In the Dark

Chapter 16

When Leigh Anne noticed that Jade never came back to their office, she thought it was strange. There was no way her appointment took that long. Leigh Anne had seen two patients herself since then.

Then she thought, since she had lunch plans with Perrie, maybe she just went straight there after. That thought seemed to relax her a bit, until one of the nurses knocked on the door.

"Hi, Dr. Pinnock." Jackie said, furrowing her brows when she only saw one doctor in the office.

"Hi, Jackie. What's up?" Leigh Anne asked, scrolling on her computer.

"Have you seen Dr. Thirlwall? She's got an appointment in ten minutes. I just wanted to see if she needed anything." Jackie asked, catching Leigh Anne's attention.

"Oh, maybe she's still on lunch and running late. Let me give her a call." Leigh Anne said, playing it cool in front of the nurse, but getting worried all over again.

The nurse nodded and left the room and Leigh Anne quickly took her phone out of her pocket, dialing her best friend's number.

"Jade, where the hell are you?" She mumbled to herself, bringing the phone up to her ear as it rang.

And rang. And rang. No answer.

That worried Leigh Anne even more. She always answered. She quickly called again, but still no answer. The only other thing she could think of was to contact Perrie. Maybe Jade's phone was dead. Then again, it wouldn't have rang.

Maybe she lost it. Hopefully she just lost it or something.

It's against all kinds of rules to open a patient's chart for non-medical reasons, but she didn't know what else to do. Leigh Anne has always been a worrier, and now she's worried that something could have happened to Jade.

She opened Perrie's chart and searched her desk for a pen, which she couldn't seem to find. She reached over and pulled out Jade's desk drawer, looking for a pen, and swallowed when she saw the younger girl's keys still there.

Shit, that's not good.

She grabbed a pen and scribbled down Perrie's phone number, then quickly closed it. Then she keyed the number into her work phone and dialed the blonde.

Maybe she picked Jade up.

"Hello?" Perrie answered, clearly not recognizing the number.

"Hello? Is this Perrie?" Leigh Anne asked frantically.

"Who's asking?" Perrie asked.

"It's Leigh Anne. Jade's best friend and coworker. Is she with you?" Leigh Anne asked.

"No, she's not. I'm actually still waiting for her. We were supposed to go to lunch, but I guess she got busy. But then why would you be calling me? Is everything alright?" Perrie asked, now sounding nervous too.

"Um... I don't know. I don't know where she is." Leigh Anne replied.

"What?!" Perrie shouted from the other end of the phone, making the brunette flinch. "We we're just texting! When did you see her last?"

"She had to see a patient, and then she was supposed to go to lunch with you, but lunch is over. She has another patient in less than ten minutes, and she wouldn't miss an appointment. At least not without calling someone first." Leigh Anne said.

"Fuck, have you tried calling her?" Perrie asked, sounding like she was suddenly jogging or something.

"Of course. It just rings and rings." Leigh Anne replied.

"Okay. I'm on my way. Give me five minutes." Perrie said.

"Five minutes? It takes twenty to get from Jade's house." Leigh Anne furrowed her brows.