He woke up by past nine in the morning. His dreams had been filled with images of her dead body and a reporter standing over it. He had to find her.
He came out to meet Adeline.
"Good morning, Mr. Pole. I hope you slept well". She said with a bright smile.
"I barely had any sleep, Adeline. I need a cup of strong coffee". He said.
"There's coffee in the coffee maker, black as you like it. Um, Ross dropped some documents for you earlier. I kept them on your office table".
"Thank you".
She was very handy.
He went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup. It seemed that sometime in the night, he had changed into his night wear.
The coffee drove home. He felt fully awake.
He took the cup and went down to his office. There was a file on the table just as she said there would be.
He opened it. It was information on her fiancee. Good. He would finally know the kind of psycho he was dealing with.
He was a finance expert. He earned good income. He had been in and out of foster homes around the country. He had even been admitted into a psychiatric home when he was fifteen. The guy had so much baggage. Did Cassandra know about all these?
He picked up his phone and called Ross.
"Any news". He asked immediately Ross picked up.
"None, boss. We are still looking, though".
"Keep looking". He said and dumped the file on the table.
The guy they were looking for was the best graduating student in his class despite his two years in the psychiatric home. He had had a score 1576 in his SAT and a score of 9.7 in his ACT. He came to America for his tertiary education and did an Accounting major in Harvard. He graduated as the best student with a 4.70 cumulative grade point average.
His father was a neurosurgeon in London and his mother was a volunteer at an elderly home after resigning from government work. His parents were surprisingly still together.
He went to the living room and turned on the news. A call came. It was from Katherine.
"Pole". He answered automatically.
"Mr. Pole, you haven't shown up at the office. Architecture department has been waiting in the meeting room for almost an hour now. The meeting had been scheduled for eight thirty this morning".
"I'm on way". He said and went to the shower.
Just as he left, the news switched to a story of a woman who had just committed suicide seated on highway bench.
He had a quick shower and dressed up. He grabbed a waffle from the waffle maker. He downed everything with a nice cup of coffee and headed to work.
During the meeting, he was completely distracted.
His attention had to be called more than once.
His phone suddenly rang. It was Ross.
Everyone in the room looked at him. He excused himself and went toward the glass wall to answer the call.
"Mr. Pole. She's been found". Came Ross' gruff and reassuring voice.
"Where is she?" He asked.
"She has just been admitted into a teaching hospital".
"Why, was she attacked?" He asked.
"No. She had taken an overdose of pills. She was trying to kill herself".
Jack squinted his eyes closed.
"How long has she been unconcious?"
"It seems that she was found on a roadside bench early this morning. Reports say she must have been out for almost five hours."
"Could she be dead?"
"No. At least, not for now. A pulse had been detected. But I must add, the chances of her survival are very low".
He drew in a deep breath.
"Send me the address of the hospital, I'll be there soon". He said and left the office without a word to anyone.
He would inform Katherine to reconvene the meeting at a later date.
He was the one driving himself. He had dispatched all his possible drivers into the search party.
When he got to the hospital, he went straight to the receptionists desk.
"How can I help you?" A freckled young woman asked from the other side of the counter.
"I'm looking for Cassandra Wilson, she was admitted here this morning". He said, hoping she would not delay him.
She typed something on her system.
"Name and Identification, Sir". She said, without looking up at him.
He handed her his driver's license. She took it and accessed it. It seemed that she recognised him because her eyes glistened.
"Are you a relative?"
"No. I really need to see her, er, Miss Penelope". He said, reading her name off the tag on her breast pocket.
She blushed at his mention of her name.
"Of course, Mr. Pole". She said, handing him his license back.
"Room 17A in the ICU. Second floor". She said and smiled.
"Thank you". He murmured and rushed off.
He had a little trouble finding the room, but he eventually did.
Ross was waiting outside.
"How is she?" He asked immediately.
"The doctor just left. He said she has been stabilized for now".
"That's good, right?"
"No one knows for now".
Jack settled down in the chair next to Ross.
"Can I go in and see her?" He asked after a while.
"Yes, you can".
He stood up and went inside. There were two nurses in the room. They nodded at him and left. People probably thought he was the boyfriend or husband. He couldn't blame them though.
Her ECG was beeping slowly. It seemed that her heart rate was low.
He went closer. Her face was so pale. Her hands were cold to touch. She was wearing an oxygen mask.
"Why did you try to kill yourself again?" He whispered.
He dragged a chair closer and sat at her side. He would feel responsible if she were to die. He couldn't let that happen.
He closed her eyes.
"Wake up, please". He murmured.