By the time Yvonne reached the Inspector, DI Manson's room was filled with a hectic assortment of police and paramedics. Inspector Gold, despite the pandemonium, or perhaps because of it, seemed even more austere than usual, and called her troops to order with a sharp, "Sun Hill."
"Now, this is a very serious matter, and I'm afraid, at this stage I can't actually release any details of the situation, but it is imperative that we locate and apprehend PC Gabriel Kent as soon as possible. I know I am asking a lot for you to arrest a fellow officer, but I expect you will all display extreme professionalism about this. Once Kent is under control, there is to be no conversation and NO violence." She paused to analyse the faces of the officers before her. "Now scoot."
Unbeknownst to the Inspector, every word of her speech had just been recorded by Sun Hill's new secret journalist, and as the officers filed out into the corridor with a mixture of apprehension and excitement, Bruce Malcolm slipped into the fire escape.
Meanwhile, Andrea Dunbar, finally conscious and left to her own devices, slipped from her bed. Her legs felt weak, as though she had run a long distance and fallen down at the end of the race. Still, she was determined to make it to room 1180. If Neil was in trouble, this time, she wouldn't let him down.
With agonising slowness, she hobbled towards the door of her room. Each step an achievement she finally made it to the door. It wasn't until she got to the stairs that she finally admitted defeat. It was just too much, that now, when she was finally being honest, she was separated from him by mere physical impossibility. She sat on the bottom step in her hospital gown and cried.
Sergeant Dale Smith, although he'd never admit it, was suffering shock. Just days after narrowly escaping an explosion he had almost witnessed a murder. As soon as Gina had finished speaking, he had made an inconspicuous exit, and, taking the first convenient corridor, had found himself on an almost deserted staircase. Just as he was starting to recover, the soft sounds of stifled sobs reached his ears. Slowly, and with a slightly over-cautious step, he made his way silently down the stairs.
The sight that greeted him at the bottom was probably the last thing that had entered his mind. There, in noting but a hospital night gown sat Andrea. Oblivious to everything except her own exhaustion and misery, she didn't hear Smithy's step.
Later, Smithy would never be able to explain exactly what came over him. He knew it was against everything sensible and reasonable, but some inexplicable force drew him towards the forlorn little figure and he sat down next to Andrea and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Andrea, in turn, let herself fall against the strong chest, and although it wasn't the one she dreamt of she snuggled into the warm arms and took the comfort she so desperately needed.
Neither knew how long they stayed like that, frozen in that embrace. Each holding onto each other like they were the last two people in the world and letting go might cause the world to fall down around their shoulders. They were still holding each other when Gina Gold came running down the stairs.
Unable to cope with the obstacle at the bottom of the stairs and the nature of that obstacle at the same time, the forbidden couple sent the Inspector tumbling into the corridor below.
At once, Smithy jumped to his feet, helping Gina to her feet, but it was too late, the was no taking back what the Inspector had already seen.