Chapter 2 - The Funeral Prepared Before My Death
Gabriel did not take Claire to the public hospital.
It was the first decision he made that violated procedure.
It would not be the last.
Noah argued with him for nearly three minutes.
"She needs trauma imaging."
"She'll get it."
"Where?"
"Saint Arden."
Noah stared at him.
"That's private."
"Exactly."
Claire lay strapped safely to the rescue stretcher, listening.
"What is Saint Arden?"
"A medical clinic."
"Who owns it?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"My family."
That answer made Claire study him more carefully.
She had assumed he was simply a mountain rescue specialist.
Nothing about him seemed simple now.
The helicopter landed on the roof of a small medical complex forty miles from the mountain.
No news crews waited.
No police.
No hospital administrator demanding identification.
A doctor and two nurses rushed Claire inside.
Gabriel stayed beside her until the doctor stopped him.
"Family only."
Claire grabbed Gabriel's hand.
"He stays."
Gabriel looked surprised.
So did everyone else.
The doctor nodded.
An ultrasound was performed first.
Claire watched the monitor in silence.
Then came the sound.
Her baby's heartbeat.
Strong.
Steady.
Alive.
Claire covered her mouth.
Only then did she cry.
Not loudly.
One tear.
Then another.
Gabriel looked away to give her privacy.
"The baby is stable," Dr. Evelyn Shaw said. "You're badly bruised, mildly hypothermic, dehydrated, and you have two cracked ribs. But I don't see signs of placental abruption."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Thank God."
"You were incredibly lucky."
Claire looked at Gabriel.
"No."
She whispered it.
"I was found."
Gabriel said nothing.
Dr. Shaw continued the examination.
There was no spinal fracture.
No major internal bleeding.
No immediate danger of premature labor.
For the first time since the overlook, Claire believed she might live long enough to meet her daughter.
But safety lasted eleven minutes.
Noah entered the room holding a tablet.
"The funeral story is spreading."
Claire slowly sat higher.
"Show me."
Gabriel shook his head.
"You need rest."
"I need information."
Gabriel almost objected.
Then he remembered who she had been before becoming a victim.
Claire Carter had not inherited fifty million dollars because she was helpless.
"Show her."
Noah turned the tablet.
Michael stood outside a church.
Black suit.
Perfectly styled hair.
Eyes red enough to convince strangers he had spent the day crying.
Beside him stood Claire's mother, Diane Mercer.
Claire inhaled sharply.
Her mother looked shattered.
That hurt worse than the fall.
Then Michael spoke to reporters.
"My wife was my entire world."
Claire's fingers tightened around the blanket.
Gabriel watched her, not the screen.
Michael continued.
"Claire loved these mountains. We believe she went there to clear her head after a difficult week. Search teams have told us survival is impossible after a fall from that ridge."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"No legitimate search commander would say that after six hours."
Noah nodded.
Michael continued.
"We want to give our family closure."
Claire whispered, "Liar."
The camera widened.
Vanessa Reed stood twenty feet behind him.
Not grieving.
Watching.
Gabriel paused the video.
"Your grandfather's lawyer."
"Yes."
"Why is she at your family press conference?"
"Because Vanessa has been involved with our family finances for years."
"Did your grandfather trust her?"
Claire hesitated.
"I thought he did."
"Did you?"
"I did too."
That answer seemed to hurt her.
Gabriel sat across from her.
"Tell me about the trust."
Claire took a breath.
"My grandfather, Thomas Mercer, built a medical logistics company. When he died, most of his estate went into a trust."
"Why?"
"He didn't trust Michael."
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
"Smart man."
Claire almost smiled.
"Grandpa tolerated him. Barely."
"How does the trust work?"
"I became sole beneficiary when I turned thirty-two."
"When was that?"
"Five weeks ago."
"And if you die?"
Claire looked down.
"My spouse becomes temporary executor until my child is born."
Gabriel went still.
"Your unborn child inherits?"
"Eventually. But Michael would control the assets as guardian."
There it was.
Not just fifty million.
Control.
"And Vanessa wrote those terms?"
"She handled the final amendments."
Gabriel exchanged a look with Noah.
Claire saw it.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Make a decision about me while pretending I'm not in the room."
Gabriel leaned back.
Fair.
"Fine. Vanessa is either sleeping with your husband and helping him steal your inheritance, or she's being used."
Claire stared at him.
"And you're guessing."
"Yes."
"Good. Say that."
Gabriel nodded.
Claire took the memory card from the bedside table.
"Then let's stop guessing."
Noah brought a secure laptop.
The card had been damaged, but not destroyed.
They copied the surviving files.
Most were corrupted.
One audio recording remained.
Claire explained.
"Two weeks ago, I followed Michael."
"Why?"
