Once Gabriel received a call from Jonathan, he sped across the entire city in panic. Jonathan's shaky voice didn't help at all, but the knowledge that Claire was home eased his anxiety as he was searching for Claire for hours.
Red and blue flashing lights welcomed him up at the gate. An ambulance was parked by the door. This made him feel sick to his stomach. He ran through the house, hearing the shouting from upstairs. Breathe, Gabriel, breathe - he kept reminding himself.
Up the stairs, he saw maids rushing around and shouting between themselves. He pushed through the door into Claire's room where Martha was giving out orders and paramedics were taking some vitals
"No, she has to go in." One of the men in green uniform said as he looked at the monitor. He started putting his equipment away and within seconds he helped place Claire on the stretcher. Martha tried to follow but he was stern. "Only relatives can come, I'm afraid."
"I'll go," Gabriel spoke up, still trying to work out what happened. "I'm Claire's relative." Everyone present would have widened their eyes in shock if it weren't for the fact that due to the events of this morning they had their eyes already as wide open as they could.
Gabriel got into the back of the ambulance after Claire was placed onto the bed and strapped in, and he sat by her. She was wrapped up in blankets ever so tightly that he couldn't even reach for her hand.
"I'll fill up this paperwork on the way. May I ask you some questions? It seemed that no one knew much about her in the house."
"No, she just moved in a few days ago."
"Full name?"
"Claire Elise Moore, even though she still goes by Thompson."
"Moore as in Diamond Corporate Moore?"
"Yeah, that's my company."
"Sorry, I didn't realise, Mr Moore." The man bowed his head.
"It's not important now. Anything else that you need to know?"
"Her permanent address?"
"1 Oak Avenue."
"Age?"
"25."
"Occupation."
"Her position is the Head of Contracts and Services Department but she's a design contract and conceptualisation specialist."
"Ehh…"
"Architect," Gabriel said shortly.
"Oh, I see."
"Marital status?"
"Married."
"And what's your relationship to Mrs Moore?"
"I'm her husband," Gabriel said for the first time out loud. The paramedic looked at him carefully as if he expected Gabriel to follow up with 'I'm joking!' but Gabriel was still serious, and still very anxious. He was very pale and his hands were shaking. But his state was nothing compared to Claire's. He could barely see her face outside of the blankets but she was ghostly white and her lips were so pale that they turned blue. The oxygen mask was pressed against her face. "I wasn't able to get much before coming home. What happened?"
"Well, your staff didn't seem too helpful either. She collapsed as she came home. Considering the weather and the time of the call, we suspect hypothermia. Her body temperature was 31 degrees Celsius when we came and they've tried to warm her up already so we can't tell how low it has gotten. Her heart rate is quite low and her breathing is too slow. We need to monitor it. Quite likely she will be kept on oxygen and she will be given some warm intravenous fluids to help her warm up steadily. Other treatments include airway and blood rewarming."
Gabriel hid his face in his hands. He was furious with her in the morning that he left her alone. He thought that she was safe in the company. But when Pattison went to drop off the set of keys in the afternoon she wasn't there. Her breakfast was cold and untouched. Her wallet was there. But Claire was missing. Gabriel panicked. With all of the death threats she was receiving, he thought the worst. He searched for her for most of the afternoon, evening and night. He went through Claire's old flat, and the entire company building, he send Pattison to Zoe and Gina under some made-up pretext. He searched through every restaurant and club that Claire ever went to. Then, he stopped at Holly's Kitchen and Poger Estate. He was on the way out of the city, towards St Anne's hospital when he received the call from Jonathan that Claire was home.
He hated himself for not protecting her better. He tried to call her but knowing how stubborn she was he knew that she wasn't going to answer so he got Pattison to call her every 15 to 30 minutes. Pattison religiously called every 10-15 minutes. But for hours his call didn't even connect. He did say that he made 70 calls in the past few hours without success.
Martha, of course, informed Pattison of the occurrence too. He was probably already on his way to the hospital.
They soon arrived at General Infirmary which was the closest. Claire was moved to ICU and all the new wires were attached to her.
The doctor gave Gabriel a form to fill in about her family history to assess any further risks to Claire's health.
He looked at the questions and realised that he didn't know a single answer. He knew her age from her employee data. But he knew nothing of her family. He knew her friends, Zoe and Gina, mostly by coincidence. He knew of her education and entire work experience, but that was, once again, in her employee file.
Pattison showed up about half an hour later.
"Sir, I've brought Claire's handbag. I did take the liberty of stopping by her office and taking her wallet. I've put it in her handbag."
"Thanks, Pattison." Gabriel felt overwhelmed.
"Is everything okay?"
"I don't know her family history." Gabriel rubbed his temples. "I f*cked up."
"Sir, no one expects you to know her family history." Pattison tried to be reassuring. "You're her boss not her…" Pattison stopped mid-sentence, something clicking in his head. "…partner." Gabriel didn't scold him or even look up. "Sir, I can find out for you. Besides, when you asked me to research her I already stumbled on some information. There's nothing wrong in learning this stuff later." Pattison sat beside him. "Her parents are called Leanne and Joseph."
