The Warrens were taken to the nearest hospital and treated for hypothermia, with Lorraine's condition being slightly more severe than Ed's. Ed conveyed to the staff to call their home number so that Mary Ellen could contact Georgiana. Since the two of them would be staying overnight at the hospital, it would be better that Lorraine's mother watched over their daughter (Ed also made sure to tell the staff to inform their Judy that "Mom and Dad would be home very, very soon").
A few hours later after he'd been given the go-ahead to make phone calls himself, Ed contacted Father Gordon and updated him about what happened. The following morning when he and Lorraine were able to receive visitors, the priest stopped by.
"I spoke with both the towing company and authorities," Father Gordon said, "And asked if they found a painting in the back seat. I was told nothing of the sort had been discovered,"
Ed sighed in frustration. From what he'd been told, all their other belongings were found in the wreckage, right down to his Bible. How in the world did the painting disappear?
"So there's no trace of it at the scene?" Lorraine asked from her hospital bed.
"Correct. I even went there myself and didn't see it on land," Father Gordon's shoulders sagged a little. "I hate to say it, but at this point retrieving the item may be a lost cause. We simply cannot scour a lake over and over, and that's if it wasn't destroyed. By this point, the painting may no longer even be there. I said a blessing by the lake, but I'm afraid there's not much more we can do,"
Ed involuntarily clenched his jaw. So they totaled their car, almost died in the process, and would be paying large sums of medical bills for essentially nothing?
Lorraine must have seen the frustration on his face, as she reached out and placed her hand on top of Ed's. "Well, if the item was destroyed and the evil broke out, then we may receive another call and be able to stop it next time," she offered. "Or if the item is far enough away from mankind, the evil won't be able to harm anyone else,"
The tenseness in Ed began to ease as he grasped his wife's hand in his. Leave it to Lorraine to see the bright side of things.