Killer Unknown

Chapter 9: Our Friends Are Missing

While King was in Hawaii trying to distant himself from anything painful, Jules and Beverly were panicking due to them having a hard time locating him and Penelope. Since it was more than twenty four hours, the girls decided to file a missing report on both of them. Two officers arrived to the Lake House to hear the girl's complaint.

"Afternoon ma'am, I'm Officer Barrett and this is Officer Carmichael. We got a call about two missing people, can you tell us what happened?" Officer Barrett said.

"Yes, we haven't seen or heard from our friends in almost two days. We can't reach them by phone because they both left their phones here. All of their stuff is here, but they are not," Beverly explained.

"You are so cute, Officer Barrett!" Jules complimented.

"Jules, missing friends, remember?!" Beverly yelled.

"Um... okay, what are your friend's names?" Officer Barrett asked.

"Penelope Cruz and King Clark!" Beverly said eagerly.

"Oh, those two!" Officer Barrett stated.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Beverly raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, did I say that out loud?" Officer Barrett said mortified at his behavior.

"Yes, you did and I need you to explain please. Have they been arrested?" Beverly asked.

"Oh please arrest King; I am so tired of him yelling at me," Jules added.

"Jules Archangel, if you don't shut your pie hole I will be the next one arrested for shutting it for you," Beverly threatened Jules.

"Okay, okay!" Jules said stepping backwards in an embarrassed fashion.

"No one is arrested or getting arrested. I have had several run-ins with those two from the death of a man named Matthew to the most recent James. It just seems like those two are bad company, but I can't quite put my finger on it," Officer Barrett explained.

"You're the imbecile officer they have been speaking about. Okay, I see where this is going. Sorry to waste your time officers, but we will find them ourselves. I don't need you two trying to put crimes on them, when something is clearly wrong here. And another thing, you couldn't be any more wrong about our friends. They wouldn't so much as hurt a fly. Once when we were little, they saved a turtle from a neighbor's pot by stealing it when he wasn't looking. Then released it into the nearby lake. Do they sound like killers to you?" Beverly elaborated.

"No, wait! I'm going to help ma'am, it's my job. Look, no matter my feelings, I have a report to complete. Hold on a second, let me just run them in the system and see if they were picked up by any of our agencies. We will be right back," Officer Barrett said.

Both officers returned to their squad car to communicate with their dispatcher about the missing adults. Beverly and Jules stood by the door watching to see if they were really going to help them. They argued a bit about how serious to take Penelope and King being missing. It's not like they weren't talking about two people with endless resources. It took Beverly reminding Jules just how much Penelope wanted to prove her parents wrong with her restaurant and how much money King stood to gain if she was successful. They determined that there was definitely something wrong when the two of them didn't check in with them for more than a day or even look in on their affairs. Suddenly, the officers locked eyes with Beverly and then they hung their head. Beverly and Jules moved in closer and held on to each other as soon as they saw the officer's expression. The officers exited the car and made way back to face the girls.

"Well, they were not arrested that's for sure. But I am afraid that I have bad news. Penelope Cruz was involved in a car accident yesterday morning. She was air lifted to Southern California Hospital. She is in a comma and the doctors don't think that she is going to make it. It appears that she didn't have any identification on her, so it took a minute to connect the dots and find you guys to claim her. Your call today saved us some leg work. Would you like a ride to the hospital?" Officer Barrett said.

"Yes please!" Jules exclaimed.

"Wait, what about King?" Beverly asked.

"Who cares about King right now? Penelope is possibly dead; we will worry about King later," Jules yelled.

"You're such a joy, but really Jules?! I mean way to have so much faith!" Beverly said sarcastically.

"It's not faith, its reality! Now come on!" Jules shouted.

Jules pushed Beverly out of the doorway causing her to stand outside and then she shut the front door to the Lake House. She started speed walking to the officers unit and then sat in it. For a second, Beverly stood still in disbelief with her hands folded across her chest watching Jules. Officer Barrett moved his hand in an 'are you coming' motion without saying a word. Beverly looked at him and then dropped her hands. She walked to the unit and got in without speaking just like the rest of them. As the officer drove, Jules and Beverly looked out of the windows with their arms folded. The ride to the hospital took fifteen minutes, but it felt like an eternity. The officers pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital and then exited the unit to let the girls out. He told them that he will join them in a few minutes; he just needed to park safely. The officers wanted to do some more digging to try to find King. Both girls rushed inside the hospital, frantically asking the front desk to see Penelope. The front desk asked if they were family because only family members were given information about patients. The girls said that they were her sisters and then was escorted to Penelope's room.

When they entered Penelope's room, they saw her lying in the hospital bed with tubes coming from her mouth and other cords hooked to other parts of her body. She had a huge bandage around her head and lots of scrapes with bruises. They almost couldn't recognize her at first glimpse or standing near the room door. Beverly collapsed to her knees and cried out, "Dear God" as soon as she saw Penelope. Jules clutched her chest, but kept moving towards Penelope. She leaned on the hospital bed and placed her hand on Penelope's head. "What have you done Penelope? Why? You can't leave us, not yet!" Jules whispered to Penelope. Beverly continued to sob until the doctor tried to open the door hitting her in the process. Beverly got up as the doctor apologized for hitting her. The doctor was with Officer Barrett and Carmichael.

"No, don't be silly! I shouldn't have been on the floor, come in!" Beverly stated wiping her face.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Emily Rachel. How are you?" Doctor Rachel asked.

"How is Penelope?" Jules said.

"Well, she experienced severe brain swelling, broken ribs, broken leg, broken arm, collapsed lung and it appears that she has some brain damage," Doctor Rachel explained.

"Dear God, is she going to make it?" Beverly gasped.

"I'm afraid that it is completely up to her. I have done all that I could do, at this point I am just trying to keep her comfortable. The rest is up to her. I must warn you, those who show promising signs of waking up from a coma and doing well usually have some brain activity. She doesn't, which indicates that she is brain dead. Now that doesn't mean that she can't wake up or still develop brain activity, it just means that we have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I'm sorry to deliver such news. We have a priest here on standby if you need him. In two weeks, if we don't have any signs of life we will need the next of kin to make a decision on whether or not to keep her on life support," Doctor Rachel elaborated.

Both girls embraced each other, sobbing for Penelope. Jules wasn't her usual negative self and Beverly wasn't bubbly. They were alone and afraid for what was happening to the logical thinker of the group. It took a few hours, before they realized that they needed to contact Penelope and King's parents. The Officers and Doctor Rachel left to give them some time to gather themselves, but said that they would return at a later time. Neither of the girls knew what the officers were returning for, but they hoped it wasn't to relay bad news about King. They were holding on with a thread and couldn't take any more bad news.