"Thanks, Pattison." Gabriel started scribbling. "Their occupation?"
"Unemployed."
"Address?"
"Julian Estate?" Pattison smiled as Gabriel was able to write the address out himself.
"Yep, they're in Flat 4."
"Will you tell her about it?"
"Maybe one day." Gabriel shrugged. "Any illnesses?"
"I know that her mum has cancer," Pattison said. Gabriel looked up at Pattison, his mouth quivered. "Unfortunately, I am unaware of anything else. I'm sorry, sir."
"You still knew more than me."
"Any relatives to Mrs Moore?" The doctor looked out into the hallway.
"Yes." Gabriel stood up.
"I need you to sign the consent form. The warm intravenous fluids do not work as well. We need to carry out blood rewarming."
"How does it work?" Gabriel asked as he took the consent form.
"Her blood will be drawn out, warmed, and reintroduced to her bloodstream."
Gabriel signed the consent form and the doctor hurried away.
He looked at Pattison who had a knowing look on his face. "Don't you dare to say anything. No one can know outside of here." Gabriel waved his finger at him.
"Of course, sir." Pattison nodded.
"Make sure no one else here says anything either. Take care of it."
"Of course, sir." Pattison snickered.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing sir."
"Speak."
"This is exactly the reason why everyone thinks that you have murderous intentions. It's just the way you say things…"
"Who thinks this?"
"Claire." Pattison shrugged.
"She did say that she thought I'm behind the mugging a few months back. I thought that she was trying to provoke me."
"She probably did want to provoke you, too, but she might have genuinely thought that."
"Pattison, may I ask what happened between you and Claire?"
"What?" Pattison was confused.
"Why were you with her just a few days before she tried to resign?"
"Oh," Pattison remembered the day quite well. "I stumbled on her and Miss Green in the city centre. Claire was drunk and Miss Green was struggling so I offered them help. Miss Green received a call and she needed to leave quite urgently so I took Claire home. She was not in the best state, to be honest."
"And that's it?"
"She did share some things that troubled her with me and fell asleep. I've realised that she had not much at home so I did get her some groceries and pain relief for the morning."
"I see."
"Hang on, is that why I was fired?"
"Well…"
"You're such a jealous b*stard." Pattison laughed as he leaned against the wall. He often was more causal with Gabriel but out of the public eye.
"I've lost it, haven't I?"
"Probably, but that's a positive one."
"Not for Claire, as it turns out." Gabriel started pacing. "Did you get anything on the threats she was receiving?"
"Not yet."
"I mean, it doesn't make sense. She doesn't have enemies. Maybe Madeline Taylor?"
"I've checked her out. I don't think she did it. She is being sent abroad by her parents for the mess she made."
"I don't think she has the brains for it. Someone wants Claire to feel anxious. They haven't acted on it for a long while. They wanted the mental turmoil."
"Do you know what happened last night?"
"Not yet. I don't get how the entire CCTV could've been down and no one thought of letting me know."
"Do you think it was a coincidence?"
"I don't believe in coincidences."
"I know. What would you like me to do about Claire's absence at work today?"
"That's tricky. I don't want to alarm anyone yet…"
"It'll be hard to make her go in."
"Can you get Miss Green and Miss Smith onboard?"
"I could."
"Just give them a call and say that you weren't able to get a hold of her as she fell asleep and she woke up I'll, or something."
"I'll do that. What about yourself?"
"Rearrange my meetings where possible. I'll be working remotely until Claire is out of the hospital."
"Of course." Pattison agreed.
"I need you to get more security for the villa so that no one can get through."
"How many men are we talking about?"
"At least 20 a shift."
"Understood."
"That'll be everything, Pattison. Thank you."
"I'll keep you updated on the company matters. Do you want me to bring you anything?"
"I'll need my briefcase."
"Of course. I should be back within an hour."
"Thanks."
Once Pattison left, Gabriel entered the room where Claire was still attended to. He couldn't stand how vulnerable she was. He rather her throw another sweater in his face than be like this.
The machines beeped angrily with alarms ringing continuously.
"We're at 33 degrees." The nurse said to the doctor. "Heart rate is picking up. We're at 45bpm."
"Let's keep it going then. What's the oxygen level?"
"86%"
"Do we know how long her oxygen levels were below 85%?"
"No. The attendees have introduced the oxygen immediately."
"What does it all mean?" Gabriel asked with worry.
"Well…" the doctor hesitated. "Oxygen levels below 85% affect the functionality of your brain. The lower the body temperature, the slower and shallow the breathing and lower heartbeat, and the oxygen doesn't circulate as well. We cannot predict the outcome just yet but we are quite optimistic about the progress. We are trying to gradually return Mrs Moore's body to normal temperature and we hope that she will be able to fully recover. Right now, we will be aiming to bring her body temperature up by 1 degree per hour. Slower warming reduces the risk of arrhythmia and cardiac arrest. The nurse will clean her wounds and dress her cuts soon. We are trying to ensure that she's stable enough first."