"I found hotel charges."
"Vanessa?"
"I saw them together outside a restaurant."
She swallowed.
"I thought it was an affair."
"What did you record?"
"I left my phone under the table near them."
Noah clicked the audio file.
Static.
Then Michael's voice.
"...transfer happens automatically."
Vanessa answered.
"You said she'd sign."
"I don't need her signature."
"You absolutely do."
"You wrote the trust."
"I wrote what Thomas requested."
Claire looked at Gabriel.
Vanessa sounded angry.
Not romantic.
Michael continued.
"If Claire dies, I control the assets."
Vanessa's voice sharpened.
"Until the child is born."
"Then I control the child."
The room became silent.
Claire's hand moved instinctively toward her stomach.
Vanessa said, "Michael, what are you talking about?"
Static swallowed several seconds.
Then Michael again.
"I'm talking about correcting a mistake."
The recording ended.
Claire stared at the screen.
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"That sounds like Vanessa didn't know."
"Or she wanted me to think she didn't."
Before Gabriel could answer, Dr. Shaw entered.
"Claire, someone just called the clinic."
Gabriel stood immediately.
"Who?"
"They asked whether we had received an unidentified pregnant woman from the mountains."
Claire froze.
Gabriel looked toward Noah.
"Who answered?"
"Reception said no."
"Good."
Dr. Shaw hesitated.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"The caller knew Claire's blood type."
Nobody spoke.
Gabriel locked the room.
Then he called a number Claire couldn't hear.
Within fifteen minutes two security guards arrived.
Neither wore a hospital uniform.
Claire noticed the way they addressed Gabriel.
"Mr. Rourke."
Not Gabe.
Not rescuer.
Mr. Rourke.
"Who are you?" Claire asked when they were alone.
Gabriel leaned against the wall.
"My family owns Saint Arden."
"You said that."
"And several other businesses."
"What kind?"
"Security."
Claire looked at his tattoos.
"That explains some things."
"It doesn't explain all of them."
She waited.
Gabriel didn't continue.
"Are you dangerous?"
He met her eyes.
"To you? No."
"That wasn't my question."
Gabriel gave the smallest smile.
"No."
Then he corrected himself.
"Not anymore."
Claire studied him.
For the first time, she understood why he'd looked so comfortable ignoring procedure.
Gabriel Rourke had lived somewhere outside ordinary rules long before he ever joined mountain rescue.
Noah entered again.
"The funeral has been moved."
Claire sat straighter.
"Moved where?"
"Mercer Memorial Chapel."
"My grandfather's chapel."
"When?"
Noah looked at her.
"Tomorrow at nine."
Claire stared toward the dark window.
Michael wanted her legally and publicly dead as quickly as possible.
Gabriel said, "You can't go."
Claire looked at him.
"I didn't say I would."
"You're thinking it."
"I've been thinking a lot of things."
"That one will get you killed."
Claire's expression hardened.
"He has my mother."
"He doesn't have her. She's grieving."
"Which means she'll believe him."
Gabriel shook his head.
"Then we tell her privately."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know who's helping him."
Gabriel couldn't argue with that.
Claire looked again at Michael's press conference photograph.
Something bothered her.
She enlarged the image.
Then enlarged it again.
Gabriel stepped closer.
"What?"
"My mother's necklace."
"What about it?"
"That's not hers."
Diane wore a gold chain with a small oval pendant.
Claire touched the screen.
"My grandfather gave me that pendant."
"Are you sure?"
"I wore it every day until last month."
"Where was it?"
"In the safe at my house."
Gabriel's eyes sharpened.
"So Michael accessed the safe."
Claire stared at her mother's photograph.
Why would Michael put Claire's necklace on Diane?
Then she understood.
"Identification."
Gabriel frowned.
Claire's voice became cold.
"If they recovered remains that couldn't be visually identified, the necklace would help establish the body as mine."
Noah looked disturbed.
"Then whose body is in the coffin?"
Nobody answered.
Claire turned toward Gabriel.
Michael had already arranged a funeral.
A coffin existed.
A death certificate was being prepared.
Someone had needed a body.
Gabriel reached for his phone.
Before he could dial, a nurse screamed in the hallway.
He opened the door.
A security guard lay unconscious near the elevator.
The second guard was gone.
On the floor beside him was a black envelope.
Claire's name was written across the front.
Gabriel picked it up carefully.
Inside was a single photograph.
Claire lying in the hospital bed.
Taken through the room's window less than five minutes earlier.
On the back, someone had written:
THE WRONG WOMAN SURVIVED.
Gabriel looked toward the hallway.
The elevator doors opened.
A man wearing a doctor's coat stepped out.
May you like
And Claire recognized him immediately.
It was the man who had been standing beside Michael on the mountain before she fell.
