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"I will."

Ethan gave him a brief smile, then left the office.

"Do you want to go down to security now?" she asked.

"Are you dating that guy?"

"What?" she asked in surprise. "Why on earth would you ask me that question?"

He didn't honestly know why he'd asked her that question. It was completely inappropriate, but, somehow, it had just come out. Shrugging, he said, "Ethan seemed to make a point about enjoying private conversations with you."

"We're colleagues, that's it."

"Does he know that?"

"Do you want me to take you down to security, or do you want to go on your own?" she asked sharply, ignoring his question.

He forced himself to concentrate. It was no business of his who she was dating. "I'd like you to go with me, since you've spoken to them before. This also isn't an official FBI investigation…yet."

"What does that mean?" she asked, coming around her desk.

"It means that I need to know more information before I can determine whether or not Jack just left the hospital or if someone took him out of here without his consent."

"It seems impossible that anyone could have done that. It is also difficult to believe he walked out. But I will say that the fire alarm and flashing strobe lights were triggering for more than a few of our patients. He might have woken to the alarms and thought he was in the middle of a war zone. That could have given him the impetus to get himself to safety."

"That actually makes sense."

She grabbed her bag from the top of her desk and led the way out of her office. They took the elevator to the first floor where the security office was located. Rachel pressed the buzzer, and a moment later, they were admitted into a small room by a man in uniform, who identified himself as Sergeant Greg Vaughn. Inside was a wall of security monitors and a female police officer sitting in front of one of those monitors, who was introduced as Officer Davina Mishra.

Rachel seemed to have met them both and introduced him, adding that he was an FBI agent.

Vaughn's gaze sharpened. "Is the bureau investigating Mr. Barrone’s disappearance?"

"Not at this point," he replied. "Jack Barrone and I served together. I'm concerned about his disappearance. Dr. Thorne tells me he wasn't seen leaving his room or the hospital on any of the security cameras. Is that correct?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The fire alarm put more people than usual in the halls, especially on that floor, and while it's possible that he was caught in the crowd somewhere, we couldn't find him."

"What caused the fire alarm to go off?"

"It appears that someone was smoking in the stairwell and threw their lit cigarette in the garbage can."

"Was it possible that wasn't an accident?"

The sergeant met his eyes. "As in, the fire was deliberately set to provide cover for Mr. Barrone to leave the hospital? That seems extreme. The man could have simply checked himself out in the morning."

"Do you know who was smoking in the stairwell?"

"Not yet."

"Would it be possible for me to look through the footage?" he asked.

"If you decide to make this official, yes. Until then, no."

"All right. I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Rachel said as Sergeant Vaughn opened the door for them. When they stepped into the hallway, she added, "That wasn't very helpful. And I think the fire is suspicious, too. What do we do next?"

"We don't need to do anything. I can dig into this on my own."