Furious, Dane kicked a nearby trash can.
Silas winced in sympathy. That definitely hurt!
Dane shot him an icy glare.
"If you weren't so incompetent, we would have found her by now."
Great, now he was taking the blame!
Silas didn't want to argue. His team really had dropped the ball on this one.
If they didn't find Claire soon, Dane wouldn't be the only one going crazy. The Churchill family would tear the city apart.
Padgett had already called to check in multiple times.
While Padgett hadn't come in person, two of Claire's three cousins were already waiting outside the hospital for news.
Norris had been the first to learn of his cousin's kidnapping while at the university.
He had tried to keep it from the family, but news soon broke that Padgett had collapsed and been admitted to the hospital.
Obviously, the old man had found out about the incident through other channels. Owen had rushed over to meet up with Norris as well.
Phil was the only one missing, as he had gone to visit Padgett in the hospital and was tied up with important work.
Claire's aunt by marriage, Ophelia, was at the hospital taking care of Padgett.
Her other aunt, Karla, couldn't get away from work, but she was pulling every string she had to gather intelligence.
As for her uncles, one was stuck out of the country on a business trip, and the other was leveraging his connections to help.
Everyone was racing against time to rescue Claire.
The cafeteria staff were currently being questioned one by one.
One of the older women finally spoke up. "I saw a cleaner drag the trash can away."
"I thought it was weird at the time. Why would they move the trash can now? Lunch hadn't even started."
"Usually, the bins are emptied after two in the afternoon."
The hospital's trash was collected twice a day, at two in the afternoon and ten at night.
Both times were after meals.
The woman had only taken a second look because it seemed so out of the ordinary.
"Did you recognize the person who took it?" Silas pressed.
The woman shook her head. "Funny
you should ask. The usual cleaner is
derman, but this one looked gamask."
younger and was
"I figured it was a relative covering his shift. The old guy fell down t
theet
up
stairs a few days ago and ended in the hospital."
Silas immediately contacted the logistics department to check on the older cleaner.
They confirmed that a temporary worker had indeed been hired to fill in. Fortunately, the department was strict enough to have registered the temp's ID.
As soon as Silas and his team got the information, they ran a background check.
"He's a professional temp who takes odd jobs all over the city."
There was no indication whatsoever that he was a spy.
Unless, of course, someone had stolen his identity.
"Whoever it is, he definitely hasn't left the hospital," Dane analyzed with Silas.
But that wasn't necessarily true. What if the hospital had a secret exit?
As it turned out, The Serenity Grand Hospital did have a secret passage.
It was located in the underground parking garage.
When Claire had been dumped in the trash can, she was still unconscious.
She only woke up when the bin was being dragged away.
The motion tossed her around inside the suffocatingly tight space.
Waking up made her feel wor
would have rather stayed passed out
FindNovel.net
The sour stench of garbage made her nauseous.
But she knew now wasn't the time to react.
she
She had to hold her breath and pretend to still be out cold. She had no idea when the next opportunity to escape would come.
She endured it for a long time, counting the seconds in her head.
Hearing the changing sounds outside, she realized the man had reached his destination.
Sure enough, a moment later, the lid of the trash can was thrown open.
Claire kept her eyes shut, continuing her charade.