Chapter Eighteen
When we arrive at the hospital it is nearly dawn, and I’m dragging. I had been having trouble keeping my eyes open while I drove, but thankfully we are here now.
We head inside to where García is waiting for us at the entrance. He smiles when he sees us and steps back, so we can pass through the door.
“You two get into any more scuffles?” García asks as soon as we are inside.
“No, we’re good,” Lane says.
“Did Felix just roll around in the dirt a bit before coming here?” he asks before taking a left as he follows signs for the elevator.
I look down at Janice’s nice clothes and realize that they did look quite dirty. “Maybe I like it dirty?” I suggest with a wink, and García laughs.
“That’s good,” García says as he leads us down the winding halls to the elevator.
We get inside and ride up to the third floor.
“It sounds like they found James’s car about a mile from where he was found.
It was parked at a grocery store and had been noted by the manager to have been sitting there for a few days. There wasn’t anything unusual in it.”
When the door opens, he heads down the hallway.
“Hmm…did they find anything interesting where James was found?” Lane asks.
Copper wags his tail every time we pass someone in hopes they will become his new friend. He doesn’t seem to be grieving too much about the disappearance of his owner. I think that’s just because he’s realized how much better of an owner I am.
“Not yet. The waiting room is right here. Only two are allowed back with him at a time,” García says.
“Okay, I’ll wait here if you want to take Lane back,” I say.
“Alright. Lane, you want to hold hands? I don’t mind,” García says with a grin.
“I’ll take the dog,” Lane says as he takes Copper’s leash from me and heads after García.
“That’s cold, Lane. What’s wrong with my hand?” García says, sounding very hurt.
“I don’t know, nor want to know, where it’s been,” Lane says, and García laughs.
I watch them pass through a door before I head to the waiting room.
There are two women huddled together in seats at the far end, so I take a seat near the door.
I still have Lane’s phone, so I pull it out as well as the paper I’d written all the cities on.
The majority of the trips had been to a city called Bloomington, so I type the city into the phone.
There really isn’t much of interest, and I’m not even sure what I should be looking for.
All I do know is that I’m starting to get a headache and the bright lights in this room are not helping. I skim over the cities and states that range from Illinois to Indiana to Nevada to New York. Discouraged, I tuck the paper away and close my eyes, hoping that would help get rid of the headache.
I hear footsteps and open my eyes. When I look over at the door, I am surprised to see Janice there. The moment she sees me, she smiles. “Hey…I was just walking down to get a drink. Do you want to walk with me?”
“Sure,” I say as I get up and head over to the door. “I’m not sure where to go.”
“Me either. I probably should have asked a nurse…but…I just needed to step out for a moment,” she says as she rubs at her face. Her eyes are red and she’s clenching a tissue in her left hand. “I know I should be happy, no…I should be ecstatic …but it’s hard to be when he’s not waking up.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I say. “Is anyone here with you?”
“My parents and sister are headed here,” she says.
“That’s good,” I say.
She nods and walks in silence for a few moments before looking over at me. “You look a little rough…you doing alright?”
I look down at my…well her dirty clothes and try to dust them off until I notice the grease smudges on my hand. “I’m good, I have a headache, but I’m good,” I say.
“Oh! I have some pills in my SUV. Let’s find a vending machine, you can get a drink, and then you can go grab them. They’re in the middle console,” she says.
“Awesome, thank you so much,” I say.
“Of course,” she says as she rounds the corner. “There!” She shouts so loudly that a nurse walking by us jumps.
She rushes over to the vending machine and stares at it in disgust. “Why is it only diet? I just want a fucking Pepsi. Can’t I have anything I want?” she asks as she bangs her fist against the front of the machine before literally melting to the ground.
A nurse that had been walking by stops to stare at us as I stare at Janice who is now sobbing on the ground.
I quickly kneel next to her, hoping it would encourage the nurse to head off.
