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“Have you seen Bella or anyone else come to visit her in the last week?”
“Bella came on Tuesday and tried to get her to go to lunch, but she had a 12:30 appointment. Bella was grumbly but seemed to be okay when she left.”
“Thanks, Shandra. Do you have any surveillance cameras in here?” asked Sharlee.
“Sorry. Oakley won’t allow them. Patient confidentiality. I believe there are some in the hallway, though.”
Just then, Kaden sent a message. “I got into the surveillance feed. Downloading last week’s through today.”
Sharlee read the text and smiled. “No worries. We’ll let the police handle that.”
Ryker pivoted from his spot to get a broad view of the area. “It might be a few days before they contact you or as soon as today. But I filed a missing person’s report, so someone should contact you sometime soon. Do you mind staying today if she doesn’t come in?”
“Sure. If we don’t hear from her, should I close until we do?”
“If you don’t hear from her or me, cancel this week with her clients and stay home. I’ll make sure you get paid for this week. Do you have an extra key for the office?”
“Oakley does in her desk. A spare for both hers and the office’s door.” Carter headed for the desk.
“Talk to me about clients,” asked Garrett as he watched Carter methodically gather information from the office.
“Funny you ask about that. I was going to mention it earlier, but...” she shrugged. “She had some kind of altercation in the office with the last client, and then she left early.”
“Who was it?” asked Callie.
“I can’t tell you that. But it was a new client. She disagreed with Oakley and left in a huff.”
“That’s suspicious,” said Ryker.
“It’s happened before. Sometimes people think psychiatrists are just going to write prescriptions rather than do some therapy and counseling; of course, that’s not how it works. The people get mad, and they leave.”
“Then what happened,” asked Garrett.
“Then Dr. Addison... Oakley said she was going home early at about 4:20, something about grilling, and said I could go too. So I left a few minutes later.”
“Did you see her in the parking area?” asked Garrett.
“No. I didn’t see anyone.”
“Okay, thanks,” said Ryker. “I’ll keep you updated if you give me your number. I’ll give you mine.”
“Oh, I have yours. Oakley made sure I knew how to contact you.”
Ryker input Shandra’s number in his phone, took one last look around and followed his friends out. Sharlee was on the phone with Kaden as she pocketed the drive that she had used to copy information from Oakley’s computer. She also grabbed Oakley’s computer bag and filled it with all the bits of paper she found in and on the desk. Under the blotter pad was a list of passwords, all but the last one crossed out. She’d have to have a talk with her when this was all over.
“Wait!” Shandra called out, holding up her phone. “I got something here. Bella, Oakley’s best friend, just sent me a message saying that Oakley told her she needed a break and would be back in a week.”
Sharlee put her hand out as though Shandra would simply pass it over to her. When Sharlee showed no sign of backing off, Shandra reluctantly did. Sharlee sat in a waiting room chair and started working on things with Kaden on the other end of the phone.
As the others were working on things in the office, Sharlee snorted. “Except it wasn’t sent from Oakley’s phone, and the message to your phone wasn’t from Bella’s phone. Someone is playing blind man’s bluff around here.”
“What?” asked Ryker. “This doesn’t sound right. Not like her.”
“Not like Oakley, or Bella?” asked Sharlee.
Ryker frowned, skeptical. He knew Bella had her eye on him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was another one of her games. “Did she say anything else? Like where she went or why?”
“Nothing specific, just that she’d been feeling stressed lately and needed some time away.”