"What cuts?" Gabriel asked.
"Mrs Moore's feet have some significant skin lacerations." The doctor uncovered her feet to show to Gabriel, quickly covering her back with a blanket.
Gabriel felt nauseous. Whatever happened, whoever did it, he was going to ensure that they were punished.
Pattison came by about an hour later with his briefcase as well as a well-packed luggage bag.
"Martha packed some clothes for Claire. Everyone's waiting for the news."
"Did Miss Green and Smith collaborate?"
"Yes, but they were very suspicious. They still can't get a hold of Claire's phone so they are very worried."
Gabriel took her handbag and found the phone, realising that it run out of battery. He used his charger to turn her phone on. 107 notifications. 70 calls from Pattison, 1 call from him, 3 calls and 10 texts from Zoe, 7 calls and 13 texts from Gina, 2 messages from her dad, and an unread message from the unknown number. Gabriel tried his hardest to respect her privacy but a part of the message from an unknown number caught his eye. When he opened it, he realised that Claire never responded to it and there were tenths of messages going back for weeks, each with a threat to Claire and her family.
Pattison watched Gabriel noticing his face changing.
"I thought there were only letters," Gabriel said passing Claire's phone to Pattison.
"This doesn't look good. I'll forward the message to my number and I'll see if I can track the original sender."
"Yeah, good thinking. We're you okay to get all of the meetings out of the way?"
"Yeah, I did. It might be harder tomorrow as there's a board meeting but I'll manage."
"Thanks."
Gabriel sat down beside Claire, too afraid to touch her as if he could break her. He turned his laptop on and started working. Throughout the day he asked Pattison to sort out remote access to Claire's computer. Once he finished his work, he started Claire's load. He didn't touch any design work but he was confident in getting her managerial tasks out of the way. Any analysis of data and employees' performance records. He smiled when he realised that Claire's department was leaps and bounds ahead of any other in the company. The employees barely ever took time off sick and reported higher satisfaction levels. They were also more efficient than others. He sorted out some payroll issues, frowning at Claire's request for pay rises for every employee, but he reminded himself of what he agreed to. He didn't interfere with it. Claire was given full autonomy, and it wasn't his place anymore. He still was furious over her going back to the Chi Group and Jones' but he didn't blame her. He didn't feel like he was ready to tell her what caused the issue yet. He was worried that it'll upset her and in her recent state, she didn't need any more stress.
He worked until late at night barely touching the surface of Claire's responsibilities, hating to deal with the finance team from Claire's account, feeling the obstacles every step of the way and wondering why she hasn't complained to him about at least half of the people she had to deal with.
He was woken up by Pattison in the morning after falling asleep in the chair.
"I've brought you some clothes for change, coffee and food," Pattison said with a warm smile. "You look like sh*t."
"Claire is rubbing off on you," Gabriel mumbled. "Did you say coffee?" Pattison gave him a cup. "Fire George from finance."
"Why?"
"He isn't following the protocol."
"How do you know?"
"I've used Claire's email address to deal with him and he has been an absolute as*hole. I don't like that I had to find out in this way."
"I'll sort it out."
"Promote Richard though. He has been much more helpful and used our protocol as intended." Gabriel stood up and stretched. A pair of hazel eyes caught his attention. "Claire!" He rushed towards her.
"I'll get the doctor." Pattison disappeared.
"Are you okay?" Gabriel asked as he gently stroked her face. "Are you in pain?"
Claire looked at him and followed him with her sight but she hasn't responded.
"Let me see." The doctor came over, getting Gabriel out of his way. "Her pupils are still dilated." He flashed the light in her eyes, at which she blinked rapidly. "Her temperature is back up, but we still have a fairly low heartbeat and oxygen levels. We will see how she does over the next 24 hours and we can see if we can discharge her."
"Hey, Claire…" Gabriel used his softest voice after he was left alone with her again. "Do you need anything?" Claire shook her head. "I'm right here if you need me."
If Claire could say anything she would have told him to go away - again. But she was too tired and too confused to be able to even move her mouth. She fell asleep soon after.
Around noon she was awoken by the doctor when it was decided that she didn't need an oxygen mask. They removed catheters and all the needles. They only really kept the track of her heart rate and oxygen levels now.
Gabriel disappeared only to come back with two bowls of soup.
"You should try to eat a bit, Claire." He said as he placed the soup in front of Claire. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took the spoon to feed her. Claire took the spook off him and tried to eat herself. Her body didn't seem to like that. Maybe because she hasn't eaten well in a long while but even the soup felt as if it were bricks going down her throat, landing heavily in her stomach. Her hands trembled and she struggled to sit up, but she couldn't have Gabriel taking care of her. She was too proud to allow it. Gabriel smiled as she ate.
"What are you grinning at?" Claire asked in a raspy voice, her throat was still very sore.
"I don't know," Gabriel said with a shrug. He wasn't going to admit that her sharp words were like music to his ears.
Claire didn't eat much and she didn't stay awake for long. Gabriel stayed in the room all that time, waiting for the next day's consultation to find out if Claire needed to stay in the hospital much longer.