out, as he went to the door. “Where did you find me?”
He stopped and turned, his face grim. “Out on a highway, completely nude, without a mark on you.”
After dropping that bombshell, he turned and stepped out into the hallway.
*
Hurricane quickly called Grant.
“Hey,” Grant answered. “I’ve been waiting for you to call.”
“Yeah, sorry, it’s been a bit of a shit show here.”
“Hey, we found Jewel. That’s what counts.”
“That’s the thing. She has no recollection of what happened,” he murmured.
Grant paused at that. “Of course not,” he replied, his tone slightly off. “That would be a good excuse for her behavior.”
“I know what you’re trying to say, and I don’t believe she stole the pearls and faked her abduction,” Hurricane stated.
“I know. I’m only warning you that, just because it seems like she’s sweet and innocent, there’s a possibility that she’s not.”
“I get that too,” Hurricane replied, rubbing his temple with his free hand. “It’s very frustrating. You haven’t seen her the way I have, and right now she’s in there, completely bewildered at what’s happened.”
“At least we found her this time, before anybody else did. Plus we also have a better idea of what to expect, since it’s the second time over.”
“Do we though?” Hurricane asked.
“We’ll watch out for those bruises, in case they come back. She healed from the first abduction rather quickly, as I recall.”
“Yes, she did. Once I pointed out to her that they were odd, she healed pretty quickly. That’s not very much to go on at the moment.”
“I presume she’ll get released into your care soon.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to the doctors yet, but I need to. Did you do a full check into her background?”
“Yeah, I should have done it from the beginning,” he admitted. “Honestly, if I had had two seconds, I would have, but you were so sure that she wasn’t involved.”
“I’m still pretty confident she isn’t involved, at least not of her own volition. But when I asked her questions about her early life, the answers come immediately, fast and smooth, without a moment for a thought.”
Grant paused. “That’s normal.”
“No, more likely rehearsed, as if she was fed those lines and schooled on it. But just because she was told what her childhood was like doesn’t mean it’s the truth.”
“No, maybe not,” Grant agreed thoughtfully.
“Thus the need for a proper background check.”
“Noted. Damn, I hate these woo-woo cases.”
At that, Hurricane burst out laughing. “But they do keep us hopping,” he noted.
“Yeah, too much so. Anyway, I’ll do what I can on that and get back to you.” And, with that, he hung up.
Chapter 22
When Hurricane stepped back in Jewel’s room, she didn’t turn to face him but asked, “Did he have anything new to say?”
Her voice was slowly returning to normal, a little bit raspy, but not bad. “No,” he replied, “but he’ll run a background check.”
Her eyes widened, and she turned to face him. “Oh? I am bonded, you know.”
“You are?” he asked.
She nodded slowly. “I handle pretty high-end jewelry.”
“Yes, of course. That makes perfect sense,” he noted. “Not sure how this could even play into it. So tell me. What was your childhood like?”
“I would have said, Just fine, but now you’ve got me wondering.”
“I don’t mean to set you off. I’m just trying to figure out where we’re at here.”
“Good for you,” she replied listlessly. “When you find out, let me know. God, why the hell was I found nude on the highway again?” she burst out, clearly upset. “Wait? Where are my clothes? My car?”
He gave her a half smile. “Honey, if I could tell you that, I’d be a very happy man.” She glared at him, and he chuckled. “I’m not against having you naked under the right circumstances. Believe me. You’re absolutely stunningly gorgeous, but these attacks have to be stopped. Can you remember anything after I left?”
She frowned. “I remember telling you to be careful and you warning me to lock the door.”
“That’s a good start,” he noted, “because I absolutely did do that. So then what happened?”
“I slept.”
“Anything else?”
She stared at him, her gaze turning inward.
He watched intently but couldn’t see any signs of another energy or any deceit on her part.
“I remember lying down on the couch, and …” She stopped.
He stared, as her face worked, while she tried to get things back into her focus. “And, within hours, I ended up on a highway completely nude again,” she stated, somewhat bitterly.
“Yes, but we did find you right away.”
“How did you find me anyway?” She turned to him, clearly curious. “Last time I was found by a complete stranger. This time you found me.”
“Stefan,” Hurricane shared. “He followed your energy.” She blinked at him, and he smiled. “You have that way of looking at someone almost owlishly, as if what we’re saying doesn’t make any sense.”
“It doesn’t really, if you think about it,” she murmured. “But, then again, you guys appear to be very coordinated in skills that most of us have never heard of.”
“That’s the part that we’re still not sure about.”
She didn’t say anything, just relaxed into her bedding. “So, what does it take to get kicked free of this place again? And soon, I hope.”
“We need the doctor’s okay to ensure nothing health-wise is wrong with you—and to get you some clothes.”
“Or you could run back to my place and get me some,” she suggested hopefully.
He shook his head at that. “No, but I could ask somebody else to go get some for you.”
“Why won’t you?” she asked, puzzled.
