“He’s a talented guy, your friend,” Boone mused.
Emmett’s grunt was his only response as he looked across the nurse’s station in hopes of Janie’s return. He frowned and glanced down at his watch.
“She’s been gone too long. I’m going to go check on her.” He took off in that direction.
“Don’t mind me,” Boone called after him sarcastically. “I’ll just be here. You know…waiting.”
His lips twitched at the corners as he rounded the nurse’s station. Though he’d never admit it out loud, he was beginning to think there was a chance he and Lincoln Boone could be friends.
Emmett entered the long hall, his chest tightening somewhat when he found it empty. His pace quickened, his focus homing in on the door with a small sign protruding overhead.
Women’s
The bold, black letters stood out clearly for passersby. He walked faster, intentionally making his strides wider as he continued that way. Emmett got to the door at the end of the hall, and without hesitation, he lifted his fist and knocked.
“Janie?” He waited, tilting an ear closer to the door. When no response came, he tapped his knuckles against it again. “Janie, it’s Emmett. Are you okay?”
When he was met with nothing but silence again, Emmett grabbed the knob, his stomach dropping when it turned easily in his grasp. He shoved open the door and turned on the lights, and his stomach dropped.
She’s not here.
The room was empty. Janie wasn’t anywhere in sight. He spun on his heels and shot back out into the hall.
Emmett looked to his left, where he’d just come from before swinging his frantic gaze to his right. He took off in a jog, stopping at the hallway’s intersection to look both ways. He did a visual search, looking for a beautiful woman with long, brown hair ,wearing jeans and a light blue sweater.
She wasn’t there.
She’s not here.
Janie wasn’t anywhere in sight. But she had to have come this way, otherwise he would have passed her.
His gut pulled him to the right, and he tried like hell not to freak out. Emmett’s mind raced with possible, plausible explanations as to where she could have gone.
She was hungry. Got thirsty. Needed a minute to stretch her legs.
But none of those things excused her taking off without coming to him first. Janie knew the risk. She’d just seen her best friend lying in a bed covered in bruises.
She wouldn’t have come this far without me.
He stopped mid-stride to look around again.
Emmett ignored the strange looks from the nurses and other visitors as they walked past. Something was pulling the strings of his operator instincts, but he didn’t know what. Glancing to his right, his gaze fell on a round, metal trash can against the wall, a few feet away.
His heart flew into his throat when he saw what appeared to be a section of thin, brown leather sticking out from its opening. Emmett hurried over, praying itwasn’t what he thought. But when he reached the shiny receptacle and pulled out Janie’s purse, he knew the truth.
She’s already gone.
Bile rushed to the surface. He swallowed it back and took off in Boone’s direction. As he did, Emmett retrieved his phone from his pocket and put in a call to Blake.
“Hey, man.” Blake sounded much more alert than the last time they spoke. “The program’s still running a search, but I’m in the car and headed your?—”
“She’s gone.” He blurted the words he thought he’d never have to say.
“What? Who? You mean Devon?” The man’s rapid-fire questions flew Emmett’s way. “What do you mean, gone? You don’t mean like?—”
“Not Devon,” Emmett clarified. “It’s Janie.” Damn, that hurt him to say. “She went to the bathroom, but when I checked on her, she was already gone.”
I never should have let her go to the bathroom alone. I should have escorted her there and waited by the door until she was done.
