16. Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Reviewing today’s incident report was boring compared to the million other things I had to do.
And yes, I had other people also monitoring, but ultimately, it was my responsibility, so I did my checks too.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t happy about Eddy barging into my office and plopping down in the chair in front of my desk.
Anything to interrupt the mind-numbing reports. “What’s going on, boss?”
“Uh…just wondering. Have you heard from Jackie today?”
I grabbed my phone. Had I missed a text? There was nothing today. “No. I haven’t and that’s kind of weird. He normally sends me a text every morning. Or nearly. Why?”
“He didn’t show up at the bookstore and for once, we were expecting him for coverage. I mean, not a big deal, but he’s not answering his phone either.”
“Oh.” My heart felt like it had stopped beating, but at the same time, my pulse ticked up. Was he okay? “What can I do?”
“Uh…hold on…” He looked down at his phone, then popped his head back up.
“Brock got Paige to come in and now he’s on his way over to Jackie’s house.
He’s worried. This isn’t like Jackie at all.
I mean, he pops in and out all the time, but when he commits, he doesn’t flake.
And now? I don’t know.” His rambling might not have meant anything. Or…He was super worried.
“Oh. Well, let me know if you need me to do anything.” Not sure what that could possibly be, but a part of me was ready to run straight to his place to see for myself that he was okay. Eddy waved me off and I stared at the computer screen.
Back to work, but none of this sat right. I might have been looking at the report, but I didn’t see any of it. I bit my bottom lip. Looked at my watch. I needed to do something.
Eddy popped his head back into my office a few minutes later, holding on to the trim work to keep from falling. He panted, out of breath. “I’m meeting them at the hospital.”
I jumped out of my seat. My first instinct was go-go-go. But what was even going on? He had to be hurt, but what happened?
Eddy beckoned to me. “Come on. Don’t just stand there, let’s go…”
I was relieved, worried, and nervous all in one big ball of what the fuck . I tucked my phone into my back pocket and followed Eddy out to his truck.