Page 139 of Until the Sea Runs Dry

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Clare drove as fast as she could.

Her heart was in her throat and even though Ken had sounded OK, she knew he was downplaying his injuries so she wouldn’t worry. But, if there wasn’t any concern, he wouldn’t have called her in the first place.

She blew past traffic, her small car coming uncomfortably close to its neighbors at times. She prayed that he would make it. She wouldn’t accept any other outcome, not when she’d just met the man of her dreams.

After the longest thirty minutes of her life, she hurried to the front desk of the hospital.

“I’m here to see my boyfriend. He was brought here half an hour ago. A car accident.”

Her sentences ran into each other and she couldn’t quite get her breath.

The receptionist, a mature woman with a no-nonsense yet calming air, gave her a reassuring smile. “Let me check the system. What’s his name?”

“Ken Blackwood,” Clare replied, relieved that he had given his full name early in their relationship. She remembered it clearly, having searched Facebook for his profile that night only to have come up empty. That hadn’t been all that surprising: he had already revealed how little he thought of social networking sites.

The receptionist pushed her glasses up her nose and peered into the computer screen with a frown. “I don’t have a listing for that name. Could it be under something else?”

“No. That’s his name, I’m sure of it.”

The receptionist spread her hands in apology. “I’m very sorry, but it’s not listed here.”

Clare blinked, trying to think. Someone had obviously entered his name incorrectly into the system. Of all the luck…

“Can you just search for Ken then, in case someone spelled his name wrong.”

She wasn’t sure how that could be since it was a pretty standard name. “Maybe there’s an ‘e’ at the end of ‘Blackwood’?”

The woman tried several variations, then just under the name “Ken,” but the screen came back empty.

Clare tried to fight the rising irritation. She did not need this right now.

“Can you just check for car accidents in the last half an hour then?”

The receptionist hesitated only a second before she replied.

“Well, that’s the problem. I’ve already tried that. We haven’t had any car accidents in the last four hours. Are you sure he said he was at this hospital?”

Clare’s heart started thumping in her chest. “Yes, I am. Let me try calling him.”

She found his number on her recent callers list and dialed, but his phone was turned off.

She ran a hand through her hair and tried to think it through.

He was in a hospital, so his phone might need to be turned off. As for the hospital name, he’d just been in an accident. Maybe he’d hit his head, or gotten confused. Or the ambulance crew could have changed hospitals at the last minute and forgotten to tell him.

But wouldn’t he have known where he was when they took him there?

“Ma’am? Is there anything else I can help you with? I can give you a list of the other hospitals that have emergency care in the area?”

The receptionist was being polite, but there was already a few people behind Clare waiting to be seen.

She moved away. “No… Thank you. He must be somewhere else.”

There was a gnawing in her stomach. An anxiety she had no idea how to handle. Not knowing what else to do, she called Jane’s number.

The call rang and rang, but there was no answer.

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