I want to tell her that the floor of a hospital has to be disgusting, but I’m not sure that is her main concern at the moment.
“Hey, it’s okay. They found him, and he’s alive,” I say as I reach out and take her hand.
She nods as she wipes at her eyes with her wrinkled and well-used tissue. “Yeah…Yeah. You’re right. It’s just like four days of this shit building up and building up.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I say as I squeeze her hand. I stand up and put a five-dollar bill in the machine before punching C2 for a Diet Pepsi and A1 for a water. When the Pepsi comes out, I tear the label off it and hand it to her. “Look, they had a regular Pepsi in there.”
She wipes at her face as she laughs weakly. “Thanks. I’m glad you found it.”
“I am too!” I say as I give her my hand. She takes it, and I pull her up to her feet. “Come on, let’s head back. Did you want anything else?”
“No,” she says as she takes a sip of the Pepsi. “It tastes like shit.”
“It’s probably because your snot and tears are mixing with it,” I say.
“Ew, that’s so gross,” she says as she wipes at her face again.
“I agree,” I say.
I walk her back up to the wing James is being held on before she remembers that I was going to head out to get something for my headache.
She holds her keys out to me. “It’s in the first row, red SUV. Just press the button if you can’t find it, but make sure you lock the door when you’re done because my laptop is in there.”
“Okay, I will. Thanks,” I say.
“Of course. Thank you,” she says before disappearing through the door.
I check the waiting room to make sure Lane isn’t in there before heading back down the elevator.
I walk through the front doors, hoping I’ll be able to find James’s wing again when I come back in.
It’s a little cool out as fall begins to make its move.
The fresh air feels nice as I try to stifle a yawn.
I feel like I could curl up and just sleep for a bit now that all the excitement is over with.
As I walk into the parking lot, I can’t help but wonder what Lane plans to do now. I mean, he could hide. How far or long would Red look for him?
I find the car easily since the parking lot is almost bare this early in the morning.
After unlocking the door and climbing into the passenger’s seat, I flip open the middle console.
Inside, I find a tin full of pills that I flick through until I find a green and white one that I grab.
I stick it in my mouth and wash it down with the water before leaning back in the seat.
It’s a ridiculously comfortable seat at the moment, or maybe I’d find anything comfortable at this point.
But I know that I should head back in so that when Lane comes out, I’m waiting for him. I reach for the door when I see a messenger bag on the ground. I look around to make sure Janice isn’t heading out to the car, where she’d learn that my main personality trait is being nosy.
I flip open the messenger bag and see a laptop peeking out.
I pull it out and open it up. The laptop is already on and it doesn’t have a password, so I just click the Welcome screen that lets me right in.
There are a few Excel documents open that probably pertain to her job, as well as a web browser.
I click it and the browser fills up the screen.
There are three tabs open. The first is Facebook, the second is a recipe for cookies, and the third is an email.
I move the mouse down to the Wi-Fi and click it. There definitely isn’t a strong connection out here in the parking lot, but I am a stone’s throw from the door, so it will probably be enough.
I ask it to connect and glance at the door again, but no one is interested in what I am doing.
I move the cursor over to the history tab and start perusing through the history section.
She’d researched a ton on missing persons cases in the past few days and barely anything else.
But I keep going deeper until I’m at about five days ago.
That’s when I find a few interesting sites.
One is called The Honey Ranch. I click it and wait an excruciating amount of time for the page to load in.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that it is some type of brothel, as are the next four sites that James had to have visited just before his disappearance.
I stare at the four tabs that are up and click between them before taking my paper out of my pocket. I look at the cluster of tallies next to Nevada.
“Hmm…”
I glance at the paper for a moment before leaning over and looking around the SUV until I find a pen on the ground.
I pick it up and write down the names of the four brothels that James had looked at as well as their locations.
Obviously, he’d stumbled into something that someone hadn’t wanted to be noticed and no doubt this is why he is in his current predicament.
I sigh as I close all the tabs and put the laptop away.