“It was Rothman’s idea to start the research track of my training, and it was going to be under his direction. Who’s going to do that for me now? I was going to be working in his lab for my Ph.D. Where am I going to go now? Once again I’ve been abandoned.”

George was a little taken aback at what sounded like self-centeredness in the face of Rothman’s and Yamamoto’s deaths. “I’m sure the university will find you another lab,” he said. “They found you another rotation. Will and Lesley are already doing theirs.”

“Maybe they’ll find me one, maybe they won’t.”

George hesitated for a moment. He knew there was a risk Pia would take what he was about to say the wrong way. But he decided to say it anyway. “Pia, I’m sorry, but I don’t understand how Rothman could have ‘betrayed’ you, as you put it. He got sick and died. It’s tough for me to understand you sometimes. I don’t think you should insert yourself into this where you don’t have to. If you’re now thinking Rothman’s death wasn’t an accident and that there’s a cover-up going on, I don’t see any other way for this to end but badly.”

“Unless it’s true.”

“You’re talking about murder. Who would want to murder one of the best research teams in the country?”

Turning it over in his mind, George could think of only one reason why someone would be so willing to risk their career without blinking an eye. He knew for sure this line of reasoning was going to get him into trouble. “Look, it’s none of my business, and I’ve never said anything to you that would make you think I was jealous of any other guy, er, getting close to you, but your relationship with Rothman, well . . .”

George was cut off by Pia’s loud laugh.

“Oh, God! Is that why you think I’m caught up in all this? You think I was sleeping with Rothman?”

“No. Well. Yes. Maybe. I don’t know. It might explain why you’re so worked up about it. It’s what some people are saying on campus.”

“So I have to be sleeping with a guy to care about how he died? Thanks a lot, George. I did let him get close to me but not like that. Typical male. I’ll say it if it helps: No, there was nothing physical between me and Dr. Rothman. Zip. Believe me, I can tell when a man is interested in me like that, and he wasn’t. He was actually happily married and devoted to his family, despite how asocial he seemed.”