Pia was steamed and George didn’t know what to say. The thought he’d expressed had taken on a life of its own in his mind. But as soon as he had voiced it, he knew it was very unlikely. Now he was just embarrassed he’d even mentioned it.

“All right, that does it, I’m going to the lab,” Pia said. “I really do have stuff there that I need to get. I worked there for more than three and a half years. And don’t worry, if it’s off-limits, I’ll come right back like a good girl.”

“And if it isn’t?”

“Then I’ll check out the storage freezer and get my stuff.”

“I’ll walk over to the med center and wait for you in the library.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“After Springer, it’s the least I can do. Really.”

“I guess I can’t stop you.”

George knew that was as close to an invite as he was going to get.

Chapter 34.

34.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
NEW YORK CITY
MARCH 24, 2011, 5:07 P.M.

Pia and George walked over to the Black research building and passed through security with their medical student IDs. They were bucking the tide, as it was past five o’clock and most of the staff was streaming out, having finished work for the day. Pia and George parted at the elevators, with Pia telling George she would come find him in the library when she’d finished her visit.

In the elevator, Pia was glad George wasn’t with her. She’d be able to do what she wanted more quickly without him. She was pleased but not surprised that the caution tape was gone from the lab entrance. More good news: The door was unlocked, meaning the lab was officially back to normal. But the positive feelings were short-lived when she saw that a few of the familiar denizens of the lab had taken the same opportunity to show up and get on with whatever business was pressing. Marsha Langman was tidying up her desk, its previous pristine neatness a victim of CDC investigators who had gone through most of the lab’s records. Unfortunately the head technician, Arthur Spaulding, was also there, for similar reasons, trying to get everything back to normal.

Seeing Spaulding was a disappointment. His presence precluded her plan to visit the biosafety lab. If he saw her, particularly if he saw her in the refrigerator storage facility, he would undoubtedly make a scene. Pia cursed under her breath that she hadn’t gotten into the lab before any of the others. Neither Marsha nor Spaulding, nor any of the other technicians who were there, greeted her, or obviously snubbed her—it was like she wasn’t there at all. It surprised her, because they were all going through the same trauma involving their bosses’ deaths. It was like they were a group of automatons.